Always Learning

I am always learning about gardening. I consider myself an expert flower gardener, having been doing that for over 20 years now. I still find out new things about old plants that surprise me. I think that is part of what I love about gardening. I am always learning.

Vegetable gardening is relatively new to me. This year will only be my third year at trying them. I have grown previous crops in my flower garden, between the flowers and also in containers. This will be the first year for me to have a proper kitchen garden and the crops I am planning are much more than I have tried before. It is a lofty goal for a flower gardener.

Organic Gardening has a wonderful article on succession planting which is a concept I plan to try next year. This year, my kitchen garden is new and I am not yet certain where or what size it will be so making a plan for succession planting feels beyond what I can accomplish quickly. But there was a fantastic tip in the article that I plan to use:

• Vegetables that belong to the same plant family (such as cabbage, mustard, and kale) share pests and diseases. It's wise to keep in mind what family a vegetable belongs to and avoid planting one member, say tomatoes, in the same spot where a cousin—peppers, eggplants, potatoes, or tomatillos—grew in the previous 3 years.

This is a great tip for me because potatoes and tomatoes are among the crops I have grown in the past and my tomatoes were wiped out by blight. Now I know that no matter where I have my new kitchen garden dug, I want to plant the tomatoes in a different place than I grew them last year. I would love to be able to eat my crop this year!