Small Garden News

For your organic garden

Blog

Garden Crops in March

by 2 Comments

Spring crops in the Southeast are in a mixed state of early, middle, and late, here in late-March, in terms of being ready to harvest.

Your fall-planted kale may be starting to send up flower-stalks. Mine is.

When leaf-crops like kale start to make flowers, it means they are going to stop making new, tasty leaves very soon. When you can see flower buds forming, it is time to harvest the rest of the crop. I brought in my kale this weekend.

  • Small garden patch with cilantro on the left, white flowers of rocket on the right, and dwarf kale growing in the background.
    Cilantro (L), rocket gone to flower (R), and kale (background)
  • Cluster of flower buds at tip of kale plant in the garden.
    Tip of central stem of kale with a cluster of flower buds.

Any early-planted rocket will have sent up flowers, too. When the space is not needed right away for another crop, I leave these in the garden for a week or so, for the bees. Fall-planted cilantro may be flowering in a few weeks, too. Mine is starting to show a thickened central stem. This is usually the first indicator that the plant will switch over to making flowers soon.

  • Four-petaled white flowers, two of them, with pale pink variegations.
    Flowers of earlier-planted rocket. Bees love these.
  • Later-planted rocket in a half-barrel.

If you planted a later patch of rocket at few weeks ago, it may be at a perfect size for harvesting right now. Mine is planted in the half-barrel. Leaves from my later patch have been going into sandwiches and salads for a couple of weeks. It is about time to plant another round of rocket, to avoid having too large a gap between crops.

Bowl of harvested salad greens, with green lettuces and rocket and red lettuces and raddichio.

The spring garden can provide other salad-type greens, too. A small home garden might not have a large salad patch, but it can produce specialty greens that make meals more interesting.

My garden has been giving us rocket, radicchio, and a dark red lettuce that make beautiful salads.

‘Garden babies’ lettuce and some radicchio in a March garden.

Some gardens will have large beets, ready to harvest, started last fall. Spring-planted beets may still be just clusters of small leaves (like mine).

Salad radishes planted in late February may be ready soon, too. My ‘German Giant’ radishes were planted in the same bed and at the same time as my beets. The radish roots are more than a half inch across already.

Knowing that the spring crops are nearly done would be more sad if I weren’t looking forward to summer crops. I have started tomato and pepper plants in the house, and I have seeds for many more kinds of veggies that I am planning to grow.

How is your garden growing this Spring?

Spread the love

Planting Dates for Summer Garden Vegetables

by Leave a Comment

As spring advances and weather warms, the urge to plant the summer garden becomes almost overwhelming. Knowing which crops can stand a bit of cooler weather and cooler soil can help us make good choices about what to plant when we just can’t wait any longer.

Understanding the last frost date

Most of the garden vegetables that we grow in summer are frost tender, which means that they won’t survive freezing weather. This is why most seed packets use the “last frost date” — the expected date of the last freezing temperatures — as a marker for when to plant summer crops.

Where I live, the average date of the last frost in spring is in mid-April. The date is not exact; we estimate the date based on the dates of the last frost in previous years. Annoyingly, we won’t know the exact date of the last frost for this year until we are well past it. Some years, the last frost in my yard is in March, and one year my yard had a frost on April 23rd.

The role of soil temperature

Cucumber seedling with three true leaves, already planted in the organic home garden.
Cucumber seedling transplanted into the garden in April.

Part of finding the best time to plant vegetables is knowing the best temperature for seeds to sprout and for plants to grow. Texas AgriLife Extension points out that these two temperatures are not necessarily the same. For example, bean seeds may sprout best at a soil temperature of 85 degrees F, but that temperature isn’t best for plant growth and productivity.

The AgriLife article lists reasonable, “compromise” soil temperatures for planting many crops:

  • cucumber (64°F)
  • cantaloupe (68°F)
  • okra (73°F)
  • pumpkin (75°F)
  • squash (70°F)
  • watermelon (72°F)
  • beans (72°F)
  • beets (45°F)
  • tomato (55°F)
  • turnip (50°F)
  • corn (55°F)

From the list, you can see that beets and turnips (cool-season crops) can do well in cooler soil, corn and tomato plants slightly warmer, and cucumbers and cantaloups a bit warmer still. This information can help in planning your schedule.

Recommended date ranges from University Extension programs

UGA publishes a Vegetable Planting Chart that shows suggested planting dates for garden vegetables. The dates are for middle-Georgia (a line through Macon across the state), which means that the dates need to be adjusted for areas north and south of that line.

Tomato transplants for the organic home garden, indoors under lights on a cold day.
Tomato transplants for the organic home garden, indoors under lights on a cold day.

For my area, just north of Atlanta, I would add about two weeks to the ranges in the UGA planting chart to get a reasonable planting date range for my garden.

North Carolina State University Extension publishes a planting chart for Western North Carolina. The dates are similar to those that I would use for my garden.

You may notice that the recommended date-ranges in the linked publications for spring planting can be quite large – up to six weeks for some vegetables. The whole range of dates might be good theoretically for a particular crop; however, for organic home gardens, there are some good reasons for choosing to plant either at the early end of the range or the late end.

Reasons to consider dates at the edges of the recommended ranges

For both bush beans and pole beans, I usually plant as early as I think the plants can survive the experience. The early planting — as early as the first week in April, if the weather forecast looks ok — means that I start harvesting beans before the end of May. By the time the Mexican bean beetles show up to demolish the plants, I will have harvested plenty of beans.

I also choose an early planting date for cucumbers, squashes, and melons. Those plants all are attacked by mildew diseases in late summer and an assortment of pest insects in mid to late summer. Early planting allows a larger harvest, before the plants are affected by whichever problem attacks first. For these crops, planting seeds in the first week in April, or transplants a week or two later (when the soil is warmer), can make a big difference in how much food I can harvest before the plants die.

Okra and sweet potatoes are two crops that I plant at the later end of the recommended planting date range. Both of those two crops grow slowly in cool weather, and I have found that keeping ahead of the weeds, which grow faster, is more work when these two crops are planted early. When okra and sweet potatoes are planted later, in early or mid May in my yard, they grow fast enough to shade the ground sooner, and weeds have less chance to take hold.

Tomatoes are another crop that I plant later than almost every other gardener I know. My experience is that later-planted tomatoes, like at the end of April or early May, are less troubled by blossom-end rot than earlier-planted tomatoes. They also are more likely to survive whichever soil-borne wilt disease is in my yard, and infection by the ever-present early blight disease is usually less severe.

