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Written by Greeniac24   
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Tuesday, 01 July 2008

Grow Your Own Vegetables

If you have the time and patience, you can grow your favorite vegetables right in your backyard! Growing your vegetables outside in your garden utilizes the natural outdoor resources: sun, air, and soil. Vegetables aren't much harder to grow than other plants in your garden, so why not grow your own food? Instead of buying produce that traveled thousands of miles, burned mass amounts of fossil fuels, and utilized gallons of pesticides, you can cultivate your own vegetable patch and have the convenience of fresh, organic produce just footsteps away!

BENEFITS for the Environment:

Most people don't realize this, but agriculture sold in the United States is one of the main consumers of fossil fuels. In the United States, the average food travels between 1,500 - 2,000 miles, and that doesn't even include the fossil fuels spent in pesticides, tractors, processing, cool storage, and packaging. Fossil fuels have many harmful environmental effects, such as global warming, air pollution, water and land pollution, and thermal pollution. The massive pesticide use also degrades the soil, water, air, and surrounding wildlife. Lastly, industrial farms and their use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) have led to a 75% decrease in genetic diversity of agriculture over the last 100 years, which, in the event of an outbreak of a disease, could lead to widespread crop-loss.

BENEFITS for Your Wallet:

When you plant your own vegetables, you'll get a lot more bang for your buck. Often, grocery stores don't offer much variety of vegetables because they only pick the ones, prematurely at that, which are hardy enough to last through the long transport. When you grow your own vegetables, they will be fresh and tastier. Once you start growing different varieties, you'll be able to learn which crop breeds and flavors are most appealing to you. And, if you're worried about gas prices going up, you probably also need to worry about your food prices going up, since market produce is so dependent on oil.

BENEFITS for Your Health:

Everyone knows that eating vegetables is good for you due to their low-calorie content and high nutritional value. However, most of the vegetables you find in your grocery stores contain small amounts of toxic pesticides. The long-term health effects of these are still unknown, but are likely dangerous for children to eat because of their higher vulnerability and smaller body mass. On the other hand, when you plant your own garden, you can make your vegetables more kid-safe by not using pesticides or only using non-toxic, eco-friendly pesticides. In addition, if you're tired of the FDA failing to regulate large industrial crops, which have resulted in the disease outbreaks in spinach and peanuts, growing your own vegetables is ideal. Since you harvest your own vegetables from your own backyard, you can closely monitor and prevent any contamination from taking place.

Cost: Low

Growing your own vegetables is very inexpensive. All you need are a few seeds, some place to put them, and some water. Not only are you getting delicious vegetables and herbs, but also a garden for your backyard! It will be both aesthetically and appetizingly pleasing!

Time and effort: Moderate to High

Vegetable plants have the same basic maintenance needs as your other plants around the garden, just a little weeding and watering. However, because they are young and intended to be edible, you may have to attend to them a bit more often.

Growing Your Vegetables in a Garden:

Materials:

          Soil
          Water
          Hoe
          Stakes
          String

1. Plan the location: Find the sunniest place in your backyard to create your vegetable garden. Try to pick a place in your garden that you often walk by. Don't plant a garden in an area that gets too much wind or too much water accumulation, since these can hurt the plants. Your vegetable garden should also have a high fence around it protecting from wandering animals. If you think your vegetables will need a lot of pest and weed control, plant the seeds in rows so that you can easily access them without disrupting other seeds. Try to plant them close to the north-south line so they get the most even sunlight. If you want to maximize the space in your yard, create a dense square layout with the seeds either overlapping or separate from each other, which also saves you water, fertilizer, and compost. Vine crops such as squash, melons, and cucumbers are best planted on hills, putting 4-5 seeds in 12-inch circles that are well spaced apart.

2. Getting the soil right: Check out the soil you intend to use in your backyard. Make sure it's well-draining and crumbly. Soil that is very compact and hard to dig in shouldn't be used. Remove any rocks and weeds. Adding compost or composted animal manure can help get rid of weeds that are hard to remove. Break up any clumps in the soil. Measure your soil acidity with a pH test kit. Soil acidity of pH 6 or 7 is best. Fertilizer with lime (calcium carbonate) can help raise the pH whereas sulfur can be used to lower the pH. Compost can also help condition the soil. If it becomes too difficult for your soil to meet these standards, you can consider building a raised bed in which you can pour prepackaged soil.

3. Choose your vegetable seeds: Buy your vegetable seeds early in the year when there is the best selection. There are many different vegetables to choose from, but there are a few important factors to keep in mind. What seeds grow best in your climate? Are they disease or pest resistant to the diseases and pests common to your area? How long do they take to harvest? Most importantly, which vegetables sound appealing to you? Some easy ones are tomatoes, beans, peas, broccoli, capsicums, lettuce, carrots, and zucchini. Avoid certain combinations which inhibit each other: Potatoes with tomatoes or squash, beans and onions, broccoli and tomatoes, carrots and dill. Here are some websites to help you:

Choosing vegetable seeds and learning how to plant them: Cornell Vegetable Growing Guides
Choose favorite vegetable seed variety: Cornell College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
More specifics on how to plant the seeds: Garden Helper

4. Planting the seeds: Water the soil thoroughly the day before planting the seeds. Plant more seeds than you intend to grow, since you can always thin them out later. To make sure they are planted evenly, you can mix the seeds with sand and use a shaker. Follow the directions for the seeds, usually printed on the packet. For climbing plants like peas and beans, add trellises or stakes. If you don't have a hill for vine crops, create mounds on your level ground. Label the plants with tags or markers so you can differentiate between them as they grow. If you are planting in rows, put stakes at each end and tie a string between them and use this as a marker to dig a v-shaped furrow with a hoe. Put the seeds in, cover them with soil, and water again. Mulching between the rows is also good for the soil and allows a pathway for you to walk on. Be sure to plant perennial vegetables such as asparagus, rhubarb, and artichoke away from the rest of the seasonal vegetables, so you can rotate the seasonal crops later.

