Phaseolus spp. – Warm season annual vegetable.

Size: Bush types grow one to two feet in height and just as wide; pole types grow 6-8 feet tall adn 1 foot wide.

Features: Tender green beans grow on bushes or vinelike plants.

Uses: Grown in a vegetable garden for edible uses.

Needs: Full sun. Good, well-drained soil with consistent moisture. Plant from seed 1 inch deep and 12-18 inches apart two weeks after your regions last frost date. Provide teepees or other supports for pole beans. Beans start to produce in 40-100 days.

Harvest daily for best production, picking beans while small and tender. If growing beans for drying, allow bean to dry on the plant, then remove from pods and store. For longest harvest, plant a new crop every two weeks. Avoid high-nitrogen fertilizers, which decrease yeilds. Working with plants when wet can spread rust. Mexican bean beetle is this plants worst pest, control with pyrethrin.

Cynara Scolymus – Perennial vegetable.

Size: 3-6 feet tall, 2-3 feet wide

Features:Thistlelike plant that gives an edible flower bud

Uses: For use in a the vegetable garden with the intention to harvest and eat. Some gardeners grow artichokes in the flower border because of it’s beautiful bold-featured leaves.

Needs: Needs full sun. Artichoke prefers rich, well-drained soil with good moisture but will tolerate poorer soils and less moisture. It may die out in winters with freezing temperatures. Plants lose productivity after 4 years. Plant established plants in late winter after all danger of frost has passed.

Planting: Plant 2-3 feet apart in rows 3 feet apart. cut off the artichoke with 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch stem before it begins to open. In winter, cut back plants to 10 inches and cover with loose winter mulch. In cold regions, grow as an annual.

Artichokes are bothered by few pests and insects.

Look for plants that are thornless, mature quickly and produce many artichokes per plant.

It is a good choice for growing as an annual.

It’s that time of year – - at least around here it is. (here = Wisconsin). It’s time to start cultivating and planting the seedlings into the vegetable garden. I am mulling over the idea of adding asparagus to my garden, and after researching it – decided to share the information that I found about growing asparagus.

Did you know that asparagus plants can last up to fifty years? I’d say that’s a good investment for the garden! This is also a really good reason for not skimping on the cost of the asparagus that you choose to grow – - spend a little extra to get the good stuff, it will last you, almost, a lifetime!

Asparagus is one of the few perennial vegetable crops. The shoots are picked as young spears in the spring. Later in the season the foliage matures into an airy, fern-like cloud which changes to a golden color in the fall. Because asparagus takes up a permanent place in the garden, but can be an attractive plant, many people with space imitations use asparagus as a border or hedge plant.

Asparagus spears are straight shoots with scale-like tips. Although green varieties are most commonly grown, there are also many purple varieties. Shoots continue emerging from the soil throughout the spring. As the weather warms, shoots end to et spindly and are left to grow into the mature ferny foliage.

Asparagus is a spring crop, preferring cooler temperatures and full sun. Plants can be started from seed about 4 weeks before the last expected frost. More commonly they are grown from crowns, which are the one year old base and roots of the plants. These are planted in a trench with the roots spread out over mounded soil. The trench is gradually filled in as the plants grow.

Provide a fairly rich soil with a pH between 6.0 and 7.0.

Water regularly, especially while young. It takes about three years for plants to mature enough for harvesting. Prior to that plants should be allowed to grow and feed themselves.
Top dress annually with compost or mulch. Keep the patch free of competing weeds/

‘Mary Washington’ is the most commonly found variety. It was bred for rust resistance.
‘Jersey Giant’ is rust and fusarium wilt resistant and yields early.
‘Brock Imperial’ offers high yields.
‘Princeville’ does well in warmer climates.
‘Purple Passion’ is a sweet purple variety.

