GARDEN FANATIC: It’s a good time to plant veggies

Many of us practice only one kind of gardening and cannot be persuaded to try any other.

Given enough time and space, I will try to grow anything and everything. Although the color from flowers is indeed rewarding, why eat frozen vegetables or market produce three days removed from real freshness?

Vegetables are easy to grow in your own garden, cost less than store-bought, and will never be fresher than picked from the vine. Homegrown vegetables can and should be literally enjoyed within moments of harvest.

What, then, do we grow? Before readying your gardening implements, make a list of vegetables you really like and call your favorite nursery for their availability and appropriateness to your local clime.

I prefer “starters” to seeds (“early” tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and eggplant are a few of the vegetables I spotted this week) because they require less initial care.

Vegetables are generally classified as either cool season or warm season types. The warm season (spring and summer) are vegetables that are grown for their fruit, rather than the leaves, roots or stems. Cool season vegetables are generally leaf or root crops although peas, broad beans, artichokes, broccoli and cauliflower are exceptions.

Plan carefully, as it is easy to over plant and produce a larger crop than you can consume. Some vegetables, such as corn and melons, occupy more space than their relative edible yield. Others, like tomatoes and zucchini, can overwhelm a family with just a few plants.

Vegetables require at least six hours of sunlight to prosper. Avoid shade and possible root competition by locating your vegetable plot away from trees and large shrubs.

Vegetables thrive in rich soil. The addition of a “starter” fertilizer will ensure that your vegetables begin with the proper diet. Heavy clay soils should be made lighter by the addition of gypsum and humus-forming organic material like a planter’s mix. A soil test kit will reveal any serious deficiencies that might exist.

Drip irrigation is the most desirable irrigating method — water is applied deeply and evenly, sun scald of tender foliage and fruit is avoided, and runoff waste water is kept to a minimum. Steady watering and proper fertilization will allow a vegetable garden to flourish.

It would never occur to Catharine that anything other than eating well is essential for a meal. She eagerly makes a meal of veggies and rice whenever she can. However, I am not convinced that vegetables alone contribute to a marriage or a tasty meal.

Sensing my skepticism, my sweet wife has offered to add chicken broth to the stir-fried vegetables tonight. That is a true offer of domestic harmony. See you next time.

STEVE KAWARATANI has four dogs and misses his cats. He can be reached at (949) 497-8168, or e-mail to plantman2@mac.com.