April 25
Part of being successful as a gardener is knowing your zone and what plants work at which time of year. Another key component is knowing your frost dates. The spring frost date for your zone is considered the “safe” time to plant, since the day before the frost date is (usually) the last possible frost until fall. There are always exceptions and I know I’ve encountered frost after the date but for the most part, that’s a safe time to plant.
Here in north Georgia, our frost date is April 10. Although I’ve planted before the date in the past, not only do you run the real risk of a frost damaging your tender plants if you plant earlier, nothing much in a summer Georgia garden will grow until it gets warm. The plants will actually grow faster in the greenhouse on the patio than in the garden bed, and will remain protected from biting cold.
Ok, so this is the okra bed and it won’t be planted for another couple weeks, because even though the frost date passed, the seeds will best germinate when it gets a little warmer. Okra enjoys a direct sow. Transplants are possible but the roots are testy and I haven’t found much difference in growth or yield.
The kitchen bed is 2’x12’ and contains tomatillo plants, one jalapeño plant, and some basil. I also put some nasturtiums around the corners as companions.
I’d mentioned that the 5’x5’ used to hold strawberries. We’ve fenced it with short fencing to keep our dogs out. It now contains Roma and Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato plants, jalapeño and poblano pepper plants, plus some basil, nasturtium, and borage as companions.
I’m a little anxious to see how the cherry tomato does here, since in the past it has taken up the entirety of the kitchen bed…just one plant. I can always prune it back to keep it in line if necessary. We mulched around the perimeter and K will put some annuals in the small pots eventually.
The main garden beds are also planted – look at the change since the start of March! We’ve done a lot of work.
The left bed contains cucumber transplants, bush beans, pole beans, plus nasturtiums and borage for companions. There is also a tiny parsley and a tiny thyme in the bed. The right bed contains the oregano, parsley, chives, and sage previously mentioned, plus there are three mounds each of yellow summer squash and zucchini, and of course nasturtiums and borage. Most of everything is seed in these beds so it’ll be a couple weeks before we see the plants. Once the squash all come up, I’ll add row cover to the right bed to protect them from squash vine borer moths and squash bugs.
I have trellises and cages on order from Gardeners.com, but with the increased demand due to COVID19, shipping is slow.
ladies garden and social club 