Horticulture Principles and Practices

20
Growing Vegetables Outdoors
PURPOSE AND EXPECTED OUTCOMES
This chapter discusses the general principles of designing, planting, and caring for a
vegetable garden, as well as the cultivation of selected vegetables.
After studying this chapter, the student should be able to
1. Describe the characteristics of a home garden.
2. Discuss the benefits of a home garden.
3. Design a vegetable garden.
4. List and describe the basic tools required by a gardener.
5. Discuss the choice of garden site and vegetable varieties to grow.
6. Describe how selected vegetables are cultivated.
OVERVIEW
Vegetables are grown on a small scale as well as a large commercial scale. Some
vegetables are grown on commercial scale in greenhouses, as previously discussed in
Chapter 13. However, most vegetable production occurs outdoors in the field.
Small-scale vegetable production is an activity that may be undertaken year-round
(except in extreme weather) by people in a wide variety of situations. It is applicable to rural
as well as urban dwellers. The size of the project depends on what is available in terms of land
and how much time and effort one is willing to devote to the activity. Urban dwellers may be
limited to only a fraction of an acre, whereas rural dwellers may have more than an acre with
which to work. The space available may have to be devoted to both ornamentals and vegetables,
since people who enjoy gardening usually like to grow some flowers as well.
Gardeners have a wide variety of crops from which to choose, including roots, cole
crops, cucurbits, and solanaceous crops. There are crops for the cool season and others
for the warm season. Small-scale vegetable farming can be undertaken as a hobby, where
the primary purpose of the project is recreational while also providing fresh produce for
the table. Larger-scale vegetable farming may be used to produce more than one needs
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