Aline Clement
by Aline Clement
Picture this: Fresh cucumbers, string beans, tomatoes and collard greens harvested this morning and on your table only hours later. Spring is almost here; time to get out and enjoy the fresh air and exercise that gardening provides. Could this picture include you?
If this is your year to give vegetable gardening a try, the first step is to pick a location. Keep in mind that vegetables need at least six hours of sunlight, soil with good drainage, a water source, and periodic feeding (additional nutrients are a necessity for vegetables). If space is limited, you can still get your hands into the dirt and enjoy the pleasures of growing your own food in a “pocket garden” along your hedges or in containers on a sunny porch. The University of Florida’s “Minigardening: Growing Vegetables in Containers” (www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh032) is a great reference.
My own gardening picture includes planting lettuce in pots on my steps and lining a walkway with broccoli plants. I’ve also had good results with a raised garden bed where I could sit on the edge to harvest my beans and cucumbers as well as pull those pesky weeds.
Once you’ve chosen your site, you’ll need to prepare the soil. A rake or hoe will help open up the ground so you can remove any unwanted plants and weeds. Enrich the soil with rotted leaves, peat moss or composted cow manure. This should be accomplished a month to six weeks in advance of planting, so take this step as soon as possible.
If gardening on the porch or patio is more your style, you can plant your container garden much sooner. That’s because pots filled with soil from your local garden store are ready for immediate use. Also, if there’s a late freeze (and believe me, this can still happen) you can more easily protect young veggies in containers by covering them or moving them to a more sheltered spot. Pick pots or tubs with drainage holes. Five-gallon pots are ideal, but any size will work if it’s large enough to support the mature plant. Add your soil, and you’re ready to plant!
Another step is to choose what vegetables you want to grow. The University of Florida’s “Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide” (www.edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021) has lists of the varieties that do well here in Northeast Florida. It also tells you how many days it will take from planting to harvest, from a low 20 days for radishes to 110 days for eggplant. You can start many of your veggies from seed indoors in January and February, but save that for next year. We’re into March, so you might want to consider purchasing healthy vegetable plants from your local nursery. Plant them in your garden or container, spacing them as the gardening guide suggests, give them a good drink of water, and you’re set!
After planting, your list of chores is relatively simple: provide water and fertilizer as needed, keep the area free of weeds and pests, resist the urge to use pesticides – remember, you’re going to eat these plants! Pick worms or insects by hand or wash them away with a hose. To help retain moisture, mulch with pine straw, leaves, or even damp newspaper held down with a few rocks to keep it from blowing into your neighbor’s yard.
Finally, sit back and enjoy your results—fresh and delicious vegetables you’ve grown yourself! Won’t that be the best picture yet?
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