HINT: READ YOUR SEED PACKETS

Too often people figure out where they are going to garden, buy and plant seeds and, are greatly disappointed in the results. After planting seeds the two main things that individual gardeners can do is to water and fertilize the seeds. If seeds are just slightly watered and have a little bit of nitrogen fertilizer to start them to grow, then all should be well unless planting instructions were not followed.

Of course even with proper watering and fertilizing many gardens end up looking like the grim reaper of the plant world had just taken up residence in the garden. It is obvious that if after following the watering and fertilizing agenda the your garden plants were low or even non-producers then, a new approach to gardening might be what saves your business.

It would be good if I could write an article on how to plant string beans or how and when to plant peas if there was but one variety of string bean and one variety of pea. However, today there are a myriad of plant types for any particular type of edible fruit/vegetable. Each plant variety may grow only in certain types of soils with certain levels of sunlight and within certain parameters of temperature variation.

Potatoes are certainly a crop that I have found to be somewhat sensitive to the soil type. For instance, in Northern Michigan there is a great deal of sand and I have grown potatoes like whites, reds and yellow in almost pure sand. On the other hand, I have grown russets in pure sand however; the tubers do not grow to be very large whereas the colored varieties can get really big. Likewise, I have found that heavy clay soil tends to grow large russets however; my red potatoes in particular are more prone to disease in such soils because heavy soils tend to keep the tubers much wetter.

Peas are one plant that in general prefers cooler weather and does not do well n full summer sun. However, there are so many varieties of peas that you can pretty much grow them from early spring until fall as long as you plant the proper varieties to get you through the growing season. Again, reading the seed packets or going to a web site like the one put up by Burpee is the way you need to do research to keep you in peas throughout the growing season.

Overall, planting a variety of the same plant in various places in your garden at various times of the growing season will keep you in your favorite veggies for several weeks and depending on the time table of frost for the season, you might get your favorite veggies for months. Vegetables like lettuce, summer squash, peas, string beans etc. come in various varieties that can help keep your garden producing however; you need to at least read the seed packages you find in your garden store so that you can pick the proper varieties to satisfy your taste for veggies.