Cucumbers are exceptionally easy to grow. These prolific vines will reward even the mildest efforts with a bountiful harvest. Even gardeners without much space will find that cucumbers will thrive on fences and trellises, making them very accessible for almost anyone.

Before You Plant

Choose the Right Cucumber:

• There is a large variety of cucumber plants to choose from, each with its own distinct characteristics.
• Regular cucumbers are long, green, and firm. They are often used in salads or eaten raw.
• Pickling cucumbers mature in the short and stubby phase. Otherwise they resemble regular cucumbers.
• English cucumbers are long, thin, and typically have smaller, less prominent seeds. They are commonly used for vegetable trays and served raw as the skin is not as tough and can be left on.

Find a Suitable Place:

• Cucumbers prefer a lot of sunlight and warm temperatures.
• The cucumber vine will spread quite a bit (up to 6 feet), so if you do not have much room in the garden it’s a good idea to grow them along a fence or trellis. Cucumbers can even be grown in pots when their vines are supported.

Prepare the Soil:

• Before planting, turn compost into the top six inches of the soil. Well-rotted manure is ideal for meeting the needs of cucumbers.
• Soil should be well-drained. Amend clay soils with sand or loam to provide the proper drainage.
• Cucumbers are often planted in raised beds or on hills to allow for better drainage. This process also keeps the soil warmer which is preferable to cucumber plants.

Planting/Growing Cucumbers

What You Will Need:

• Cucumber seeds or seedlings
• Prepared soil
• Peat pots (for transplanting)

How to Plant Cucumbers:

1. To increase the length of your growing season, start seeds indoors about six weeks before the last frost for your area. Use biodegradable peat pots that you can set directly into the garden so you won’t have to disturb their sensitive roots.
2. Sow seeds or plant seedlings directly into the garden after danger of last frost. Follow the suggested spacing on the package for the variety you are planting.
3. Once seedlings have two leaves each, thin them to the one or two strongest plants per hill.

Growing/Pruning Cucumbers

With just a bit of maintenance, you’ll have a bounty of cucumbers in no time!

What You Will Need:

• Water
• Clippers
• Mulch

Steps for Care and Maintenance:

1. Water plants weekly. The cucumber fruit is composed of quite a bit of moisture and needs ample water supply to properly grow.
2. Keep beds well weeded. Weeds compete with the plants for valuable nutrition.
3. Applying mulch around the plants will help keep weeds at a minimum while helping to maintain moisture levels.
4. Pick cucumbers as soon as they reach a mature size for the specific variety.
5. It is best to remove the cucumbers by either cutting them off or twisting and pulling to remove them from the plant.
6. The more often you pick cucumbers, the more your plant will produce.

Additional Tips and Advice

• If you wish to “train” your cucumbers to a fence, trellis, or even to a particular portion of your yard or garden, tend to the plant daily. Cucumbers set down secondary roots as they grow and the plant will wilt when these roots are disturbed. If you need to move a vine, do so carefully and water the plant afterwards, especially if the ground is dry.
• Avoid wetting the leaves when possible. Water the roots of the plant instead.
• Cucumber plants have both male and female flowers, with the female flowers producing. To increase production, pollinate the flowers by using a cotton swab to transfer pollen from the male flower to the female flower.
• If cucumbers wreak havoc on your digestive system, try the Burpless variety.

Popular with both cooks and the health conscious, celery is one of the most versatile vegetables available. While it’s commonly found in the grocery store and used in a variety of preparations, celery is not commonly grown in the home garden. This is due mostly to the fact that it is one of the more difficult vegetables to grow. Celery requires cool temperatures, a long growing season, and lots of water along with plenty of TLC to avoid dry, stringy stalks. If you’re interested in tackling this finicky vegetable in your garden, you’ll no doubt reap the rewards of your effort when you’re enjoying the taste of freshly grown celery which far surpasses that which you purchase at the supermarket.

Before You Plant

Choose the Right Type of Celery:

• There are only two varieties of stalk celery, self blanching and trench, available to grow in the home garden.
• In North America, green or Pascal celery is most popular. It is eaten both raw as well as cooked.
• Other parts of the world commonly use self blanching or yellow celery in their cooking.
• Celery that requires blanching, a process of surrounding the base with dirt so that the stalks do not turn green, are seldom grown in home gardens due mostly to amount of extra work required to grow them.

