Vegetable Garden

I grew up in the South. We had a large vegetable garden in our backyard. My grandparents grew tomatoes, okra, squash, watermelon, collard greens, turnip greens, peppers, and other food stuffs. Growing vegetables is the same as growing flowers or herbs in a garden. You have to make sure you take care of the plants and they will flourish.

With the cost of living constantly rising, being able to have fresh vegetables from your own yard will be less expensive and will taste better. You should plant only those vegetables that your family will enjoy.

Determine how much space you need for your vegetable garden and where it will be located. Vegetables need about six hours of sunlight per day. You should select your plants based on when they will grow. You may want to have some that ripen at various times of the season.

You do have to prepare your soil for a vegetable garden. Planting a vegetable garden will give you a good work-out. You have to till the soil to control weeds and mix mulch into the soil. When I was growing up, my grandparents would have a neighbor who owned the garden next to our home (much larger garden) to come over with his horse and plow. I am dating myself here.

When he had finished, my grandfather would go and inspect the newly tilled ground, picking up odds and ends. He would always be ready with his seed packets or plants so he could start right away (in season, of course). He would put up special markers so that he would know where he wanted particular plants. One area would be set aside for corn, another for tomatoes, another for cabbage, another for okra, another for greens and so on. I never understood his method but the yield from his vegetable garden astounded us each year. There was more than enough for the immediate family and the extended family. There was enough to make rounds through the neighborhood dropping off paper bags of vegetables. In our community, almost everyone had a vegetable garden and we all shared with each other.

If you have room for a small vegetable garden, you can use a spade to till the soil. You do not want to have to till a large area with a spade. It is hard work. You can probably rent a tiller at your local hardware store.

Weeds have to be controlled in your vegetable garden. They will absorb the water your plants need. You have to keep your vegetable plants watered. Most require at least an inch of water per week. Like fruit gardens, vegetable gardens can be invaded with pests. You can purchase seeds that are disease resistant or you can use approved insecticides. If your garden is organic, you must take extra care to make sure your plants stay healthy.

It is early spring and there have been a couple of warm days and you are anxious to start your planting. Be mindful of the weather. You do not want to plant your vegetable garden and have a big frost or late winter snow storm come along.

You can find supplies and tools for your vegetable garden on the Internet. Oh, don't forget the scarecrow! We had one in our vegetable garden.

Vegetable gardens were a tradition in the South when I was growing up. No matter how large or how small the lot the house was on, there was a patch somewhere in the yard. Everyone enjoyed the bountiful harvest from the vegetable garden.