Growing vegetables is much like growing flowers. Your soil must be prepared in a way that the plants prefer, and each kind of vegetable has different requirements. I will touch on a few select vegetables and help you get started, but the best way to find out what your garden needs, is to experiment. If you know the basics, it's just a matter of getting out there and getting your hands dirty.

In order to get a nice crop of vegetables, you need a lot of flowers on your plants. You also need insects (preferably bees) visiting your plants to increase your production. If you do what you can to help insure both of these, you should have no problem growing and harvesting the vegetables that you want, provided you have the right environmental conditions.

When I started a vegetable garden, I knew very little about it, so I got my hands on as many books about it as I could find, and I suggest that you do the same. I couldn't believe how much was out there, and how many different ways there were to garden. When I thought I had read as much as I needed to get started, I decided what approach I was going to take. Since I had a limited amount of space and time, and the fact that I have clay soil, I decided on a raised bed garden. I go over this method in my section "making a raised bed".

There are quite a number of different vegetables, but most of them share a family group with other vegetables, and so are treated the same as other members of their group (eg.cucumbers and melons). This is very helpful to know in case you want to stick with only a family or two of vegetables. In that case, you would only have to prepare the soil especially for those families of vegetables.

Here is a list of vegetables with their related family members and their requirements:

cucumbers, melons, squash, zuchini, pumpkins
These are warm season growers. They are members of the vine crop family.

soil-well watered.
water-keep moist by mulching and watering regularly.
fertilizer-heavy feeders.

tomatoes, eggplant, pepper
These are warm season growers.


soil-fertile soil (manure or compost added).
water-water roots regularly, but do not let plant stay constantly wet.
fertilizer-heavy feeders.

potatoes, onions, carrots, radishes, turnips
These are cool season growers.


soil-very light, sandy soil.
water-water regularly.
fertilizer-medium feeders.

broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards
These are cool season growers.


soil-fertile garden soil.
water-water when needed.
fertilizer-heavy feeders, they like a side dressing of fertilizer while growing.


lettuce, mustard, spinach, celery
These are cool season growers.

soil-fertile garden soil.
water-water when needed.
fertilizer-medium feeders.

beans, southern peas
These are warm season growers.


soil-cultivated soil.
water-water when needed.
fertilizer-medium feeder. These plants add nitrogen to the soil.

okra
This is a warm season grower.


soil-fertile garden soil.
water-water when needed.
fertilizer-medium feeder.

corn
This is a warm season grower.


soil-well cultivated, so it can be mounded up around the plants for stability.
water-water regularly.
fertilizer-heavy feeders. Fertilize soil before planting seeds, and after plants come up good.

Getting Started

Most vegetables can be started outdoors in the prepared beds where they are to grow. This makes growing vegetables very easy. I've started seeds indoors, and it is a lot more trouble than just scattering some seeds outside and checking on them every day. If you have not prepared a bed for planting before, see my section on "planting seeds outdoors".

Before you plant the seeds, it is best to go ahead and incorporate a fertilizer into the soil, since vegetables require a feeding while they are growing. Then, just scatter the seeds over the bed and tamp them down lightly, but firmly, with a flat piece of board or something similar ( the back of a hoe will do).

You can thin out the seedlings to the proper spacing after they have come up. Cover the seeds with a thin layer of light potting soil or sand. Water the bed where the seeds are planted. They should be kept moist until they sprout.

When the seedlings appear, thin them out to the spacing specified on the seed packet. If the seedlings are very close together, you can pinch the tops of the plants that you don't want to keep, and that will prevent the delicate roots of nearby plants from being disturbed.Do not allow your plants to be crowded. This increases the spread of disease and causes growth to be stunted.

If you plan on mulching around your plants (this is a good idea for a lot of plants to conserve moisture and keep down weeding), wait until the stems of the plants get much stronger, and carefully spread the mulch around each plant. Do not put mulch right up to the stems, but leave about an inch or two between the base of the plant and the mulch.