Find a Suitable Place:

• Finding the right place to grow your celery is essential to a successful crop. Begin by finding an area with full sun (at least 6 full hours).
• The temperature must remain cool in order for celery to grow. Daytime temperatures should be between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Nighttime temperatures should be 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperatures in your area are not close to these ranges, avoid trying to plant celery as it will not be successful. You’re better off just getting your celery at the store.
• This temperature range will need to be maintained for approximately 5 months as celery has a long growing period. If frost comes before the celery is harvested, it will easily ruin the entire crop.

Prepare the Soil:

• The soil should be rich and able to retain moisture as this is a key component for avoiding stringy celery. To increase the richness and moisture retention, loosen the dirt and mix in plenty of organic compost or manure.
• It is best to prepare the soil several weeks prior to planting the seedlings or seeds.
• The acidity of the soil is another factor to consider. Celery requires soil with a pH of 6.0 – 6.5. There are soil testing kits available at most gardening or home supply stores, or you can have your soil tested by a professional to find out if any adjustments are necessary.

Planting/Growing Celery

What You Will Need:

• Celery seeds
• Small pots or containers
• Garden shovel
• Gardening gloves
• Mulch
• Fertilizer
• Fence or garden netting

Steps for Planting and Growing Celery:

1. Celery seeds are difficult to get started and thin out. Due to this, it is recommended that you start your plants indoors (4-6 weeks prior to the last frost) and transplant seedlings when the temperature is right and the plants have had a chance to get a good start. This also allows you to extend the growing season if needed.
2. Begin by placing a few seeds into a small container filled with prepared soil. Celery seeds are very small, try to plant around 5 in each container.
3. Once the seeds begin to sprout and can be thinned, remove all but 2-3 plants from each pot.
4. Thin the pots a second time when the plants become larger to just one plant per pot. Seedlings are ready to transplant when they reach about 3-4 inches in height.
5. When the threat of frost has passed and the soil has been prepared, you are ready to start hardening the seedlings.
6. To harden the seedlings, place them outside during the day, but bring them inside at night until the temperatures are warm enough (consistently above 50 degrees Fahrenheit).
7. After about 15-20 days of hardening the seedlings, you will be ready to transplant your seedlings to your garden.
8. Carefully remove the plants from the container and plant them 12 inches apart and slightly deeper than they were in the containers. Rows should be spaced 2 to 3 feet apart.
9. Place a fence or gardening net around the area, along with a wind chime or wind-catcher to help deter birds and other garden pests.
10. Water regularly to ensure that the soil stays moist. This is one of the most important steps when growing celery as it helps produce the full crunchy stalks that make for great snacking.
11. Applying a layer of mulch around the plants will help to retain moisture and keep weeds to a minimum.
12. Celery also requires frequent fertilizing. Apply a fertilizer every 2-3 weeks throughout the growing season.
13. Be diligent in removing all weeds as they will compete with the celery for both water and nutrients that are essential to a successful crop.

Harvesting Celery

What You Will Need:

• Clippers

Steps for Harvesting:

1. It will take approximately 120 to 140 days for the celery to mature.
2. Once the celery has reached a height of approximately one foot or more, it is ready to be harvested. The outer stalks will most likely be tougher and can be used for soups or stews. Inner stalks are more tender and better for eating raw.
3. If you would like just a couple of stalks, remove them from the outer parts of the plant, being careful not to disturb the rest of the plant. Allow the inner stalks continue to grow and develop.
4. You can also remove the entire plant by cutting it off at the base, keeping the stalks intact, or remove the root as well.
5. Wash the celery in cold water and refrigerate. Celery will stay fresh for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator.

Additional Tips and Advice

• Celery is susceptible to several diseases including leaf spot and blight. Bacteria can also cause rotting in the center stalks. Any of these problems should be treated quickly to avoid damaging the entire crop.
• If the stalks of the celery are splitting, it is a sign that the conditions are too warm and/or too dry. Keeping the soil moist is a necessity to proper growth.
• Frost is very dangerous to celery and plants should be protected at all costs. If there is a threat of frost at night, cover the plants to protect them.
• Stems can be blanched by keeping the light from reaching them. This can be easily accomplished by tying the center stalks together with a piece of string. This helps reduce some of the bitterness of the plant. You can also build up the soil around the plant about a month before harvesting to blanch the plant.
• Beware of pests such as slugs, aphids, leafhoppers and celery flies that can attack and destroy a celery plant.
• Enjoy the rewards of all your work and attention to your precious celery plants!

With their rich orange color, sweet taste, crisp texture and overall versatility, carrots are a popular and well-loved vegetable. However, because they are a root vegetable, many people assume they are difficult to grow. But that’s simply not true. Carrots are a relatively easy vegetable to grow, hardy enough for all zones, and come in a number of varieties to suit every taste. Consequently, they make a great crop for the beginning and experienced gardener alike.

