Charlie Nardozzi

To get all the best flavor and highest nutritional value from your vegetables, you need to pick them at just the right time. Some vegetables taste terrible if you pick them too early; others are tough and stringy if you pick them too late. ©Jacob Lund / Adobe StockAnd after you pick your vegetables, what if you can’t eat them right away?

After you choose a good sunny spot for your vegetable garden and draw a plan on paper, you need to clean up the area so the soil will be easier to work. ©New Africa / Adobe StockYou can clear your garden area any time during the year, but the season before planting works best — clear in the fall for spring planting, or clear in the spring for summer or fall planting.

Growing your garden requires the aid and cooperation of many forces including the climate in your hardiness zone; insects, good and bad; fertilizers; and soil amendments.Decorative material (such as mulch, stone, sand, and gravel) adds a nice finish, so know how much you need to buy. Adapting each element to your garden's needs — as best you can — leads to a successful gardening experience.

If gardening space is limited at home, you can still grow vegetables — just plant your vegetable seeds or seedlings in containers and place the pots on your deck or patio. With containers, you can plant seedlings or seeds a little closer together because you’re concentrating water and nutrients in a small space; therefore, the seedlings and seeds, not the general soil, get more of what they need to grow.

Children’s gardening has become huge all across the country. Many educators, parents, and public officials see gardening as a way to reconnect kids with nature, get them outside for some healthy exercise, and teach them about healthy eating habits. You can find many ways to encourage and entice your children to be involved in the garden at home.

Urban gardening requires some creativity and flexibility, but the benefits you reap are well worth the effort. Your family can enjoy fresh vegetables and herbs all season long, and gardening is great exercise. You can plant an urban garden in a vacant lot, an underused parking area, or your roof, back deck, or patio.

If you have the space for it, you can start your own seeds. Starting seeds indoors is easy and a lot less expensive than buying plants from a nursery. When you start your own seeds, you can grow unusual varieties of the plants you want to have in your garden.Choose a seed-starting mix for your seeds.Seed-starting mix (or germinating mix) is a specially formulated growing medium that promotes healthy seedlings.

Growing perennials from seed gives you the chance to start literally hundreds of plants from one package of seeds. Most perennial seeds don’t germinate very successfully when planted outside. By starting the seeds indoors, you can create an artificial environment to meet their needs. You can grow perennials indoors any time of the year.