Vegetable Gardening Page 2

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  Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932715

  ISBN: 978-0-470-49870-5

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  About the Authors

  Charlie Nardozzi has worked for more than 20 years bringing expert gardening information to home gardeners through radio, television, and the printed page. He delights in making gardening information simple, easy, fun, and accessible to everyone. His energy, exuberance, and love of the natural world also make Charlie an exciting public speaker and presenter. He currently is the senior horticulturist and spokesperson for the National Gardening Association (NGA). He also writes the National News as part of NGA's online publications, conducts media interviews about gardening and NGA, and provides horticultural consultation to NGA programs.

  For 12 years Charlie was an editor with National Gardening magazine, writing stories on a variety of gardening topics from roses to tomatoes. He also has written for national magazines such as Organic Gardening, authored the first edition of Vegetable Gardening For Dummies in 1999 and The Ultimate Gardener in 2009, and contributed to other books such as Gardening All-in-One For Dummies (2003) and the Better Homes and Gardens' Yard and Garden Owner's Manual (Meredith Books, 2004).

  Charlie's skills as a garden communicator extend beyond the printed page, however. In 2005, he was the host of PBS's television program Garden Smart, which reaches more than 60 million households. He also has been a gardening expert on many nationally syndicated television shows, such as HGTV's Today at Home and Way to Grow, Discovery Channel's Home Matters, and DIY's Ask DIY. He has appeared on QVC and the Home Shopping Network as well. At his home in Vermont, Charlie co-hosts the program "In The Garden," which offers weekly gardening tips on the local CBS affiliate television station, a weekly call-in gardening radio show on a local AM station, and gardening commentaries on public radio. He also hosts national and international gardening tours.

  The National Gardening Association, founded in 1972, is a national not-for-profit leader in plant-based education, esteemed for its award-winning Web sites and newsletters, grants and curriculum for youth gardens, and research for the lawn-and-garden industry. NGA's mission is to advance the personal, community, and educational benefits of gardening by supporting gardeners, communities, and teachers with information and resources. For more information, please visit www.garden.org.

  Dedication

  I'd like to dedicate this book to everyone who has ever thought about vegetable gardening or tried to grow some of their own food. I particularly want to dedicate this book to my wife, Wendy, who is the best partner in the garden and in my life.

  Author's Acknowledgments

  I'd like to thank Mike Baker and Stacy Kennedy for sticking with this book idea and pursuing it so it finally became a reality. A big thanks goes to Georgette Beatty for her keen insights when reading this book and her organizational ability to keep the ball rolling. I appreciated Jessica Smith's thoughtful questions as the copy editor, especially because she's a budding vegetable gardener herself! Jim Schmidt kept me honest in the horticultural realm with his suggestions as the technical reviewer. Kathryn Born provided excellent updated illustrations. Suzanne DeJohn, my colleague at NGA, provided many beautiful color photos of vegetables and gardening techniques that make the words come to life.

  Publisher's Acknowledgments

  We're proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.

  Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

  Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development

  Senior Project Editor: Georgette Beatty

  (Previous Edition: Kathleen M. Cox)

  Acquisitions Editor: Stacy Kennedy

  Copy Editor: Jessica Smith

  (Previous Edition: Kim Darosett, Gwenette Gaddis, Wendy Hatch)

  Assistant Editor: Erin Calligan Mooney

  Editorial Program Coordinator: Joe Niesen

  Technical Editor: James C. Schmidt

  Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker

  Editorial Assistant: Jennette ElNaggar

  Art Coordinator: Alicia B. South

  Cover Photos: Brand X Pictures

  Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)

  Composition Services

  Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker

  Layout and Graphics: Christin Swinford, Christine Williams

  Special Art: Illustrations by Kathryn Born, M.A.

  Proofreader: Toni Settle

  Indexer: Joan Griffitts

  Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies

  Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies

  Kristin Ferguson-Wagstaffe, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies

  Ensley Eikenburg, Associate Publisher, Travel

  Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel

  Publishing for Technology Dummies

  Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User

  Composition Services

  Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

  Introduction

  Everyone loves good food. Fresh, tasty, nutritious food is our birthright. And what better way to have great food than to grow it yourself? You don't have to be a farmer to do so either. Whether it be a plot of land in the yard that's tilled up to grow vegetables, a few vegetables planted amongst your flowers and shrubs, or containers loaded with attractive, edible choices, growing your own food is a satisfying and rewarding activity.

