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I have to admit that over the past few years my thoughts have turned more to food gardening than ornamental gardening, at least first thing in the season. Growing vegetables in pots, getting a plot in a community garden and latching onto friends' gardening efforts have given me more venues beyond the usual where-in-the-world-can-I-plant-my-tomatoes-this-year? quandary.
The desire for homegrown vegetables continues to spread across America. The number of U.S. households growing food crops increased 10 percent between 2007 and 2008, and 20 percent in 2009, according to the National Gardening Association. That amounts to more than 43 million households or more than 37 percent of all U.S. Census-estimated households, says a Kansas State University report.
"The top reason for growing edibles at home is always that they taste better," says Jake Weber, horticulturist with K-State Research and Extension. "But three other reasons are also strong contenders now: to save money, to get better quality produce and to have food they know is safe. Some of the latter, of course, may partly reflect the nation's current green movement."
Getting started
Despite my heightened interest and forays into edibles gardening, I'm always looking for better ways to grow vegetables, and fruits as well. It's so easy to envision an easy-going, delicious garden, and another thing to water, weed, pick, wash and cook it.
When it comes to just starting out, Weber gives these tips:
* Crops such as lettuce and radishes need fairly little space. Vining crops such as winter squash and watermelon need quite a bit of room.
* The soil you use for planting a vegetable or fruit garden should have soil at least 8 inches down that is suitable for growing vegetables. Have it tested for nutrients and pH. Incorporating peat moss or compost can improve almost any soil.
* Be sure your site gets at least six to eight hours of direct sunlight daily. That usually means planting away from the shade of buildings and trees.
* Be sure the site is near a convenient water source.
Planting options
* Grow directly in the ground or build a raised bed on top of the ground. See some templates for a 4-by-8-foot bed pictured on this page. They can be used either in a raised bed or on the ground.
* Plant compact versions of fruits and vegetables in large pots.
According to a new book, "Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers," edibles that don't like containers include asparagus, cantaloupe, sweet corn and pumpkins. The author, Pamela Crawford, writes that she grew an icebox watermelon in a container, and it produced five (albeit small) fruits.
* Grow up. This is not a commentary on your maturity, but on your garden space. No matter where you plant, you will have room for more plants if you grow vertically, adding a trellis in a pot or alongside a garden bed, or planting against a fence.
Extension agent Rebecca McMahon says cattle panel fencing is a great material for trellises. It can be used to make tomato cages, be made into a teepee-type trellis or can be tied flat to metal posts for a trellis. Concrete reinforcing wire can be used the same way.
Another option for tomatoes: Tie them to a large stick and prune heavily to train them to the stake.
According to Lowe's, cucumbers need a wire trellis or piece of fencing that their little tendrils can grab; wood trellises that are fine for holding up roses and twisting vines can be too thick for cukes.
* If you'd like to grow perennial vegetables and fruits — those that come back so you don't have to replant them every year — your options are asparagus, rhubarb, grapes, blueberries and raspberries. Strawberries can last three to four years before you'll need to replant them.
* Mix vegetables such as Swiss chard and fruits in your ornamental garden beds. Or dress up your pots of vegetables with a skirt of flowers.
In the "Easy Container Combos" book, author Crawford suggests planting a vegetable plant such as eggplant and waiting a couple of weeks to let it get a good size and then adding an annual such as melampodium to cover the bare branches at the base of the eggplant. She also likes coleus, ornamental sweet potato vine, dragon wing begonias and creeping Jenny among other annuals as cascaders out of veggie pots.
* For most blueberry varieties, you'll get more fruit if you plant multiple varieties, McMahon says. "There are some reports that raspberries also produce more fruit with more than one variety, but it is certainly not necessary."
Planting calendar
Here is a timetable for planting a succession of vegetables and fruits this spring, based on planting every two weeks.
Last two weeks of March:
* Seed directly in the ground: peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach, potatoes.
* Plant plants (either started from seed inside or purchased from a nursery): onion sets, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts.
* Plant dormant crowns: asparagus, strawberries, rhubarb.
* Plant dormant bare roots: raspberries, blackberries, grapes.
* Plant dormant blueberries.
First two weeks of April
* Seed directly in the ground: beets, turnips, collard greens, Swiss chard, carrots, lettuce, spinach, radishes.
* Plant plants: cauliflower, rhubarb.
Last two weeks of April
* Seed directly in the ground: beans, sweet corn, Swiss chard, carrots, radishes.
* Plant tomato plants, if you want to push your luck.
First two weeks of May
* Plant plants: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil and other herbs.
* Seed directly in the ground: cucumbers, summer squash including zucchini, okra, melons.
Last two weeks of May
* Plant plants: sweet potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil.
* Seed directly in the ground: cucumbers, summer squash including zucchini, okra, melons.
First two weeks of June
* Plant sweet potato slips (plants).
* Seed directly in the garden: winter squash and pumpkins.
Last two weeks of June
* Seed directly in the garden: pumpkins, for a Halloween-timed harvest.
Vegetable workshop
There will be a free workshop called "Get Growing Vegetables!" from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. March 27 at the Extension Center at 21st and Ridge Road. It will be held during the annual Tree Fest sponsored by the master gardeners at the center.
The workshop will be divided into three one-hour segments, which can be attended separately. "The sessions will help both new and experienced vegetable gardeners gain the most fruit from their labors during the spring, summer and fall gardening seasons," the Extension says.
The schedule is: 9 a.m., intro to growing vegetables; 10:15 a.m., organic vegetable gardening; and 11:30 a.m., common pest problems in vegetable gardens.
