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Vegetables Gardening - Profiles, Growing Tips and Ideas

Learn which vegetables will grow best in your area with suggestions on vegetable varieties, heirloom vegetables, increasing the harvest from your vegetable garden and organic pest control. Then get the most from your vegetable garden with techniques like intercropping, succession planting and season extenders.
Asparagus - Growing Asparagus in the Home Garden
Asparagus is a sure sign that spring is here and the gardening season has begun. Asparagus,one of the few perennial vegetable crops, is a favorite garden vegetable around the world, in shades of green, white and purple. Here are some things to know for growing great asparagus in your backyard vegetable garden.
Beans - Quick Guide to Growing Green Beans in Your Garden
Often called green beans or string beans, the common garden bean can be both stringless and colors other than green. But it’s the green bean that everyone recognizes as one of the most frequently prepared vegetables. Hot, cold, even raw, string beans are versatile in the kitchen and very prolific producers in the garden. They are also easy to grow. Here are some tips.
Beans - Tips for Growing a Fall Crop of Beans
Fall grown bean crops can be more tender and tasty than beans grown in summer's heat. If you have a couple of months yet before a frost, you have a second growing season for beans. Here are some tips for growing better beans in the fall vegetable garden.
Beets - How to Grow Beets in the Home Garden
Beets are a fast growing crop that can be grown just about anywhere. Although beets are known as a root crop, all parts of the beet plant are edible. Grow beets in the garden in spring and fall and have them to eat all year.
Brussels Sprouts
Brussels Sprouts are a long season crop that actually tastes better when hit with a slight frost. So although they are a late harvest, they are a relatively long one. Because of their fondness for cool weather, Brussels Sprouts are a fall crop in warmer climates. Here are more tips for growing Brussels sprouts.
Cabbage - Growing and Caring for Cabbage in the Vegetable Garden
Cabbage can be grown easily in the home vegetable garden. In fact, two crops a year of cabbage are possible. There are hundreds of varieties to choose from. Cabbages are classified by head shape, round and flat-head being the most commonly seen, and come in white, green and purple.
Cabbage and Kale Growing Tips from the National Garden Bureau
Cabbage and kale are among the hardiest and most nutritious vegetables a home gardener can grow. They are also very easy to grow, especially for home vegetable gardeners in cooler climates. Beautiful, in shades of pale yellow to wrinkled steel blue and ranging in flavor from sweet and crisp to tangy, cabbage and kale are versatile vegetables and there’s a variety suited to almost every garden.
Cool Season Vegetable Gardening - Fall and Winter Greens & Reds & More
Cool weather vegetable gardening offers many advantages, not the least of which is the colorful choice of crops that can be grown, like 'Bright Lights' chard, ‘Red Russian’ Brussels sprouts, ‘Osaka Purple’ mustard greens or any of the many other suggestions offered here by Cathy Wilkinson Barash for the National Garden Bureau. Extend your vegetable gardening season and try something new. Here are some growing tips and variety selections.
Corn - Growing Garden Fresh Sweet Corn
Sweet corn, fresh from the garden, is a treat like no other. Although corn is a long season crop and can take up crucial space in your garden, it is easy to grow and the rewards far out weigh the costs. The real challenge to growing sweet corn is having the patience to wait for it to ripen and beating the critters to the harvest.
Eggplant - Growing Eggplant in the Vegetable Garden
Eggplants are sun and heat loving vegetables, in the same family as tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. Eggplant actually does come in a small, white egg-shaped variety. Most Americans have never seen one, so the name seems inappropriate. There is actually a great variety of eggplants, any much easier to grow in the home vegetable garden than the large, oblong, purple varieties we are used to.
Eggplant Varieties - Choosing the Right Eggplant for Your Area
There are hundreds of delicious varieties of eggplant you won't find in the produce aisle. Some are even egg shaped. Here are some tips for choosing and growing eggplant in the home vegetable garden
Gourds - Growing a Variety of Ornamental Gourds
Growing gourds is easy and extremely rewarding. By drying ornamental gourds, you can keep them intact indefinitely and use them to make bird houses, containers, pots and silly, whimsical decorations. However gourds will require a good amount of space to run and they will probably take the entire growing season to mature. But growing gourds is something that the entire family can take part in and enjoy. Here’s how easy it is.
Gourds - How to Dry or Cure Gourds
Ornamental gourds grow as easily as zucchini. But unlike zucchini, there is no limit to what you can do with gourds. By drying ornamental gourds, you can keep them intact indefinitely. Drying gourds is an easy process, but it takes time. Here’s all you need to know about how to dry gourds.
Kale - Growing Kale in the Home Vegetable Garden
Growing kale is an easy and very rewarding crop for the home gardener. This cooking green is as beautiful to look at as it is tasty to eat and it attracts very few pests or problems. The secret to growing great kale is cool temperatures and plenty of water. Here’s how to have your best crop ever.
Lettuce - Growing Fresh Salad Greens in Your Vegetable Garden
Lettuce is one of the few vegetables we eat fresh and uncooked. Shouldn't it be as fresh as can be. Salad greens are easy to grow and there are literally hundreds of varieties. That pale green head you see at the grocery store is just the tip of the iceberg. Here's a look at growing and choosing the best lettuce.
Okra - Growing Okra in the Backyard Vegetable Garden
Okra is grow for its long, pointed seed pods, which are used in gumbos and soups. Okra is a warm season vegetable that can easily be grown in home vegetable gardens. Its flowers resemble hibiscus and okra makes a nice ornamental plant as well.
Onions - Grow Your One for the Best Flavor
Growing onions takes patience, since all the action takes place under ground. If you can provide a rich soil and a full day of sun, you can grow a good sized harvest of onions for eating fresh and storing for later. Here are some tips for choosing and growing the right onions for your home garden.