Before You Plant

Choose the Right Type of Carrot:

Choosing the right variety depends on your individual tastes and type of soil in your garden. Generally, varieties are classified by length and color. There are too many varieties to list here, but here are some of the more popular, along with some basic soil guidelines:

• Short varieties, such as Thumberline or Little Finger come as small as two inches, and are generally as wide as they are long. There varieties, because they are more compact, generally have a higher sugar content and are therefore quite sweet. They do well in heavy clay soils.
• Medium length, or “half-long” varieties, such as Danvers (5″-6″) or Chantenay (4″-5″) also do okay in heavy soils, but prefer looser, well-drained soil. They will have a lighter color, later maturity and can tend to taste more woody, rather than sweet.
• The longer varieties, such as Nantes (6″-7″) and Imperator (8″-10″) do best in rich, well worked and well drained soil rich in compost. These long, fat carrots are the most popular of home gardeners, and are generally the variety you would see on your grocer’s shelf.
• While most people think of carrots as orange, if you like to step out of the box a bit, carrots come in other colors as well, such as the Red Samurai, the Purple Haze and the Yellow Carrot. These tend to be long, some growing up to 11 or 12 inches, and prefer rich, well worked and well composted soil.
• “Baby carrots” (i.e. the type you see in the “Cello” bag, are a shorter type of carrot and are generally more difficult to grow. They are not recommended for the home gardener.

Find a Suitable Place:

• Choose a spot that gets full sun. Carrots will tolerate a small amount of shade, but generally don’t do well in heavily shaded areas.
• Carrots do well in all zones, but are cool weather vegetables, and thrive in temperatures of between 60 and 75 degrees. Therefore, in the warmer zones (generally Zones 8, 9, 10 and 11) you will want to plant quite early since hot temperatures will adversely affect the taste and texture of the carrot.
• Carrots also do well grown in containers or pots, so long as the pot or container allows for at least 12 inches of soil

Prepare the Soil:

• Depending upon the variety of carrot you’ve chosen, the soil may need to be worked well and heavily composted. Even when planting in heavy or clay soil, carrots will do better with good compost (organic or commercial) mixed into the soil.
• Make sure that the soil in the area where you are planting will accommodate a depth of up to 12 inches. Otherwise, if you’ve chosen a longer variety of carrot, its growth will be stunted.
• Some of the shorter varieties will do fine in rocky soil. However, we recommend that you remove larger rocks, stones, branches and other debris that may inhibit growth; remember, the carrot is a root, and will grow down, so anything that gets in its way may stunt its growth or result in a deformed carrot.

Planting/Growing Carrots

What You Will Need:

• Carrot seeds
• Garden shovel
• Gardening gloves
• Short Sticks (such as popsicle sticks)
• Fence or garden netting

How to Plant and Grow Carrots:

1. Since carrots are root vegetables, they do best when the seed is planted directly into the soil, rather than started indoors and transplanted into the soil when greens sprout.
2. Work your compost into your soil with the garden shovel, turning and mixing the soil until the compost is evenly mixed into your planting area.
3. Direct seed carrots into a well-prepared soil.
4. Seeds should be sown in rows spaced about 12 to 18 inches apart, at a depth of about ¼ inch.
5. Do not compact the soil on top of the seeds as this will inhibit germination and growth.
6. Mark the rows with the short sticks so that you will know where you have planted the seeds.
7. Place a fence or gardening net around the area, along with a wind chime or wind-catcher to help deter birds and other garden pests.
8. Water sparingly until the seed sprouts and takes hold (about 10-15 days for most varieties).

Maintenance/Harvesting Carrots

What You Will Need:

• Clippers
• Garden hose
• Mulch

Steps for Maintenance and Harvesting:

