Vegetable gardening is nutritious in both body and mind. It’s exciting to watch a little seed turn into a sprout, then into a small plant, and eventually, into a big ole squash plant that’s bursting with bright yellow gourds and giant green leaves. Digging your hands into cool soil is meditative. Smelling the basil and dill is heavenly. And you don’t have to live on a country estate to grow your own food at home, either.
City dwellers can plant vegetables in patio container gardens. In cold climates, you can start a small garden indoors or even grow vegetables outdoors most of the year if you have a greenhouse.
When it comes to planning a backyard vegetable garden, ideas are easy to come by. There are plenty of pictures of elaborate gardens with rows of sun-ripened tomatoes, entire sections devoted solely to peas, raised beds for root vegetables, and, of course, a fountain and seating area. We don’t all have gigantic yards, though. As nice as it would be to have row after row of heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, it’s just not realistic when your backyard garden is a two-foot by four-foot rectangle between your driveway and the foundation of your house.
The thing is, you can create a really nice garden in that small rectangle of space. It’s a simple matter of timing, design, and plant selection. But if you have a large backyard, even better!
In the articles below, we dive into everything you need to know about vegetable gardening. You can learn even more in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!
Winter means something different if you live in New England than if you live in southern California. But no matter where you live, when the temperature drops, your outside plants could use a little extra care if they’re going to survive. Covering plants for winter isn’t all that challenging, generally, but there are some pretty common mistakes that will leave you with a garden full of dead stalks and stems.
Can we talk about winter? Or more specifically, the vegetables of winter? Don’t get me wrong; I love summer vegetables. There’s nothing like a sun-ripened tomato in your salad or biting into sweet corn on the cob. But summer vegetables are the darlings of the gardening world. They get all the press, all the glory, and all the adoring fans.
Let’s talk about health. No, I’m not your doctor, and no, I’m not about to make you feel guilty about the fact that you didn’t exercise yesterday. I, too, may or may not have exercised yesterday. As a food gardener, though, I am interested in what I eat and how it impacts my health. Since I can’t very well grow a chocolate bar in my garden, that topic is a bit more limited to vegetables that grow above ground and those that grow below ground.
Usually by the time fall rolls around, we gardeners start thinking about cleaning up the soil, putting the tools away for the season, and daydreaming about buying seeds for next year. Rarely do we think about planting vegetables in the fall. That’s unfortunate.
I remember being a child in the 80s, the hey-day for prepackaged, and preserved snacks. If it wasn’t stuffed with cream filling, it was covered in Day-Glo orange cheese-flavored “product.” It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Nowadays, with more information available at our fingertips, people have become more conscious and informed about what exactly is in the food we eat. Because of this, organic planting and gardening continues to rise in popularity, and it’s here to stay!
