Lessons from My Vegetable Garden

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted! Between working non-stop and fighting a cold, I could barely get in the garden long enough to water my plants. When I finally recovered, my little vegetable garden was a sad sight. My broccoli seeds had never sprouted. ALL my carrot seedlings had shriveled up and died because I missed a few days of watering them. My block of lettuce seeds looked like they had either been dug up, washed away, or both. The cabbageworms, which I thought I had under control, had multiplied and skeletonized my newest cauliflower transplant. To make matters worse, the cabbageworms managed to do that much damage while still being so tiny that I could barely see them with the naked eye.

New additions to my fall garden:
radishes and spinach

After my mourning period was over, I got to work. I broke out my environmentally-friendly pesticides and killed all the cabbageworms. I realized I still had plenty of time to replant the veggies that didn't make it (and plenty of seeds left in the packets), so I replanted my block of carrots and added to my sad little block of salad greens. While I was at it, I pulled out the okra (it only produced one single, solitary okra in the last 6 months) and planted radishes. Where the broccoli didn't sprout, I sowed spinach. The broccoli was kind of an experiment anyway: I had read it grows better from transplants than directly from seed. I'll try sowing some indoors in the next week and transplanting it outside later on.

Butterflies and moths love my hot pink zinnias.

One thing in my vegetable garden that seems quite happy right now is my zinnia. I planted it so I could enjoy the cut flowers inside, but it's also been a welcome bright spot among the veggies. I particularly enjoyed watching the butterflies on it while I worked in the garden this week.

Gardening is filled with life lessons. I admit it: when I first saw my dead carrots, disappearing lettuce, and chewed-up cauliflower plants, I wanted to give up altogether on my fall vegetable garden. I don't take failure well, and sometimes it's easier to give up than to try again. But life is full of setbacks. Things don't always go like I plan. Sometimes the pests are determined to destroy all my hard work. But in life, as in gardening, sometimes the best way to learn is through trial and error. After all, I started this blog one year ago just for that purpose: so I could keep track of what I did in my garden and learn from my successes AND failures. If I hadn't tried planting my first fall vegetable garden, I wouldn't have learned the dangers of cabbageworms, the necessity of daily watering in the fall, or that broccoli seeds need to be started inside. And if I hadn't tried again, I wouldn't have sat beside my vegetable garden long enough to watch the butterflies dance among the zinnias. Maybe God lets us experience setbacks so we will learn and grow, or maybe just so we'll slow down long enough to appreciate the little things.

So, if you think you have a "brown thumb," just remember: 1) even experienced gardeners lose a crop sometimes, 2) gardening and life are all about trial and error, and 3) celebrate the little moments of beauty that make it all worth it.

Happy gardening!

Signs of Autumn in the Garden

I love autumn, but fall in the South is weird. Down here in zone 8, fall temperatures are short-lived and easily punctuated by hot spells or cold snaps. We don't really get the glorious displays of fall color that you find farther north. This September has been a perfect example--while you expect summer to be coming to an end, we've had some of the hottest weather all year. (At the local farmer's market, one grower was lamenting that they finally got their first good tomato crop for the year just this month.)

Most of the leaves have fallen from our
cherry tree.

In spite of the crazy temperatures, there are still signs of fall beyond Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks. Due to the shot-hole fungus, my cherry tree defoliated early, and I found myself this past weekend doing a typical fall chore: raking leaves. As I mentioned in my post on fungus, raking up all those disease-ridden leaves can help keep the disease from returning next year. Otherwise, the fungus just continues to live and breed in the dead leaves.

Lycoris radiata (Red spider lily) blooms in the field out
back.

The first of the red spider lilies (Lycoris radiata) just started blooming out back, which is a sure sign that summer is coming to an end. These lilies are native to China, but they naturalize quite readily in the South. They were originally introduced in the U.S. in 1854. Who knows how long ago they were planted under the dogwood tree in our backyard--they continue to spread every year. The flowers appear like magic out of the ground, without any leaves, in a great big mass in late summer or fall. They almost grow in reverse from most bulbs: after the flowers fade, then the leaves follow, growing through fall and winter until they disappear in early spring. The bulbs are actually dormant in summertime.

