Vegetable garden can yield savings with tighter budgets

With rising food prices and tighter budgets, families cutting back on costs such as dining out and expensive groceries may consider growing their own produce to save money.

That's why home vegetable and herb gardens are the latest rage for late spring/summer planting, says Tina Semock, general manager at Random Acres Garden Center in Schaumburg.

For the first time in 30 years, the nursery will grow its own vegetable plants for sale this season.

"Why have something trucked from farther away when you can grow it in your backyard?" Semock said. "Already people have been asking. Vegetable plants are becoming very popular and we wanted to be able to give a good variety of choices."

Semock says customer demand is up for heirloom vegetable plants that are grown from seeds saved over the years by families.

"There's a lot of companies that sell the seed now," Semock said. "We will have heirloom plants already growing this year."

The nursery will offer a range of starter vegetable plants, including eggplant, tomatoes, lettuces, herbs and 11 varieties of peppers of the Homegrown Gourmet brand (homegrowngourmet.com) that come with information tags on how to take care of and grow the plants in a pot.

May is the best time to plant lettuce, spinach and peas, especially when lilacs show their first leaves or when daffodils bloom, according to the 2009 Old Farmer's Almanac.

Other vegetables grown this time of year are cucumbers, watermelon, broccoli, peppers, spinach, tomatoes and parsley. Lettuce and radishes grow better by seed, and starter plants are recommended for tomatoes and peppers.

"Our frost-free date is around May 20, so you are pretty safe in planting tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables that like it warm," Semock said. "Cool weather vegetables (such as) lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower and radishes can be planted starting April 20."

Among the many ways to grow vegetable and herb plants, raised-bed and container gardening are becoming increasingly popular with people who don't want to fuss with a more traditional garden in the ground, Semock said.

"They can have a big patio pot of the vegetables that they like best," Semock said. "You don't need a lot of space for vegetable gardening like people would think. You could do herbs in a hanging pot."

Semock recommends using an all-purpose fertilizer once a week for growing vegetables in a container; certain time-release fertilizers need only be used once.

Container plants where a water-soluble fertilizer is used need to be replenished regularly because the fertilizer washes out daily. They also need to be watered more frequently, unless there's a reservoir in place.

"The self-watering containers - they really help maintain the life of your vegetable plant," Semock said.

Nursery employees are also going a step further to help out home chefs by offering their own vegetable recipes at randomacres.com.

"The ladies that work here provide the recipes," Semock said. "We've all just given stuff that we like."

What's hot, what's not this season in flowers

• Color is big this season. The brighter the better for flowering plants, such as hot pinks, magentas, blue and yellow. Avoid pastels.

• Annuals that bloom every year provide color all summer long before dying off and may be cheaper than planting perennials that have a bloom cycle.

• Ornamental grasses are becoming more popular for theme gardens that attract butterflies and humming birds.

• Rain gardens that collect water off downspouts and drain into plants may cut your water bill and also help the environment by keeping chemicals and dirt from running into the sewer systems.

<p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>About Random Acres</b></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">Farmer Len Johnson, who owns about 100 acres where he grows vegetables, corn and soybeans, sold vegetables out of a roadside stand on his 3-acre property at 621 E. Schaumburg Road and other rental locations. That became known as Random Acres Garden Center beginning in 1978.</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col"><b>The nursery grows:</b></p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• 10,000 hanging baskets with six to seven flowering plants each</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• 5,000 garden mums for fall sales</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• 2,000 4-inch and 6-inch potted geraniums</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• 1,500 geranium hanging baskets</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">• 200 different varieties of flowering plants</p> <p class="factboxtextbold12col">For information, visit <a href="http://randomacres.com" target="new">randomacres.com</a>.</p>