Food Gardening

Growing your own food can be a very satisfying effort that pays off in a number of ways: your fruits and vegetables are fresher and you can choose the exact varieties that you and your family enjoy. Plus, you can save substantial amounts of money over purchasing them at the grocery or farmers' markets. We can provide resources and advice to help you start small, and gradually move up to producing more of your families food. Visit our pages in this section for more information on the first and last dates for planting vegetables in our area, setting up a rotation for your vegetable beds, and much more.

Cornell Resources

Cornell's Home Gardening website has links to excellent resources, including Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners, Vegetable MD Online, Vegetable Disease Factsheets, and -to growing guides for more than 50 different vegetables  http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/scene0391.html

You've gotten your soil tested, now how do you use the results? This handout from Cornell Gardening will help you match your test results with appropriate soil amendments to improve the soil in your vegetable garden! Getting the Most out of Your Vegetable Garden Soil Test Report

Cornell Garden Based Learning

Cover crops can meet important management goals such as suppressing weeds, protecting soil from rain or runoff, improving soil aggregate stability, reducing surface crusting, adding active organic matter to soil, breaking hardpan, fixing nitrogen, scavenging soil nitrogen and suppressing soil diseases and pests. For more information on selecting a cover crop and planting

Seeds

Seed Starting. Indoor Vegetable Seed Starting (January 2015) is a 2-page handout from Lori Brewer/Cornell's Garden Based Learning program that covers selecting seed varieties, supplies you'll need to start seeds indoors, germination specifics, and more.

Seed Saving. This Cornell University Library Guide on "Seed Saving" compiled by Jeff Piestrak includes links to relevant Cornell University initiatives, Conservation & Biodiversity Groups, Grower Resources/Directories/Support, Industry/Trade Groups & Resources, Seed Libraries, Seed Sovereignty, Other Seed Saving Organizations/Networks/Events, and General Learning Materials on saving seeds.

Last updated April 3, 2020