Seems like some of you were surprised to discover that I don’t always follow all of the conventional and established rules of vegetable gardening: “I really like your website… your honesty about breaking a cardinal rule and not hardening off your cool weather seedlings, got my attention!”

Here’s a gardening question about growing and harvesting broccoli that was sent in by Joyce from Inman, Kansas: “I started broccoli plants in the spring and they are now sprouting and not forming heads. From what I have read, fall broccoli is the best. Can I keep these plants alive until I want to produce in the fall, or do I need to plant again?

My passion has always been for growing vegetables and creating attractive gardens that also yielded delicious produce. In that light here’s my Top Ten List of Reasons for Growing Vegetables rather than purely ornamentals in the backyard garden and landscape:

I received an interesting comment yesterday from an avid gardener who responded to my Top 5 Gardening Tips post. She agreed with my gardening tips for the most part, but raised an interesting question regarding the nutritional differences of food produced through organic gardening vs. conventional growing methods.

You love the idea of growing a garden full of vegetables, flowers, fruits, and herbs, but aren’t excited about pulling weeds, applying chemical pesticides, back-breaking digging, plants that don’t grow well, or toiling away under the merciless summer sun. Well here are my Top 5 Gardening Tips that are guaranteed to ease the pains and multiply the enjoyment and satisfaction that you will reap from growing an incredibly attractive and productive garden.

The current issue of the Gardening Secrets Newsletter has been sent out to subscribers on the e-mail list. If you did not receive a copy you can obtain your free subscription to the gardening newsletter at the following link: http://www.mygardeningsecrets.com/optin.html. This month’s feature article offers ideas and activities to inspire the home gardener to get that spring garden off to a great start.

I also tend to be spontaneous when planning the vegetable garden but I do think that it is important to record the garden’s design and layout, even if it’s after the fact, so that you have a record that you can refer back to when planning your future gardens. Or you can take photos of your garden as a record of what was planted when, where, and the results.

Ten of Kenny Point’s pointers on growing a higher yielding and better looking vegetable garden with less work:
1.) Raise those beds. Loosen your native soil two shovel-lengths deep (if possible) and work 3 or 4 inches of compost or other organic matter into it. Use stakes and string to mark off beds that are about [...]