Organic gardeners won’t use the chemicals that are available in garden centers to control all the above problems. Instead, we have be a bit wily about getting around the diseases and pests that can reduce the productivity of our organic home gardens. I have found that adjusting my planting dates to the edges of the date ranges, for some crops, is all the “control” I need.

Of course, keeping a good attitude about the vagaries of the natural world also helps.

Amy’s planting schedule

In case you are curious, this is when I plant the standard summer crops, most years, in my garden, zone 7B, just northwest of Atlanta:

  • first week in April – plant seeds for bush beans and pole beans if forecast is ok; if a freeze is in the forecast, I start these in a flat or tray, to transplant to the garden after a couple of weeks. I also start squash-family plants – cucumbers, zucchini, winter squashes, melons – in little pots this week, to transplant to the garden when the soil is warmer.
  • mid-April – plant corn, if any is planned. For me, that is usually popcorn. Early planting for corn reduces problems with corn ear-worm. Later plantings almost always have more ear-worms. Plant the transplants (beans, squash family plants) when the first true leaf is a couple of inches across.
  • late-April – plant pepper plants, and seeds for Swiss chard (if planned).
  • early May – plant tomato and eggplant transplants, seeds for okra.
  • mid-May – plant sweet potato slips.
  • mid-summer – plant Southern peas when one of the earlier crops comes out of the garden (bush beans or cucumbers are usually the first to go). After bush beans have been gone from the garden for a couple of weeks, if there aren’t any pole beans also in the garden to harbor more Mexican bean beetles, plant a new patch of bush beans.

What the above schedule doesn’t show is that I start tomato and pepper plants from seed, indoors, in early March. It also doesn’t include annual herbs, like basil or borage, or flowers, like nasturtium and Zebrina hollyhock, that I plant most years.

Protecting early-planted crops from frost

The summer crops are frost-tender, but I plant some of these crops early enough that the risk of frost is high. A couple of different strategies can be used to protect your crops.

The first strategy is the use of transplants to allow an early start for some crops, like beans and cucumbers. This strategy takes some planning, and it takes space in your house. It also, though, protects plants from cooler weather, since they are indoors. The plants can be planted into the garden when the risk of frost is lower.

The second strategy is the use of row covers to protect tender crops in the garden from a light frost. If a hard freeze happens and the row cover does not fully protect a crop, some replanting might need to be done. The good news here is that most seed packets contain enough seeds to replant a small home garden.

For further reading, my older post about planting seeds in the garden contains reminders about planting depth and plant spacing that might be helpful.

(If this post is helpful or interesting, please “like” or “share” it. Thank you!)

Spread the love

Broccoli, Beets, and Boron – Updated

by Leave a Comment

Soils in the region where I live are short on the mineral boron, an essential plant micronutrient. The University of Georgia soil lab doesn’t measure boron levels in its routine test for garden soil, but it does include a recommendation to add some to a home vegetable garden. This is the recommendation:

“Apply 1 tablespoon of borax per 100 feet of row to broccoli and root crops such as turnips and beets. This can be applied by mixing the borax thoroughly with approximately 1 quart of soil in a container and then applying the mixture along the row; or it can be mixed with a quart of water and applied to the soil in solution.”

University of Georgia, Soil Test Report, basic soil test for Home Vegetable Garden, 2018

What is a micronutrient?

Boron is one of several micronutrients that plants need. The micronutrients are needed in tiny amounts, but they are essential for plant growth. Other micronutrients include copper, iron, and nickel, among others.

For boron, the difference between not-enough and too-much is a pretty narrow range, according to K. Kelling at the University of Wisconsin and Ron Goldy at Michigan State Univ. Extension. This means that great care must be taken to not use too much.

How does boron help plants?

Golden beets growing in the garden - beets are a crop that need a little more boron than others.
Golden beets growing in the garden – beets are a crop that need a little more boron than others.

UMass Extension, Amherst, says that boron “is required for many different aspects of plant cell functioning, including  protein synthesis, development of cell walls, carbohydrate metabolism and sugar transport, pollen growth, fruit set, and seed production.”

Sounds important, to me!

What happens when plants don’t get enough boron?

The UMass information about boron deficiency lists these possible effects of too-little boron:

  • “stunting and distortion of the growing tip”
  • “brittle foliage and yellowing of lower leaf tips”
  • reduced flowering
  • reduced fruiting
  • distorted fruit
  • “brown heart” (mushy brown centers) in root crops like turnips and rutabagas
  • hollow stems in broccoli and cauliflower
  • brown or otherwise discolored curds on cauliflower

Kelling’s Soil and Applied Boron publication adds that cabbages that are low on boron may show an “internal breakdown of head”.

Which plants need the most boron?

Some vegetable crops need more boron than others.

Broccoli growing in the organic home garden.
Broccoli growing in the organic home garden.

Ron Goldy’s U Michigan publication lists crops and their relative need for boron. The high-need vegetables for boron he includes are these:

  • broccoli
  • cauliflower
  • celery
  • table beets
  • turnips

How can I provide boron to my garden?

One way to add boron is to follow the instructions on the UGA soil test report, to mix a tablespoon of borax in water or with soil and to spread that across a 100-foot row of garden, especially in areas where higher-need vegetables are growing. If your garden is not in rows, or is smaller, it will need less borax.

The borax you will need is in the laundry section of your grocery store, in the box of 20 Mule Team Borax. This should be fine for organic gardens, because it is a mined mineral.

You will need to be careful with this product, though, because it is easy to use too much. Do not apply the boron every year without having the boron levels tested at a reliable soil lab.

If you prefer to use another product, one that contains many micronutrients, including boron, to safely fill any gaps, try kelp meal. It is much more difficult to use too much boron when using kelp meal, because it is a much less concentrated source of the micronutrient. There is enough, though, to help your plants. Just follow package directions for safe use in your organic home garden.

Georgia isn’t the only state with low-boron soils

The 20 Mule Team Borax company notes that boron will be at low levels in soils that are sandy, or acidic, or that are low in organic matter (like Georgia clay!), or that are in areas of high humidity.

The company has found that low-boron levels are a common problem in soils east of the Rockies and in the Pacific Northwest. The middle of the country and the Southwestern region mostly have sufficient boron.

To learn more about soil fertility in organic home gardens, read my posts about potassium sources, soil pH, building good garden soil, and side-dressing your garden crops.

Spread the love

Build Bee Hotels for Native Bees

by Leave a Comment

Planting more bee-friendly flowers is a major way we can support native pollinators like our solitary bees — the ones that don’t live in hives — but planning safe nesting sites can also help.

