Welcome to TEG, kittiekat
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It sure is a "picture-perfect" garden. If you think about plant growth, you can gain an understanding of how you might have a successful garden. Plants develop from seeds - no, I'm not going to say that you should just have a "sprout garden" but you can immediately see where I'm going
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Leaves follow sprouting. Leafy greens like spinach and lettuce are my earliest crops. Since I also buy onion sets in early spring - salad! Most leafy greens grow well in cool weather. Asian greens are probably the largest class of "neglected" vegetables in American gardens. They are perfect for stir-fries, a quick and easy way to use harvested vegetables for the table.
The plant flowers next, sometimes too early for us greens growers! Broccoli is one of the easiest things for me to grow, but I sometimes have serious competition from Benjamin Bunny . . !
As plants begin to set fruit, we have the chance to harvest peas and green beans. Peas are early summer crops here and I grow all 3 of the common types - snow, snap & shell. Green beans are often at the top of the list for gardeners' "easiest" choices.
Now we are getting to some later season things like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers. Quite a few things can go wrong by the time these plants begin to produce a crop and they have probably begin life indoors, weeks before going in the garden as transplants. Usually, for me, the "seed crop," sweet corn, comes along at the same time. Joining them are cucumbers, summer squash and melons. I feel like reached the
peak of the garden year!
But . . . I haven't neglected those early spring veggies because the season will now begin to cool and we are right back where the salad & stir-fry varieties can grow well. I'm often starting these things during some of the warmest weather of the year but by the time they begin to make a little growth, the temperatures have begun to cool. That just means that the harvest of the warm-season vegetables is extended and the cool season things have a chance to catch up!
Having a beautiful vegetable garden is probably a little difficult for people to maintain because there is a need to harvest plants as they reach maturity. That is such an ongoing process that there is need for constant attention if things aren't going to get kind of messy out there at times.
Steve
