I recommend amending your soil every
year for your vegetable garden to give your vegetables the best start to
the growing season. We recently built a new fence and had to move my
vegetable garden and replaced all of the soil. The best raised-bed
gardens include a mix of topsoil and compost such as pine bark or wood
chips, which allow for good water and nutrient retention and excellent
drainage.
If you need alot I would recommend a trip to Lynsgo for their
vegetable blend which contains compost with manure. It is a good
general mix for all veggies. If you just need a couple of bags I like
the Doctor Earth Organic Vegetable Blend that includes earthworm
castings, kelp, fish bone meal and lots of rich organic nutrients.
I love the farm to
table trend and it inspires me to grow my vegetables more and more.
Here are 10 edible plants that you can use this year from your garden to
serve at your table. You do not have to plant them in a vegetable
garden necessarily but think sunny locations for these plants.
Lettuce- Incredibly
easy and great for salads. They grow really fast and you can try lots
of varieties throughout the growing season. The biggest mistake is not
harvesting them in time and they get dried out.
Tomatoes- Needs full sun, great soil and water. More details about tomatoes to follow.
Zucchini- It needs
extra space or can be trained on a trellis. You will be surprised how
many zucchini one plant can produce. Think Italy and fried zucchini
blossoms at home.
Beans- They are fast growing and best trained on a trellis or pole.
Chives- They are really easy to maintain and you just trim it and it keeps growing.
Basil- You need to
pinch the flowers off to make it become fuller. I place them between
the thyme and oregano and the pest problems seem to decline. Last year,
I tried purple basil which was excellent.
Thyme- Lots of
varieties to choose from and really easy year around. They have a
lovely flower and can be placed anywhere. Some formal gardens use it as a
border.
Oregano- A great herb
for cooking and available year around. Last year, I had so much from
three plants that I was thinking I was going to need to set up a booth
at a farmers market.
Rosemary- you only need
one since they can grow so big over the years. I only have one tucked
in a corner and it is 3 ft tall and used year around.
Strawberries- These
usually don’t make it into the house in my house because I am snacking
on them on the way in. They produce year after year if there are no
frost issues.
Tomatoes are becoming available
everywhere including Costco at the moment. I would suggest waiting
until later in the month for those of you who live in the San Mateo area
when it becomes a little warmer at night. Here are a few quick tips in
planting tomatoes-
- Pull off suckers and lower branches to help produce roots along the stem
- Dig a deep whole bury part of the stem.
- Stake tomatoes plants as soon as
possible. A simple way is to drive a tall stake outside of the root
ball (or 2 inches if it is a 4 inch container). Tie with garden tape or
twine. Cages are an option too
- Water regularly but not too much.
Most of us love fresh tomatoes from our
garden but sometimes despite our best efforts something goes wrong
during the growing season. Here are some common problems and solutions
to keep in mind.
- Splitting of the fruit starts to happen.
The plant starts taking up large amounts of water, causing the fruit to
swell with moisture until its skin cannot stretch anymore. This could
be a sign of over watering and you need to cut back. Also, be active
about harvesting during this time. When a tomato plant starts producing
fruit, it only needs about 1 inch of water per week.
- Greasy brown patches all over your plants means you have blight.
If this is happening there is not much you can do to salvage the crop.
The disease will eventually kill your plant. Remove the plant and hope
that is has not affected the other plants. Blight causes a fungus to
develop, which in turns produces millions of fungual spores that can
travel through the air to other plants.
- All your ripe tomatoes are watery and tasteless.
This is due to over watering. When a plant starts fruiting, it starts
looking yellow and tired. That’s when we often rush out and water the
plant to perk it up. This is the wrong thing to do and it ends up
compromising its flavor and texture. So, when your plant starts to look
haggard late in the season, leave them alone because they are busy
putting all their energy into producing delicious fruit.
- Chew holes are showing up and ruining the fruit.
Holes can be attributed to several different pests. The most common
problem is slugs who love to snack on fresh tomatoes. Slug bait or traps
are one option. You can also wrap a strip of copper tape around the
base of your plant to prevent slugs ability to climb. Squirrels can
also be a culprit.
- Start your vegetable garden. Experiment with one new vegetable this year.
- The selection of annuals is getting better daily. Impatiens are now available.
- Continue weeding while it is easier with the moist soil.
- Check your sprinklers!
- Fertilize annuals, perennials , and trees.
- If you have boxwood, azaleas or citrus that are yellowing feed them with ironite
- Summer bulbs are available.
