Design

I've been delighted to have robust-looking beets growing in my raised beds in the mountains.  I definitely haven't been successful growing beets before.  They need neutral soil, a deep bed for the roots to develop, and plenty of moisture, not always easy to provide in the acidic soils of the Piedmont, where I've been growing most of our vegetables. So, I'm happy to have harvested a few 'first' beets, two 'regular' and one golden. They were delicious!

It's getting close to time to start think about planting a first round of peas (in the next few weeks). It's time at least for us anxious Southern US gardeners, who are ready to get out there, but have been delayed by cold and wet this winter. It's always dicey planting in spring; the soil's cold, it's been exceptionally cold and wet, the seeds probably will just rot, etc. etc. But, hot weather comes on its own schedule, and you never know whether we'll have a long cool spring, or a brutal arrival of summer in late April or early May. The bigger mistake is to wait too late and have pea vines shrivel in the heat. So, successive plantings from mid-February to mid-March spread the risk, and up the possibilities of harvesting some nice garden, snow, or snap peas, but even then, I'm delighted to have a decent harvest. (Hmm, I just thought about the ROWS of snow peas I saw this winter in Dalat, in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, a perpetual spring-like clima...

I'm venturing into experimenting with vegetables in straw bales partially because I can pretend that I'm not expanding my garden (ha!) I now have 5 bales for planting, one older bale that was pulled from compost pile protection duty (now planted with trailing squashes) , 2 older bales that were starting compost pile duty (and I struggled to tip over end to end to their new site), and 2 fresh bales that hopefully have aged enough to support plants. The latter are yet to be planted. I justified this by buying 4 new straw bales to take on compost protection duty (from our gardening assistant, aka Mocha our Golden Retriever, who loves compost scavenging, which gives him indigestion.) The premise behind straw bales is excellent -- start the straw decomposing, whether with ammonium nitrate or compost tea or rain water. Dig out a spot to put in potting soil or compost, plant, and proceed to keep the bale moist and nutrient-rich, with added nutrients, compost tea, slow-release fertil...

A comment on a post made in December about winter vegetables and an after-school program this afternoon have me thinking about change-outs in vegetable garden beds. I had harvested some Tuscan and redbor kale, spinach, and purple mustard from the kitchen garden next to the visitor center to show a group of 2nd graders from a nearby school learning about eating and growing vegetables as part of a Clemson University Healthy Campus Initative outreach program. It was a fun program; three Clemson students in a nutrition class had talked to the kids at their school last week about eating a rainbow of colors and will do a follow-up next week. We sniffed herbs, sampled flowers from the bolting collards, looked at lettuces, saw strawberries in flower, and tasted garlic chives. Another three Clemson students (student athletes) helped with the kids, too, and were great (they're part of a group called Tigers who Care -- we're the Clemson Tigers in our athletic programs. I showed them my...