Home Vegetable Gardening

Few experiences can match the pleasure of savoring a homegrown vegetable, especially if you raised it yourself from a seed or seedling. In almost every case, the flavor and texture of varieties you can grow far exceed the best grocery store produce. Growing vegetables is also a pleasurable activity in its own right, giving you an excuse to spend time outdoors in the warm sun.

Growing vegetables doesn't have to be difficult or time-consuming, especially if you follow the advice on this site. You'll soon discover, however, that experience really is the best teacher. As your knowledge grows, so will the rewards of this productive pastime.

Resources

Planting Guide - A useful chart that shows planting and harvesting dates of warm and cool season crops that do well in our area.

Vegetable Planting Guide (From Master Gardener Handbook)

Vegetable Garden Basics - ANR publication #8059 (PDF 86kb), is a 7-page document that covers planning and planting a home vegetable garden.

Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden - ANR publication 8159 is a 10-page document that covers preparation, planting, growing and common problems associated with growing tomatoes.

Crop Rotation lists the top ten vegetable families and their members to help vegetable gardeners plan a crop rotation schedule. From Sacramento MGs.

Cover cropping (PDF 168kb) in home vegetable gardens explains how and why to plant a cover crop to improve soil quality and nutrition.

Answers to frequently asked questions

Want to learn more about growing beans or turnips? Click here for information related to specific vegetable crops in the garden

Drip Irrigation in the home garden

Managing Clay Soils in the garden

Soil Solarization - UC IPM program explanation of soil solarization for gardens and landscapes using the heat of the sun to manage soilborne pests.

Compost in a Hurry - Making compost to use in your home garden

UC Davis - Good Life Garden

Other Vegetable Garden Material

UC CA Garden Web Vegetable web-site - Includes informaiton on planning your garden, caring for plants and harvesting vegetables.

Home Vegetable Gardening

Resources

Harvesting & Storing

Key Points of Control and Management for Microbial Food Safety: Edible Landscape