Vegetables to grow in your Garden from A (Arugula) to Z (Zucchini)
Saturday, July 17, 2010 21:25Vegetables to grow in your Garden from A (Arugula) to Z (Zucchini)
A is for Arugula, which is a tasty dark salad green that thrives in cool weather.
B is for Broccoli, the super nutritious green vegetable that grows in heads and also prefers cool weather.
C is for Carrots, the crunchy orange roots that need light soil and are rich in vitamin A and beta-carotene.
D is for Daikon, which is a mild flavored long white radish which is popular in some Asian cuisine.
E is for Eggplant, which thrive in hot weather and produce the usually big blackish purple fruit.
F is for Fruit, some vegetables such as tomatoes and peas are botanically classified as fruit.
G is for Gourds, which come in a wide variety of beautiful hard outer skins and are often used as decorations.
H is for Heirloom, which are older varieties of vegetables that many think taste better than the heavily hybridized modern varieties.
I is for Irrigation, which means providing enough water to keep your veggies healthy through their growing seasons.
J is for Jalapeno, which is a very hot red pepper, often picked and sold while still green.
K is for Kale, the highly nutritious salad green which is attractive enough to be grown as an ornamental.
L is for Leek, the tall white stalks with green leaves which is easily grown from seed and tastes something like a mild onion.
M is for Mesclun, which are a mixture of young, tender, and tasty salad leaves.
N is for Nightshade, or Solanum, the genus in which you will find Eggplants, Potatoes, and Tomatoes.
O is for Onion, the strong tasting underground shoot that can be grown from seed or from smaller onion sets.
P is for Peas, which are plump round legume seeds that grow in pods, and if smaller can be eaten pod and all.
Q is for Quail, which is a bird and not a vegetable.
R is for Radish, the spicy red, purple, or white root which is grown from seed and needs a light soil.
S is for Squash, which is a large genus of veggies that generally store well and includes acorn squash, pumpkins, and zucchini.
T is for Tomato, which are the delicious red veggies that many gardeners consider the crown jewel of their garden.
U is for Underground, which is where you plant most seeds and where root crops develop.
V is for Vegetables, which are great raw or steamed or fried or roasted or toasted or even boiled!
W is for Water, which your vegetable garden will need plenty of through a hot summer.
X is for X, as in cross, where two vegetables are bred together in hopes of making a better vegetable.
Y is for You, as in you should try growing some vegetables in your garden.
Z is for Zucchini, which is a dependable and prolific green or yellow squash that is grown from seeds, often planted in “hills”.
See resources for buying and growing Vegetable Seeds with listings of local garden centers and specialty mail order nurseries at http://www.GardeningWithLarry.com.
Larry Truett is a freelance PHP and MySQL programmer living in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego with his wife and their 3 cats. He enjoys hiking, reading, gardening, watching too much television, and other nerdy activites.
