Garden Vegetables in Virginia

Even though my garden passion centers around perennials, I do also garden with vegetables and herbs.  The vegetable garden has to be fenced in because of the deer, woodchucks and rabbits.  I saw a raccoon down there the other day too!  We have had plenty of rain this year.  The drip lines that are typically a necessity in the summer here have been turned off. I have planted cucumbers, bush beans, and pole beans (pictured above).  I also have a few tomatoes, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, peppers, strawberries, kiwi, and edamame (pictured below). 

If you haven't tried growing edamame, you should give it a shot.  It is an easy vegetable to grow from seed.  You may want to have a few rows that are planted a few weeks apart.  The plant produces all of the edamame pods at the same time. 

Edamame pods

 

I am trying something new this year with my veggies.  I am taking the grass clippings from the lawn and using them as a mulch around the vegetables.  The two pepper plants pictured above were started and planted at the exact same time and they are the same variety.  The one on the left was mulched a week ago with grass clippings.  The one on the right was left alone. Clearly, the one on the left has benefited from the nitrogen in the grass clippings!  This week I spread grass clippings on the rest of the plants. I am aware that you do not want too much nitrogen with vegetables because it creates beautiful green leaves without flowers.  We'll see what happens!  We do not use any 'cides' on our lawn. If you use herbicides, fungicides or pesticides on your lawn, it's probably not in your best interest to use the grass clippings around your vegetables.  You are what you eat, after all.