  Vegetable gardening isn't rocket science either. Heck, people have been growing their own vegetables for thousands of years. Like any pursuit, you just need some direction, good advice, and inspiration to get started. Vegetable Gardening For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is for anyone who already grows vegetables or who has ever dreamed of growing some of their own food. All it takes is some resolve to get started. You're already halfway there just by picking up this book!

  About This Book

  In this book, you can find all the basic information you need to grow a vege-table garden. It's great to read the book from front cover to back cover, but each section and chapter is complete in itself. So feel free to browse the vegetables or topics that you want to focus on first. I've been vegetable gardening my whole life, so throughout the book I try to impart some practical wisdom that's easily accessible. I also include some special tips and tricks that I've learned over the years and information on hundreds of vegetable varieties, many of which are beautiful to look at as well as tasty to eat. Of course, none of this matters if you can't grow the vegetables successfully. That's why a large part of this book is devoted to building soil, starting seeds, maintaining the garden, controlling pests, growing through the seasons, and harvesting. I like to encourage happy, healthy, successful gardeners who are willing to experiment, make mistakes, and enjoy sharing their bounty with their friends, family, and neighbors.

  Conventions Used in This Book

  To help you navigate this book, I include the following conventions:

  All references to temperature are in degrees Fahrenheit. As a reminder, I include the label with the first reference in each chapter. After that, I save space (and paper!) by leaving it out.

  Variety names for each vegetable are indicated by single quotation marks. These are the common names you'll see when buying vege
table seeds and plants.

  Italics highlight new terms (which I define right away) and the Latin names of vegetables, which I use only when necessary.

  Boldfaced text highlights the keywords of bulleted lists and the action part of numbered steps.

  Web addresses appear in monofont.

  When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that happened, rest assured that I haven't put in any extra characters to indicate the break. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn't exist.

  What You're Not to Read

  I may think every word I've written on vegetable gardening in this book is intriguing, but I realize you have a life and may want to just get on with it. If you want only the basics, keep in mind that sidebars (in shaded gray boxes) and information tagged with the Technical Stuff icon aren't necessary to your basic understanding of vegetable growing and can be skipped, if you really have to.

  Foolish Assumptions

  Before I even put one word to the page, I was thinking about who may read this book. Here's what I assume about you, the reader:

  You want to create a vegetable garden that's filled with healthy, nutritious, beautiful plants to eat.

  You want to understand the basics of vegetable gardening and, for experienced gardeners, find new tricks to help you garden better.

  You want to grow vegetables in an environmentally friendly manner.

  You want to try vegetable gardening even if you only have a deck or patio to grow a few plants.

  You want to share your love of gardening with friends, family members, and neighbors because you feel that if more people grew some of their own food, the world would be a better place.

  How This Book Is Organized

  Like all For Dummies books, this book is broken into parts. Each part has a number of chapters related to a theme. Here's an overview to get you oriented with the organization.

  Part I: Digging Into the Basics of Vegetable Gardening

  Vegetable gardening is about more than just growing tasty food. You can find many other reasons and benefits of vegetable gardening, and I explain them in this part. I also cover information you need to know to plan your garden, such as determining the importance of sun and soil, deciding what to grow, and exploring some sample garden designs.

  Part II: Vegging Out

  Each chapter in this part explores vegetables grouped by botanical family (such as the squash family) or commonality (such as root crops). Each chapter is loaded with the best varieties to grow and specifics on how to grow them. I also provide information to help combat specific pests that may attack each crop. Chapter 12 is all about other edibles, such as berries and herbs. Food comes in many forms, and berries and herbs are some of the easiest and most reliable producers in your yard.

  Part III: Getting Down and Dirty in Your Vegetable Garden

  Now for the good stuff: building your garden and getting it growing. In this part, I talk about starting seeds; improving your soil; maintaining your garden with proper watering, fertilizing, and mulching; using some extra-cool gardening techniques, such as succession planting; applying pest and disease controls; growing in containers; and harvesting and storage. Whew, that's a lot of great information!

  Part IV: The Part of Tens

  This book wouldn't be a For Dummies book without the always-popular Part of Tens. The final chapters in this book look at the ten best tools to get the job done and nearly ten great season-extending techniques that enable you to garden earlier in spring and later into fall.

  Icons Used in This Book

  Like all For Dummies books, this book has icons that highlight great tips, warnings, and other specific topics. Here are the ones in this book:

  Are you interested in growing plants in containers? If so, look for these icons throughout the book.

  One of the best parts of vegetable gardening is involving kids. This icon marks plants that kids love or special gardening tips you can try with your little ones.

