Grow a Healthy Vegetable Garden

Appreciating the natural rhythms of a garden is one of the joys of growing vegetables. "In a garden, you need to have the whole good guys-bad guys balance," Pencke says. "You don't want to wipe out pests, just keep the population down. Predators who can do that need to eat, too." At a store, you might shun greens with a few insect holes. But when those greens are fresh from your garden, it's easier to see them as signs of life and good health.

Shown: In grocery stores, broccoli usually has thick stems; plants are harvested just once. Home gardeners can cut thinner, more tender stems and get repeat harvests from side shoots.