Some of the solitary bees we can provide nesting sites for most easily are different kinds of tunnel-nesting bees, like Mason bees and Leaf-cutter bees. You may have seen various versions of these hotels for sale at garden centers and online. Most include blocks of wood with holes drilled through or bundles of tubes such as straws or bamboo.

Bee hotels for our native, solitary bees can increase the number of pollinators in our small gardens, without taking a lot of space.

My husband made this bee hotel for tunnel nesting bees.
Bee hotel for tunnel-nesting bees.

What you need to know to build a bee hotel

I am not going to give specific “how to” instructions for putting together a good bee hotel, because University of Nebraska has done an excellent job in their publication, linked here: Creating a solitary bee hotel. It includes photos showing a diversity of bee hotels.

However, these are University of Nebraska’s basics:

  • Build a frame for your blocks or tubes. The wood should be untreated. The frame should be about 6-inches deep.
  • Fill the frame with blocks of untreated wood in which holes are drilled to create the tunnels.
  • More simply, skip the frame and just drill holes in big-enough pieces of untreated wood.
  • Different diameters of holes attract different kinds of bees.
  • In general, tunnel diameters should range from 3/32″ to 1/2″. The Nebraska publication includes a chart that shows which bees use which sizes of tunnel diameters.

The Nebraska publication focuses on drilled blocks of wood. Xerxes Society’s publication Tunnel nests for native bees tells more about using bundles of hollow stems or straws to create nests for tunneling bees. In general, though:

  • gather your hollow stems, all about 6-inches long
  • bundle them together in a protective container
  • inside the container, the stems/straws should be horizontal

If you do not have a ready source of bamboo or other hollow stems, consider these Milliard Mason Bee Nest Tubes, made of cardboard.

Cleanliness saves (bee) lives

Parasites, moulds, and diseases can build up inside a bee hotel if it is not well-maintained.

Blocks should be replaced after one or two seasons of use. Old blocks that may still have bees developing inside should be kept aside someplace cool and dry until the following spring, when they can be set out for the bees to emerge.

Hollow stems and straws should be replaced, also, after they have been used and vacated.

After a couple of years, if the bee hotel is still holding together well, in winter, remove the blocks and bundles of tubes, then sanitize the frame by soaking it for about five minutes in a strong bleach solution. After the frame has dried completely, refill it with fresh blocks or tubes.

Smaller bee hotels may be better than larger ones

The Xerxes Society publication includes this information about the benefit of creating several smaller nests and hanging them at intervals through your landscape:

This prevents the unnaturally high populations found at nest blocks with many holes, and mimics natural conditions of limited, spatially separated nest sites. These smaller nests also decompose more rapidly, and can be allowed to simply deteriorate naturally, while new small nests are added to the landscape periodically.

Xerxes Society. Tunnel nests for native bees.

Keep the hotel simple

Insect hotel seen in Florence, Italy, in 2017.
Too much going on?

Entomologist Jo-Lynn Teh-Weisenburger, in a blog post on the site The Entomologist Lounge, cites information that indicates the “increasing number of badly-designed artificial nesting sites contributed to higher loss of (solitary) bees by parasitism.”

The problem seems to one of trying to do too much with one hotel. She says, ” The warning sign of such designs is the unnecessary use of pine cones, glued snail shells, wood shavings and clear plastic tubes.”

Teh-Weisenburger suggests that better success may come when we focus on the kind of insect we want to attract and support. After creating a successful nest habitat for that insect, then we might consider adding structures — elsewhere in the yard — for other species.

Placement of the new nest

Bee hotels need to be set in place in early spring, before the first solitary bees emerge to start looking for flowers and for nesting sites. In my yard, that means placing the bee hotel in the yard by mid-March.

Publications agree that the bee hotel for tunnel-nesting bees should face south or southeast, to catch the morning sun, and it should be mostly in the sun all day. The hotel should be 3-5 feet above the ground, and any vegetation in front should be pruned away. It needs to be secure, so the hotel doesn’t sway in the wind.

Tunnels will stay drier if the hotel has a bit of a roof built onto it, that overhangs the front.

If the information in this post is interesting or helpful, please “like” or “share” it. Thank you!

Spread the love

Difference Between Determinate and Indeterminate Tomatoes

by Leave a Comment

Understanding the differences in how determinate and indeterminate tomato plants grow and set fruit can help you choose the best type for your home garden. The differences can influence not only which type you choose, but also how the plants should be spaced, trellised, and pruned.

Differences between the growth types

Plant size at maturity

The first difference that we can easily see in the garden is how large the mature plants become.

Determinate tomato plants usually grow between one and five feet in height, which means they are less likely to overwhelm a small garden. Many patio and container type tomatoes have a determinate growth habit.

Indeterminate tomato plants can grow to become much taller, as much as 8 or more feet tall. Main stems of plants in this growth type continue to grow in length/height for as long as they are healthy. Many heirloom varieties are indeterminate type tomatoes.

Semi-determinate tomato plants are a third growth type that you may see. As you might have guessed, the characteristics of a semi-determinate plant are in between those of the two other types. These plants are a little less tall and rangy than indeterminate type tomatoes, but not as compact as determinate types. This growth type can work well in a small garden.

Differences in when they set fruit

Timing of fruit production and ripening — when it is ready to harvest — is another difference between the growth-types that we can see in the garden.

Costoluto genovese is an indeterminate type tomato.
‘Costoluto genovese’ is an indeterminate type tomato.

Determinate type tomato plants set almost all of their fruit within a few weeks, and then their productivity slows way down. The fruits form on side-branches that are fairly closely spaced on the plants.

Indeterminate type tomatoes produce fruit all summer and into the fall, if they stay healthy. The fruits are spaced farther apart on indeterminate plants than they are on determinate plants.

Semi-determinate type tomatoes can produce fruit through the whole season, but they may not be as productive toward fall as an indeterminate type.

Trellising the types of tomatoes

Tomatoes need to be trellised one way or another to keep the fruit off the ground. The fruits are more likely to rot or attract small animal pests if they touch the ground.

Up North, many gardeners prune and tie an indeterminate tomato plant to a single stake. Here, that practice would result in a lot of ruined fruit, from sun-scald. We have too much heat for too long for staking tomatoes to be a reliable option.

Tomato plants with inadequate supports.
Inadequate cages for indeterminate tomatoes – but good plant spacing.

