About Starting A Vegetable Garden
Ask a knowledgeable grower at a local nursery for recommendations on easy-to-grow vegetables. Seed catalogs are another source for varieties that perform well in different climates.
Choose a location that gets plenty of sun. Consider using trellises for vining plants. Frequent watering promotes deep root growth, but avoid overwatering.
Hopefully you’ve planned ahead and aren’t trying to play catch-up in the garden. If you haven’t done these chores already, this is what needs done:
• Control grass and weeds so they aren’t competing for water and fertilizer.
• Start new transplants of your chosen veggies to extend the growing season. This will give you plenty for fresh eating as well as extra for freezing and canning.
• Mulch veggies after seedlings are established to conserve moisture when summer turns dry.
• Stake your pole beans and white half-runners before they start running across the lawn.
• Start tying tomato plants to stakes if not using cages, and remove suckers.
• Watch for pests (early identification makes for easy control): Mexican bean beetle, Colorado potato beetle, bean leaf beetle, blister beetle, cabbage worm, tomato hornworm, tomato fruit worm, corn earworm, cucumber beetle and squash bug.
• Monitor for diseases as prevention works better than cures.
• Water only as needed — more plants are killed by overwatering than underwatering.
• Keep a garden notebook of what works and what doesn’t to prevent problems next year and continue with varieties that did well.
Vegetables that can still be spring planted
(Vegetable, plant by, seed per 100 foot row, space per plant, depth to plant)
• Snap beans, May 10 or thereabouts, 0.5 pound, 36-inch row by 4-12-inches per plant, 1-1.5 inches
• Lima beans, June 1, 0.5 pound, 36-inch by 4-6-inches, 1-1.5 inches
• Cantaloupe, June 20, 1 ounce, 60-inch by 36-inch, 1 inch
• Corn, June 1, 0.25 pound, 36-inch by 12-18-inches, 1-1.5 inches
• Cucumber, May 15, 1 ounce, 60-inch by 12-inch, 0.5-0.75 inches
• Eggplant, May 15, 50 plants/100 foot row, 36-inch by 24-inch, not applicable
• Okra, June 1, 1 ounce, 36-inch by 12-inch, 1 inch
• Peppers, June 1, 50 plants, 36-inch by 24-inch, not applicable
• Pumpkins, July 1, 1 ounce, 72-inch by 48-inch, 1 inch
• Yellow squash, May 15, 0.5 ounce, 36-inch by 24-inch, 1-2 inches
• Winter squash, July 1, 0.5 ounce, 60-inch by 36-inch, 1-2 inches
If you have any additional questions about vegetable gardening, check out “Vegetable Garden Calendar” or “Vegetable Gardening in Georgia,” both of which can be found at the University of Georgia Extension Publications website. If you have any questions, please call or email Brenda Jackson at Murray County Extension at (706) 695-3031 or bljack@uga.edu.
Source: dailycitizen.news
