Deep South Gardeners Thread

[makinleesmom]

I thought I would start a thread for those of us living in the deep south.
I thought I had everything worked out for planting this spring but after speaking again with my grandfather & another seasoned gardener I realized that I have perhaps messed up. I thought I would be able to plant "greens" early spring but was just told that they simply do not do well even in early spring here in Louisiana since it gets hot so fast. So now I'm sitting here in a funk because I was ready to get my hand in the dirt. Has anyone planted lettuce, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, etc and had success in spring/early summer?

[FoxintheSnow]

Im in Florida and in my experience all those plants you mentioned do best in my fall garden. Broccoli and lettuce bolt in the heat for me.

My spring gardens are all tomatoes, peppers, herbs, cucumbers, okra, etc

[makinleesmom]

Right, that's what I was just told. I guess this year we will have to add hoops to our bed so that I can grow those things this fall/winter. Really bummed because I spent most of the winter researching all of this and all of my Louisiana gardening books state that you can plant them but the seasoned gardeners I spoke to stated otherwise.

[lakeruby]

Originally Posted by FoxintheSnow

Im in Florida and in my experience all those plants you mentioned do best in my fall garden. Broccoli and lettuce bolt in the heat for me.

My spring gardens are all tomatoes, peppers, herbs, cucumbers, okra, etc

Same here! Allthough I try to plant herbs in the fall, too, because sometimes the heat is just too much for them when they're young. We try to start our tomato seeds in January, and our peppers in february-- inside. Then we put them out right about now!

Makinleesmom-- you may not need to add hoops to your beds to grow some of those things. Lettuce is usually tender and needs frost protection, but our Kale and Asian Greens -- here in north florida -- do OK without. Also-- have you tried growing onions and garlic? Those are fun, and don't need hoops or much attention through the winter.

[kcstar]

Are you in Zone 7?

I'm in Zone 7b, and I've set out purchased broccoli and cauliflower starts. The cauliflower is doing fine, but I'm afraid I let most of the broccoli plants wilt, it looks like just one is surviving. I also tried lettuce seeds, from mixes and they're starting to sprout. It's early to tell how they'll do.

I tried carrot seeds last year in the summer, and clearing out the bed this spring I got a baby carrot.

I haven't had luck starting kale yet. I do have a few spinach plants, I set the seed last fall and they're still there.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I skipped the greens because I heard the same thing here, but I am doing carrots. I only spent $1.50 on the packet of Danver seeds so if they fail, I'm not out that much money.

You might actully get lucky this year though because it's not really heating up that quickly!

[makinleesmom]

We do grow garlic and onions. I plant onion starts in Jan. for a summer crop and Sept for a winter crop. Garlic, yes I have some in the ground put I have never gotten a big hearty bulb before (elephant garlic). Not sure what I'm doing wrong. I did by some Italian soft neck garlic this year and have planted them just a few days ago.

I'm zone 8a in North East Louisiana.

Since I already started the cabbage, broccoli, raab, & celery indoors about a month or more ago I'm going to go ahead and plant them. They may not make who knows.

[sapientia]

Give it a shot but from many years of experience and growing up farming-old timers are usually right, over any almanac or weather schedule. btw I'm in central florida.

[Autumn Breeze]

If you have already started the seeds, go for it anyway! Part of gardening is learning what works in your garden! Ha, as if I know. This is my 2nd year.

Anywho just wanted to and sub!

I'm not exactly DEEP South, I'm kinda close enough

i've already started a lot of my flower seeds. I have A LOT of work to do before I can put anything in the ground. Including building my garden box!!

Anywho, I'm excited and ready to get dirty!!

[ms.shell]

subbing.
i have 30 something pepper plants and about 7 large tomato plants in the garden already and beans planted (not up yet) and zukes and squash started, as well as pepper and tomato plants still small, in pots. Plus cilantro and parsley and lettuce and garlic and onions which were planted in fall. i am about to harvest all the lettuce and reclaim that space for either corn or speckled butter beans, though. i am wondering if i can move the onions, as the bed they are in needs cleaned; i would like to put them in the other bed but i have been thinking it is probably not the best idea...kinda considering harvesting them now, although most of them are still pretty small. i also want to plant some flowers today, especially zinnias.

we are trying to be careful with our tomatoes. last year we bought lots of seedlings asap and filled up the space. we were rolling in tomatoes for a couple of months, and then they were done, which was so disappointing. So we are trying to stagger our plantings this year, hoping to extend the harvest throughout the summer. Also planning to prune them much better than we did last year. But i am wondering if maybe tomatoes just dont fruit when its really hot? i think they stopped last year sometime like late july or early August....is this to be expected? Will i be wasting my time putting newer plants in in about a month or so or is it possible to have tomatoes all season? we are definitely in the deep south, btw, on the gulf coast of alabama.

[Autumn Breeze]

ms.shell, my tomatos stalled out once we hit 95*. As soon as we dipped below they started producing again. Or rather, they "kicked back on" I had several tiny green maters on the vines when it got hot. They stayed like that for a month. Maybe getting bigger, very very slowly. But once it cooled a little we started getting ripe ones.

[hildare]

In GA (not south south ga, but still..) we've got broccoli going, but was told it's too late for kale. Some lettuces are ok now, too. For greens, i think (but am not certain) if you plant collards from starts (not seeds) you can still have a go with them.

