Growing Great Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits & Berries in the Home Garden
By Marie Iannotti, About.com Guide
Vegetables
Few of us vegetable garden out of need any longer, unless you count the need for a sun-warmed tomato. You can vegetable garden in a pot on the patio or a half-acre vegetable patch. Either way the rewards are great. Here are some tips for coaxing the best out of your vegetable plants.
- Starting a Vegetable Garden
- How Much to Plant
- Vegetable Growing Tips
- Tomato Tips (More Tomatoes, below)
- Container Vegetable Gardening
- Top Heirloom Vegetables
- Cool Season Vegetables
- Companion Planting
- Extending the Growing Season
- Harvesting Vegetables - When to Pick
Tomatoes, Totally
How many gardeners grow vegetables because they can't buy a tomato that tastes the way they remember a tomato tasting? Tomatoes rule in the vegetable garden and this section is devoted to ensuring that you get the most from your tomato plants.
- How to Grow Great Tomatoes
- How to Grow a Tomato (video)
- 10 Tips for the Best Tomatoes
- Pruning Tomatoes
- Tomato Diseases
- Tomato Fruit Problems
- Tomato Blossom Drop
- Getting Green Tomatoes to Ripen
- How to Save Tomato Seeds
- Tomato Recipes
Herbs & Edible Flowers
We tend to think of culinary herbs when we hear the phrase 'herb gardening,' even though many herbs aren't even edible. Yes, herbs add spice to the vegetable garden, but they also add scent and texture. All this and herbs are one of the easiest groups of plants to grow. They're virtually pest-free and very low maintenance.
- Herbs A to Z
- Growing Herbs on a Windowsill
- Herb Garden Design
- Planting an Herb Garden (video)
- Kitchen Herbs
- Pairing Herbs with Food
- Drying and Freezing Herbs (video)
- Edible Flowers
- Companion Planting Herbs
- Pruning Woody Herbs
Fruits & Berries
Growing fruits and berries is an investment in time and effort, but it's worth it. Some fruits require more labor than others. Dwarf trees make it possible to grow fruit trees in containers and there's always room for a strawberry pot. Fruit belongs in every backyard garden, even if it's only going to feed the birds.
- Fruit Trees Not Bearing Fruit?
- Pruning New Apples Trees
- Pruning Overgrown Apple Trees
- Growing Blueberries
- Growing Strawberries
- Pruning Raspberries and Blackberries
- Growing Figs
- June Fruit Drop
- When to Harvest Fruits
- How to Preserve Fruits and Vegetables
Preserving the Harvest
It never fails that everything starts to ripen at once. If you can't eat it all yourself, don't go sneaking into your neighbor's yard after midnight to leave him a bag of cucumbers and zucchini. Local food pantries would welcome your abundance. And then there are ways to preserve the harvest for later in the year, when your vegetable garden is but a memory.
Organic Gardening
Many gardeners are put off by the phrase "organic gardening" because they think it means they'll have to settle for wormy vegetables and fruits, and even worse, they'll have to do a lot more work for less reward. It may be true that organic gardening takes a little more work up front, but mostly it's just common sense. Once you get your garden in harmony with nature, there's less work and and worry all around.