Vegetable Gardening For Dummies

The National Gardening Association is the leading garden-based educational organization in the United States. Visit http//:garden.org.Charlie Nardozzi is a nationally recognized garden writer, radio and TV show host, consultant, and speaker. Charlie delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun, and accessible to everyone.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 2Icons Used in This Book 2Where to Go from Here 3Part 1: Digging Into the Basics of Vegetable Gardening 5Chapter 1: Vegetable Gardening 101 7Having a Garden: Yes or No 7Planning a Veggie Garden 8Growing a Cornucopia of Vegetables 9Tomatoes 9Peppers and eggplants 9Carrots, onions, and potatoes 10Peas and beans 10Cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash 11Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower 11Lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and specialty greens 12An array of other great veggies 12Non-vegetable edibles 12Getting Down to Growing 13Choosing between seeds and transplants 13Working the soil 13Keeping your garden growing and enjoying the rewards 14Trying for a bigger bounty 14Chapter 2: Eyeing the Popularity and Benefits of Vegetable Gardening 15Food Gardening: It’s Popping Up Everywhere 15Identifying a Few Good Reasons to Grow Your Own Food 17Better tasting and higher quality food 17Improve your health 18Save some cash 18Help the environment 20Increase your quality of life 21Self-reliance 21Chapter 3: Planning Your Veggie Garden 23Deciding Where to Put Your Vegetable Garden 23Considering different sites 24Letting the sun shine 26Checking your soil’s drainage 27Understanding Veggie Varieties 28Timing Your Planting Wisely 30Some like it cool, some like it hot 30Frost dates and the length of the growing season 31Your local forecast trumps frost dates 33Designing Your Garden 33Deciding on hills, rows, or raised beds 34Spacing your plantings properly 36Following the paths 37Sketching it out 37Part 2: Focusing on All Things Veggies 43Chapter 4: Tomatoes: The King of Veggies 45Checking Out Tomato Varieties 46Categorizing tomatoes 46Classifying tomatoes by their appearance 48Enjoying classic red, round tomatoes 48Surveying all the other colors of tomatoes 50Sweetening the pot with cherry, grape, and pear tomatoes 51Considering some saucy tomatoes 52Introducing the tomato’s relatives 53Growing Tomatoes with Ease 54Jump-starting tomatoes 54Planting, trellising, and pruning 55Fertilizing and maintaining your plants 57Eliminating pests and other problems 59Harvesting tomatoes 61Chapter 5: Meeting the Tomato’s Cousins: Peppers and Eggplants 63Producing Plenty of Peppers 64Those sweet bells 64Long and round sweet peppers 66Peppers that turn on the heat 67Pretty peppers: The ornamentals 71Distinguishing Eggplants by Shape 71Large and oval 72Cylindrical 72Small and round 73Growing Peppers and Eggplants 73Starting and planting 74Fertilizing and watering tips 75Patrolling and controlling pests 76Harvesting peppers and eggplants 76Chapter 6: Growing Underground Crops: Carrots, Onions, and Potatoes 79A Rabbit’s (and Gardener’s) Favorite Root: Carrots 80Classifying carrots by type 80Examining some varieties 81Onions: The Bulbs with Layers of Sweet and Pungent Goodness 82Choosing your onion varieties 83Looking at scallions and perennial onions 85Potatoes: No Longer a Boring Spud 87Potatoes classified 87Selecting a few potato varieties 87Growing and Gathering Root Crops 89General guidelines for all your root crops 89Cultivating carrots 90Growing onions 91Producing potatoes 92Keeping Your Root Crops Healthy and Pest Free 95Chapter 7: Sweet and Simple: Beans and Peas 99A Bevy of Beans: Filling Your Rows with Bean Family Plants 100Bushels of bush beans 101Pole beans: The long and tall crop 102The versatile shell and dried beans 103Miscellaneous beans not to be forgotten 104Growing Peas, Please! 