Vegetable Gardening Read Online Free Page A
the garden daily when plants are producing, and pick even if you don't have room in the refrigerator. With many vegetable plants, the more fruits you pick, the more you'll get. You always can give away the fresh produce to friends, family, and neighbors, so don't stop picking. Chapter 19 has details on harvesting and storing your veggies.
Trying tips for an even bigger bounty
To go further with your vegetable garden, try a few of the following techniques that help improve production and yield:
Use containers. Growing in containers allows you to grow plants longer into the season and position your plants in the sunniest, most protected spots around your house. See Chapter 18 for the dirt on container gardening.
Practice cool farmer tricks, such as succession planting and inter-planting. Succession planting allows you to grow three or more crops in one season from the same spot. Interplanting is where you plant quick-maturing small plants, such as lettuce and radishes, around slow-growing larger plants, such as tomatoes and broccoli. The small plants are harvested before the larger plants shade them out. See Chapter 16 for more details.
Chapter 2: The Popularity and Benefits of Vegetable Gardening
In This Chapter
Understanding why food gardening is a booming hobby
Checking out a few advantages to food gardening
If you're interested in growing your own food (of course you are; you're reading this book!), welcome to the club. Vegetable, fruit, berry, and herb gardening (collectively called food gardening ) is booming across the United States and around the world. Why, you ask? Simply put, people enjoy the many benefits from food gardening. In this chapter, I paint a picture of food gardening's popularity in the United States and describe a few major advantages of growing your own food.
Food Gardening: It's Popping Up Everywhere
While food gardening is a great activity to do in your yard, it's also part of a growing trend of people wanting to eat better, grow some of their own food, and have more control on the quality of their food supply. What better way to ensure that you eat healthy food than growing it yourself?
In early 2009, the National Gardening Association (NGA) completed a survey that characterized food gardening in the United States. Here's what it found:
Approximately 23 percent, or 27 million households, had a vegetable garden in 2008. That's 2 million more than in 2007. The number of food gardeners increases to 31 percent, or 36 million households, if you include those people growing fruits, berries, and herbs.
The average person spends about $70 on their food garden every year. (I wish I could keep my spending that low!) The total nationwide is $2.5 billion spent on food gardening. I explain what you gain from that $70 in comparison to what you'd spend at the grocery store later in this section.
The average vegetable garden is 600 square feet, but 83 percent of the vegetable gardens are less than 500 square feet. Nearly half of all gardeners grow some vegetables in containers as well.
The typical vegetable gardener is college educated, married, female, age 45 or older, and has no kids at home. And almost 60 percent of vegetable gardeners have been gardening for less than five years.
The typical reasons for vegetable gardening in order of importance are: to produce fresh food, to save money, to produce better-quality food, and to grow food you know is safe. (I go into detail on several important reasons to grow food later in this chapter.)
There you have it. Lots of food gardeners are out in their crops, and the numbers are growing faster than corn in July. You may grow only a small food garden, but when all the gardens are added together, the impact is enormous. Need more proof? Let me show you!
The gross national garden product (GNGP) is the combined amount of money that can be produced from America's food gardens. Here's how the NGA figured it out (time for some math fun!):
About 36
Trying tips for an even bigger bounty
To go further with your vegetable garden, try a few of the following techniques that help improve production and yield:
Use containers. Growing in containers allows you to grow plants longer into the season and position your plants in the sunniest, most protected spots around your house. See Chapter 18 for the dirt on container gardening.
Practice cool farmer tricks, such as succession planting and inter-planting. Succession planting allows you to grow three or more crops in one season from the same spot. Interplanting is where you plant quick-maturing small plants, such as lettuce and radishes, around slow-growing larger plants, such as tomatoes and broccoli. The small plants are harvested before the larger plants shade them out. See Chapter 16 for more details.
Chapter 2: The Popularity and Benefits of Vegetable Gardening
In This Chapter
Understanding why food gardening is a booming hobby
Checking out a few advantages to food gardening
If you're interested in growing your own food (of course you are; you're reading this book!), welcome to the club. Vegetable, fruit, berry, and herb gardening (collectively called food gardening ) is booming across the United States and around the world. Why, you ask? Simply put, people enjoy the many benefits from food gardening. In this chapter, I paint a picture of food gardening's popularity in the United States and describe a few major advantages of growing your own food.
Food Gardening: It's Popping Up Everywhere
While food gardening is a great activity to do in your yard, it's also part of a growing trend of people wanting to eat better, grow some of their own food, and have more control on the quality of their food supply. What better way to ensure that you eat healthy food than growing it yourself?
In early 2009, the National Gardening Association (NGA) completed a survey that characterized food gardening in the United States. Here's what it found:
Approximately 23 percent, or 27 million households, had a vegetable garden in 2008. That's 2 million more than in 2007. The number of food gardeners increases to 31 percent, or 36 million households, if you include those people growing fruits, berries, and herbs.
The average person spends about $70 on their food garden every year. (I wish I could keep my spending that low!) The total nationwide is $2.5 billion spent on food gardening. I explain what you gain from that $70 in comparison to what you'd spend at the grocery store later in this section.
The average vegetable garden is 600 square feet, but 83 percent of the vegetable gardens are less than 500 square feet. Nearly half of all gardeners grow some vegetables in containers as well.
The typical vegetable gardener is college educated, married, female, age 45 or older, and has no kids at home. And almost 60 percent of vegetable gardeners have been gardening for less than five years.
The typical reasons for vegetable gardening in order of importance are: to produce fresh food, to save money, to produce better-quality food, and to grow food you know is safe. (I go into detail on several important reasons to grow food later in this chapter.)
There you have it. Lots of food gardeners are out in their crops, and the numbers are growing faster than corn in July. You may grow only a small food garden, but when all the gardens are added together, the impact is enormous. Need more proof? Let me show you!
The gross national garden product (GNGP) is the combined amount of money that can be produced from America's food gardens. Here's how the NGA figured it out (time for some math fun!):
About 36
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