Home gardeners in the South mostly rely on tomato cages to support their tomato plants, for both growth types. Research has shown that caged plants produce more tomatoes per plant than trellised tomatoes (I learned this at a Georgia Organics conference), so caging is a great option for small gardens.

Determinate tomato plants, since they stay smaller, can be supported by less robust structures than indeterminate plants. Indeterminate tomato plants need strong, tall structures.

Most garden centers do not sell sturdy enough cages or supports for indeterminate tomatoes. One option is to make your own out of strong hog fence or other wire mesh. Find a mesh that has its wires about 6-inches apart, and create a cylinder that is about 2-feet across. The wire cylinder makes a good cage/support for tomato plants, but it will need to be held upright with stout posts. Otherwise, a tall, heavy plant will topple the whole thing.

Another option is Texas Tomato Cages. (This is not a sponsored or affiliate link. I just like their tomato cages.) These strong but collapsable tomato cages are awesome — I use them — but they are pricey.

Pruning tomatoes

Another great aspect of caging a tomato plant, instead of trellising or staking, is that it reduces the amount of pruning needed. Texas A&M Extension goes so far as to say this about pruning tomatoes: “Suckering or pruning the plants is not necessary when you use cages.”

A day's harvest of tomatoes, indeterminate and semi-determinate types.

Clemson Extension says that, if any pruning is done on caged tomato plants, it should be early and just once, adding this about caged tomatoes and less pruning: “Caged plants are less prone to the spread of disease from plant handling and do not have open wounds from de-suckering and tying them up frequently as with staked plants.”

If you feel a need to prune, thin the number of main stems of indeterminate plants to just three or four, early in their growth, then leave the plant alone.

For determinate plants, any pruning should be very early in the plant’s life, just enough to guide its growth. Pruning this growth type can result in lower production of tomatoes.

Tomato plant spacing in the garden

Recommended spacing for tomato plants in the garden for the South, for plants in cages, is 3-4 feet, for both types. Determinate types tolerate a tighter spacing than indeterminate plants.

However, when plants are in cages, a wide spacing allows more air-flow between the plants. Good air-flow helps the leaves dry out in damp weather, and as a result reduces the spread of leaf-diseases in the garden.

When first setting out plants in the garden, when they are little transplants in 4-inch pots, the 3-4 foot distance looks absurdly large. As the plants grow, though, you may wish that you had given them 5 feet instead of just 3 or 4, if you planted a very large-growing variety.

Which type is best for my garden, determinate or indeterminate?

The different growth habits have benefits and drawbacks. Here are some things to think about as you plan your garden:

Determinate tomato plants

  • Ripen most of their fruit in a short time-frame– this is great if you plan to do some canning, where having a lot of tomatoes all at once is helpful.
  • Shorter productive-lifespan means that there will be space in the garden in late summer for other crops. This can be good if you are short on space but want more variety from your garden.
  • If space in your garden is so tight that an indeterminate variety won’t fit, you can plan to have another determinate tomato plant ready to replace the first one, when it quits making abundant tomatoes. You can have a second harvest in September!

Indeterminate tomato plants

  • Produce over the whole summer, as long as the plants stay healthy. This is great if you like to have a few tomatoes to eat every week.
  • Long-time in the garden means these plants are exposed to more plant diseases and pests for a longer time than determinate plants. Relying on disease resistant varieties becomes increasingly important.
  • Many heirloom varieties are indeterminate, and the heirlooms offer a wide range of flavors that is hard to find in determinate types.
  • These can grow to be quite large. Read the variety information carefully. I grew a ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry’ that erupted out the top of its cage and sprawled across 10-feet of garden. Do you have room for that?

Examples of determinate and indeterminate tomatoes

Some determinate tomato varieties, with good disease resistance for the South:

  • Celebrity (hybrid)
  • Dixie Red (hybrid)
  • Mountain Fresh (hybrid)
  • Patio Choice Yellow (hybrid)
  • Homestead 24 (old, open-pollinated, but not heirloom) may be semi-determinate
  • Long Keeper (heirloom, I think) a storage tomato
  • Rutgers (old, open-pollinated, but not heirloom) may be semi-determinate

Some indeterminate tomato varieties:

  • Park’s Whopper (hybrid)
  • Better Boy (hybrid)
  • Cherokee Purple (heirloom)
  • Sweet 100 (hybrid) cherry tomato
  • Mortgage Lifter (heirloom)
  • Arkansas Traveler (old, open-pollinated, but not heirloom)
  • Black Krim (heirloom)
Spread the love

Planting in the Winter Garden

by 2 Comments

Years and years ago, I figured out that sowing larkspur seeds outdoors in February or early March gave me more and hardier flowers than when I planted them in April. Other spring-blooming annual flowers respond the same way to early-planting in the garden. I have found that some herbs and cool-season veggies do well when planted early, too.

It may seem wrong to set out seeds when the odds of freezing weather are still so high. However, the early-planted seeds tend to delay their sprouting until the deepest cold has passed.

Seeds for winter planting

Cool-weather herbs

The herb I am most likely to strew across a couple of square feet of prepared garden bed in February is dill. I grow one of the shorter, leafy varieties of dill. Another herb to try in a winter planting, for anyone who forgot to plant it in September, is cilantro.

My fall-planted cilantro is nicely established, but if I had forgotten to start it in the garden back in September, I would be putting seeds in the garden now. Many gardeners learn the hard way (sad experience…) that cilantro grows best in cool weather.

Another herb to seed into the garden now is parsley. Seeds for parsley can take two or three weeks to sprout indoors, which is the method I usually use to get more parsley, but I have had good success in the past setting parsley seeds directly into prepared garden soil early.

Parsley has a taproot, which makes it tricky to transplant without causing damage to the root. If you have had trouble growing parsley in the past, when set into the garden as transplants, you might be happier with direct-seeded parsley.

  • Winter-planted dill in early April
  • Winter-planted dill in early May

Vegetables for winter planting

Week-old rocket (arugula) seedlings growing in a half-barrel planter.
Rocket (arugula) seedlings, from seeds planted the first week in February.

Cool-season greens are ideal to set out early as seeds in a prepared garden bed. I have already planted seeds for spinach, which may be the most cold-hardy of greens, and more rocket.

Leaf-chicories and lettuces are also good choices. Beets are a good choice, too. Pretty much every vegetable that can stand up to a hard frost will work.

Other seeds that I plant early in the garden are peas; English peas and Sugar Snap types can sprout and grow in the garden when planted in February. Before planting these, I usually wait until I see flowers on the trout lilies in my backyard.

Winter planted peas have plenty of flowers and a few mature peas at the end of April.
Pea patch in April from seeds planted in the garden in February.