My white chrysanthemum looks small now, but it will fill
its pot soon.

The ubiquitous, fall-flowering Chrysanthemum ("mum" for short) is available in all the garden centers this month. I'm not a huge fan of mums--perhaps because they're everywhere, or because I don't like most of the color choices. I have to admit, though, that there are so many different varieties out there, that I actually liked a couple of the ones I saw in a recent trip to Lowe's. Also, mums are such a symbol of fall, that I decided I needed one in my garden. I settled on this creamy-white variety. I'm all about saving money in the garden, so instead of buying one of those large mums they'll be selling soon in decorative containers for $10, I bought this little guy (who's not quite in bloom yet) for $2. In the end, he'll probably be happier and healthier. Tip: When buying flowering plants, look for plants with healthy leaves and lots of buds that aren't in flower yet. Younger plants will adjust more readily to your garden than fully mature plants.

Sometimes you just have to take time to notice the little details of the season. What signs of fall do you see this week?

Planting a Fall Vegetable Garden

In my checklist for August, I mentioned several fall vegetables you could be planting in August. But if you're like me, you probably looked outside every day and thought to yourself, "It's too hot for a fall garden." Honestly, I've read a couple of different sources about when to plant what--some say August, some say September, depending on the vegetable. Well, on Labor Day I decided fall has officially started by some definitions (even if it is 90 degrees outside here in Georgia), so I would start on my fall vegetables. Since this is my first year at a real attempt at a vegetable garden, it's still all one grand experiment for me. I started by going to Lowe's and seeing what I could find.

Some of the seeds I picked up include Mesclun Salad Mix, 'Early Green'
broccoli, and 'Red Core Chantenay' carrots. I also bought cauliflower
seedlings to get a head start.

They didn't have much that I wanted in the way of other seedlings, but the cauliflower seedlings looked appealing. Then I headed to the seed rack. The Seeds of Change rack was calling to me--all organic seeds, with many heirloom varieties, and they only cost a little bit more than the conventional seeds. I love the idea of heirloom plants--varieties that have been passed down through generations, grown by farmers who came before us 80 or 800 years ago. I picked up a handful of seed packets that promised me a tasty, organic harvest.

The next step was cleaning out my garden. I wasn't quite ready to pull up all my summer vegetables. After all, some of them were actually producing more now than they had been all summer! The sun has moved, so my vegetable bed is getting more sunshine, and we've had nice hot weather with a more reasonable amount of rain. The bell peppers are finally bearing their first fruit, and the jalapenos and banana peppers are producing more. The tomatoes have stopped producing, but I thought if I left one or two plants, they might start back up. I pulled out the tired bush beans and one of the tomato plants and threw them in the compost bin. In the empty squares, I pulled the weeds, added a scoop of compost, and mixed it up real well.

That left me with seven squares ready to plant. Unfortunately, cauliflower and broccoli are space hogs, so I could only plant one cauliflower seedling per square foot. I planted two squares of cauliflower, and two squares of broccoli seed. In another square I planted 16 carrots, and in the 6th square I scattered mesclun salad mix without thought to rows. Since mesclun (aka baby salad greens) is harvested when it's young and tender, I thought it would be happy being a little crowded. I couldn't decide what to do with the 7th square. I have more cauliflower seedlings that need a home, but I also have radish seeds I could plant, or another square of salad greens. I'll probably do some more planting next week. I finished up my planting by watering everything in really well. With all this heat, I'll need to stay on top of watering to keep those seedlings happy.

My vegetable garden before (left) and after (right) my fall planting.

The whole process took me an hour. The longest part was getting the bed ready--deciding what to keep, pulling out old plants, and preparing the soil. The planting part was quick. I can't wait to enjoy my delicious harvest this fall!