Posted on 01/16/2008 10:56:46 AM PST by Gabz
http://www.seedsofchange.com/
Soil here is just gorgeous, upper coastal-plain deep loam. It's fertile, well-drained, not too acidic, just dandy stuff. I've tilled the patch, and it'll be tough to wait.
Given the price of groceries lately, my interest in gardening has become more intense.
I was stationed at Cherry Point in my USMC days. And as a very young boy we lived for about 3 years on the coast in a very small town called Swansboro.
I think you'll find that midsummer heat doesn't faze tomatoes much. It might have been lack of water that was the problem.
I’m just outside Newport. You wouldn’t recognize either one. The coastal area has quadrupled in pop in the last ten years or so. My kids don’t believe me when I tell them you could drive to Morehead at 10 am and not meet another car!
I figured if you were a marine, you’d at least been through here.
Sorry about the typos—grandbaby is sleeping in my arms—typing one handed.
Got 2 sisters in raleigh. they’ve both got orange clay. Amazing how much soil can change from area to area. if ours isn’t sand, its peat bog. guess everything here used to be either sand dune or swamp!
Yes! As soon as you get well into the piedmont, you start to see that clay. It's not bad for growing things, though it helps if you lighten it up some with mulch and sand.
Down where you are, that seems to me like a real challenge.
What would you say are good choices of vegetables for the early-early spring planting?
How many people grow herbs? One problem I have is keeping my basil in a deep green color - I put them in full sun, but invariably it all goes lime-ish green. Ive tried supplementing with ironite and rich compost, but it doesnt seem to do the trick...any suggestions?
LOL Maybe not where you are! The coast has ferocious heat and formiddable humidity. Doesn’t matter how mush water you give them—by mid-July, tomatoes are frazzled here. The good news is you can replant new plants from mid- June to about the middle of Aug and they’ll bear until frost. This year first frost was after C, IIRC
I told him "Well, if you're gonna have something like kudzu, at least let it be a vine that makes something useful like tomatoes."
Last Tues I started cabbages, lettuces, chard, broccoli, spinach,bak choi,brussels sprouts, etc in the greenhouse. Usually I have them ready for sale by now. The weather is just too strange. We have to worry more about it getting too hot too fast. April and May are our prime growing times.
You can also do onions, peas, potatoes, vidalia’s if you can find them, and it’s time to plant asparagus.
Ain't it the truth!!!!! I cringe everytime I go into the produce section of the supermarket.
I'm going to experiment with putting some lettuce in earlier this year and the same with peas.
I’ve tried a lot of different types of basils—got lime and lemon for this year. Basil always turns light here too, and the bottoms of the stems get woody and it dies. About the only thing i know to do is keep planting.
The worst thing around here is fireants. I’ve gotten where I do all my herbs in pots in the house. It’s impossible to have a nice herb or flowerbed around here, and you have to be careful in the garden.
Hi there - go to Home Depot and look for a product that I believe is put out by Scotts - it is a 3 in 1 product: weed prevention/fertilizer/ant control - you spread it like regular fertilizer and it will kill the ants for the entire summer. I had more ant beds than grass in my yard last year and used this product once and didn’t have another bed all season. I will look for it again and tell you the exact name.
Brussel sprouts, now? You get hotter earlier than we do and I figured it was too late for me to even think about starting brussel sprouts now.
Brussels sprouts and cauliflower are always hard to do here. Try, is all I can tell you. They usually do better in the fall. The cabbage loopers adore b.s.
Lettuce is going to bolt—that’s just a given, and so will spinach.
Just curious—what varieties are you planting? Better Boy does about as good as anything here, and I think I mention Christa and Muriel yest. You might try some of the older ones as well. Rutgers, Celebrity, Homestead, Marglobe, Brandywine. Keep inmind that there are 2 types of tomatoes—determinate and indeterminate. Determinate means they have one big crop and they’re pretty much done—good to eat but developed for canning. Indeterminate means they’ll bear longer, less at a time.
I guess it can’t hurt to try them. I have seeds, and I have flats ready to go, and I do still have 3 rows of black plastic out in the field — so, what the heck. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, I guess.
I just looked at a map — you are a lot further south of me than I had thought, although the coastal issues are pretty similar.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.