Container vegetable gardening is so simple even your kids will love it. Vegetable gardening in versatile garden planters is easy and enjoyable for everyone.

It’s your perfect answer!

In only weeks you could be enjoying the first quality harvests from your container vegetable garden. Stop buying expensive and bland produce at the grocery store (think tomatoes). You can grow your own natural and tasty food.

Your family will be delighted with fresh salad greens everyday. Imagine ripe tomatoes, colorful vegetables, and fragrant herbs, sweet, red strawberries and even a cheerful flower bouquet for your kitchen table is always just out your door.

You’ll be delighted with the quality garden planters, unique flowerpots and windowboxes that are available. Your container vegetable garden can be bountiful and a joy to look at.

So, why is container vegetable gardening the hottest new gardening trend? Let me show you…

* Growing vegetables, plants, herbs, and flowers in containers, offers all the benefits of a “traditional” garden but without all the exhausting outdoor work (weeding and more weeding).

* A big plus is how easy it is have an organic container vegetable garden. Organic gardening is healthy for you, your family, and your plants and is good for the environment.

* Container vegetable gardening is ideal for balconies, terraces, patios, porches, decks and other small spaces.

* It is easy to choose stylish containers for your plants that complement your outdoor furniture, decor and landscape design. Some garden planters even have attached trellises to instantly create your own private courtyard.

* It’s a great choice for everyone. Even if you have a large yard available, you will enjoy the ease of container gardening throughout the seasons.

* The innovative new features of gardening products and accessories like self-watering planters are a great solution for gardeners with busy lifestyles.

* Container vegetable gardening is the perfect choice for the lazy gardener (my hand is up!). It’s less work, so there is a lot more time to spend outdoors in the hammock; with a cold glass of lemonade watching your plants grow.

* Everything is so simple to manage and requires only a few tools to start. Best of all, your garden is only steps away.

The Simple Solution!

Are you ready? OK, put on your gardening gloves and let’s get started. In no time at all you will have a productive vegetable garden grown entirely in your beautiful outdoor garden planters.

It really true — even if you’re a beginner, you can create your own beautiful and abundant vegetable garden that is grown entirely in containers.

Donna Hill is the owner of http://www.ContainerVeggieGarden.com, a site for beginners. Check out our free step-by-step container veggie gardening guide at http://www.containerveggiegarden.com/container-gardening-guide.html and get started on your container veggie garden today!

There is no reason why you can?t grow any vegetable you want in a container and this is the best time of year for dreaming. For example, my container is going to have an entire salad in it , complete with lettuce, basil and tomato.

The first thing I?m going to have to do is find suitable containers. I know I can grow a tomato in a green garbage bag holding six shovels of soil but unless I want to water it twice a day, I need a container that will hold at least twice that. I want a big container for my garden (twenty-four inches across is ideal) and clay will be a little too heavy to move around. Half whiskey barrels are ideal although a bit on the heavy side. I?m going to ensure there are at least three holes in the bottom for good drainage because vegetables really do not like to have wet feet.

If I had a wooden deck, I would put several bits of wood under the pot to keep it off the deck and prevent staining.

I am also going to fill my pots from top to bottom with an artificial soil mix like Pro-Mix.? Remember you do not have to put anything in the bottom of the pot (like old clay pot shards or stones) to ?help? the drainage. These supposed helpful bits only reduce the water movement according to modern soil science research.

The artificial soil will not compact like real garden soil (never, ever use real garden soil in containers as it turns to concrete after a month or so of watering).

When I feed my vegetable gardening container with liquid fish emulsion and compost tea on a weekly basis, it will produce salads all summer long.

Doug Green is an award winning garden author and his newsletter can be found at http://www.beginner-gardening.com and more information on container gardening at http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/container-gardening.html.

Due to their fears of early winter frosts, a lot of gardeners do not think about fall gardening. If you?re one of them maybe a few tips can make you change your mind. You should, because fall gardening produces some first-rate vegetables long after spring planted plants are finished. Autumn garden vegetables are can be sweeter and milder than those grown in summer and present a different taste to the same old veggies.

What are the best plants to grow during the fall, of course, depends on space available, your climate zone, and what you like to eat, just like spring planting. Even heat-loving crops, like tomatoes, sweet potatoes and peppers, will produce until frosts hit, which can be fairly late in the year in southern zones.

Then there are other plants that will give up as early as the end of summer, such as cucumbers, snap-beans and summer squash. Still, they can be harvested up until the first frosts also if planted mid-summer. Hardy vegetables ? potatoes, carrots and other root and tubers will keep growing until the temperature is as low as 20 degrees, but those that aren?t as strong can only grow through light frosts.

When planning for fall gardening, look on seed packages for the words ?early season?, or seeds sporting the least days to maturity. Choosing the vegetables with the shortest growing season helps ensure they can be fully grown and harvested prior to the appearance of frost. You may want to shopping for fall gardening seeds in spring or early summer when the stores are still completely stocked. Seeds stored in a cool and dry location will keep until time to plant.