106English peas: The reliable standby 107Sweet and tender snap peas 108An earlier harvest: Snow peas 109Get ’Em in the Ground: Growing Beans and Peas 109Planting legumes for an ample harvest 110Thwarting pests and diseases 113Keep on pickin’: Harvesting your crop 115Chapter 8: Vigorous Vines: Cucumbers, Melons, Pumpkins, and Squash 117Checking Out Cool Cukes 118Before you choose: Brushing up on some cucumber vocabulary 118Surveying common cucumber varieties 119Melons: The Sweet, Juicy Vining Plant 121Distinguishing different types of melons 121Perusing popular melon varieties 122Unearthing the Humble Squash 123Identifying different squash types 124Recognizing popular squash varieties 125Great Pumpkins: Counting the Uses for This Versatile Squash 127Growing Those Vines 129Planting and feeding 129Watering and watering some more 131Ensuring proper pollination 132Controlling pests and diseases 133Harvesting your vining crop 135Chapter 9: Cool Weather Staples: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, and Cauliflower 137Paying Attention to the Often-Overlooked Cole Crops 138Easing into cole crops with broccoli 138Brussels sprouts: The little cabbages 140Choosing cabbage: The age-old and dependable cole crop 141Considering cauliflower in a rainbow of colors 143Growing Your Own Cole Crops 145Giving cole crops what they want 145Nurturing cole crops 146Putting a stop to pesky pest problems 148Harvesting cole crops 149Chapter 10: A Salad for All Seasons: Lettuce, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Specialty Greens 151Lettuce Get Together 152Crisphead lettuce 153Romaine lettuce 154Loose-leaf lettuce 154Popeye’s Pal: Spinach 155Savoy spinach 156Smooth spinach and some spinach-like friends 156The Attractive and Hardy Swiss Chard 157Going Wild with Specialty Greens 158Growing Great Greens 160Timing is everything: Determining when to plant your greens 160Putting your greens to bed 162Adding nitrogen-rich fishy fertilizer 163Thin and bare it: Thinning your greens 163Watering to win the war against wilt 163Working out the bugs (and other common ailments) 163Your bowl runneth over: Harvesting greens 164Chapter 11: Sweet Corn and an A to T of Other Worthy Veggies 167Sweet Corn and Its Relatives 168Sweet corn 168Popcorn 170Considering Other Great Vegetables 171Arugula 171Asparagus 172Beets 174Bok choi 175Broccoli raab 176Celeriac 176Celery 177Chinese cabbage 178Collards 179Endive 179Escarole 179Florence fennel 180Garlic 180Globe artichokes 183Gourds 183Horseradish 184Kale 185Kohlrabi 186Leeks 186Mizuna 187Okra 187Parsnips 188Peanuts 189Radicchio 190Radishes 191Rhubarb 192Rutabagas 193Shallots 194Turnips 194Chapter 12: Edible Landscapes: Fruits, Herbs, and Pretty Things to Eat 197Sweetening Your Garden: Berries and Trees 198Strawberries 198Blueberries 199Blackberries and raspberries 199Unusual fruits 200Focusing on Herbs 201Basil 203Chives 204Cilantro 205Dill 205French tarragon 206Mint 207Oregano 208Parsley 209Rosemary 210Sage 210Thyme 211Blossoming Edible Flowers 212Part 3: Getting Down and Dirty in Your Vegetable Garden 215Chapter 13: On Your Mark, Get Set Grow! 217Choosing Seeds or Transplants 218Deciding on Your Seeding Method and Decoding a Seed Packet 219Starting Seeds Indoors 220Picking a pot to plant in 221Using a mix that doesn’t include soil 222Sowing your seeds 222Providing the right amount of light and heat 225Watering your seedlings 225Thinning and transplanting indoors 226Feeding your seedlings 