1. After the seedlings have emerged, thin them to one inch apart. You can either use the clippers to cut the green part off at the base of the stem, or gently pull the entire carrot out of the ground, being careful not to disturb the other nearby plants.
2. When the tops of the carrots grow thicker, thin them to about two to three inches apart. Again, you can either use the clippers to cut the green part off at the base of the stem, or gently pull the entire carrot out of the ground, being careful not to disturb the other nearby plants.
3. Be generous with the mulch throughout the growing season, cultivating it lightly into the soil at the base of the leafy stem.
4. Weed around your carrots regularly as an excess of weeds can sap vital nutrients away from your carrot root, and inhibit growth. Be careful when pulling weeds, however, so as not to disturb the carrot root.
5. When cultivating the soil around your plant, either to weed or to mulch, keep it shallow so as not to disturb the root’s growth.
6. If the top of the root pokes through the soil (i.e. you see orange bulging up under the green leaves), cover it with mulch; exposing the root to the sun will result in a bitter, tough carrot.
7. Keep your carrots well-watered through-out the growing season, but cut back as they reach maturity, cut back on the water to avoid having the root split.
8. Harvest your carrot after the appropriate time for the variety you have chosen (the time frame should be indicated on your seed packet, but generally between 65 and 75 days). It is okay to pick carrots a little earlier than indicated on the seed packet if you prefer to have a more tender and juicy vegetable.
9. When harvesting your carrots, push away some of the soil so that the root is exposed. Grasp the carrot by the root (not the greens), push down slightly, wriggle the carrot in a circular motion to loosen it, and pull up firmly. If the carrot won’t budge or the soil is too hard to wriggle, try wetting the area down thoroughly before harvesting.

Additional Tips and Advice

• To extend your harvest you may want to do both a spring planting and an autumn planting, depending upon your climate. Since carrots grow underground, they can withstand colder temperatures longer than most garden vegetables, so your harvest may even extend into the winder months.
• If you have a fireplace or wood burning stove, try sprinkling some of the wood ashes over the planting area before you sow your seeds; the extra potassium will boost your crop.
• Avoid fertilizers that have high nitrogen content; while they may encourage leaf growth, they may inhibit good root development.
• Watch out for the Carrot fly, the most common nemesis of your carrot crop. In the maggot stage, this small white worm will eat along the outside of your carrot and severely damage the root. Pesticides are available to help control this problem and can be found at your local home improvement or gardening store. Garden nets will also help. They are effective and environmentally friendly, but can be a bit pricey and labor intensive.
• While the cliche is that rabbits love carrots, they are more likely to feast on the leafy vegetables in your garden. Rather, your carrots are more likely to suffer the ravages of other pests, such as mice and moles, who will burrow underground and nip at the carrot roots. You can find various traps and repellants effective in getting rid of mice and moles and other such pests at your local home improvement or gardening store. Also, check your local yellow pages to find service providers in your area specializing in animal trapping and removal.
• When storing fresh carrots, always remove the green top (it will draw moisture from the carrot and cause it to shrivel), place in a plastic bag, and place in the vegetable crisper at 32 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit. Use the carrots within 2 weeks for best flavor.
• When storing fresh carrots, keep them away from fruits (especially apples) as fruits give off ethylene gas while ripening and will cause the carrots to get bitter.

Corn is one of the most popular vegetables grown in home gardens. Nothing beats the taste of corn on the cob that was picked just minutes before eating. Fortunately, this summertime treat is easy to grow and harvest. Here’s what you need to know:

Before You Plant

• Corn requires plenty of space to grow. You will want a minimum of 3 rows about 4-5 feet long with 3 feet between each row. This spacing allows for proper pollination of the plants.
• Determine how long your growing season is and how much corn you wish to produce. Maturity time ranges from 65-95 days, and each stalk of corn produces 1-2 ears of corn.
• There are many varieties of sweet corn available including yellow, white and bi-colored. Each type has its own special taste and look. The most popular remains the Silver Queen. Though it takes longer to grow, it is one of the sweetest varieties available.
• Corn prefers full sun and rich soil for the best growth. It likes hot weather and can handle dry conditions as long as they are not continual. While corn may be able to handle light scattered frosts, plan your planting time so that harvesting can take place before the cold season begins.
• Ideally, the soil pH should be 6.0 to 6.8. Your local cooperative extension office can test your soil for you, or you can buy pH test kits from hardware stores.

How to Plant Corn

What You Will Need:

• Gardening mulch
• Spade
• Rake
• Gardening trowel
• Corn seeds
• Fertilizer
• Manure
• Fish emulsion
• Water

How to Plant:

