Growing Great Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits & Berries in the Home Garden
By Marie Iannotti, About.com Guide to Gardening
Nothing tastes as good as home grown, fresh-picked fruits and vegetables. It doesn't take a lot of skill or space to grow something delicious in the backyard. Here's a collection of great tips and ideas to turn your home garden into a gourmet's delight.
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.
- Growing Tips for Specific Vegetables
- Harvesting Vegetables - When to Pick
- Tomato Tips (See more in the section on tomatoes, below)
- Container Vegetable Gardening
- Top Heirloom Vegetables for the Backyard Gardener
- Cool Season Vegetables
- Kids in the Vegetable Garden - Getting Creative
- Companion Planting - Pairing Plants for Damage Control
- Pest Control in the Vegetable Garden Using Worm Compost
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 Growing Great Tomatoes
- Tomato Diseases
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.
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.
- Home Orchard Fruit Trees Not Bearing Fruit?
- Apple Trees: Pruning New Trees
- Apple Trees: Pruning an Overgrown Apple Tree
- Strawberries - Growing Strawberries in the Home Garden
- Pruning Raspberry and Blackberry Plants
- Figs - How to Manage and Identify Fig
- 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.
- How to Preserve Fruits and Vegetables
- Drying Herbs - How to Dry and Store Your Fresh Garden Herbs
- Freezing Herbs - Preserving Herbs by Freezing
- Drying & Freezing Herbs (video)
- Herb Flavored Vinegars
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.
