Why go to the grocery store to buy fresh vegetables when you can grow your own? It's easy.

All it takes is a good patch of soil, some tender loving care and a little patience. But you have to start now if you want to taste the fruits or vegetables of your labour by summer.

There are a variety of vegetables and herbs you can plant now such as beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, tomatoes, melons, parsley and thyme to name a few.

Junior Hill from J and J Produce said the key to producing good vegetables is to use plenty of manure. "Nature has to also be on your side providing good weather -- not like we are having now,'' Mr. Hill said adding, "this is the time to plant anything and everything from tomatoes to cucumbers but it is important to ensure that you are not planting in sandy or clay-like soil, good drainage is also important.

"Soil should be irrigated and you have to keep the weeds out by hand and keep the plants sprayed and watered during the spring and summer heat.'' Mr. Hill said home growers should have edible vegetables in three months but different crops take different lengths of time.

"It is also important for home gardeners to not plant too much of one thing.

A lot of householders do that and then if they don't make jams and jellies their in trouble. Half a dozen tomato plants is fine for a family they can get three months picking out of them and if they keep the plants healthy they will last longer.

"If planting peppers in the next two weeks they can have them until November if they keep them healthy.'' Frank Machado of Franks Produce said when planting a vegetable garden you can use any soil but the red soil is the best. "Avoid really white soil, that is not the best to use.

"You can get away with planting just about anything right now because we are just about exiting winter. You can plant early corns and pumpkins, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes. They may be a bit early but you can start with that because the weather is starting to warm up,'' he added.

Mr. Machado also said the other thing you can plant are watermelons and sweet potatoes, as they are some of the spring time products.

"But if you have broccoli and cauliflower seedlings already on their way you can still put them in and get away with it. In a home garden you can substitute for the rain fall by watering,'' Mr. Machado said.

To help your garden along Mr. Machado said you should start off by using manure or a chemical fertiliser to ensure good growth. "For home gardens, to keep the pest away, you can use Dipel which is a biologically safe insecticide, that will keep most of the worms away. There are other sprays available the ones we (farmers) use would be for commercial use and not for gardeners.'' Department of Agriculture and Fisheries foreman Roger Parris said when setting up a garden at home, gardeners need to really look at the size of their yards.

"If the home gardener does not have a big yard I recommend the square-foot gardening approach, with a square-foot garden you can grow about 10 different things in it versus having a big garden with a lot of stuff you can't eat,'' Mr. Parris said adding, "at the Botanical Gardens we have a kitchen garden where I have planted a variety of vegetables and flowers. I am also trying to grow giant vegetables from seeds that were brought in. It's a good example for people wanting to start a garden at home.

"Anyone can come and look at the garden to get some tips on how to grow from scratch or from seedlings.'' Mr. Parris also said home gardeners also need to think about whether or not they are "growing vegetables for themselves or their neighbourhood because if you are going to use a big space then you will have a big crop.

"Then they need to see what kind of soil they have and if they want to find out how good their soil is they can take it to the Agriculture and Fisheries lab and they will test it. If it is not good they can get horse manure which is a great organic fertiliser.'' Mr. Parris added that while planning your garden you should also decide what you want to grow and how many seeds you want to plant because if you do too much you'll have too many left and you'll end up throwing them away. You have to know how much you want.'' Vegetables you can plant now: Beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, chard, cowpeas, sweet corn, cucumbers, cantaloupe, eggplant, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, melons, okra, parsley, peppers, pumpkin, rutabaga, spinach, squash, thyme, tomatoes, turnip, upland cress, watercress and watermelon.

At Aberfeldy Nurseries you will find (in seedlings) broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, a variety of lettuce, and a variety of herbs. They also have all kinds of seeds that can be planted now.

At Brighton Nursery they too have a variety of seedling such as broccoli, cabbage, and herbs.

If you prefer to plant flowers rather than vegetables here is a list of some flowers that should be planted in March.

Alyssum, baby blue eyes, bachelors buttons, blanket flower, African daisy, forget-me-not, geranium, snow-on-the-mountain, impatience, sweet pea, rose everlasting, marigold, statice, red tassel flower, dianthus, chrysanthemum, begonia, salvia, pansy, petunia, hollyhock.