1. If you are planting your corn from a seed packet, read the instructions on the packet before planting. If any instructions on the packet contradict this article always follow the advice on the packet pertaining to your particular variety of corn.
2. Generally, corn grows best in rich, well-worked soil. Mix the appropriate amount of gardening mulch (see the back of the bag for recommended amount) into the soil with the spade, removing any weeds as you do.
3. Rake the soil, removing large rocks and leveling it out as you go.
4. Plant seeds about 1/2 to 1 inch deep, 4-6 inches apart in rows, covering with loose soil. Place a small stake at the front of the row where you planted the seeds so you will know where they are. When plants reach 3-4 inches in height, thin to 12 inches between seedlings.
5. Water the seeds well after planting and again in 2-4 days, unless there has been some rain. Water periodically during the growing season, especially if the weather conditions are dry. Ideally corn should receive about one inch of water every week. Water corn at the bottom of the stalk to prevent washing away the pollen on the top.
6. Fertilize your corn plants every 2 to 3 weeks with a general purpose fertilizer.
7. Corn consumes lots of phosphorus and nitrogen. If the leaves of the corn start to turn yellow, there is a lack of nitrogen which can be rectified with fish emulsion or manure that has been well cured.
8. If you’d like fresh corn throughout the summer, plant new rows of corn every two weeks. However, keep in mind that corn planted in warmer weather will grow faster than those planted in the cool spring.

Harvesting Corn

• Corn typically takes about 2-3 weeks to mature after the silks appear.
• Corn is ready to be harvested when the husk turns dark green, kernels have filled out all the way to the top of the ear and the silks have dried and turned brown.
• If you are unsure if an ear is ripe, pull the husks down a little to look at the top of the ear. If the kernels are not yet filled out, close the husks again and tie with a twist-tie to keep bugs out.
• When removing ears, it’s easiest to pull downward with a twisting motion. Holding onto the stalk with your other hand will help prevent the stalk from breaking.

Additional Tips and Ideas

• Corn stalks can be used for several things after they are finished producing corn. Among the top choices are fall decorations and food for livestock.
• Corn loses taste quickly after being picked because the sugars instantly begin turning into starch.
• Corn fungus is a common disease of corn consisting of a blackish/purplish glob. It’s edible, but you want to prevent it from spreading to other plants. Remove and dispose of the stalk.
• Corn ear worms and silkworms are common pests to corn. Applying mineral oil to the silks after pollination will suffocate the ear worms. You can also apply Sevin dust to the silks or in the air to ward off insects.
• If you have other visitors such as deer, raccoons or birds feasting on your corn, consider installing an electric fence or other distractions such as shiny pinwheels, scarecrows or shiny windsocks.

Broccoli is a vegetable that is fairly easy to grow and packs quite a nutritional punch. It is high in vitamin C and beta carotene, has a good dose of calcium and iron, and may even help guard against certain types of cancer. Plus, it is low in calories. Broccoli from your own garden tastes much sweeter and fresher than the broccoli normally found on the grocery store shelves.

Before You Plant

• Although broccoli will grow just about anywhere, keep in mind that broccoli prefers cool weather. While certain varieties of broccoli are more heat tolerant than others (i.e. Green Comet is considered the most heat tolerant by many), cooler temperatures (summertime average of 85 degrees or below) tend to give the broccoli a fuller, more robust flavor.
• Broccoli also prefers full sun, so make sure you keep that in mind when picking the perfect spot to plant your broccoli.
• Broccoli can be seeded in your garden as soon as the ground can be worked. To get a jump on things, start your seeds indoors about 3 to 4 weeks before the last frost. As soon as your garden soil can be worked for planting, you can transplant the seedlings. Since it is a cool weather vegetable, seedlings will not be harmed by spring frost.

Planting Broccoli

What You Will Need:

• Gardening mulch (amount depends on the size of your garden)
• Spade
• Rake
• Gardening trowel
• Broccoli seeds or seedlings
• Water

How to Plant:

1. If you are planting your broccoli from a seed packet, read the instructions on the packet before planting. If any instructions on the packet contradict this article always follow the advice on the packet pertaining to your particular variety of broccoli.
2. Generally, broccoli grows best in rich, well-worked soil. Mix the appropriate amount of gardening mulch (see the back of the bag for recommended amount) into the soil with the spade, removing any weeds as you do.
3. Rake the soil, removing large rocks and leveling it out as you go.
4. Plant seeds about 1/2 to 1 inch deep, 2-3 feet apart, covering with loose soil. Place a small stake next to the area where you planted the seeds so you will know where they are. When seeds sprout, thin to 15 inches between seedlings.
5. If you are planting seedlings that have already been started, plant about 15 inches apart. Dig a small hole, about 2 inches deep, with your trowel.
6. Gently but firmly grasp the seedling by the base of the stem and lift it out (dirt and all) from the starter container. Place the root base of the seedling (with dirt still around it) into the hole, making sure the root ball is completely within the hole. Add about 1 inch of water into the hole, and fill in with soil, patting firmly around the base of the seedling, tamping it securely into the ground.
7. Keep the soil moist, but not saturated, during the growing season. Do not water the tops of the broccoli plants as this will encourage premature flowering.
8. Fertilize your broccoli crop every 3 to 4 weeks with a general purpose fertilizer.
9. Make sure to weed your garden, removing all weeds in the area of the broccoli. Not only will weeds inhibit growth, but they can encourage disease and pests.
10. Once the seed has sprouted (or the seedling is placed in the ground), it can take anywhere from 55 to 100 days to reach maturity, depending upon the weather conditions and the variety of broccoli (the time to maturity should be indicated on the packet of seeds). Your first harvest should be a large, central head, which should be cut with 5 or 6 inches of stem, once the head is fully developed with tight green buds. If you wait too long, the buds will loosen and separate and small yellow flowers may start to appear; the broccoli is still edible, but will be rather bitter.
11. Once you have harvested the central head, smaller side shoots will develop for future harvest. Again, harvest when the head is fully developed with tight green buds, cutting off the head with about 5 to 6 inches of stem.
12. You can usually continue to harvest broccoli for several weeks, although the side shoots may become progressively smaller as time goes on.