Speaking of time to plant, you need to know when the first hard frost will usually hit your area in order to know exactly when the best time to plant for fall gardening is. I recommend looking this up in a Farmer?s Almanac. They are rarely wrong and will give you specific dates. You also need to know just how long your plants are going to take to mature. Then you will be able to match up the plants with the right growing times to your area.

Prepping your soil for fall gardening starts with getting rid of any leftover spring-summer crops and debris. These leftovers may spread bacteria and disease to your new plants if left in your garden. Increase the nutrients in the soil by spreading a couple inches of compost or mulch over the garden area. If summer plants were fertilized heavily it may not need much, however, if any. Turn over the soil?s top layer, moisten it, and let set for 12-24 hours. Congratulations, you?re ready to start planting.

Many gardeners shun fall gardening in order not to deal with frosts, but if robust, hardy vegetables are planted properly they can survive a few frosts and provide some wonderful tasting fresh food.

Carlo Morelli writes for http://www.OnlineTips.org, where you can find tips on installing fiberglass insulation, how to replace an entry door and many other home and garden projects.

Getting Your seed to sprout, is only the first step in the game; they must be provided with the means of immediately beginning to grow.

This means that they should not be left to germinate in loosely packed soil, full of air spaces, ready to dry out at the first opportunity, and to let the tiny seed roots be shriveled up.

The soil should touch the seed – be pressed close about it on all sides, so that the first tiny tap root will issue immediately into ideal surroundings where it can instantly take hold.

Such conditions can be found only in a seed-bed fine but light enough to pack, reasonably rich and sufficiently moist, and where, in addition to this, the seed has been properly planted.

Try to never let the soil become crusted, even if there is not a weed in sight. Keep the soil loosened up, for that will keep your garden growing very nicely.

You should sow from the end of March to the beginning of May, or when plum and peach trees bloom, the following:

Beet, Cabbage, Carrot, Cauliflower

Celery, Endive, Kale, Kohlrabi

Lettuce, Onions, Parsley, Parsnip

Peas, Radish, Spinach, Turnip

Water-cress

Sow from the beginning of May to the middle of June, or when apple trees bloom, the following:

Beans, Corn, Cucumber, Squash

(Melon, water), (Melon, musk), Pumpkin

Tomato, Okra

The planting depths and spacing is critical when it comes to planting your garden… Every veggie has a different depth and space needed to grow as big as possible. You will find that some like to be crowed and others need plenty of space. You want to make sure that you give them the appropriate amount of space so they all get food and water.

You want to be able to get to the vegetables without walking on the plants. You also do not want to walk on the soil that you plan to use to plant.

Some plants also tend to take an abundance of water and feed from the soil, so you will want to have them isolated from the other plants.

Remember that a majority of your seeds will not bloom; so seeding heavy is okay when it comes to things like lettuce, where the seeds are very small. You may want to sprinkle some food on top lightly so that the seeds have a better chance of making it.

However, if you have already fertilized the land, you do not need to add the food!

1. While planning your vegetable garden, consider what and how much you will plant. In selecting a site or plot, consider the exposure to sunlight. It is important to consider also the different sunlight requirement for different vegetables. Leafy vegetables can be grown n partial shades but vegetables with fruits must be grown in direct sunlight.

2. Proper soil preparation provides the basis for good seed germination of garden crops. The ideal vegetable garden soil is deep, well-drained, moisture retentive and has high organic matter content. Soil should not be worked or plowed while it is very wet. Different types of vegetables would require varying degrees of soil acidity and this is measured by pH and must be adjusted accordingly.

2. In buying vegetable seeds, be mindful of the germination qualities, tendencies towards insects , vigour of plants etc. This provides useful benchmarks as you can determine whether the varieties are suitable or not for your gardening style or your area, or whether a particular seed company is not meeting your needs. You will be better prepared for the next planting season.

3. In sowing your seeds , you may want to plant extra seeds in each row in case of failed germination and thinning. It is important to keep soil moist until the seedlings are up. Thin them only after the seedlings have emerged and developed their second or third set of true leaves. The best time to thin is when the seedlings are still small as this will not disturb the roots of the plants.

4. The amount of fertilizer to use depends on the natural fertility of the soil, the type of fertilizer, the crop and the amount of organic matter present. The best way to determine fertilizer needs is to have the soil tested.

5. To manage pest control in your garden, start with ensuring that plants are healthy and growing well. Use plenty of compost, practise crop rotation and ensure adequate drainage. Remove vegetable refuse from the garden. Increase bio-diversity by planting only small quantities of the same vegetable in any one place. Encourage natural controls such as birds, toads and parasitic insects.

6. To ensure success in growing vegetables is to plant or transplant each crop at the best times for each locality. Vegetable crops may be grouped roughly and sown according to their hardiness and temperature requirements.

7. Weed control is essential in successful vegetable gardening as weeds can rob cultivated plants of water, nutrients and light. It is important that the soil is hoed or cultivated after each rain or irrigation to kill the weeds that have sprouted.

8. Regular watering is essential to maintain a healthy garden. Gardens in most areas would require a moisture supply equivalent to about an inch of rain a week during the growing season. An inch of rain is about 28,000 gallons on an acre or 900 gallons on a 30 x 50 feet garden.