Master Gardeners Roberta Quinn and Jayne Kinsell spoke to about 15 people at the Waretown branch Saturday, April 6.
“Edibles in the Landscape” addressed items to help people plan a vegetable garden, starting with the most important reason why one should even have a home garden: you will know what goes into growing your vegetables.
As in business, one of the most important things to consider in starting a vegetable garden is “location, location, location.” Find a place that gets at least 5 to 6 hours of sunlight and can be adequately watered. Don’t overplant the garden and keep it away from trees and shrubs whose roots can compete for nutrients.
When planning a site, perform a pH test of the soil. Those tests can be performed at the agriculture station, 1623 Whitesville Road, Toms River.
Make a list of what you want to grow and determine which will grow in Ocean County.
Mix your vegetable plants with annual plants. Certain companion planting combinations are beneficial to the vegetables by repelling insects. Quinn said marigolds are good in many pairings, especially peppers. Gardeners should research which combinations work best. Information about this and other garden topics are available from Rutgers Cooperative Research and Extension, and can be found online at www.rce.rutgers.edu .
The temperatures are warming up. How will your garden grow?