Additional Tips and Ideas

• While broccoli is generally resistant to many diseases, it is susceptible to Club Root, a fungus carried by other plants. This is one of the reasons it is important to weed. It is also another good reason to start your seedlings rather than buy ones already started.
• Broccoli is extremely susceptible to certain insects, in particular, aphids and cabbage loopers (larva stage of a white moth). With regard to the loopers, as an alternative to insecticides, try placing a screen or insect netting over your plant so that the moth can’t get in to lay her eggs. With regard to aphids, instead of insecticide, try using a garlic spray (garlic and water).
• Once you’ve harvested your broccoli, store it unwashed in a loose or perforated plastic storage bag in your vegetable crisper. If you don’t refrigerate your broccoli, it will become fibrous and woody.
• Don’t store your cut broccoli in water, as it will loose its water soluble nutrients and become limp.
• Fresh broccoli should be refrigerated and used within 3 to 5 days of harvesting. If broccoli goes past that 5 day mark, it may look fine, but it will taste poorly and won’t pack the same nutritional punch.

Bell peppers are one of the most popular vegetables grown in home gardens. The bell pepper is native to Central and North America and is easy to grow. There is now a much wider variety of peppers to choose from with different colors and even different shapes. Whether you’re looking for green, yellow, orange, red or even purple;  here’s what you need to know.

Preparing the Plants

• Peppers like hot weather. They are easily damaged from any cold weather and frost is fatal. If you live up north, utilize items such as plastic mulches, row covers, hoop houses and anything else you can find to quickly grow this wonderful plant before the weather gets cooler.
• You will want to start the seeds indoors first and transfer them to your garden when the soil is warm and the weather is right.
• Plant the seeds in pots about two inches in size. Larger pots will allow the roots to develop better and offer a more stable plant when it’s time to transfer them to the garden.
• Place seeds about 1/4 inch deep in moistened, lightweight mix. Keep them slightly moist and warm. Plants will germinate in about 6-8 days. Thin the plants to one per pot after the first true leaves have appeared.
• Using bottom heat or heat lamps to keep the soil warm will promote better and quicker germination.
• Do not water seedlings directly. Rather, immerse the tray or pots with holes in a pan of water about 1/2 inch deep. Allow the seedlings to drink for a few minutes, but do not let them become soaked.
• Seedlings need lots of light. Supplement with fluorescent lights if necessary to avoid tall, weak plants.

Planting Your Peppers

What You Will Need:

• Good topsoil, compost, and rotten manure
• Spade
• Rake
• Gardening trowel
• Pepper seedlings
• Mulch
• Fertilizer
• Water

How to Plant:

1. Many gardeners plant transplant their seedlings too early. Wait until the soil is between 70-85 degrees. If the weather is still too cold, wait until it warms up. Cold weather can lead to the plant slowing down or becoming stunted.
2. Determine a good spot to plant your new plants outside and prepare the soil. Bell peppers need lots of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. The area should be well-drained and receive lots of sun. Prepare the soil by adding good topsoil, compost and rotted manure. You want a pH level around 7.0 (neutral).
3. Rake the soil, removing large rocks and leveling it out as you go.
4. Place the seedlings that you started indoors 18-24 inches apart. Dig a small hole, about 2 inches deep, with your trowel.
5. Gently but firmly grasp the seedling by the base of the stem and lift it out (dirt and all) from the starter container. Place the root base of the seedling (with dirt still around it) into the hole, making sure the root ball is completely within the hole. Add about 1 inch of water into the hole, and fill in with soil, patting firmly around the base of the seedling, tamping it securely into the ground.
6. Surround each plant with mulch to warm the soil and help keep the soil moist.
7. To improve the quality of your peppers, place a small amount of fertilizer around each plant early in the growing season. Place the fertilizer about 4 inches from the stem and add water to work it into the soil.
8. When watering your plants, you want to keep a consistent moistness to the soil, but do not allow it to get soggy during the growing season. If the plants do not get enough water, the bell peppers will have a bitter taste. If you use a black plastic mulch, you will need to water the plants more frequently.
9. As the plants grow and develop, switch from mulch to a fertilizer that is high in phosphorous and potassium. Avoid giving the plant too much nitrogen as this can results in a great bushy plant, but few peppers will develop.

