Planning the Garden

 My new Master Gardener friends asked me to write down when I start seeds and direct sow my veggies. (Zone 7b)

January- winter sow seeds in milk jugs to set outside for winter stratification. This year I am trying flowers from seeds I saved from last season’s garden, plus some herbs.  It's too early to winter sow warm season crops; I'd save that for March.  I also plant onion sets from : Dixondale Onion Farm

February-Now's the time to plant English peas and hope they finish before hot weather. I also plant potatoes this month.   I have a small greenhouse now, but used to start seeds in front of my large kitchen window. I may also try direct-sowing some beets. I love them, but haven’t had much luck in the past. It gets HOT here suddenly in spring and they are a cool season crop.  I've had more success in fall.

March- This month I will start seeds for warm season crops, mainly tomatoes and peppers; I also direct-sow lettuce and spinach.  I may try some in February also; you never know from year to year how our short spring will go, weather wise.

April-I’m trying to wait until the fifteenth to plant my tomatoes and peppers outside. I’ve plant twice the last two years when a late spring cold snap killed them.  I plant yellow squash and zucchini directly in the garden now.  I will also plant green beans, corn, and southern peas.

July-plant pumpkins for a fall harvest, and plant sunflowers as well.  Wait a month to plant the tiny pumpkins to harvest them Sept./Oct.

August-Start seeds for any fall greens, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts.  Some of these will over-winter and produce in our mild winter months.  I start these in the air conditioning, then move them to my screen porch, then to the garden in cooler weather, in Sept.

Sept./Oct.-I direct sow lettuces, turnips, and collards.  I also plant garlic for spring harvest, and move my fall seedlings into the garden.

Nov. - Plant garlic to overwinter.  Plant only the largest bulbs to get best harvest.

Updated September 2023

Willy Nilly Dilly Beans

After cooking a "mess" of Blue Lake green beans from my garden for several meals, I decided to pickle the remaining crop.  (Do people outside of the South know "mess"?)  These questions came up:  Should I allow bean tips to stick up into the top of the jar into the head space?  and what kind of spices should I use?  I consulted a few recipes and decided on dill seed, garlic clove, peppercorn, and red pepper flakes for seasoning.  Then...Walmart was out of dill seed!  (Oh goodness, what I would give for a Publix out here in the country!)  Well, I bought Ball Pickling Spices and used 1/2 the recommended amount, plus the pepper flakes, garlic and dill seed I later located.  Here are the results:  The beans are highly edible, but smell a little like Bread and Butter pickles due to the Ball spices.  Next time I'll go purely dill.  Also, the issue with the beans in the head space and possible not covered in vinegar was not a problem, as the beans in my jar floated to the top and there is a space at the bottom of each jar.  (See photo.)  I'd like to eliminate some of that space next time.   Also, I may cut down the salt a little.  Next, I'd like to pickle okra and then green tomatoes, but school starts in two weeks, so we'll see!

Indoor Gardens

My daughter, Grace, and I made terrariums today.  It seems they are trendy again; it took some thirty years, but the ones we saw at the garden shop at our Botanical Gardens reminded me of the one I made at her age.  She wanted one for her apartment, so we made it our summer project.  We love them!

Berries from Canaan

This morning I walked to a patch of blackberries beside an old logging road that cuts across our farm.  My faithful dog, Sammy, and the new puppy, June, kept the snakes at bay while I picked a cupful of blackberries from the Land of Canaan.  They are twice the size of the rest of the berries scattered around the woods and driveway.  An older friend told me that the big ones are blackberries and the small ones are "dewberries."  I don't know if this is right--but I prefer to think of them as from the Land of Milk and Honey that I remember from the Bible story books my Mom read to me at bedtime.  There was a picture of two men carrying a huge bunch of grapes, using a pole across their shoulders, as they returned from checking out the land God had promised their people.  Picking these giant berries feels like that.

Peach Tomato

This is a Wapsipinicon Peach tomato from Baker Seed Co.  I wish I had taken a photo before slicing it.  It really does have a slightly peachy taste.  (The seeds were two or three years old from my seed stash.)

Saving Tomato Seeds

Well, I've never done this before, but I remember seeing my Dad dry seeds like this. These yellow cherry tomatoes were spectacular in a very bad tomato season, so I'm trying it. I also bought a perennial Hibiscus yesterday on sale--now is the time for garden center bargains! Lowes says they will have some fall seeds in around the second week of August. They are the only source I have found locally who restock for fall, and fall is my favorite season in the garden: lettuce season!

Out with the old...in with the pumpkins

Today I threw out the tomato vines and planted pumpkins in my raised beds. I hope to grow the Jack-Be-Little ones on the fence where some cucumbers remain. It will take a lot of water to produce big pumpkins in these beds because they dry out so quickly. We shall see! I also planted popcorn for fall decor, and sunflowers for fall. I hope my timing is not too late.