How to Grow Vegetables (Archive Directory)

It’s time to plant summer veggies! If you didn’t start transplants early there is no time now — get to a garden center or farmers market and purchase some tomato, eggplant, pepper, artichoke, celery, sweet potato (slips), herbs, and tomatillos before they’re all gone (or stressed from neglect). For beans, cucumbers, melons, squash, pumpkins, okra, corn, and amaranth greens you should get seed packets and direct seed them… they’ll come up quick and easy!

I’m sure I’ll be adding lots of food growing articles this season but here’s the ones I have so far. I hope they help your garden grow!

Photo Caption: One of my day's harvests from a previous gardening season.

Vegetable Gardening on Appalachian Feet:

Eliza Lord

I'm a Greenville, SC native (the Appalachian foothills) who wears the hats of Greenville Master Gardener & Upstate Master Naturalist. I love to write about food and sustainability.

8 thoughts on “How to Grow Vegetables (Archive Directory)”

  1. Anna - May 6, 2010 8:06 am

    I don’t think people have to rush to the feed store for transplants for all of those vegetables. Basil is easily seeded at the frost-free date, tomatoes will still bear (if a bit late, but more likely to survive the blight) if planted now from seed, ditto with peppers if you get a quick variety. I’m always leery of those feed store transplants — they just cost so much!
    .-= Anna´s last blog ..Anna: Adding supers before a nectar flow =-.

    1. Sustainahillbilly
      Twitter: appalachianfeet
      - May 6, 2010 9:00 am

      I have trouble with critters eating young seedlings so I lean towards transplants. The thicker stems seem to give me a better success rate against insect and invertebrate mouths. But you’re right, if you don’t mind later harvests you can certainly try direct seeding some of the “transplant” veggies I listed.
      .-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Grow Vegetables (Archive Directory) =-.

      1. Sustainahillbilly
        Twitter: appalachianfeet
        - May 6, 2010 9:13 am

        Oh I should add: one of the reasons I try to get tomatoes and basil in on time (with the head start of a transplant) is that they are both susceptible to diseases that tend to hit later in the season. Sometimes eggplants and peppers can have similar problems. But if I’m already getting nice harvests by the time a crop succumbs, I don’t mind it as much.

        Up until last year I wouldn’t have included basil in the “late season disease” list. Basil downy mildew is really new for our area but apparently here to stay. It seems to be a bigger problem commercially, since you can still eat the affected leaves. But if they are really yellow or hairy with spores it isn’t that appetizing.

        I agree that transplants are ridiculously expensive and it is better to begin your own when you have a head start. If I have to buy them commercially I search for places that still sell them for $0.99 a piece. It’s getting harder. In my city that is the Rutherford Rd state farmers market, some feed & seeds, and a nursery chain called Country Boys (the veggie transplants are the ONLY cheap thing at Country Boys).
        .-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Grow Vegetables (Archive Directory) =-.

  2. Anna - May 6, 2010 5:03 pm

    I’m glad you explained about basil — I think of it as a throw-the-seeds-in-the-ground-then-be-overwhelmed-with-food-until-frost crop. I hope your blight stays down there! :-)

    Some folks tell me that direct seeded plants often almost catch up to transplants since they don’t have to deal with transplant shock. That said, I still start my tomatoes, broccoli, and cabbage and transplant them — I’m just afraid to lose the harvest of favorites!
    .-= Anna´s last blog ..Anna: Adding supers before a nectar flow =-.

    1. Sustainahillbilly
      Twitter: appalachianfeet
      - May 7, 2010 12:36 pm

      Basil downy mildew has been found in NC, PA, NJ, NY, MA, NC, KS, MO, CA, & SC. Maybe more, since this article seems to be a year or two old:

      http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/BasilDowny.html

      My garden was, sadly, the first confirmed case in my city. There’s nothing you can do, it’s spread by wind. :(
      .-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Grow and Use Papalo (w/Recipes) =-.

  3. Meredith - May 6, 2010 8:08 pm

    Eliza, thank you for this! I’ll be checking all of these out over the next week or so, as I really value your experience and advice. I’m especially looking forward to the eggplant article. We did have an okay crop of eggplant last year — but flea beetles remained a problem for most of the season, and I’m sure the plants could have done better.

    I planted fennel this year as a companion plant for the first time. We’ll see how it goes. :)
    .-= Meredith´s last blog ..wordless wednesday: wisteria =-.

    1. Sustainahillbilly
      Twitter: appalachianfeet
      - May 7, 2010 12:38 pm

      I’m waiting for a new lightweight row cover to arrive in the mail before I put out my eggplant seedlings. A friend of mine is having a hard time with flea beetles this season and I don’t want to risk it.

      Cool about the fennel! Dill works, too. :)
      .-= Sustainahillbilly´s last blog ..How to Grow and Use Papalo (w/Recipes) =-.

  4. plant vegetables - April 7, 2011 11:37 pm

    Thanks! The articles you posted were very helpful, informative, and well-researched. Hope to read more from you. Garden enthusiasts should really visit your site.
    plant vegetablesĀ“s last blog post ..Getting Ready To Plant Vegetables

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