Charley's Vegetables And Herbs

A quick list of how to have a successful garden.

1. Location – all gardens need as much sun as possible. Gardens need a minimum of 6 hours of sunlight per day. 12 hours of sunshine is better.
2. Tools – you will need tools to prepare the soil and plant your vegetables. Standard items are hoe, garden rake, shovel, hand trowel. If you are more power tool oriented a tiller works well in preparing the soil, but there is not a lot you can’t accomplish in the garden with a hoe and a shovel.
3. Compost or other organic soil amendments – adding these elements to your garden can help your plants be healthier, resist diseases better and produce larger yields.
4. Add any fertilizer recommended on the How To Grow pages.
5. Plants – the top vegetable garden plants are: Tomatoes, Peppers, Cucumbers, Squash and Okra. Watermelons and Cantaloupe are almost tied with Okra.
6. Water your plants in well after you have planted them then water them as needed until they get established and start growing. After they are established, water them good once a week with a deep slow soaking.
7. Be sure to follow up with additional fertilizing as recommended on the How To Grow pages and prune and stake your tomatoes.
8. Pull weeds or hoe early and often.
9. Harvest as recommended so that your plants will keep producing.
10. Bonus: stagger your plantings so that you have ripe vegetables all season long.