The flowering of the trout lilies, which are native plants in Georgia, is a signal that the soil is warm enough that the peas will sprout, and they won’t rot in the cold, wet ground. My trout lilies usually send up flowers in the last week of February, but I noticed yesterday that many leaves in the trout lily patch are already up. The flowering may be early this year.

Winter seeds in containers outdoors, following WinterSown guidelines

There is a method called WinterSown, that calls for seeds to be strewn in containers rather than the garden. You can plant this way, too, but then the little plants need to be removed from the containers and transplanted into either a larger container or into the garden.

If you have never tried the method, you should, because it is fun. However, I am in the Southeastern U.S., which has fairly moderate winters, so I skip the protective containers and go straight to the garden.

How to plant seeds in the winter garden

Prepare the soil

Check the general guidelines in my Good Garden Soil article  if your garden is new. Otherwise, remove weeds, amend the planting area with compost, and mix in your organic fertilizer.

Soil texture — how fine or chunky the soil particles are — affects seed sprouting. Chunkier soils (like most clays) allow small seeds to slip down into cracks in the soil, so deep that they can’t break through to the surface. Texture is improved by a thick addition of compost. Try to add a layer of compost that is at least two inches thick, to mix into the top layer of the garden.

Soil fertility is important, too. That is why mixing organic fertilizer into the top several inches of soil is recommended, even after adding compost.

Setting in the seeds

Garden design and the characteristics of the mature plants both influence how I place the seeds.

For a crop like parsley that will be in the garden for a long time, I drop a pinch of seeds into a slight depression (fingerprint-size) in the soil in the exact spot where I want a plant to grow. Then, I sprinkle a little soil over the spot and press the area to firm the seeds into the ground before lightly watering.

For a crop like a short, leafy variety of dill that will be in the garden only a few months, I strew seeds more loosely across the small planting area that I have prepared. Then, I press those onto the soil before lightly watering. Pressing the seeds to the soil cuts back on the odds they will wash away in the next rain.

“Strewing” should take into account the final spacing. If you strew too many seeds, there will be some thinning to do. Keep in mind the recommended spacing for mature plants as you watch the seeds fall onto the soil. If you have tiny seeds, mixing them with some dry sand makes the strewing easier. This is the method I intend to use for a mixed flower/herb area this year.

For larger seeds like for beets, that need to be planted more deeply, I plant into individual little depressions. The depressions are made by poking a finger about a half-inch into the soil. Since I want my beets to grow about four inches apart, I poke the holes about four inches apart, drop a seed into each hole, push the top closed, press down on the whole area to firm the soil, then lightly water.

If your garden is larger, and the mere thought of crouching in the cold, damp garden to poke a hundred or so planting holes makes you miserable, you might consider borrowing or buying a seeder. When my garden was larger than it is now, my Earthway Garden Seeder made speedy work of putting seeds into the ground at the right spacing and depth.

Transplanting cool-season crops in February

When I told someone last week that I already had transplanted lettuce and radicchio seedlings into the garden, I was asked, “but what if they die in a hard freeze?”

My response: “I have more seeds.”

Raddichio and lettuce transplanted into the winter garden
Raddichio and lettuce transplanted into the winter garden

Actually, most winters, setting in little plants this early would be riskier. So far, though, we have not had a drop down below 20 degrees F. The ground in shadier parts of the yard is cold, but the soil in the space I prepared for these seedlings was only cool.

In addition, I took the precaution of setting up one of those little folding fences around the area and wrapped the fence with plastic, to make it easier to cover the space if very cold weather arrived.

Both of these crops are cold-hardy, and last week was warm. The plants had a solid six days in warm weather to settle in. They will be fine.

The last consideration for these plants is nutrients. Leafy green vegetables are most delicious when they grow quickly, which means they will benefit from some extra fertilizer. This patch (and the rocket and the spinach) will be getting some additional nitrogen in the form of a fish fertilizer, to encourage that speedier growth.

Spread the love

GGIA Trade Show Notes for Organic Gardeners

by 6 Comments

The trade show at this year’s WinterGreen conference of the Georgia Green Industry Association (GGIA) provided a look at some new (and not so new) products and plants for organic gardeners. The event was held last week, in Duluth, GA.

Most vendors at the trade show specialized in ornamental (non-edible) plants, machinery for large operations, products for commercial nurseries, and chemical-companies, but I located some local/sustainable/organic-related vendors, to share with you.

Recycled plastic nursery pots

East Jordan Plastics, in Michigan, displayed planting trays, growing pots, and some larger containers made from recycled plastics. Many gardeners are concerned about the excessive use of plastics in gardening. It is good to know of a plant-product company that is working to cut back on plastic waste, by re-using containers and recycling other plastics to create new containers.

RootMaker pots

Image from the RootMaker catalog showing difference in root growth between sprout in regular pot versus sprout in RootMaker pot.
Image from RootMaker catalog.

RootMaker trays and pots for growing plants are the result of research in container design, with the goal of more robust root systems. The trays and containers that I examined seemed very sturdy — like they would last for years — and the informational literature was very compelling. The pots and trays have an unusual pattern of protrusions and holes inside, and those, according to the information, guide root growth into more-branched root systems.

I will be trying a RootMaker tray this year. The representative at the Trade Show did give me a couple of fabric liners, for use when growing plants in cinderblocks, so I cannot say that I am 100% unbiased. I will have to buy the tray, though.

Rice hulls for mulch

Until this trade show, I had not heard of using rice hulls as mulch in containers or as a substitute for perlite in planting mixes.

PBH brought samples of parboiled rice hulls, so people could see the actual product and understand how it can be used. The rice hulls are approved for use in organic systems. I did not bring home a little baggie of rice hulls, but I could have. There were plenty on the table. I did bring home the informational literature, to learn more.

Rice hulls pictured on the cover of an article titled "Rice Hulls 101".

PBH Nature’s Media Amendment is from Riceland Foods. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it was. It makes sense that the rice industry would want to find a good use for this bi-product of rice production. Looks like they were successful.

Pope’s CBD oil

This isn’t organic and it isn’t about growing, but I did learn that Tennessee grows industrial hemp. The CBD oil was displayed in what was otherwise an all-succulent-plants booth, for Pope’s Plant Farm. CBD oil seems to be a popular product these days. If anyone was looking for a local (-ish) source of CBD oil, Pope’s Plant Farm is one place to try.

Display for Pope's Plant Farm at the 2019 GGIA Wintergreen Conference.