As you plan your garden, ask yourself some basic questions:

1. How much time do I want to spend gardening? figure an average of about a half hour a week during the growing season to maintain a 5×20 foot flower bed. And figure about one half to one hour a week for every 50×100 foot stretch of lawn
2. What’s my budget? Plants, tools and supplies can add up very quickly. Make a budget and stick to it.
3. What are my growing conditions? how much sun and shade fall on various parts of my yeard? What’s my soil like? How wet or dry is the climate at various times of year? What are record temperature lows and highs?
4. What look do I want? Formal, coutnry, English cottage, native, manicured, eclectic?
5. What’s my region’s style? What sort of gardens and hardscape materials look at home in my part of teh country? Drought-tolerant native plants? Lush, tropical plants? Prairie natives? Mountain wildflowers? Weathered wood? Bluestone? Granite? Brick?
6. What’s my lifestyle? How do I want to use my garden? As a retreat? As a place for entertaining? Will children play there? Will pets have access?
7. From what angels do I most often view my garden? From the patio? From a particular window overlooking the backyard? From the sidewalk leading from the garage to the back door?
8. What are my favorite colors? Will the flowers and plants look good with the existing structures, such as the house, fences and garage?
9. What animals do I want to attract or deter? Birds, butterflies and hummingbirds are usually welcome guests, whereas deer, rabbits, racoons and ground squirrels are usually not

Gardening food for thought.

A little tip I learned from my mother – who keeps an absolutely beautiful vegetable garden, by the way!

She had problems with cute, furry little bunny rabbits coming into her vegetable garden and munching on her veggies. Yes, they are cute and fluffy and adorable – - but not when they’ve consumed your dinner salad!

To combat this – she used a tip that she heard on a local radio program called “Ask Your Neighbor” (it doesn’t exist anymore – but was wildly popular when I was a kid). It was a radio show that ran from 30 odd years, where they brought listeners with questions and experts on various topics like home improvement, do it yourself and gardening – with answers together for a friendly talk show.

Anyways – one of the callers suggested the following remedy for the bunnies in the garden – and to this day, Mom still uses it as a technique to keep the critters out – and it works!

Materials:
Clear, glass Mason Jars (The number will depend on the size of your garden)
Alluminum Foil Pie plates – same number as the jars.
Water

You take glass mason jars (making sure they dont’ have any labels on them) – fill them with water about 3/4 of the way full. Take the Mason Jars and line them up, about a a 1-2 feet apart, along the outter edge of your garden – placing the jars on top of the foil pie plates.

During the day – the water reflects the sun off the jar (and the foil) – - at night, the water and foil reflect the moonlight. This spooks the little critters and keeps them out of the garden.

Well, at least it works for me and Mom!

There is NOTHING better than fresh vegetables picked straight from your own garden – not too mention the extreme satisfaction of serving up meals made with vegetables that you grew in your own backyard garden. Do you agree?

Planning your Vegetable Garden

Planning is a must as there are many factors that can affect the success and manageability of your vegetable garden as well as your enjoyment of it. Planning and Designing your garden can be a lot of fun. It’s something you can do during those boring, cold winter months (assuming you have boring, cold winter months – - we’re in Wisconsin – so that part is a given).

Grab a piece of graph paper and start plotting your layout. It’s a very practical thing to do. It makes seed ordering more efficient because you know exactly what you need instead of guessing. It aids in remembering what was planted where so that you can make certain to do rotation planting (This is important to minimize garden pest problems and to switch plants using different nutrients from the soil). Also, the plan makes a good old point of reference for future gardens. I make notes on my plan of what went right, what went wrong.

Even better? Do it up on a computer like I did below:

**** = various Herbs

You can plant the herbs in the garden corners and at the very front for easy access.

Putting some extra effort into preparing your beds before planting will save you a lot of time and effort in the future. Dig the bed up to break up compacted soil (this will help with drainage) and removing rocks and weeds as you go. Try to pull out as much of the weed roots as possible so that they will not come back to haunt you later. This is also a good time to amend your soil.

There are some plants that, when planted close together, will benefit each other. Likewise, there are certain combinations of plants that will inhibit the growth of one or both types of plants. Here are a few combinations to avoid:

• Potatoes – inhibit growth of tomatoes and squash
• Beans – inhibit growth of onions
• Broccoli – inhibits growth of tomatoes
• Carrots – inhibit growth of dill

This isn’t to say that you can’t grow these plants together in the same garden, just don’t grow them right next to each other.

Consistent watering of your vegetables will produce fantastic results.

Good luck and let us know what works best for you!