Harvesting Peppers

• Bell peppers generally take 70 to 90 days to mature.
• Determining when to harvest your bell peppers depends upon the type of pepper you are looking for. Most bell peppers are green when they are immature, but can still be harvested at this time (as long as they are of edible size).
• Peppers are mature when they become their final color. The color depends on the variety and can be red, orange, yellow, green or purple.
• When removing the pepper from the plant, use scissors or shears to clip them off rather than pulling them off.
• You can encourage new growth and a continuous production of fruit by regularly harvesting the bushes. The plants will continue to produce until the weather gets too cold.
• After you have picked your peppers, wash and dry them thoroughly. They will last up to three weeks if stored at 45-55 degrees with 90-95 percent relative humidity.

Additional Tips and Ideas

• Peppers are self-pollinators. Sometimes bees or other insects will cross pollinate them with other plants. Because of this, keep hot and sweet peppers far apart. It will not affect the current crop, but if you keep the seeds, it will show up in the genetics the following year.
• Several insects like to feast on pepper plants. Spider mites, aphids and occasionally borers are the main culprits. Others include the Colorado potato beetles, tarnished plant bugs, flea beetles, and hornworms. Fortunately, it’s not a frequent problem and can easily be cured with an organic insecticide or dust.
• Common diseases for bell pepper plants include anthracnose, blossom end rot, bacterial spot, early blight and verticillium wilt.
• Protect pepper plants from frost at all costs. Cover plants if frost is expected. An easy cover is a 5-gallon bucket. Just place them on top through the night and remove when the air warms up during the day.
• Peppers are sensitive to ethylene gas (a gas given off from other fruits and vegetables as they ripen). Do not store them with other fruits and vegetables that produce ethylene gas, such as apples and strawberries.
• Do not plant bell peppers with other Solanaceae plants such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, etc. as they are susceptible to the same diseases.

Asparagus is a lovely, good for you vegetable, but it is not the easiest to grow in your garden. Do not attempt to grow an asparagus crop unless you have a lot of patience and a lot of time. To reiterate, a lot of patience and time. Most likely, you will not be able to harvest and eat your asparagus until three years after you first plant it. So keep that it mind before you promise to bring fresh asparagus from the garden to next year’s Thanksgiving dinner.

If you aren’t scared away by the wait time, the rest of the tasks required for asparagus growership are fairly simple. It will grow fairly well in any area of the country, and once your plants are established, they can provide you with delicious produce for up to a decade or more.

Prepare the bed

It’s best to get the bed ready for your plants at least a couple months before you want to put the plants in the ground. Even better, start preparing in the fall for the next year’s spring.

You will need an area that is relatively sunny (either full or partial sun will do) and where the asparagus will not get in the way of any other plants or vice versa. You also want the area to be pretty flat and weed-free. Once you’ve found a plot that you can use, prepare the soil to make your future plants happy by adding leaves, grass or other compost to the mix. And check the soil’s pH. Asparagus grows best in soil with a pH of about 6.5. Consult an employee at your garden center for advice on what you should use to alter the pH if it is too high or to low.

Obtain your plants

When spring comes around – think late March or early April, around the time of the last frost – it’s time to get ready to plant. Think three years is a long time to wait for your crop? Then you don’t even want to know how long it will take if you start from seed – okay, at least another year. Instead, go to the garden center and ask for asparagus crowns. These are basically roots, or you can think of them as a starter kit for your plants. (If you still insist on starting with seeds, grow them inside in pots until they develop into established plants).

There isn’t much you have to worry about when choosing a variety of asparagus to buy. Pretty much the only crowns you will find for sale stateside are green asparagus. There are also white and purple asparagus plants, but they are very uncommon this side of the Atlantic.

Planting

Since your asparagus plants will be around for a while, you will want to give them adequate spacing to grow larger. Dig your holes about six inches deep and at least a foot apart from each other.