The little succulent plants in the Pope’s booth were very cute. If I were more of an indoor gardener, I would probably grow some. My oldest son in Colorado does grow little succulent plants, so I pay more attention to them than I used to.

Bottom’s Nursery for fruit trees and other plants

Its plants are not organically grown, but after they are planted, most of the varieties at Bottoms Nursery will not need intensive programs of chemical sprays. All the varieties I saw in the catalog are relatively easy-care fruits that would do well when switched to organic management after planting, even in the South. Some are varieties that would do well in small space gardens.

Front cover of the 2019 catalog for Bottoms Nursery, which is in Concord, GA.

The fruit trees at the back of the booth are what attracted my attention. The first tagged tree I noticed was a Kieffer pear, which I know to be both hardy and a producer of good-tasting fruit.

I wasn’t the only person drawn to the booth of Bottoms Nursery. Another vendor was there, discussing trees and other plants to order, to sell in his General Supply store.

General Supply, Inc, in Blairseville, GA

General Supply is the kind of “everything” store that makes some gardeners go into raptures. This is the store mentioned above that will be selling plants from Bottoms Nursery, but it is also a source of tools, pet supplies, small farm supplies, and a million more interesting things.

Hand tools display in General Supply booth at GGIA 2019 Wintergreen Conference.

Of course, hand-tools are pretty appealing for gardeners working in small space gardens. We don’t need a large assortment of full-sized equipment for our little plots, but good tools make the work easier.

I was especially interested in the Truper brand tools (long-reach 15″ length, ash wood handles, sturdy forged “business ends”), but a full line of Corona tools — which are long-lasting and easy to use — was also on display.

The guy at the booth (so sorry that I did not record his name!) and I discussed the ergonomic benefit of tools that have the “business end” at a right-angle to the handle, when he showed me another tool designed for easier use.

Two Corona brand pruners, showing a difference in angle of the cutting edges.

The pruner on the right, in the nearby image of two Corona-brand pruners, has a different angle for the cutting edges. Do you see the difference? According to the guy in the booth, the angled pruner on the right would be easier to use on some branches, because it allows your arm and wrist to stay aligned, rather than to bend.

I haven’t tried it, so I don’t whether that really works, but I would be interested to try. When late-winter pruning time comes around (soon!), it would be good to avoid aggravating old injuries.

Gardeners heading toward the Blairesville area might want to put this store on their list of places-to-visit.

What else happens at the GGIA WinterGreen conference?

In addition to the trade show, the event provides continuing education opportunities for commercial lawn and garden folks. I did attend a workshop about Beneficial Insects, but that story is for another post.

Spread the love

Seeds for the Small Space Garden, part 2

by 3 Comments

When choosing vegetable varieties for a small space garden, identifying varieties that will live, in your garden’s soil and local climate, to produce good food, is essential. You can read Part 1, the previous post, to learn one way to find reliable crop varieties to grow. This post, Part 2, offers another, less formal way.

Simple project that identified reliable heirloom varieties for my area

A couple of years ago, a friend — Electa — and I discovered that, between us, we had

Baker Creek's 2017 Whole Seed Catalog includes many hundreds of heirloom seed varieties.

grown more than 300 vegetable varieties, in Georgia, listed in Baker Creek’s 2017 Whole Seed Catalog. This wasn’t a truly random discovery. We were going through the vegetable section of the catalog together, page by page, noting which varieties we had grown and how those varieties did in our gardens, as part of another project.

How does this help you? We created a list, with some notes, of all the Baker Creek varieties either Electa or I had grown (or tried to grow). If your garden is in the Southeastern U.S., planting zone 7b or 8, then plants that did well for us may be ones you want to try.

If you live in a very different climate/soil zone, you might want to try creating a similar list with gardening friends near you.

A short version of the list is included below (keep reading, it’s down there). 

Notes on the White Tomatoes page indicate that two did well in Electa's garden.

Heirloom varieties may be desirable, but disease resistance is unknown

Many organic gardeners are drawn to heirloom varieties of vegetable crops. These varieties have been saved by individuals and families, because of flavor (usually) or because they freeze well, or are good for canning or for drying, or because they are an essential ingredient in a beloved recipe. Heirloom varieties provide the base for a lot of good food. However, there is a downside to heirloom varieties.

Varieties that were developed in university research programs usually have been tested for disease resistance. Heirloom varieties haven’t.

To find out which varieties will grow and produce well, gardeners either have to rely on trial-and-error in their own gardens, or they need to talk with other local gardeners to find out which varieties have done well in gardens nearby. 

Heirloom vegetable varieties in our list

As you probably know, Baker Creek specializes in heirloom and open-pollinated varieties. These do not come with lab-verified disease resistance, but some of the varieties offered in the 2017 Whole Seed Catalog have done great for us, here in the humid Southeastern U.S., where plant diseases can destroy a garden. Other varieties died within weeks, before much — if any — food could be harvested.

Not all of the varieties Electa and I have grown are appropriate for small space gardens. Most winter squashes and pumpkins, for example, are vining plants that can grow 20-30 feet, smothering the nearby lawn and the rest of the garden if care is not taken to re-direct the growing vine-tips back into their own space. Some okra varieties grow to be 8-or-more feet tall.

A short version of the list that Electa and I created, after going through the catalog and marking all the varieties we had tried, is below. 

Our heirloom varieties report for North Georgia

We had more to say about some crops than others. This is our experience with the listed cucumber varieties we had tried:

Notes about which cucumber varieties do best in our Georgia gardens, including notes on flavor.

If you want to see the full list, all 13 pages, you can download Electa and Amy’s list of vegetable varieties from the 2017 Baker Creek Whole Seed catalog, with notes about productivity (including scientific terms like “recommended”, “iffy”, and “no”) and about flavor, with regard to how they did in our gardens.

