If you’ve always dreamed of growing fresh garden vegetables, it’s not too late to make your wish come true. 

With a few weeks left in May, there’s still time to plant a vegetable garden filled with summertime delights including vine-ripened tomatoes, brilliant zucchini and yellow squash, crisp cucumbers, and peppers of all types.

To get the scoop on the do’s and don’ts and tips and trends of vegetable gardening, Edgewater-Davidsonville Patch.com sat down with Gene Sumi, certified professional horticulturist and educational coordinator for Homestead Gardens. 

Here's what he had to say:

When is the best time to plant a summer vegetable garden? To yield summer vegetables, a garden should be planted between the last week of April and the end of May. By April, the risk of frost is negligible, thus lessening the damage to the newly-planted seedlings. Further, the plants need time to flower and bear fruit. Wait too long and you'll miss the window of opportunity.

Are there different planting seasons for various vegetables?  Yes, different vegetables have different planting seasons. Plant crops such as broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts and lettuce in early March, they thrive in cooler weather.

Summer vegetables such as squash, tomatoes and peppers are more ‘tender” and should be planted in late April or up until the last week of May.  Fall crops (again your lettuces, cabbage, broccoli, spinach and peas) are typically planted in late August- early September. 

How do I go about planting a garden? It’s important to locate an area in the yard that gets a lot of sun and is near a water source.  You will want to visit a local, garden center to see what types of vegetables you want to plant.  Knowing what you want to plant will determine how much space you need for the garden. Once the location is set and the crops selected, cultivate the soil and replenish with nutrients prior to planting.  

What are common items grown in Davidsonville-area gardens?  Red tomatoes are one of the most popular items planted in local gardens.  Orange and yellow tomatoes are gaining favor due to their sweetness. 

Hot peppers, in particular jalapenos, are all the rage and bell peppers of all varieties follow suit. In fact, at Homestead Gardens, it's not unusual to sell out of jalapeno peppers early in the season.

Of course, a garden isn’t complete without cucumbers, yellow squash and zucchini.  These always top the list for Davidsonville gardeners.

What vegetable is challenging to grow? Corn. It’s requires more attention and you constantly battle crows and other birds.

Name some common mistakes gardeners make. It sounds silly but a lot of folks simply forget to water their vegetable garden. It’s important to place the garden near a water spigot so that giving the vegetables a drink does not become a chore.

In addition, sometimes gardeners under or over fertilize.  To avoid this, have a soil profile sent away to test the PH levels and to see if the soil is holding nutrients. Also, weed the garden.  Weeds take up nutrients and water that vegetables count on.

Is organic gardening popular? I would say that at least 60 percent of our customers use organic gardening methods and/or products. People like that they can control their food supply.  It’s very empowering to know where your vegetables are grown and under what conditions.

Are there any gardening trends we should know about? Raised beds are "in-fashion."  Raising the bed off the ground allows for better weed and critter control and also maximizes space and time, among other things.

There is tons of information online that explains the how-to's of raised beds and the benefits of doing so.  It's a lot of up-front work, but it pays off in the long run. 

At the end of the day, people love gardening because they see and taste the fruits of their labor.  It's worth the time and effort, and aches and pains when you bite into the first sun-soaked tomato of the season and it tastes simply divine.