As you place each asparagus crown in its hole, be careful that the roots are not too bunched up, and cover them with two to three inches of soil. Do the same for the seedlings that you grew inside in the pots, but skip the un-bunching process as it is not needed.

Note that you do not want to completely fill in the holes right away (though you do want to make sure the crowns are covered). The plant needs a bit of room to breathe. As you water and fertilize as needed over the next several weeks gradually fill the holes further until they reach base level.

If you started with crowns, you should begin seeing your asparagus plants poking out of the ground within a week or two.

*You shouldn’t have to water your plants more than once a week, and even less frequently if you get a lot of rain.

Water and wait

Since asparagus plants are perennials, as long as you water them regularly they should grow through the spring and summer and then lie dormant in the fall and winter before returning to their former glory again. Just continue to weed the bed and fertilize the plants with compost as needed for the remainder of the first season. When the leaves and stalks of the plant die as it gets colder, leave them be in the bed to give the plants the added fertilizer.

Fertilize, trim, then water and wait

When the spring comes around again, you should see your plants come back to life. (If they don’t, you may have to start again with new seeds or crowns). Don’t get too excited though, this is not yet the time for you to harvest (though you can cut a few spears off if they grow to be a half inch thick or larger and at least three inches long). Just continue to water your plants and fertilize them and prune the plants only as needed.

Finally, the harvest

The third spring is the time to see all your hard work and patience pay off. You should see a good harvest of asparagus this year. You can pick any asparagus that reaches the size mentioned in the previous step. However, you still want to be cautious with your young plants, so decide on a three-week window and only pick during this time.

The next season and any subsequent ones, you can continuously pick your asparagus for a period of up to two months, giving you a chance to acquire dozens of spears. Before you know it you will have so much asparagus you will end up giving it away to the neighbors.

Purchasing packs of tomato plants is more convenient than growing them from seeds, which requires having space indoors in sunny locations to put them and supervising them for three months. But starting them from seeds is cheaper and not difficult, and you’ll be able to buy varieties not available at nurseries.

• Plants or seeds you purchase should be labeled as being resistant to various diseases.
• Whatever you purchase should also be the variety best for your area. It needs to be a good fit for your climate because big, healthy plants produce better-tasting tomatoes.
• Tomatoes are either determinate or indeterminate. Determinates vines, more compact and bushy, grow to a determined point and stop. Indeterminates get bigger and need support but, like determinates, can also grow in containers if a tomato cage or trellis is used.
• Indeterminate varieties are usually preferred where summers are long and warm, while determinates often perform best in cool climates or in situations where you want a concentrated harvest for canning, freezing or drying.
• Heirloom tomatoes date back many years and come in various colors. Their flavor is typically outstanding, but they may not grow well outside the areas where they were developed.
• Tomatoes have simple growing needs: good soil, plenty of sun, and water.
• The healthier the soil, the better the tomato. Provide great mulch and natural fertilizer by planting a cover crop of hairy vetch two months before winter weather sets in. Just before the tomatoes are transplanted in the spring, either till the vetch into the earth or mow it first and collect some of the trimmings to use as a surface mulch before tilling.
• When planting, it’s important to firmly set the root ball of each transplant in soil that underlies the layer of vetch-enriched soil, not in it.
• Tomatoes do best in only slightly acidic soil, so you may also need to add lime to your compost fertilizer if a soil test indicates your soil is overly acidic.
• Frequent seaweed sprays prolong the life and health of plants.
• Water, critical for producing high quality tomatoes, must be applied on a steady basis. Drying delays maturity, reduces yield, and lowers the quality; excessive water, especially in soils with poor drainage, reduces plant growth, increases the incidence of diseases, and dilutes tomato flavor.
• Healthy tomato plants produce lots of foliage, which leads to lots of flavor.
• You can begin planting tomato seedlings when the temperature is a consistent 50° F, though plants won’t begin to set fruit until the overnight low is regularly above 55°.

Insects are usually minor problems. Tomato hornworms are big enough to pick off by hand, and many pests bypass tomatoes because they find them so unpalatable. Where other bugs do wander into the garden, a garlic-based spray or a neem oil extract can be used. Fungi, however, remain a big problem.

Harvest when tomatoes are fully ripened and just starting to soften. Never refrigerate tomatoes but store them in a dark, warm place. Fresh tomatoes start to lose flavor below 55°. Eat them within three days of picking, cook them into sauce, give them to family and friends, to a local shelter, soup kitchen, or food bank.