I’m A New Vegetable Gardener And Have A Community Garden….
Rebecca Asked
I’m a new vegetable gardener and have a community garden. Any ideas what I can plant now, 1/16/10? I just put in green and red peppers, a tomato plant, okra, and an eggplant.
The Gardener’s Answer
Hi, Rebecca: Congratulations on your first vegetable garden! I bet it will not be your last. There is something very satisfying about growing our own food and bringing it to the table. This time of year there are still many other options for planting such as carrots, radishes, beets, cucumber, beans, and squash, just to name a few. Depending on the dimensions of your plot you could add all of these or maybe just a couple. At this time of year it may not be feasible to start from seed but this all depends on the crop you are growing. Tomatoes and peppers should not be started from seed this time of the year but many of the other veggies are certainly fine to start from seed. They all have different germination times so read the seed packets before planting. Keep in mind that later in the fall we can again plant cool-season crops like lettuce, kale, spinach, and broccoli. The Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service has a great publication on vegetable gardening here in Kentucky. You can contact them directly and have them send you a copy or online you can read it at www.ca.uky.edu/agc/pubs/id/id128/id128.pdf. This literature is for home gardeners provided by the University of Kentucky. It is full of very specific information on all of the vegetables we can grow.
