Grow Your Own Vegetables and Herbs

April 3, 2009

The hottest gardening trend this year is growing your own vegetables and herbs. This is a trend that I can truly hang my hat on and embrace. Growing up on a farm, near LeSueur our nearly one acre garden provided a plethora of fresh vegetables from early spring to late fall. Now I have my approximate 5’x12’ raised garden bed in Minneapolis that provides some produce during the summer months. For those of you that have been following this blog for a few years, you’ll know that I installed this raised bed a couple of years ago. For those of you reading this for the first time, I will provide the details of how to install a raised vegetable bed in a future blog posting.

Growing your own is fun, easy and inexpensive. If you have kids, they will love it too. Just remember to grow things that they will eat.

A few things that you must keep in mind to grow your own vegetables:
The area must have full sun – meaning eight or more hours of direct sunlight. No exceptions.

You must have good soil, rich in organic matter (compost, manure, etc.). Sandy soils and heavy clay soils will not be good for growing vegetables.
Have a water source nearby. Vegetables need consistent and even watering. Having a hose accessible will make this much easier.

Here are some links to more on growing your own vegetables and herbs.

Tomato Basics

Sprout Savings in Your Backyard

5 No Fail Veggies

How to Grow Your Own Vegetables

Make your day and weekend a good one.