If you’re thinking about doing some vegetable gardening, timing is everything. The plants are tied to the seasons so it’s critical to match what kind of weather the plants like to your climate. Some are hardier and can take a late spring frost while others would perish and you would be back to square one.

But, if you’re armed with information about when to plant and what vegetables to start off with then you’re more likely to have a bountiful vegetable garden in no time! So take the following into consideration when you’re in your planning stage of vegetable gardening:

What’s Your Zone?

That’s garden-speak for where do you live? The U.S. is divided into zones based on the average annual minimum temperature. Knowing the exact zone you live in will help you decide when to plant. But you can’t rely on the zone alone. Think about this: parts of Oregon and South Texas are in the same zone. Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the two states have vastly different climates. There are other factors to consider other than the minimum temperature when deciding when and what to plant such as soil, rainfall, daytime temperatures, wind, elevation, humidity and heat. Whew…that’s a lot to consider, isn’t it?

But that’s okay, you’ll find lots of help once you figure out the exact vegetables you want to grow. Your first step should be to look at the back of the seed package or on the info tag on the plant you’re buying.

What Do You Like?

Now, assuming you’re interested vegetable gardening because you want to eat the fruits of your labor…you need to decide what vegetables you’ll enjoy over the season. Now combine this with what will grow best in your climate and when they need to be planted to figure out the rest.

You can divide your vegetables into 2 types: cold season veggies and warm season veggies. Do not plant warm season vegetables prior to the last spring frost! Allow plenty of time after the last frost to ensure your hard work won’t be for nothing. Now here’s a handy list to get you started:

Cold Season Vegetables (can be planted 2 to 6 weeks before the last spring frost):

asparagus broccoli cabbage horseradish lettuce onions leeks peas broad bean spinach turnip Brussels sprouts beet* carrot* chard* mustard* parsnip* radish* cauliflower* celery* potato*

*plant no more than 2 weeks before the spring frost…not as cold hearty as the others

Warm Season Vegetables:

bean (snap) soybean squash sweet corn tomato New Zealand spinach bean (lima) eggplant** pepper** sweet potato** cucumber** melon** okra** pumpkin**

** hot weather necessary for plants to grow

You’ll be amazed at the amazing flavor you’ll get from home grown vegetables because you can pick them when they’re ripe and ready to eat. So if you want healthy and delicious vegetables for this season, identify your zone, pick what you like and start planting!

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Staking is a simple technique but an important one for vegetable and flower growers alike. For large-flowered plants such as dahlias, asters, and peonies, staking allows the blooms to show to best advantage and keeps them from getting top-heavy after a rain. Tall, fragile-stemmed plants like delphiniums often need help weathering storms. In the vegetable garden, supporting plants with stakes or other supports will mean the difference between a good harvest and a poor one. If you’ve ever tried to grow tomatoes without staking the plants or growing them in cages, you know how hard it is to salvage a decent crop. Whatever tomatoes you are able to find under the heavy weight of the plants often succumb to attacks from insects and larger animals or rot.

Staking doesn’t have to be unattractive, an important consideration in the flower garden. In fact, if done correctly, it’s not in the least bit an intrusion. Properly staked plants have no visible means of support the foliage grows up to hide the stakes, strings, and wires.

There are several different ways to stake plants. As a general rule, it’s best to start early in the season, so the leaves have a chance to cover the supports and you can train the plant as it grows. It’s not easy to stake a plant that has sprawled on the ground or has flopped over after a heavy rain. You can easily break or crush stems. Furthermore, leaves and flowers won’t look quite as graceful as they would if properly trained from the start.

Bamboo Canes: Bamboo canes are lightweight, sturdy, and available in several thicknesses from pencil-thin to several-inch canes suitable for staking tomatoes or large flowered dahlias. Use the thinner ones for supporting stems of delphiniums or other top-heavy beauties. Select a bamboo cane about two-thirds as tall as the plant will be at maturity and insert it into the ground close to the base of the plant. Then use yarn, strips of soft fabric, or strips of old pantyhose to tie the flower stem to the stake. Add more ties as the plant grows taller. For multi-stemmed flowers such as chrysanthemums, use a single stake to support more than one stem. Tie twine or yarn to the stake, gather the stems, and loop the twine loosely around them.

