Gardening :: Spring Planting

Oh how I LOVE the spring! Winter started early last year and last almost 4 whole months which is a long time here in east Tennessee. Normally, we're still in sweatshirts in late December with January and February being true winter months. Not this past year. It started snowing in November and it feels like it never stopped! East Tennessee was incapacitated at least half a dozen times from the snow storms that pummeled us one right after the other. With temperatures now in the mid to high 70's it's no wonder everyone is outside playing in the dirt, myself included!

A few weeks ago, all of my friends and I were talking about which veggies could be planted first and depending on where you live, quite a few of us were starting early and planting spring crops we'd never planted before.  My wonderful neighbor came with his tractor and disc and plowed and disced the garden for us so the soil would be good and fine come planting time and finally, planting time came!

Up until I moved to the beautiful foothills of the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee I had what most people would consider a black thumb, I mean, I could kill silk plants given the opportunity. I never had to worry about anyone asking me to care for their plants when they went away because everyone basically knew that if I looked at the plant it was a gonner. My husband wouldn't even let me touch the seeds of our first 3 gardens (I kid you not) because everything I touched either didn't grow or died shortly after. I felt like I was cursed in the garden so I set out to learn as much as I could about gardening, planting, and the like.  Now, I'm no horticulturist, but I've learned a few things about gardening that have yielded some pretty good harvests as the years have gone by. My husband even let me plant the peas ALL ALONE this year! Ha!  I can't truly live a country life if I'm dangerous in the garden.

This year, I'm going to show him a thing or two. I got my first batch of veggies planted. I've got peas, beets, and cabbage in the ground! Oh Yea! I've got red onions and basil started in pots and I just started my first batch of Beefsteak tomatoes inside too! I'll start the Roma's in a few days. No Italian household is complete without home grown Roma tomatoes for canning and fresh basil. I can practically smell the fresh sauce already!!

I never realized what I was missing out on when it came to gardening and growing and the joys and benefits of doing it. I've become  obsessed with planting and I spend more time researching what I can grow and how to grow it than I ever have before. I am LOVING this new hobby!

If you're just setting out on your country living adventure let me tell you that this is one of the true pleasures of country living. You can enjoy it too and it doesn't matter where you live. With so many folks living in urban areas there are more and more people planting gardens on their apartment balcony's and in container gardens. Where there is a will and a desire, there is a way! Just Google "Container Gardens" and get ready for a TOn of information!

If this is your first time with spring planting I'd go with peas, beets (if you like 'em), cabbage, or even carrots.  Peas are one of the, if not the best plant to plant in the spring. Peas thrive in cool, moist, climates and early plantings will produce greater yields than plantings later in the season.

You'll want to make sure that you're soil is about 45 degrees. Peas can tolerate a mild frost, but you should wait until all dangers of a deep freeze are past. Your soil should be moist to the touch and you'll want to plant seeds about 1 inch deep and one to three inches apart with rows spaced about 18 inches apart. Depending on the kind of peas your growing, you may need a trellis if your growing tall varieties.

Some more spring veggies are:
Beets
Cabbage
Lettuce
Spinach
Carrots
Broccoli
and a few more (See the chart below)

Here is a handy dandy chart I found on Heirloom Seeds (Heirlooms seeds are the best!)

VARIETY

MARCH 20

MARCH 30

APRIL 10

APRIL 20

APRIL 30

MAY 10

May 20

BEAN, LIMA	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 20	MAY 1	MAY 10	MAY 20	JUNE 1
BEAN,  SNAP	MARCH 25	APRIL 10	APRIL 15	APRIL 25	MAY 5	MAY 15	MAY 25
BEET	FEB. 15	MARCH 1	MARCH 10	MARCH 20	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 25
BROCCOLI, PLANTS	FEB. 15	MARCH 1	MARCH 10	MARCH 20	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 25
CABBAGE, PLANTS	FEB. 15	MARCH 1	MARCH 10	MARCH 20	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 25
CARROT	FEB. 15	MARCH 1	MARCH 10	MARCH 20	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 25
CHARD	FEB. 20	MARCH 1	MARCH 15	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 20	APRIL 30
COLLARD, PLANTS	FEB. 15	MARCH 1	MARCH 10	MARCH 15	APRIL 1	APRIL 15	APRIL 25
CORN,  SWEET	MARCH 30	APRIL 10	APRIL 20	MAY 1	MAY 10	MAY 20	MAY 30
CUCUMBER	APRIL 1	APRIL 10	APRIL 20	MAY 1	MAY 10	MAY 20	MAY 30
EGGPLANT, PLANTS	APRIL 1	APRIL 10	APRIL 20	MAY 1	MAY 10	MAY 20	MAY 30

If you've already started your spring planting, I'd love to hear what you've got growing! Feel free to send pictures too! I'll include them on our Facebook Page and if you haven't already done so, join our community! It's free and you can share your gardening adventures with the rest of us..videos are welcome too!

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