5. Maintaining your vegetable plants: Water your seeds daily. If this is too much to do by hand, buy a soaker hose and turn it on every day. When you can see the seeds first germinate, if there are too many seedlings competing for sun and soil, thinning out some seedlings will benefit the rest. If your plants start to have pests, you can pick them off yourself, use pesticides, or grow a companion plant. If you want to use pesticides, pick out non-toxic or low-toxicity ones so your vegetables are safe to eat. Companion plants are flowers or plants that attract the predators of whatever pests are bugging your vegetables. A list of common pests and the companion plants you should use is Table B on Grinning Planet.

6. In the long run: After harvesting your vegetables, compost the leftover plant matter so that you can reuse it next year. Perennial vegetables will last all year, so maintain the soil by fertilizing it every fall. Otherwise, for your seasonal vegetables, rotate the crops by types so they are in a different position every year. Every few years, let the soil lay fallow, letting it rebuild and replace nutrients.

Growing your vegetables in containers:

If you have an apartment or if there just isn't a lot of space in your backyard, you can grow your vegetables in pots. Also, if you want fresh vegetables in the long winter, you can grow some vegetables inside in addition to the ones you have outdoors.

Materials:

          Container
          Pot or Tray
          Plastic Wrap
          Seeds
          Soil
          Wheelbarrow
          Water

1. Preparing the container: Choose a few containers from the wide variety of clay, wood, plastic, metal, and ceramic pots on the market. They should be at least 6-12" deep to leave enough room for the roots. Make sure there are drainage holes, which you can make on your own with an ice pick on the sides, a fraction of an inch from the bottom. For growing outdoors, you can put the containers anywhere sunny and convenient to access. For growing indoors, put them in front of a south-facing sunny window, on window sills, tables, or shelves. Make sure these spots get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight each day. The plants need around 14-16 hours of light overall each day, which can be satisfied with a mixture of sunlight and florescent lights. Don't crowd the pots too closely together, since they need some circulating fresh air. Keep a window open a crack or have a small fan, but keep them away from drafts.

2. Getting the soil right: To make things easier, just buy prepackaged potting soil mixes from the store, making sure it's well-draining and crumbly. You can also prepare your own soil mix with a wheelbarrow, using one part potting soil, one part sand, and one part peat moss. For hanging containers, use one part perlite, one part peat moss, and one part vermiculite.

3. Choose your vegetable seeds: If your indoor temperatures are around 30-60° F, most leaf crops will grow well there like, lettuce, endive, and swiss chard. For warmer indoor climates, try fruiting plants like tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, cucumbers, and beans Other vegetables to try are eggplant, green onions, radishes, squashes, and carrots. Almost all herbs are perfect for indoor containers because they are so compact. For more details about each of the vegetable season and planting methods, refer to the websites for choosing your vegetable seeds for an outdoor garden.

4. Planting the seeds: Many seeds are best grown in a small pot, then transplanted over to the permanent pot. If so, fill a small baking pan, tray, or pot with your potting soil mix and place the seeds ¼" or ½" under the surface. Cover with a clear plastic wrap and leave it in a sunny spot for 4-8 weeks or until they develop 2-3 leaves. Then, the day before you intend to transplant them, use a knife to cut the soil into blocks, taking great care to cut entirely around the roots. Then, place them in a container full of soil mix and water the blocks thoroughly. For seeds that can be grown directly, fill the container with soil mix and plant them according to the directions on the packet.

5. Maintaining your vegetable plants: Container plants mean you need to worry about weeding less, but you may need to water them more, about every day or every other day, since the pots don't hold moisture as well, Marjoram, oregano, sage, bay, and thyme should be left alone to dry out between each watering. Lemon balm, mint, and scented geraniums need to stay moist. For most other herbs, just water them when the soil starts to dry out. You can mix fertilizer right into the water with which you water the plants. If not, add fertilizer every two weeks. If you do have pesticides, use non-toxic or low-toxicity pesticides to keep your plants safe to eat.

6. In the long-run: If you've followed all the directions and your plants still aren't growing well, the physical features of the plant may provide some clues. Tall and spindly plants can be a sign of too little sunlight or too much nitrogen. Try moving the plant to a sunnier place or feeding it less often. Plants that are discolored and yellowing from the bottom may be over-watered or have low fertility levels, which can be corrected in the mixture of the water or base solution. If you're giving the plant enough water but it still wilts, add holes to the bottom of the container and use mixes with more organic matter to increase aeration. Leaves that look burning may be due to high salt concentrations, in which case leach the container with water regularly. Stunted, purplish plants can mean they are too cold or need more phosphate. Move the container to a warmer area or add phosphate level to the solution. If the leaves are distorted and have holes, you probably have insects and should use an insecticide. Plants that have spots, dead, or powdery areas may have a disease. Remove the infected areas and add fungicide.


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