THE GARDEN

Growing A Vegetable Garden

It's not really hard to grow a few tomato and pepper plants in your yard, considering you have a suitable site on your property.  The four things that will most impact your success are listed below.  In my experience, when the backyard farmer controls these aspects of the garden, he or she will have more success.  Now lets outline why these factors are so important. (Again I will note that I am not an expert-- See THE FLOWER BED page.)

• Sun Conditions
• Soil Quality and Water Retention
• Fertilizing
• Wild Animal and Pest Control

SUN CONDITIONS

Vegetable plants love the sun.  If you don't have a spot in your yard that gets direct sun for the majority of the day, your success will be limited.  When vegetable plants do not receive enough sun light, they show strange growth habits, or do not grow at all.  For instance, most plants will stretch out as they search for more light, but in the meantime will not establish well and will generally not flower.  Avoid planting your garden in a shady area-- you will only work harder for lesser results.

SOIL QUALITY AND WATER RETENTION

These two factors are listed together because they basically go hand in hand.  Many less experienced gardeners will convince themselves that if they just water every day, their garden will do fine.  This is a fine theory if you soil is the right type that requires daily soakings.  However, it is rare that any plant simply wants a daily soaking, rather than some better soil to grow in. (Many plants would actually like both, especially when its hot.)  Better soil, or more suitable soil for the crop you are growing, is much preferred to wasting your time and money with excessive water.

When a plot is first cleared for a vegetable garden, there are a few things that you might consider before tearing away the grass and rototilling.  You've already chosen a very sunny location, now turn up some of the dirt about a foot or so deep and look at it.  Chances are pretty good that it's decent topsoil, but is it heavy?  Did you find any hard clay?  Was it really loose and sandy?  Rocks?  These are some of the things you might ask yourself about the soil.  Ideally, you would like a rich, dark topsoil with evidence of organic matter.  You can learn more about the soil if you wet it down.  Heavy soil will clump together and repel water once saturated.  Light soil will not clump at all and will never become saturated unless submerged.

Now, you've determined that there is enough sun and the soil is a little clumpy, but dark colored and full of worms.  This is good.  However, this is not going to be the case for everybody.  Many of us will have extremely clumpy soil, like me, or overly fine soil.  In these cases, soil amendment is recommended.  You can easily convert a plot of less than ideal soil into a more ideal soil with peat moss, cow manure and sterile topsoil and compost.  Deciding the right amount of what will depend on your specific soil and it would be best to discuss it with a garden professional before dumping a load of manure.  You'll get to rototill before you know it.

Finally, the site is cleared and the soil added, and you're ready to plant your garden.  Not so fast farmer.  You may want to test your soil and see where you stand in the water retention department.  Start by soaking your entire garden with the sprinkler and paying attention to where the water puddles at, as well as how fast it it soaking in.  Is the water disappearing faster than you can spray it on?  Is it forming streams and making its way to the edges?  Is it flooding too fast?  These are a few of the questions you might consider in order to decide if your garden may need more peat moss or compost, or need to be tilled deeper or graded again.

FERTILIZING

A quick and easy thing to know about fertilizer:  it's not necessary.  Yes, thats right, fertilizer is not a necessary part of the gardening experience but is very important when considering the need to produce maximum output per acre.  You and I are not farmers, and therefore do not need to maximize our production in the backyard-- we just go down to the market and buy what we don't grow enough of.  It's much different for farmers, who depend on good weather along with good production in order to make a living.  So fertilizer, although not necessary when soil conditions are good, will improve your success and maximize what you can do with 100 sq. ft., as well as keep your plants healthier which in turn helps them fight off disease.

Fertilizer can be dangerous to the livelihood of your plants, so always always follow instructions carefully and never use too much.  There will be another day to fertilize... unless you overdo it on the first day and kill your garden.  An old gardener once said 'People either fertilize too much or not enough, never just right.'  and there is a reason for that.  You can never be sure how badly your plant needs fertilizer if it looks perfectly healthy.  Always use caution when working with the blue stuff.

