Vegetable Gardens
There are many good reasons for growing a vegetable garden in Mississippi.
A garden offers the opportunity to enjoy vegetables at their freshest. Sometimes only minutes elapse between harvest, preparation, and eating. Most fresh vegetables available at the grocery store travel about 1,800 miles between producer and consumer, and this travel often occurs over a period of several days. There’s a lot to be said for “homegrown” freshness.- In recent years, many people are growing vegetables to save money on their grocery bill.
- A garden can be a wonderful place for children. They provide opportunities for play, learning, and having fun.
Regardless of motive, gardening can be as simple or as complex a project as you make it. As the interest in all aspects of gardening has increased, so has the need for more information and education. Careful planning can make gardening easier, more productive, and more enjoyable. In planning your garden, it is important to consider a few basics.
The answers to most questions for the beginner can be found in Extension Publication P1091 - The Garden Tabloid. Links to different sections are listed below.
The Garden Tabloid - Extension Publication 1091:
- Grow Your Own Vegetables
- Fall Gardening
- Garden Plan
- Garden Soil
- Harvesting
- Herb Gardening
- Insects: Identification and Control
- Mulching
- Organic Gardening
- Planting
- Pollination
- Storing Vegetables and Seeds
- Tomatoes - Staking
- Vegetable Diseases
- Vegetable Varieties
- Watering
- Weed Control
Also available in PDF format for easy printing.
If you've never grown a vegetable garden before, read what others say on the "Growing Vegetables" introduction page. This page also contains tips for the beginner...what and where to plant, size of garden, etc. Find additional answers to most garden questions by searching.
Publications
News
If you planted fall tomatoes, soon you’ll need to install a support system to keep the branches and fruit off the ground. There are three different systems for supporting tomatoes: staking, trellising, and caging.
If you love home-grown tomatoes, you can enjoy them into fall. Get your plants into the ground from July to early August, depending on where you live in the state, and you can harvest into October or November.
When you visit your community farmers market, you know you're purchasing local produce in its peak season. Fruits and vegetables have more flavor and are typically less expensive when they’re in season. So, when you go to the farmers market, how do you make the most out of in-season produce? (Photo by Michaela Parker)
No matter how you slice it, gardening is a risky business.
We have no control over the weather, waves of pestilence, the threat of plant diseases. It’s a wonder we don’t all just chuck our gardening tools and say, “See you at the farmers market.”
If edibles are on your list for the landscape or garden this year, check out the list of Mississippi Medallion winners. They are proven performers when it comes to our Mississippi climate.
Our horticulture experts help select several plants, including fruits and vegetables, each year that make the cut.
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