4 suggestions for first-time vegetable growers

Every master gardener has to start somewhere. Before you dig into your first vegetable-growing experience, check out these four suggestions to help set yourself up for success.

• Knowing the hardiness zone for your area is critical to choosing the right plants for your gardens and landscaping
• These zones are predominantly based on the coldest temperature during winter and on the dates of the first and last frost
• The zones are numbered, and plants are generally labelled with these numbers so you'll know which ones are most likely to thrive in your area
• But here's a fact that could trip you up if you aren't careful where you buy: although both Canada and the United States use a numbering system for their zones, the scales are different. For example, the zone for much of northern Montana is 3b, but the same zone over the border in southern Alberta is 4a, even though they share virtually the same climatic conditions
• If you shop in the border states or provinces or, even more critically, if you order plants by mail or from the Internet, it's crucial to know which zone system the vendor is using. Otherwise, you might find that your new plants are immigrants with the wrong documentation

If you're worried that you've got a black thumb, start with green beans, tomatoes and radishes — and herbs such as basil, rosemary and thyme. Sure, the experts will get bigger yields, but these can't-miss plants guarantee plenty of luscious fresh vegetables during your first season, and you'll be encouraged to try more vegetables next year.

The French invented the glass cloche, or bell jar, to protect seedlings from frost. You can buy beautiful cloches today, but why not save your centimes and make them yourself from plastic two-litre soda bottles or 3.7-litre (one-gallon) milk jugs?

• Using a sharp knife, carefully slice the entire bottom from the bottle
• Place the bottle over the seedling, leaving the cap off for ventilation
• Bury the lower edge of the bottle in the soil to anchor it in place, or poke a stick into the ground next to the seedling and place the bottle over the stick

With the money you've saved, buy yourself a nice bottle of French wine.

Trellises or cages work well enough for holding up tomato vines, but they are not always cheap and you have to find a place to store them. As a result, many commercial growers have adopted the "Florida weave" for supporting tomato plants, and there's no reason home growers shouldn't use it too. You won't need those old tomato cages anymore, but maybe you can make a few bucks by selling them at a yard sale and put it toward seeds for the following season.

To construct the Florida weave:

• drive a steel fence post or sturdy wooden post at each end of the row of tomato plants and at every second plant between
• tie polypropylene twine, which doesn't stretch, to the post at one end of the row about 25 centimetres (10 inches) off the ground
• run the cord to the second stake, and secure it by wrapping it a couple of times around the stake at the same level
• continue to the end of the row, keeping the cord tight, then return back up the row on the other side of the stakes, securing the cord at each post
• the tomato plants' stems should be held between the two taut cords
• as the plants grow, add new layers of twine about 25 centimetres (10 inches) apart
• prune suckers to remove the weight that must be supported and encourage productive growth

Follow these suggestions and you'll be off to a solid start. Once you've got the basics under your gardening belt, you can branch out and experiment with more challenging vegetables.