Garden State Gardening
Planning, Planting & Enjoying

he climate in New Jersey is suitable for growing most varieties of vegetables; leaving the choices for your home garden dependent on your available space and favorite tastes. Growing tips or recipe links are included with each of the nine more popular crops featured here and are available through the picture index to the left. A brief general gardening overview follows in the Jersey Shore's:

Five P's of Gardening 

Planning
Even if your available space is limited smart planning can allow a variety of crops. A six by nine foot plot can accommodate a few staked or caged tomato plants, some beans and a small section for radishes and carrots. Review these basic resources from the USDA and the "If Plants Could Talk" series from Rutgers to help you make your choices. The nearby Deep Cut Park in Monmouth County maintains working gardens where you can see growing techniques in person and avail yourself of the help provided by their Master Gardener program.

Many vegetables, most notably tomatoes and beans, have early, medium and late varieties; planting some of each will provide a steadier supply versus having too many ripening all at once.

Planting
Many vegetable seeds can be sown directly in the garden, others will benefit greatly if started indoors - from both a survival aspect and earlier harvesting possibilities. This hardiness zone map from the USDA is worth reviewing as well. 

The seed catalogs from various companies are another excellent source for tips and tricks for successful harvests.

The primary focus in this piece is on vegetable gardening, but adding a variety of flowers will provide appealing color for 3 of the 4 seasons with careful planning.

Protecting
Scarecrows, inflatable owls, netting and fencing are all common weapons in the battle to keep your crop for yourself. Feel free to use any or all of them, but your enjoyment will be greater if you just resign yourself to sharing a portion of your harvest with the local wildlife - they will get their snacks regardless!

Picking
If you've planned your crops carefully, you'll have something ripening all through the season. Still, often there is just too much to eat at that moment of perfect ripeness, so freezing or canning is a viable alternative. The faster the crop is preserved after picking, the better tasting it will be next month or next winter. Be sure to only select the pick of the crop for that later use, if the vegetable isn't in prime condition when you preserve it, it won't improve with age.

Preparing
Vegetable specific recipes are included on their respective vegetable pages or refer to the recipe folder:

 Alphabetical Listing

Cheat Sheet

You say all of this detail is just too much for you; you just want to stick some seeds or plants in the ground and wait? That'll work too, here's how:

• Hire someone to till the plot;

• Buy plants at the local garden center;

• Stick them in the ground and give them a drink;

• Don't let the soil dry out too much between rainfalls;

• Pull out weeds, at least the ones close to the plants;

• Pick and enjoy!

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