There are different ways of providing your plants with the extra nutrients they need throughout the growing season.  If you garden is new and you've just added all the new soil, you probably won't need much, if any fertilizer.  If you've worked the plot in the past, and have not added much extra soil or not fertilized-- you will have more need for it.  Most commonly, people will use hose end sprayers to broadcast their fertilizer.  This is easy, but wasteful.  Others will hand water each plant with fertilized water:  more effective, but awfully time consuming for a large garden.  The most efficient method for me is the use of slow release pelletized fertilizer such as 12-12-12 all purpose or the like.  With the granulated type, it is less likely that you overdo it and more likely that your plants get what they want.  If you use granulated fertilizer, be sure it is slow release before broadcasting it on your plants or you may do more harm than good.

WILD ANIMAL AND PEST CONTROL

I think this section pretty much speaks for itself, but let me talk about a couple of important points.  IF YOU HAVE RABBITS, DEER, OR GROUNDHOGS IN YOUR YARD, THEY WILL EAT YOUR NEWLY PLANTED GARDEN.  Now that you know that, and you still think you want to chance it, here are a couple of ideas:  Build a huge fence, which is unsightly but rather effective against all animal pests, and keeps the neighbor's cats out as well.  Offer feed in another part of the yard to keep them more interested in that area than your new plants.  This is reasonably effective, but probably will cost more than the fence in the end.  Chemical deterrants such as cayenne pepper spray or coyote urine granules are another option, but much less effective than the first two.

Bugs and disease are almost a gaurantee in any garden and should be dealt with in a proactive manner as opposed to a reactive one.  In other words, you will get some kind of fungal disease or insect pest-- it is simply recommended that you spray for these things prior to them taking over your garden rather than after you notice them.  Keep in mind that there are numerous types of sprays that can be used, many of which are perfectly safe for you and your pets when used properly.  Don't shy away from spraying because of the nasty 'chemicals' that you may be spreading around-- there are alternatives to traditional sprays and you might be surprised at how safe some of them actually are.  I personally spray Neem Oil whenever I get time (no more than every 10-14 days as instructed on the package.) because I've seen the difference it makes on my fruit trees, rose bushes, and vegetable garden, and I know it is completely inert.

Container Vegetables

Many of you are probably saying, wait a second, I don't have enough space in my yard to plant a garden, but I really want to.  Well it is quite common for people to plant their tomatoes in whiskey barrels and hanging pots, but vegetables do not prefer pots, and special care should be taken to improve your success.  Here I will outline some important things to consider when planting a potted vegetable.

• Soil Quality and Pot Size
• Fertilizing
• Water and Pest Control

CONTAINER SIZE

So you've decided that the only sunny spot in your yard is on the patio, right where you don't want sun because now it's too hot for you to want to sit on it.  Well your tomato plant will love the heat so long as you keep it watered.  In order to keep it moist on a long hot day, you should make sure you have a large enough pot.  A single tomato plant will require 4 to 5 gallons of dirt in order to establish well enough to produce.  You may effectively grow a few beans, cucumbers or a hot pepper plant in smaller containers, but generally a pot needs to be at least 12 inches deep to allow optimum root growth.

SOIL QUALITY

Now you've got a pot that's large enough for a tomato plant, but it's empty.  Before you just dig some dirt from out back to fill it up, stop.  This is not a good idea-- do your plant a favor and find some dirt at a store that's sterile and pre-mixed.  There are many different mixes and brands to choose from, but most importantly you want soil that will drain well in a pot.  Regular top soil or cheap potting soil tend to clump and will prevent drainage over time, whereas a good potting mix will have perlite, peat moss and vermiculite already in it-- some even have slow-release fertilizer in them.  Keep in mind that if you want to do a lot of containers, you might consider buying individual ingredients and mixing it yourself to save money in the long run.

FERTILIZING

Plants in pots are more sensitive to overfertilizing than those in the ground because the minerals that the plant feeds on can build up in the pot and overdose a plant with things it does not require.  My recommendation is to use a cycle of on and off when fertilizing a pot of whatever.  If you cut the recommended dosage in half, and do this every other watering, you effectively give the plant a constant feed system that will wash away the excess nutrients on the non-fertilizer watering and leave your plant hungrier for the next watering.  Controlled release fertilizer is recommended to save time.  The proper amount of spike fertilizer along with proper watering is the easiest way to feed your potted vegetables.

