What is the key to getting the biggest yield from your vegetable garden? Planning. It is easy to buy a few plants in the spring to get a few tomatoes and peppers for fresh eating, but how do you get enough vegetables to keep the garden productive from spring through fall, getting the most from each crop? If you are a Community Supported Agriculture farmer, you had better be able to produce a lot of vegetables over the course of a whole season. CSA members prepay at the beginning of the season for a share of the anticipated harvest and they expect the maximum amount of vegetables.

In their new book, "High-Yield Vegetable Gardening," authors and experienced CSA farmers Colin McCrate and Brad Halm show you how you can make your food garden much more productive, no matter how big or small it is. You'll learn their secrets for preparing the soil, selecting and rotating your crops, and mapping out a specific customized schedule that makes the most of your space and your growing season. The book is packed with all of the schedules, worksheets and record-keeping pages you need, so you can repeat your successes next year.

Everyone loves hummingbirds in the garden. Hummingbirds will love coming to your garden when they find the new Ruby Sipper feeder from Droll Yankee. The lid is practical and pretty. It is shaped like a large red flower with strong petal-like perches built in. It also has the nectar recipe engraved in the top. The feeder includes a brush to clean the portholes. The $15 feeder has a lifetime warranty, so buy three and place them all over the garden.

Territorial Seed Company has many types of garden seeds and supplies, including unusual items like mushrooms. You can grow your own Button, Lion's Mane, Pearl, Portobello, Shiitake and several other kinds from easy to use kits. Most of the kits can be used indoors and some can be used both indoors and outdoors. Mushrooms are fun for kids to grow, even if they don't like to eat them.

Working with concrete can be intimidating. I have made some nice waterfalls that look like real sandstone, but I have not felt confident in making objects like flowerpots. After reading the new book "Color Concrete Garden Projects" by Nathan Smith and Michael Snyder, I am looking forward to building some planters, a bench and a fire pit out of colored concrete. This book has excellent written steps with very clear photographs of each step. Materials and tools are listed and pictured, so you can see what each item is.

The projects include a sphere, tree swing, flowerpots, benches and even a concrete birdhouse. The projects are not just the same thing over again on a new project, but each one teaches new techniques of coloring, inlays and mold making.

No matter where you fall as a gardener on the manmade climate problem, you need "The Gardener's Guide to Weather and Climate" by Michael Allaby. Outdoor plants are subjected to weather every day. By understanding how weather and climate influence plants, you can grow your plants better. You can choose and grow plants best adapted to your climate, microclimate and weather. The book will also be helpful for those who travel to other locations to quickly get a sense of the new location's climate, weather and the reasons why certain types of plants grow there.

Email questions to Jeff Rugg at [email protected]. To find out more about Jeff Rugg and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Copyright 2015 Jeff Rugg, licensed to Creators Syndicate.