You can also use bamboo canes to make a sort of cat’s-cradle around clumps of flowers such as peonies. Insert four or five canes around the plant. Again, they should be two-thirds as tall as the plant at maturity Then tie twine to one and wrap it around the others in turn. Tie it off on the first cane. Add rings of twine every 6 to 12 inches as the plant grows. You can also weave the twine through the plant foliage from one stake to its opposing one to create an extra network of support.

Pea Staking: When you prune your trees in early spring, don’t burn those trimmings. Instead, save them and use them to stake such weak-stemmed perennials as coreopsis or gypsophila and such annual climbers as sweet peas. When the plants are still small, simply stick twiggy brush into the ground near them. As they grow, the plants will climb over the network of twigs and their foliage will soon hide the twigs from view. Pea staking is most successful for plants that don’t grow taller than about 2 feet. The twigs should be about 6 inches shorter than the plant at maturity.

Wire Cages: Round or square wire cages similar to but smaller than the ones used to grow tomatoes are available for perennials such as peonies. Ready-made cages have wire legs that you simply push into the ground. You don’t need to tie plants to wire frames; they simply grow up and through the wire and get all the support they need from the enclosure. Cages need to be put in place in early spring, while the plants are still small. You can buy cages ready-made or make your own using galvanized large-mesh.

Marc Warren offers a vegetable gardening tip of the day – such as how to grow beans and peas – on the Gardening Mania blog. For more helpful advice, visit http://gardeningmania.blogspot.com

Related : BabyForMom.com

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Container vegetable gardening is becoming more prevalent in these days of smaller yards and more hazards with our food supply. More people want to grow some of their own vegetables in an attempt to avoid buying non-organic product or having to pay the high prices of organic produce. With the recent prevalence of outbreaks of salmonella, e. coli and other from products such as green onions and spinach, we are left concerned about whether any of the produce we buy is really safe. The problem is, the produce we eat is mass produced and mass processed. This means a lot of hands are touching each and every item we end up eating. When you grow your own vegetables, you know whose hands are touching your food!

Of course, most of us don’t have the space for large gardens. Many of us have very small yards. Apartment and condo dwellers may have no space at all! That is where container vegetable gardening is very handy. Growing vegetables in containers means you can grow your vegetables on a deck or patio, or even indoors using special grow lights. Because of container gardening, we can now grow our own vegetables no matter where we live.

Some types of vegetables are more appropriate for growing in containers than others. Some of the larger types of plants won’t do as well in containers. For example, corn is so large that you would have to use a very large, very heavy pot to support it. Large melons grow on long vines and may set out multiple root systems, thus they don’t do well in containers. Very large varieties of tomatoes and squashes may be hard to support in pots.

Some types do especially well in containers. Lettuce, spinach, and other leafy vegetables typically do very well in containers. Smaller varieties of tomatoes such as salad tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, plum tomatoes, and grape tomatoes are great for container growing. Many types of bush beans and peas do well in containers. If you use large tubs, you can even plant potatoes in containers! It’s not difficult to do this, and they grow remarkably well in this manner. In fact, most smaller varieties of vegetables will grow just fine in pots.

The biggest concern with regards to growing your vegetables in containers is choosing the right size of container for your plants. You should look up the average root depth, as well as the average diameter of the plant. If your plant has 6 inch deep roots and normally grows about 10 inches wide, you should get a container that is about 8 inches deep and 10-12 inches wide. You should always leave a small amount of room for error. Sometimes your plant’s roots may grow a bit deeper than normal, or the plant may grow larger than expected. You don’t want to have to risk damaging your plants by transplanting them if you don’t have to.

If you are concerned about the safety of your food, I suggest you give container vegetable gardening a try. Remember, you can also grow many types of herbs and even fruits in containers, too!

Amy Stevens has been an avid container gardening hobbyist for many years. She runs several gardening websites, including Container Gardening Tips.

For more container gardening tips, visit her site Container Gardening Tips.