WATERING

You should be ready to watch your new plant grow up and produce delicious fruit for you.  Almost.  Now that it's ready to go, you should probably water it.  This will become an almost everyday thing, with the exception being early on when it is small, when the weather is cool and cloudy, and when it rains a significant amount in one day.  When you water your pot, be sure of two things-- that the water doesn't just run right through, leaving dry soil behind, and that the water doesn't pool on top for a long period of time.  If either of these things happens, there is a problem with your soil or you've packed your good soil down too much.  When the plant is mature, it will use A LOT of water and on hot days in late summer, you may find yourself watering it twice!

PEST CONTROL

Along with knowing that your potted plant is just as susceptible to disease as those in the garden, you should know that allowing the plant to go through periods of drought will ultimately make it more sickly and more likely to catch disease or succomb to aphid infestation.  So the basis for pest control on your potted vegetable is to start with the recommendations above, continue with good watering habits, and do some proactive treatment for bugs and fungal infestation.  If you are the non-spray-for-any-reason-type than here are two options-- manual removal of bugs such as aphids and natural removal with ladybugs or mantids.  Again, even for the non-sprayers, I would suggest organic oil spray, which is inert, so it's safe for the environment and your respiratory system.

BACK TO TOP

Fruits and Vegetables for Planting in Michigan

We sell a huge variety of plants, seeds and roots that can be planted in your yard to produce food for you.  Here is a listing of most of these that we offer:

VEGETABLE PLANTS

Asparagus Roots

Beans-- Bush, Pole, Yellow Wax...

Bean Seed-- KY Wonder, Half Runner...

Beets

Broccoli

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage-- Red, Savoy, Early, Late Dutch...

Carrots

Cauliflower

Celery

Corn-- Yellow, White, Bi-color

Cucumbers-- Seedless, Bush, Pickling...

Eggplant-- Ichiban, Classic, Italian round...

Endive

Greens-- Collard, Mustard, Turnip

Leeks

Lettuce-- Bibb, Head, Gr. Leaf, Romaine...

Okra

Onions/Onion Sets-- Red, Yellow, White...

Peas-- Sugar Snap, Crowder

Peppers, Hot-- Over 20 types of hot peppers including Ghost, Scorpion and Reaper super hots.

Peppers, Sweet-- Over 20 types of sweet peppers in all shapes and sizes.

Potatoes, Seed-- Kennebec, Pontiac...

Radishes

Rhubarb

Spinach

Swiss Chard-- Bright Lights, Red, White...

Squash, Summer-- Zuch., Yellow...

Squash, Winter-- Acorn, Butternut...

Tomatoes-- Over 40 types of Hybrid and Heirloom Slicing Tomatoes

Tomatoes-- Cherry, Roma, Grape...

HERBS

Angelica

Anise Hyssop

Arugula

Basil-- African Blue, Cinamon, Holy, Globe, Lemon, Lettuce Leaf, Licorice, Lime, Purple Leaf, Sweet, Thai

Borage

Burnet

Caraway

Cat Grass

Cat Nip

Celery Root

Chamomile-- German and Roman

Chervil

Chives-- Regular and Garlic

Cilantro

Curry

Dill

Epazote

Eucalyptus

Fennel

Feverfew

Garlic

Horehound

Horseradish

Hyssop

Lavender-- Dwarf, Hidcote, Munstead

Lemon Balm

Lemon Grass

Lemon Verbena

Marjoram, Sweet

Mint-- Apple, Chocolate, Corsican, KY Colonel Spearmint, Lemon, Orange, Pennyroyal, Peppermint, Pineapple, Spearmint, Strawberry

Oregano-- Greek, Italian, Spicy

Parsley-- Curly and Italian

Parsley Root

Rosemary-- Regular and Prostrate

Rue

Sage-- Common, Pineapple, Purle, Variegated Purple, Tricolor, Variegated

Savory-- Winter and Summer

Shallots

Sorrel

Stevia

Tarragon

Thyme-- Common, Creeping, Lemon, Lime, Orange, Silver, Variegated

Watercress

Woodruff, Sweet

BERRIES

Strawberries-- June and Everbearing

Blueberry Starts

Raspberry Plants and Starts

Grapes-- Concord, seedless and more

Gooseberry Plants

Boysenberry Plants

Sorry, we do not offer nursery stock such as fruit trees, although apples, peaches, pears, prune plums, cherries and apricots may all be easily grown in Michigan.