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There's nothing better than harvesting fresh garden produce right out of a backyard garden.

A successful garden harvest depends on many important steps, from the garden site itself to proper care of the plants. Here are a few tips as you get ready for this gardening season.

Site Selection: Vegetables need lots of sun. The more direct sun, the better the yield.

Leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and cabbage, and root crops such as carrots and turnips, can take some shade. But beans, okra, tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucumbers, squash and other fruiting vegetables need at least 8 to 10 hours of direct sun for healthy plants and maximum yield. So find the sunniest spot in your yard for your garden. If the sunniest spot is your patio or driveway, then try container gardening.

Soil Preparation: The best garden soils are rich in nutrients and highly organic.

Even if you have been working a spot for years, constantly adding compost and other organic matter, your soil can still benefit from the addition of more organic matter. Just prior to planting you can add rotted barnyard manure and finished compost. Creating raised beds will let the soil warm up faster, getting your plants off to a quicker start.

Soils in East Texas are typically low in some nutrients, particularly nitrogen, potassium, and sometimes calcium and magnesium. Soil tests for phosphorus usually indicate adequate, or even high, levels of this element, which can be detrimental at high levels. Phosphorus is important for seedling and transplant establishment, and can be supplied to individual transplants or the seed row by banding, or with a starter solution for transplants.

Soil pH is a critical factor often overlooked by many gardeners. Most vegetables grow best with a pH of 6.0 to 6.5. Some crops, like beans and beets, just won't do well at all in acid soil below pH 6.5. Poor growth and disappointing yields result from acidic soils. Our East Texas soils can be very acidic, and which can be corrected by the addition of lime to raise the pH to an acceptable level.

Soil Test: For the best results in taking care of soil fertility, have your soil tested by a reputable soil testing lab. Every county extension office has the information needed to submit a soil sample to the Extension Soil Testing Lab in College Station.

Variety Selection: For every type of vegetable there are dozens, even hundreds, of varieties to choose from. What produces bumper crops in New York, Michigan or even Arkansas may not necessarily do well in East Texas. Find out what varieties are recommended for our specific area from your county extension office. Some important traits to look for in vegetable varieties include disease resistance, high yield and early maturity (as expressed in days to harvest).

Planting Date: Timing is everything. Most crops should mature before the onslaught of very hot weather (except okra, southern peas and sweet potatoes which require warmer weather). So, most crops need to be planted as early as possible. Mid-March is the "average" last freeze date for the Tyler area, so crops sensitive to frost like beans, corn and watermelons can usually be seeded just prior to and after that time frame. Tomatoes can be transplanted before that time if you are prepared to give them frost protection.

A floating row cover or blanket draped over a cage will protect young transplants from a light frost, but won't help much in a severe, late freeze.

Cool season vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower should be transplanted soon. Other crops to be seeded now and into February include beets, carrots, Swiss chard, collards, lettuce, mustard, radish and turnips. These crops grow best in the milder weather of early spring. Also, try planting them again in late summer for a fall crop.

Not only is air temperature important, but it is also wise to wait until the soil has warmed to the upper 60's or low 70's before planting seed of warm season vegetables.

Peppers do best if transplanted a few weeks later than tomatoes, after the soil has warmed up.

Again, local county extension offices are a source of information for vegetable planting dates, plus you can find specific bulletins for most vegetable crops in the 'Easy Gardening' series. Home vegetable gardening publications are also available online at Aggie Horticulture (Aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu). Look in the "Extension info" section for "Home Vegetable and Fruit Production."

If you would like to learn more about vegetable gardening, don't miss the East Texas Spring Landscape and Garden Conference Feb. 16 at the Tyler Rose Garden Center.

Dr. Jerry Parsons, Horticulture Specialist with Texas AgriLife Extension in San Antonio, is one the state's leading experts on vegetable gardening, and has been introducing new varieties and helping vegetable growers and gardeners for more than three decades. Parsons is scheduled to speak on Spring Vegetable Gardening.

Parsons' other passion is finding colorful, hardy, Texas-tough landscape plants and introducing them to the nursery industry and gardening public through the Texas Superstar program, which will be his other topic on Feb. 16. For more information, see the "Events & News" section of EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu.

Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service. His Web page is http://EastTexasGardening.tamu.edu His blog is http://tceblogs.tamu.edu/mt/etg Texas AgriLife Extension Service educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.