227Transplanting Indoor Seedlings and Starter Plants 228Buying starter plants 228Toughening up all types of transplants 229Making the big move to the ground 230Sowing Seeds Directly in Your Garden 232Deciding on a seed-planting method 233Thinning seedlings in your garden 237Chapter 14: Workin’ the Dirt 239Razing Your Garden Spot 239Killing weeds and aggressive grasses 240Stripping sod 242Analyzing and Improving Your Soil 243Distinguishing different types of soil 244Testing your soil 245Adjusting soil pH 247Adding organic matter (aka the dead stuff) 249Turning Your Soil 251Making Your Own Compost 252Building a compost pile 253Avoiding materials that don’t belong in a compost pile 255Moistening and turning your compost pile 255Chapter 15: Maintaining Your Vegetable Garden 257Addressing the Basics of Watering 258Knowing when your veggies need a drink 259Discovering ways to water your vegetable garden 260Conserving water with a few handy tips 266Keeping Your Plants Cozy and Weed Free with Mulch 267Spreading organic mulch 267Laying inorganic mulch 269Deciding which mulch to use 271Determining Important Nutrients Your Soil Needs 272Macronutrients 273Secondary nutrients and micronutrients 274Fertilizing Your Vegetable Garden 275Examining a fertilizer label 275Choosing a fertilizer 276Side-dressing 277Supporting Your Vegetables 281Beans and peas 282Melons and cucumbers 283Tomatoes 283Fighting Weed Wars 283Making a preemptive strike on weeds 284Battling weeds after planting 285Chapter 16: Surveying Some Cool Planting Techniques 287Adding Nutrients and Stability with Cover Crops and Green Manures 288Eyeing the advantages of cover crops 288Choosing cover crops 289Planting cover crops 290Giving Your Plants Some Friends: Companion Planting 291Making Your Garden Work Double Time with Intercropping 292Extending Your Harvest with Succession Planting 293Rotating Crops to Preserve Soil Nutrients and Maintain a Pest-Free Bed 295Planting by the Phases of the Moon 296Building a Hügelkultur-Raised Bed 297Growing Plants in Strawbales 297Adding an Herb Spiral to Your Yard 298Combining Fish with Plants: Aquaponics 299Chapter 17: Keeping Your Plants Healthy 301The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Controlling Pests 302Recognizing the good bugs 302Rounding up the bad bugs 303Considering the best form of attack 309Gardening to Eliminate Diseases 312Avoiding diseases with good habits 312Watching out for common diseases 313Keeping the Animal Kingdom at Bay 315Chapter 18: Containing Your Veggies 319Considering a Few Container Characteristics 320Filling Up Your Container: Potting Soil Made Simple 322Knowing Which Vegetables Grow Well in Pots 323Identifying some common container veggies 323Some bee-u-tee-ful vegetable combos 325Planting Your Veggies in Pots 326Caring for Container Veggies 327Chapter 19: Harvesting, Storing, and Preserving Vegetables 329Knowing When to Harvest 329Putting Away Your Vegetables 332Freezing, Drying, and Canning Veggies 335Saving Vegetable Seeds 336Part 4: The Part of Tens 339Chapter 20: Ten Tools of the Trade 341Watering Hoses and Cans 342Hand Trowels 343Hand Cultivators 343Garden Hoes 343Spades and Shovels 345Garden Forks 345Garden Rakes 345Buckets, Wagons, and Baskets 346Wheelbarrows and Garden Carts 347Power Tillers 348Chapter 21: Ten (or So) Ways to Extend Your Growing Season 351Plant in Clever Locations 352Time Your Planting Wisely 352Protect Plants with Hot Caps 353Add Elegance to Your Garden with Glass Cloches 353Buy or Build Cold Frames 354Drape Row Covers over Veggies 355Place Wall O’ Waters around Plants 356Try Portable Greenhouses and Hoop Houses 357Appendix: Planning Guidelines and Other Resources 359Index 383