Pea Shoots and Tendrils - Growing Peas for their Edible Shoot…
The tender, crispy shoots and tendrils of young pea plants make wonderful edible garnishes and snacks.
Peas Please - Growing Garden Fresh Peas
Peas are one of those vegetables that must be tasted fresh from the garden to truly be appreciated. Whether they are shelling, snap, snow or sugar pod peas, their moment of glory is rather brief in the garden. Learn how to make the most of the peas you grow.
Peppers, Hot - Turn Up the Heat in the Vegetable Garden
Chili peppers have the distinction of being welcome I both vegetable gardens and flower borders. While hot peppers may seem exotic, they are very easy to grow almost anywhere, even indoors. The assortment of hot peppers, whether Jalapeno, Serrano, Cayenne, Habanero or Thai, offers something for every garden and every pallette.
Potatoes - Growing Potatoes in the Home Garden
Growing potatoes in the home garden can be easy, if you learn to avoid the pest and disease problems. Potatoes are one of those mystery crops that develop out of sight, underground. You never really know how you’re doing until you harvest - and then it’s too late. Here are the basics on how to grow potatoes.
Potatoes - Help Growing Potatoes Organically
Growing potatoes requires a lot of faith. You can’t see what’s happening underground until it’s too late. And what’s above ground is often a magnet for all kinds of vegetable garden pests. If you never want to see another Colorado potato beetle, you might want to give ‘King Harry’ a look. Now you can grow potatoes organically without carrying a jar of soapy water into the potato patch with you.
Pumpkins - How to Grow All Kinds of Great Pumpkins
Growing pumpkins may seem as American as apple pie, but they have been grown around the world for centuries. Although orange is the commonly know color, pumpkins come in white, red, pink and blue and can be smooth, bumpy, oval, flattened or round. All pumpkins grow easily from seed and transplants. Here are some great varieties to try and some tips to grow pumpkins in what ever space your home garden can provide.
Pumpkins to Carve or Pumpkins for Cooking
The choice between carving pumpkins and cooking pumpkins is actually very practical. When choosing a carving pumpkin, you're looking for a nice shape and a pumpkin that will last several days, once carved. The choice of a cooking pumpkin is all about taste and texture. Here are some tips for choosing the right pumpkin to carve or cook.
Radishes - Growing Radishes in the Home Vegetable Garden
Even the humble globe-shaped radish offers a good amount of variety. They can be round or oblong, hot or mild, red, pink, purple, white or bi-colored. Radishes are quick growing and fairly easy, if you follow a few radish growing guidelines.
Rhubarb - A Perennial Vegetable
Is rhubarb a vegetable? A fruit? An ornamental plant? It’s a very ornamental vegetable that is usually prepared and eaten much like a fruit. All that and it’s perennial in many areas. Rhubarb is a cool season crop that is grown for its fibrous leaf stalks, which are a wonderful sweet-tart treat. These tips should help you get your rhubarb started right and growing well.
Small Space Vegetable Gardening
You don’t need a farm to grow fresh vegetables, herbs and fruits. You don’t really even need a garden. Plant breeders know that after taste, home gardeners want a high yield in a small space. So they’ve been developing more varieties that can grow in a small foot print or even live in containers all year long.
Spinach - An Early Season Crop
Leafy vegetables always taste better fresh from the garden. Spinach, like lettuce, grows best in the cool weather of spring and fall. Spinach also grows extremely quickly, which means you don’t have to wait long to enjoy it, but you’ll also have to keep planting new spinach to extend the harvest. Tips for growing spinach in the home garden.
Squash, Summer: Easy, Prolific & Best Fresh From the Garden
Summer squash should be in every home garden. Summer squash grows easily, tastes best freshly picked and comes in varieties from acorn to zucchini. The only trick to growing great summer squash is choosing the right varieties. There are dozens to try. But summer squash doesn’t stop at zucchini. This profile of summer squash should convince you to try a few vines in your home garden.
Squash, Winter Squash - Growing Winter Squash In All Its Variety
Growing Winter squash can intimidate home gardeners. The vines can take over your garden and the fruits take all season to mature. Luckily there are new varieties on the market that are easier to grow and take up less space. Acorn squash, Hubbards, spaghetti? What is a winter squash ad how do you grow them?
Sweet Potatoes - How to Grow Sweet Potatoes in the Home Garden
Can you grow sweet potatoes at home? Except for being a long season crop, sweet potatoes are very easy to grow. Even the sweet potato leaves are edible. If you have a small garden, bush sweet potatoes might be a better choice for you. Here are some tips for growing sweet potatoes in any home garden.
Tomato Tips - 10 Tips for Growing Great Tomatoes
Tomato plants know what they like and they grow well when you give it to them. Growing the best tasting or the earliest tomato is a great source of pride for the home gardener and here are 10 tips for growing terrific tomatoes.
Ten Vegetables You Can Grow Without Full Sun
Only mushrooms will grow in the dark, but there are a few edible plants that can take some shade and keep producing.
Zucchini - Growing Climbing Patio Zucchini in a Small Space
There's never enough space in the vegetable garden. Thankfully breeders are developing varieties with a more compact form - without sacrificing yield. There are a number of 'patio varieties' being bred that make it possible to grow in containers things not traditionally thought of as container plants. ‘Black Forest’ Climbing Zucchini, stretches the concept of container vegetable gardening.
New Vegetable Seed Varieties for 2006
Seed shopping is always a hard choice. These new varieties being introduced for the 2006 growing season show promise of making the choise even harder.
Rating Vegetable Varieties
Can’t decide which vegetable seeds to try next year? Cornell Cooperative Extension has recently developed an interactive web site for vegetable gardeners to share their thoughts on the best seed varieties to grow.

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