  This icon highlights important information that helps you garden better. Don't forget this stuff!

  If you want to go a little deeper in your knowledge of a plant or technique, read information marked with this icon.

  This icon highlights information that saves time and money. Even experienced gardeners can learn something from these tidbits!

  Sometimes you can make mistakes in the garden, and that's okay. To help minimize your mistakes, this icon alerts you to potential pitfalls.

  Where to Go from Here

  Start with the basics by taking in the information in Part I about seeds, plants, soil, your site, and garden planning. Then dive into your list of dream vegetables that you want to grow in your garden. Come back to the book periodically throughout the growing season to find out more about pest solutions in Chapter 17 and season extending in Chapter 21. And don't forget to keep harvesting the fruits of all your fine work.

  This is just the beginning of your vegetable garden experience. Many resources are available for vegetable gardeners (the appendix can get you started). The key is to get started and keep learning. After tasting one of your first homegrown peas, you'll be hooked for life.

  Part I

  Digging Into the Basics of Vegetable Gardening

  In this part . . .

  In this part, I get your vegetable gardening juices flowing. You first find out the environmental, social, and health reasons for growing some of your own food. Then you delve into planning your plot; I talk about the right sun, soil, and growing conditions for your vegetable garden and provide ideas for garden designs along with some samples.

  Chapter 1: Vegetable Gardening 101

  In This Chapter

  Understanding why people grow veggies

  Beginning with the basics of planning

  Surveying some great vegetables to grow

  Keeping your garden growing well

  I've been vegetable gardening my whole life. I've followed my grandfather picking stones out of the potato patch, weeded my mother's garden, taught my daughter to plant her first seeds, and built cold frames to maximize the amount of food my wife and I can grow in our yard with edible landscaping. I can attest that once you start, vegetable gardening becomes part of your life. It's not surprising that it grows on you.

  In this chapter, I start you off with basics on site preparation, and I tell you what to grow and how to grow it. All the details that follow in subsequent chapters build on the information you need to know to be a successful vege-table gardener. Along the way I hope you are inspired to get some dirt under your fingernails and start your own garden. Dig in!

  Why Have Your Own Vegetable Garden?

  Over the years people had drifted away from vegetable gardening in the spirit of progress and affluence. However, more recently people are once again realizing that growing their own food, although not as critical to survival as it once was, is an important part of a healthy body, mind, spirit, lifestyle, and community. More people are again turning to vegetable gardening as a means of food and as a hobby. Even the president and first lady have installed a vege-table garden at the White House. Vegetable gardening is officially back!

  Who can resist the flavor, smell, and texture of food literally picked minutes before you eat it? It you've ever sunk your teeth into a sun-warmed, ripe tomato and felt the juices and flavors explode in your mouth, you'll know what I mean.

  But vegetable gardening isn't just about taste. It's about safe food that's produced close to home. It's about knowing what has been sprayed on that food. It's about feeding your friends and family nutritious food that's high in vitamins and antioxidants (cancer-fighting compounds). It's about connecting with your neighbors and community as you experiment with ethnic dishes using exotic ingredients grown in your not-so-exotic backyard. It's about reducing pollution and global warming by not buying produce that's shipped hundreds of miles to
your local grocery store. Finally it's about reclaiming your ability to grow some of your own food, even if it's a container of basil, to have a little more control in your life.

  If you're interested in finding out more about the popularity and benefits of vegetable gardening, be sure to check out Chapter 2.

  The Basics of Planning a Veggie Garden

  When's the best time to start vegetable gardening? Right now! Here are the basics on how to decide where to grow yours:

  Find a spot close to the house that you walk by daily so you don't forget about your project.

  Find a spot that gets at least 6 hours of direct sun a day.

  Find a spot that has great soil.

  Keep your new garden small. You can be just as productive in a small raised bed garden, container, or small kitchen garden as you would be if you tilled your whole backyard. Start small, be successful, and then get bigger (if you want).

  What should you put in your new garden? Well, you have many vegetable options when it comes to deciding what you can grow, so it's going to be tough deciding which ones to plant. The most important rule I can tell you is to grow what you like to eat. Yes, folks, this is all about taste. So no matter what people say about how easy beans are to grow, don't grow them if you hate to eat them. (Of course, after tasting fresh green beans from the garden, you may change your tune.) Grow a mix of varieties of favorite vegetables that you and your family will love. Also, try a few different ones to stretch your imagination.

  Chapter 3 has plenty of pointers to help you plan your garden wisely.