Fall Veggie Gardening: A Practical Garden

There are so many benefits to growing your own vegetable garden. It's great exercise and can help you unwind after a long day at the office. Plus you get home-grown nutritious food that always tastes better than store bought veggies. Planting a veggie garden can seem overwhelming though. Which veggies should I plant? Do I have enough time to care for them? These are common questions for anyone thinking about becoming a backyard farmer. Fortunately even with the responsibilities of a job and a family, you can still find time to create a productive vegetable garden, without turning into a full-time farmer. Below are some tips for creating a practical garden that will work for you.   To really get a great start, come out to the nursery at 10am this Saturday for the Fall Vegetable Workshop.

Make it Practical -  Everyone with dreams of being a home farmer pictures a large plot of land brimming with vegetables of all kinds. That may not be reality for all of us though. So what makes a garden practical and manageable? Try these tips to have your best garden ever.

1. Location - Make sure your veggie garden is in the sun and is easily accessible. Water should be right at hand so that watering is as easy as turning the hose on. Being located near the kitchen also makes harvesting a snap. (Pictured at right: Joey and Kim's niece Sawyer helped pick carrots in a fall garden, many years ago now.)

2. Start Small - Don't get caught up in veggie fever and try to grow every vegetable that you like. Start with a small plot and pick your favorite three or four vegetables. Tend them well and as you become successful, increase the garden size. Be sure you plant only as much as you can manage.

3. Don't Start too Small - While you don't want to start too large, it is easy to underplant as well. Take a little time to plan out what you would like to harvest and use that amount to guide how many of each plant you put out. For instance with lettuce or spinach, it can be useful to plant a large patch, so that you can continually harvest leaves. One or two plants would make for very small salads!

4. Use Rich Soil - Our Florida soil is notoriously poor, so add lots of rich potting soil such as our Kerby's Soil or mix your own with peat, manure and compost. Soil condition impacts the taste and nutrition of the veggies you grow, as well as the success of the garden.

5. Make Tending Easy - Keep fertilizer and ready-to-use sprays handy on your morning garden walks so that you can easily tend to problems as you see them. Scouting your garden regularly allows for more relaxation time (a stroll with your morning coffee in hand is always soul-soothing) and more opportunities to keep problems in check. The more you scout the more successful your garden will be.

6. Get Everyone Involved - As kids, helping in the garden can be lots of fun and will create some great memories. Kim (pictured above)always remembers helping Grandma and Grandpa Kerby in their veggie garden. Having little (and big) helpers can lessen the chores you have to do in the garden and can make tending it a little easier. Plus, it never hurts to teach kids where veggies come from, they may even be more likely to eat them!

Happy Harvests!

Workshop: Fall Veggie Gardening
Saturday, September 17th at 10am

Florida is a wonderful place to live, because while our northern neighbors are starting to hunker down for winter, we are planting fall vegetable gardens. Fall is a great time of year to grow leafy favorites, like cabbage, collards, mustards and broccoli. We'll talk about all of the great vegetables that grow through the winter in Florida, and we'll also discuss gardening in pots and Earthboxes (a great way to grow veggies in small spaces).