About Starting A Vegetable Garden

Perusing seed catalogs or garden-supply stores can be daunting for the beginner. Look for varities that are easy to grow and are appropriate for your zone.

Choose a sunny spot, most vegetables require 6-8 hours of sun each day. Most also need nutrient-rich soil so consider testing your existing soil to see its type, pH and nutrient content.

Those of us who grow vegetables are faced with many questions each year: Will there be a late frost that will harm our tomatoes and peppers if we plant them on Memorial Day weekend? Is it time to harvest garlic now, since they produced their scapes early this year? When should we harvest broccoli – now, with heads still fairly small – or wait until they get bigger? Will the sun finally prevail and give all our veggies a big boost after all this rain?

We have seen more rain than usual – much more. Even a quick shower results in standing water in the walkways between my mounded raised beds. But in addition to the excess water, plants aren’t getting their usual allotment of sunshine. They need sun – strong, bright sun – to grow and produce fruits and leaves. The lack of sunshine is what is causing smaller veggies, yellowed leaves and later ripening.

More:Tips on growing your own blueberries for the best tasting pies

Is it time to harvest garlic yet? After the plants send up those curly stems we call “scapes,” it is generally fine to harvest garlic. Traditionally, I pull mine in mid- to late August. But it’s important to pull them at the right time, not sooner or later than needed.

What are the best ways to reduce weeding? Here are some tips

Onions are ready to harvest when their tops flop over. Pull the onions, even if small, and allow them to dry for a week or so in a shady, breezy spot.

One bright spot in the garden this year is celery. I don’t usually grow it, as in the past mine has been tough to chew and a magnet for snails and slugs. This year I planted six plants, and although the stalks are not yet thick, the plants are big and so far have not seemed to attract pests. I ate a stalk, and it is tougher than store-bought, but tasty.

Henry Homeyer offers tips on picking and arranging flowers for the home

a study at Harvard found that people who eat a cup of ice cream every day live longer than those who do not. I have my own theory: People who are happy live longer. If eating ice cream makes you happy, have some! Me? I think the study should have been focused on home-grown tomatoes and potatoes and garlic fresh from the garden. I know they keep me happy – and probably living longer than most!

Henry Homeyer’s blog appears twice a week at gardening-guy.com. Write to him at P.O. Box 364, Cornish Flat, N.H. 03746. Please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish a mailed response. Or email henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Source: providencejournal.com