Gardening Raising vegetables is a rewarding activity. You get to enjoy the outdoors, get some exercise and end up with good things to eat. I grow all the common vegetables: tomatoes, summer and winter squash, beans, peas, radishes, peppers, beets, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, onions, garlic, spinach and several varieties of lettuce. Although I really don't have the space to justify it, I also grow some sweet corn and potatoes. Its fun to dig up the potatoes to see what you will get, and freshly dug potatoes are unbelievably good tasting. I sometiems plant the corn late, in mid-June. The vendors at the local farmer's markets are in a rush to have the first corn of the season, but it is all gone by early September. That is when my corn is just getting ready to pick. My vegetable garden is about 25’ X 30’. It has a fence around it because rabbits are a real problem around here. Cement blocks from an old silo form paths and divide the area up into growing beds about 15’ long and 3-4’ wide. I can stand on the cement and reach into the beds without walking on the soil and causing it to become compacted. The different beds are also an aid in crop rotation. |