Our favorites from the list, for most vegetables, are included below:

  • BEANS – Rattlesnake Pole, Mountaineer Half Runner, Jackson Wonder bush lima
  • BEETS – Bull’s Blood (but harvest early), Detroit Dark Red
  • BROCCOLI – Goliath, Waltham
  • CABBAGE – Golden Acre
  • CAULIFLOWER – Purple of Sicily
  • CARROTS – Oxheart, Danvers 126 Half Long, Little Finger, Nantes Scarlet, Parisienne
  • CORN – Glass Gem (because it is so beautiful), Dakota Black Popcorn
  • COWPEAS – Purple Hull Pinkeye, Pigott Family (needs a trellis)
  • CUCUMBER – Beit Alpha, Marketmore 76, Straight Eight
  • EGGPLANT – Aswad, Casper (especially for container growing), Black Beauty (gets seedy, so harvest early), Ukrainian Beauty, Rosa Bianca
  • ENDIVE AND ESCAROLE – Batavian Full Heart, De Louviers
  • SOLANUM BERRIES – Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries (same family as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, which can make crop rotation difficult)
  • ORIENTAL GREENS AND CABBAGE – Tatsoi (unusual flavor, but grew well)
  • SALAD GREENS – Corn Salad-Dutch and Corn Salad-Mache (both need cool weather to do well, and harvests are tiny – but tasty)
  • KALE AND COLLARDS – all are fine, Tronchuda gets huge (hilariously so)
  • LEEK – Giant Musselburgh (start in spring and allow a full year until harvest)
  • LETTUCE – Bronze Beauty, Buttercrunch, Henderson’s Black Seeded Simpson, Merveille des Quatre Saisons (Marvel of Four Seasons), Mignonette Bronze, Oak Leaf
  • MELON – Schoon’s Hardshell
  • OKRA – Louisiana 16″ Long Pod
  • ONION – all bulb-type onions must be Short Day type for Southern gardens
  • PARSNIP – Hollow Crown
  • GARDEN PEAS – Lincoln, Little Marvel, Wando
  • SNOW AND SNAP PEAS – all are fine
  • HOT PEPPERS – Leytschauer Paprika, Lightning Mix
  • SWEET PEPPERS – Banana, Chocolate Beauty, Lilac Bell, Quadrato d’Asti Giallo, Sheepnose Pimento
  • RADICCHIO & CHICORY – Italika Rosso Dandelion
  • RADISH – Chinese Red Meat, German Giant, Long Scarlet, Purple Plum
  • RUTABAGAS – American Purple Top
  • SPINACH – Bloomsdale Longstanding
  • SUMMER SQUASH – Yellow Crookneck, Zucchini Rampicante (vigorous, very long vines, productive)
  • SQUASH AND PUMPKINS – Big Max, Candy Roaster, Long Island Cheese, Seminole, Sucrine du Berry (all of these varieties grow to be crazy long vines)
  • SWISS CHARD – Perpetual Spinach
  • TOMATOES – Kellogg Breakfast (good flavor, but not a big producer), Arkansas Traveler, Black Krim, Rutgers, Great White, Yellow Pear
  • WATERMELON – Ali Baba, Crimson Sweet, Golden Honey, Sugar Baby

These are not the only varieties we grow

Collectively, Electa and I have more than 60 years of gardening experience in Georgia (we have both gardened in other states, too), so the “more than 300 varieties” should not have been a surprise. What really made us laugh was when we noticed that some of our favorites were missing from Baker Creek’s very large catalog, and we realized how many more than just 300 varieties we have tried.

Here is an example: when we finished the radish pages, Electa asked “Where are the Daikons?” She loves Daikon radishes, but there weren’t any in the 2017 catalog. My own favorite pole beans, ‘Blue Marbut’, I have seen only at Sand Hill Preservation Center, which is also the only source for ‘Straight Nine’ cucumbers.

The “more than 300 varieties” listed in Baker Creeks 2017 Whole Seed Catalog that we have grown were not all purchased through Baker Creek, but the names were the same, so we have counted them as being the same for this list.

Which heirloom varieties are in your tried-and-true list?

Spread the love

Ordering Seeds for the Small Space Garden

by 2 Comments

This is a favorite time of year for many gardeners. We pull together our seed catalogs, the notes we made about our gardens during the past year, and our dreams, and we start making lists.

Then, most of us order too many seeds. If you are in this group, know that you have plenty of company.

Some Seed Companies to Try

Items needed in determining what seeds to order for the coming garden: catalogs, leftover seeds, and planning notes
Seeds left from last year, a couple of seed catalogs, an order form, and notes about which seeds to buy for this year.

One seed company that I plan to order from this year has an online catalog only — not a print catalog. That company is Sand Hill Preservation Center. Strictly Medicinal Seeds and Nichols Garden Nursery have not yet sent out print catalogs, but they will arrive, eventually.

I also plan to order a Park Seed exclusive variety (Park’s Whopper tomato) from that seed company, and I have already sent in an order to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Gardeners in the Southeastern U.S. might also look at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, that specializes in seeds for the mid-Atlantic states. Most of their seeds will do well across the whole Southeast.

A friend is looking for more container-sized varieties of veggies to grow, and I have suggested that she look at Renee’s Garden Seeds. That company seems to have a lot of miniature-sized crop varieties.

Consider plant size at maturity, disease resistance, heat tolerance

Most of the cool-season veggies that will go into the early spring garden are smaller plants — lettuces, beets, carrots, and spinach, for example. For those, size at maturity is less of an issue, and they will mostly do well even in the Southern U.S.

It would be good, though, to check the days-to-maturity. If a cool-season veggie variety matures in 100 days, the poor plants will end up trying to mature in May or June, when it is no longer cool here. Look for cool-season varieties that mature in much less time, more like 50-70 days, to give them a fighting chance in our short spring.

If you have a small space garden in the Southern U.S., and you are hoping for summer veggies, then you have a double problem. Many of the summertime veggie plants are large. The smaller garden needs right-sized plants that produce well AND that can stand up to all the heat/humidity/diseases that the summer will bring.

When you are looking at mini-sized versions of normally-large veggie-plants, look for information about hardiness and disease resistance. If the description says that the plant stands up well to the harsh conditions of England, you might want to look for another variety. The kind of harsh that is in England is cool/cloudy/wet, not the hot/humid/wet of the Southern U.S.

For the truly determined, it can be possible, with planning, to grow a normally large plant in a smaller space. If you decide to grow gourds, for example, you might “trellis” them up over the top of a shed to keep them from sprawling across the yard.

Switching to a smaller variety – an example from my garden

My garden used to be larger. It has been made smaller in the past few years due to a life change within my family. Change come to all gardens and all gardeners, and change isn’t all bad, but I have had to make adjustments in my gardening. Here is one change that I made this year:

In my order from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, I included a smaller cowpea than I have grown in the past. My most favorite cowpea on the planet (so far, of the dozen or so I have tried) is Pigott Family Heirloom Cowpea. However, that isn’t really a small space garden plant. The vines reach more that six feet.

The cowpea I chose from Baker Creek — Old Timer or Purple Hull Speckled — is indeed speckled in the photo, like Pigott Family is speckled, so I am hoping that it has similar flavor.

