Which Vegetables Should You Plant in Your Home Garden?

With a little bit of planning-before-purchasing, a new gardener can create personalized guidelines. With this basic plan in hand, the gardener is more likely to choose vegetable varieties that will thrive in her garden and have a much greater chance at success. Here are some questions that will give gardeners a great place to start.

Which Vegetables are You Buying Now?

Gardeners who want to get the most out of their vegetable garden should make a list of every type of vegetable that they buy from their grocery store’s produce section. Next, the family should be included in brainstorming for other vegetables that they’d like to try, but haven’t been purchasing up until this time. Those veggies should be added to the list.

How Much Growing Space Do Vegetables Need?

How much space is needed to grow vegetables? The answer depends on the type of vegetable grown and the number of vegetables, as well. If the gardener’s kids have their hearts set on giant pumpkins, a good-sized part of the yard or an entire raised bed could technically be devoted to pumpkins. On the other hand, it’s easy to tuck in radishes and carrots here and there.

Containers should never be over-looked as long as the mature size of the plant is taken into consideration when choosing the right container. Some vegetables take to containers with ease such as carrots, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and lettuce.

Gardeners may also consider working vegetables into the landscaping of their yards. Perennial beds can be perfect. Many gardeners find that they’re really only using a part of their lawn – or none at all. Making part of the lawn a vegetable bed is often a good solution.

Is the Growing Season Long or Short?

Every location has either what’s considered a long growing season, a short growing season, or something in-between. This is something that should be factored in when choosing vegetables especially if the gardener is starting with seed. If all of the plants purchased as seedlings (or “starts”) at a local nursery, this usually isn’t a problem as they bring in the right varieties for the area.

The determining factor of the length of a growing zone are the frost dates. Frost dates are the estimated last hard frost of spring and the first hard frost of fall or winter.

The USDA Growing Zone

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides the U.S. with a zone hardiness map as a general guideline for what will grow in each gardener’s particular area. It’s important for new gardeners to understand that these are very general guidelines. No map can guess at the specific microclimates within city, neighborhood, or yard.

In fact, the USDA hardiness zone map is most helpful when discussing perennial plants. This is because any annual can be grown in any zone as long as yours provides enough warm days for that plant variety to reach harvest. Perennials need to be able to over-winter where they’re planted. That said, it’s still wise for gardeners to know their zones as some vegetables are perennials and may over winter.

Microclimates

Microclimates are those areas within a larger general region that may have different climates than the whole. They can be created by a number of things such physical structures, extra windy areas, topography, or large bodies of water.

In urban areas, buildings (or lack thereof) can have a huge effect on the immediate area. They may act as wind barriers or completely the opposite; creating wind tunnels. If you have a large body of water nearby such as a lake or the ocean, this tends to moderate the air temperatures of nearby inland areas.

Other factors that can affect microclimates are rainfall, soil types, mulching practices, paved surfaces, fences, walls, raised beds, cold frames, hoop houses, balconies, and rooftops. Clever gardeners will manipulate their microclimate by using any number of the above resources to their advantage.

How will the Vegetables be Used?

Here’s a question that is often considered too late by gardeners. Knowing exactly what the gardener plans on doing with their bounty can make some differences in the varieties chosen. For instance, if produce through the cold months is important, winter squashes might be considered. Is the only goal fresh produce? The gardener may want to plant, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, or cabbage.

The gardener that also does canning, might plant tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, green beans, carrots, or peas (which can also be eaten fresh). Brussels sprouts, bell peppers, and broccoli can also be frozen. Of course, beans can be dried for soups and stews.

These questions shouldn’t overwhelm the gardener. But, if when gardener answers them to the best of their ability, it’ll become clear what makes sense to grow in their garden.

Interested in more about vegetable gardening? Check out Easy to Grow Vegetables for Your First Garden and Growing Pole Beans in the Home Vegetable Garden.