Garden Update: Vegetable Gardening 101

Kathleen Cue, Nebraska Extension Educator in Dodge County (Week of July 6, 2020)

The Nebraska Extension Horticulture, Landscape, and Environmental Systems team has put together and launched a new webpage. “Vegetable Gardening 101”is a how-to for new gardeners desiring to learn more about the challenges and rewards of gardening in Nebraska.

Housed on the Backyard Farmer website, “Vegetable Gardening 101” focuses on:
·selecting what vegetables to grow;
·choosing a good site to grow the garden;
·how to determine what size the garden should be;
·building the garden, whether it is a raised bed or in the ground;
·when to plant based on cool season or warm season vegetables;
·determining whether to directly sow seeds or if transplants are needed to get a jump start;
·understanding plant size so plants aren’t planted too close together;
·identification and prevention of insect, disease and weed problems; and
·the harvest and storage of vegetables with an eye towards food safety.

Each section is designed to give a quick overview for those who want enough information to get started while supporting information is provided for gardeners who want to dig deeper, with links to NebGuides (topic-specific information publications) and Backyard Farmer video segments.

 Vegetable Gardening 101 is found at https://go.unl.edu/veggies101