Saving Money When Ordering Seeds

Seeds can get expensive. Choosing reliable varieties reduces the odds of a total garden failure, and a waste of seeds, even when the weather gets weird.

Choose reliable varieties

For new gardeners, choosing reliable varieties can mean checking with your local Cooperative Extension office to get a good list. In Georgia, the list comes from UGA, and it is full of vegetable varieties that have done well in test gardens across the whole state. You can find Georgia’s list of reliable vegetable varieties at this link.

The planting dates included on that list are for middle-Georgia (Macon-ish), so those dates have to be adjusted if you live north or south of Macon. However, the varieties, some of which are heirloom varieties, are “tried and true”.

New gardeners may also want to check out my information on planting seeds in the garden, to improve the odds that the planted seeds will grow.

(For more about choosing heirloom varieties, see the next post – Seeds for the Small Space Garden Part 2.)

Pool seed orders with a friend, splitting shipping costs

One of my friends and I often place our seed orders together. Then, we split the shipping fee, so each of us only pays half the shipping cost.

When I send in a Baker Creek order, for example, her seeds go onto my order. This year, Baker Creek is sending out seeds without a shipping fee for the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. We pooled our order anyway, even though it won’t save us money. We like Baker Creek, and asking them to send out one pile of seeds instead of two might reduce their costs by a tiny bit.

Also, this sharing by pooling our orders and splitting shipping fees (for other seed companies), is a long-standing tradition for us. Over the years, dividing shipping fees has saved us both a little. A similar practice might keep your costs down, too, and it is good to spend time discussing seeds and plants with other gardeners. The conversation is a bonus!

I did get some advice about this practice, though, from Louis in Customer Care at Baker Creek. He said that when seed orders are pooled, the person who placed the order will get a seed catalog the following year, but the other person will need to remember to request a catalog. Just keep that in mind.

Share a seed packet with a gardening friend

When we both have wanted to grow the same variety, my gardening friend and I have shared seeds from one packet. Only one of us ends up with the information on the original packet, but that has not been a problem. We know how to write the important parts (kind of veggie, variety name, source, year) on little envelopes.

Spread the love

Good Garden Soil

by Leave a Comment

Small farm with red clay soil in north Georgia produces a lot of good food.

Several gardening books I’ve read include the note that good garden soil is a sandy loam, rich in organic matter. My yard’s soil is naturally a massive gob of red clay — like in the nearby photo — not at all what is recommended.

Red clay is actually not all bad. It holds nutrients much better than sandy soil, so it doesn’t need as much fertilizer. It also holds water — sometimes too well! — which means it is slow to dry out. When it does get dry, it becomes brick-hard and tough to dig.

Plants benefit from the nutrient-holding and water-holding capacity of clay soil. The problem is that the clay compacts and does not allow roots to move easily through the soil, and it doesn’t have good air spaces (which roots need).

Not every yard in this area has such dense red clay as mine. When we first moved here (in 1990), and for years afterward, an older gentleman in Kennesaw grew roses, lots and lots of roses, out near the road on Cherokee Street.

I stopped to talk with him once, when I saw him out tending his roses. He said that a friend brought him a truckload of oak leaves to use for mulch each year, but that his yard had naturally good soil. That comment stunned me into speechlessness for a moment — my experience was so different!

Most people I talk to around here have soil like mine. This may be why so many new gardeners use raised beds filled with soil mixes that don’t include clay.

My gardens, though, are not in raised beds. They are in the ground, in that red clay. I add amendments like compost (from my yard) and soil conditioner (from a garden center) to increase the organic matter and microbial activity. The amendments make the clay soil a more welcoming place for the roots of my crops.

How to create good garden soil from red clay

Tumbling type compost bin

A recommendation from Cooperative Extension’s “Ask an Expert” page for improving clay soil, is below. The picture of the compost bin nearby, though, is a clue about at least one important amendment.

Here is the Extension Expert’s recommendation:

  • Choose an organic soil amendment like composted yard waste, rotten leaves, or well-rotted manure (make sure any composted manure does not contain residual herbicides!). Material that is well-rotted will not smell unpleasant; it will smell like the earth.
  • Spread a 3 to 4 inch layer of your chosen amendment on top of the clay soil; work it down into the soil about 6 to 8 inches.
  • After the compost has been worked into the soil, you can spread an inch or two layer of sand on top and gently spade it in.
  • Before planting in spring, lay on another 2-3 inch layer of compost and work it into the soil, about 6 to 8 inches down (the depth of a shovel blade).

Walter Reeves, The Georgia Gardener, has an updated article on Soil – Bed Preparation that suggests bagged soil conditioner as an alternate for compost. His article also suggests adding Permatil to the mix, to keep the clay soil looser, as the composts and soil conditioner decompose and disappear.

Permatil is expanded shale, and it creates air spaces in the soil. I have added a similar product to part of my upper garden, an area I don’t re-amend as often as the veggie area because it has some perennials (permanent plants).

If you can’t find Permatil but are interested in trying something similar, look for Espoma’s Soil Perfecter, bits of kiln-fired “ceramic mineral” that works in a similar way to open up air spaces in the soil.

Nutrients and pH?

The Extension recommendation above does not address soil pH (acid level) or fertility/nutrients. The Expert who answered the question may have assumed that everyone will know to send a soil sample to their state’s soil lab (Georgia’s is at UGA, in Athens) through their local Cooperative Extension office.

If you are not sending a soil sample to your state’s soil lab, consider buying a pH test kit (see my article on Soil pH and Garden Success for more information). For fertility, if you don’t have a soil lab recommendation for fertilizer, choose an organic-approved garden fertilizer and follow the package directions. To learn more about nutrient sources for your garden, check out my articles on Potassium Sources for an Organic Garden and on Fish Emulsion Fertilizers.

Dig soil when ground is not soggy

You will know your clay soil is dry enough for digging when you can squeeze a handful of it and it breaks up into bits. You should not be able to roll it into the kind of snake-shapes that can be coiled to make pottery bowls.

Clay soil needs to be not-soggy at digging time, partly so you can get the clay to let go of your shovel and partly so it won’t reform into giant, brick-like clods when the lumps finally dry. Digging in wet clay soil also causes it to compact, making it lose the air spaces that are vital to healthy plant roots.

Winter is a great time to work on improving garden soil or to create new planting beds. Here in the South, we have some pleasantly cool afternoons mixed in with the cold ones, which means we have good opportunities for working outdoors.

Right now, though, the ground is squishy under my feet when I walk in the yard. I just need to wait for the rain to stop and the ground to get drier.

Spread the love