Growing your own vegetables can be healthy and rewarding. Fresh vegetables can be harvested from the garden all through the growing season and frozen and canned for the winter months ahead. It just takes a few, easy steps.

Preparation

Vegetables need exceptionally good drainage to thrive. Creating a raised bed is the easiest way to give your vegetable plants good drainage and to create irrigation channels for watering.

What to plant - Easy vegetables for beginning gardeners

Most vegetables can be easily grown from seeds. However, the beginning gardener may want to begin by using established plants from the local garden center.

This also helps the new gardener learn about plant spacing the plants as well as helps to avoid planting too many vegetable plants.

When to plant - From Spring to fall have fresh vegetables during the entire the growing season.

By staggering your planting schedule, you can have fresh lettuce, beans and peas maturing at regular intervals throughout most of the growing season. Knowing the best times of year to establish each particular vegetable plant will give you just the right amount of produce for your family's needs and tastes.

Sun Exposure, Water and Fertilizing

Depending on the type of soil you have used for your vegetable garden spot, it may not be necessary for you to fertilize your vegetables at all. Learning the signs of plants that need fertilizer helps to make sure that your vegetable plants stay healthy and well-fed so that they produce the best crop possible.

Proper watering, not too much and not too little, and the right amount of sun exposure are also vital to the growth and crop yield of vegetable plants.

As your family and friends begin to taste and discover the fresh, homegrown flavor of your garden vegetables, you may want to consider adding more space to your garden. Beyond the delicious taste, the better health that comes with garden vegetables, which will certainly add even more enjoyment to those folks that you share with. Bom appetite!

Tom Straub