Pests

Keep an eye on the plants as they grow, and if you see that they are being attacked by insects, dust with a little Sevin dust or similar product. Do not use any insecticide when your plants are flowering, because it may kill the bees that visit to pollinate the flowers. It is a good idea to keep off spraying your plants for bugs until you know what kind of insects will attack your plants. Certainly, do not spray for insects until your plants are fairly mature. By then, you should have an idea of what kinds of insects you might have to worry about.

My tomatoes are attacked every year by insects, but not until the end of the summer when several crops of tomatoes have already been picked, so just check them often, and keep your eyes open.

Also, be very careful what you spray them with. Remember, you will be eating the fruits of these plants, and you do not want to be consuming the chemicals that you might use. I never use malathion on my vegetables (or on anything) because it is so toxic and takes a long time to break down. Sevin dust is a life saver because it repels many insects and it washes off. It does have to be reapplied after a rain, but it's worth it. Especially if you are putting it right on plants that already have vegetables growing on them. You may be eating the vegetables tomorrow that you are treating today!

For stubborn pests like the tomato hornworm, pick them right off the plant with a gloved hand (I have my son Joshua do this for me-Yuck!!!!) and place them in a jar to dispose of later.

Aphids can be removed from plants with a hard squirt of water. You can discourage other pests by spraying your plants with a mixture of dish soap and water. Always start with the "natural" remedies and when they don't work, then try Sevin dust or Sevin spray.


Vegetables in Containers

One reason I love container gardening (for some vegetables) is that I can keep the containers close to my back door and check on the plants whenever I want. This makes it possible to garden without walking through the rain, or a muddy yard, or whipping wind, or whatever. I love it. I can even look right outside my back door and see if there are any new tomatoes on my plants. Try it! You'll love it!

Some plants that do well in containers are green peppers, eggplant, purple cabbage, lettuce, herbs, carrots, radishes, onions, tomatoes (use a large container with one plant), cucumbers (a deep container with an attached trellis), and squash.


Helpful Hints

Tomatoes need a lot of room for their roots to grow. They are heavy feeders, so they should be fed often during their growing season. They also need magnesium, which is usually not abundant in the soil. Spraying them with a mixture of a little bit of Epsom Salts and water can keep their leaves from turning yellow (a sign of magnesium deficiency). Lots of sources will tell you to "prune" your tomato plants to get rid of "suckers" that grow in between the leaf branches. This is fine, but don't prune the ones at the top of the plant. The canopy above the tomatoes helps to keep the sun from burning the tomatoes and developing sun scald spots.

Cucumbers need lots of water, as do melons, so they should be watered whenever the the weather is hot and dry. Mulch also keeps the soil from completely drying out and keeps the roots cool. You will not believe the difference that mulching makes to growing cucumbers. They grow faster and are much healthier. Cucumbers need to be trellised, unless they are the bush type, so place the trellis on the side of the plants that is away from the prevailing winds. If you get winds mostly from the south, you will want to put the trellis on the north side of the plants so the winds will push the plants against the trellis and encourage them to climb.

Okra gets attacked by aphids like you can't imagine. Have your water hose handy and spray them daily, if needed, to get the little buggers off your plants.

Peppers need to be fed a lot. I thought tomatoes were heavy feeders until I tried to grow peppers. They looked so puny and weren't flowering much at all, so I started increasing their fertilizer. The more I gave them, the happier they became, so don't be skimpy on their feedings.

Do not use fertilizers that are highest in nitrogen. The highest number on the bag should be the second or third number. Nitrogen will make your plants green and beautiful, but at the expense of the production of flowers and, subsequently, fruit or vegetables.

Use compost in place of fertilizer whenever you can. Manure is also good. I use rabbit manure because it is convenient for me since my son has a rabbit. Just make sure the manure is not green or it will burn the roots of the growing plants.