Gardening 'Tools'

OK, Piedmont gardeners, you Zone 7’ers!!!  Whether you are a container gardener or full blown farmer, it is time to get your ducks in a row and get started!!!  WHAT???  You aren’t growing at least one edible???  Well then, roll up those sleeves and get started! (See other entries about Till-less gardening in the ‘Gardening’ tab)  It isn’t hard at all and there is such pleasure in putting food on the table that you grow, knowing that it is organic and fresh…there is nothing like it.  Who wouldn’t want to dig into freshly sauteed squash, zucchini, red pepper and onions???  This is what Organic Gardening advises us to do during the month of March:

• In the middle of the month, plant a row of Swiss chard. Tender stalks will be ready to harvest in mid-May—and the plants will keep producing all summer.
• Also in midmonth, sow other hardy vegetables, such as carrots, beets, kohlrabi, radishes, leaf lettuces, and turnips.
• Transplant onions, shallots, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, white potatoes and asparagus crowns to the garden.
• Set out herbs, such as rosemary, chives, and thyme—but not tender basil!

I also have a book, Month-By-Month Gardening in the Carolinas, by Bob Polomski that I refer to as well.  He reminds us that we should:

• Sow warm season vegetables in flats or trays such as eggplant, New Zealand spinach (heat tolerant), pepper and tomatoes.
• Vegetables that resent root disturbance, cucumbers and summer squash for example, should be sown in individual pots or peat pellets.
• Avoid sowing seeds too early or they may be ready for transplanting before outdoor conditions permit.  I use this tool to plan when to sow my veggies.
• Put a sweet potato in a glass half filled with water and place it in bright light.  Detach the plants from the mother root when they are 6 – 8 inches long, pot them up and then plant them in the garden about three weeks after the last freeze, which for us should be somewhere around the last week of April.
• Buy seed potatoes and cut them into egg-sized pieces containing one or two eyes.  Allow the cuts to dry and callous for a day or two before planting.  Plant them when the soil temperature remains above 50 degrees F.
• Continue watering trays or pots of seedlings indoors.

I would add to these lists to continue making notations in your gardening journal about this year’s planning stages.  WHAT?*!? You don’t have a gardening journal/notebook???  Well, get one!Trust me, you will not remember specifics from year to year unless you draw diagrams, take pics and make notations!   Take a look at last year’s diagram and make your plans for rotating your crops to avoid pests and diseases as much as possible.

Yep, things are cranking up around here and I could not be more excited!  My mister is excited, too!  He loves coming home to fresh, organic home-cooked meals…even if his wife does have a little dirt under her nails and on her face every now and again. 😉  Hey…it washes off~