[makinleesmom]

I went ahead and planted what I had started indoors. I am however waiting 1 more week before I plant my tomatoes, peppers and all other southern summer veggies like squash, eggplant, cucumbers, okra, peas, beans, etc. I have my potatoes, onions, garlic, & herbs planted already though. Last year I planted the first week of April and my tomatoes & peppers were hit by the last frost. I don't want that to happen this year because I put A LOT of work into growing from seed. This is our first year growing tomatoes & peppers from seed but so far so good. The only pepper I didn't grow from seed was Tabasco and I haven't been able to find the plants yet either. That is what we use to make pepper sauce for our purple hull peas. YUM!

Does anyone else grow purple hull peas? They seem to be a staple around here. They freeze well and we enjoy them year round.

I'm so ready to plant! This week has been beautiful but I'm still cautious until after Easter.

[Smithie]

I'm in Upstate SC, and we can get in a "normal" (i.e. NE-style) harvest of the spring stuff if we start at the beginning of March and accept that a frost might kill everything. I seem to have averted the frost this year, and will harvest peas, spinach, carrots, etc. in May.

But, even as far north (relatively) as I am, the most spectacular harvest potential is in the tomatoes, beans, summer squash, berries, melons etc. One way to think about it is to compare your latitude to other continents. If you are closer to Africa than to Europe in terms of latitude, then try out some peanuts and melons and see how you do! I grew a 10' elephant amaranth last year, completely unwatered, accidentally, behind my compost bin!

[makinleesmom]

How is everyone's garden doing at this point?

Our peppers & tomoatoes are slowly starting to take off. We've had some cooler weather lately & no rain. My cucumbers, squash, & zucchini look wonderful and should start blooming soon. Potatoes & purple hull peas didn't come up well and we ran out of seeds to replant the peas. The ones that came up look great but very skippy rows. However my okra looks fantastic!! Some sort of little black bug is eating my egg plant! I'm spraying dawn/pepper/garlic homemade spray but it's not working. I need to figure something out or they are going to completely kill them.
All of our berry plants/vines/bushes are LOADED. This will be our first really good crop.
Finally was able to get horseradish growing. I think my starts were bad in the past.
All of my asparagus starts came back this year. Still one more year before harvesting.
Celery is growing well despite the fact it should be a fall plant in the south.

I think that's everything except for 20+ something different herbs we have growing this year.

[lakeruby]

Originally Posted by makinleesmom

How is everyone's garden doing at this point?

Our peppers & tomoatoes are slowly starting to take off. We've had some cooler weather lately & no rain. My cucumbers, squash, & zucchini look wonderful and should start blooming soon. Potatoes & purple hull peas didn't come up well and we ran out of seeds to replant the peas. The ones that came up look great but very skippy rows. However my okra looks fantastic!! Some sort of little black bug is eating my egg plant! I'm spraying dawn/pepper/garlic homemade spray but it's not working. I need to figure something out or they are going to completely kill them.
All of our berry plants/vines/bushes are LOADED. This will be our first really good crop.
Finally was able to get horseradish growing. I think my starts were bad in the past.
All of my asparagus starts came back this year. Still one more year before harvesting.
Celery is growing well despite the fact it should be a fall plant in the south.

I think that's everything except for 20+ something different herbs we have growing this year.

I would love to have so many herbs! That's awesome.
Our tomatoes have little green orbs and I'm beyond excited to taste our first one! I love tomato season. Peppers seem to be moving extra slow this year, I think I should have started them earlier and kept them indoors longer before planting outside...
This is our first year to be able to harvest blueberries! We only have 4 bushes but I'm thrilled to see that they are loaded with berries! It's awesome that your celery is still kicking. We harvested all of ours last month. That is one of my favorite things to grow-- it is just an entirely different thing from what you buy at the store!

Happy spring!

[Autumn Breeze]

Well, 3 of my roses didn't make it. The other one nearly drowned with all the rain we had.

The tomatoes are quite happy, and I'm going to move them to slightly larger pots and put the cages around them. I've already had one tomato, but dd knocked it off while they were playing. Oops. It was already half dollar size too. Oh well, plenty of blossoms, and obviously pollination! The weather has been cool here as well, so I am going to wait until tomorrow to move them, it should be warmer.

I have a lot more I want to do, but poor planning has left me in a last minute scramble.

oh! the blueberry bush has a nice little helping of blueberries on it, and we've had a tiny harvest of strawberries already!

[TulsiLeaf]

I am in the WAY deep south, Tampa Bay Area here.

We don't have anything right now. We are in the cleaning out the garden mode. It has already started getting WAY to hot right now, so we aren't doing anything right now. We are going to wait until August to start our fall garden. We have a rather big area to deal with, which is great. We are going to do a raised bed this year(last year we didn't)

[Arduinna]

I'll be in the gulf coast south ( zone 9) in a few weeks and I'm just starting my garden planning for our new house. My priorities are replacing the mint, rosemary and sage that I am leaving behind in our current place. I also need to plan my tomatos and where I want to plant my bulbs this fall. I want to get some bananas in, but need to check best planting times. When we were down getting the house I noticed that the bananas are still coming back from winter and aren't too big yet. Will see if I need to wait till next year for them.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by makinleesmom

However my okra looks fantastic!!

Thanks for the reminder, I must plan for some okra also!