 Hello, this is Bethany O. Rear Regional Agent for Alabama Extension. Thank you for joining me today to learn more about planting the summer garden, a part of our series for home vegetable gardeners called Grow More, Give More. At the end of this talk, you'll see a list of several publications you might find useful at our website, asus.edu. Summer is the season when it all comes together for many gardeners. You're growing tomatoes, cucumbers, and corn with fond memories of summer's past. Maybe your grandfather always raised a certain type of zucchini or your mother canned tomatoes, or maybe this is the first time you've ever put a seed in the ground. Wherever you're coming from, it's important to have a plan, because whatever you seed, plant, or fail to remove from the garden now will affect your success for the next several months. You can use a paper and pencil to plan out your garden, but I recommend Sew, a free app from asus.edu. Whatever method you choose, think ahead and keep records to learn what works and what doesn't. Preparing the garden soil is critical to success. The best way to know the nutrient content of your soil is to conduct a soil test. Our publication, Home Soil Testing, Taking a Sample, tells you everything you need to know. Soil preparation is your best and last chance to get things right before those beautifully large crops take over. Summer vegetables love sun. Six hours a day is the minimum to support summer crops. Morning sunlight is better than the burn of afternoon sun. Bear in mind that your garden may get less sun during the summer than the spring because of the way the trees or shrubs have leafed out. Plan accordingly. Reliable moisture is key. Plant where you can easily supply additional water, but be sure the soil doesn't stay too wet. That may mean choosing the right container or improving your soil. It's best to give it a little thought now rather than watch your plants wilt. Uneven moisture can aggravate some diseases and cause other issues as well. Small containers may need daily watering. Plants that don't always need daily watering at the beginning of the season may move to that need as they mature and temperatures rise. Summer crops need more nutrition and water than spring crops. Summer vegetables may be a bit needier, but they reward us with the extra sugars and summertime flavors. If you think about how tomatoes or corn taste right from the field, it makes sense why they need a little bit extra to be that good. Crops are planted in April and May. Alabama, however, is lucky in that we can even plant another crop out in July that will mature before falls hard frost. Summer crops thrive with our heat and moisture, and they need plenty of space. Rows should be three feet apart and arose space plants 18 to 36 inches apart depending on vegetable type. Vegetables appreciate a balanced fertilizer like 13, 13, 13, and then compensate for any extra needs specific to the crop or soil with side dressing four to six weeks after planting for hungry plants like tomatoes. Beans and peas, however, fix their own nitrogen in the soil, so you don't need to side-dress them. Choose your vegetable variety strategically. It's easy to fall in love with a beautiful photo on a seed packet or in a gardening magazine, but it's important to drill down on what's best for your garden. A smaller garden will benefit with varieties labeled patio and container in the names. Seeds which are disease resistant will have letters following their name signifying the diseases they've been bred to resist. Some plants need the extra boost of being transplanted as seedlings like tomato, eggplant, and pepper, while other crops prefer to be planted directly into the ground as seeds, like corn, squash, and cucumbers. Most plants will need support for their stems or at least protection from rot on the ground. Commercial metal structures for tomatoes can bear weight of full-sized crops. You can also use bamboo or other supports. With plants like cucumbers and squash, which sprawl or climb, a fence may be your wisest use of space. Space is so important in the garden. When you plant a raised bed, make sure you don't make it so wide that you can't reach the middle from either side. Plant roots are the life force, so you don't want to walk all over them when you weed or harvest. For the same reason, you don't want plants to crowd each other out for sunlight or nutrition. The Alabama Vegetable Gardener is a great resource. You can find it and many others at aces.edu. Have gardening questions? We have answers. Call the Master Gardener Helpline at 877-252-4769. Thanks for watching, and until next time, happy gardening.