Ready for the Cold?

We should be having the first real cold snap of the year over the next couple of nights with lows temps below freezing for several hours each night. That will mean it is garden clean up time again and time to enjoy the new season's crop bounty. All of the summer's crops like tomatoes, beans, okra, peppers, and any other annual vegetables that are going to be killed by the cold, should be pulled out of the garden and discarded as they can be good hiding places for garden pests or their eggs. The same goes for any weeds near the garden.

Fall and early winter are also good times for adding organic materials to the garden soil. Compost, fall leaves, and animal manures, can be layered onto the soil and then turned under to breakdown over the winter months. It is also time to grow fall and winter crops down here along the coast. Turnips, cabbage, kale, spinach, sweet peas, beets, and other cold weather crops can all be planted now. If you have asparagus, be sure to clean up the bed after the green stems die back. Cut them all off low to the ground, scatter some composted manure over the plants and mulch them well with a layer of hay or leaves. Asparagus doesn't need mulch to protect it from the cold, but to control weeds and to enrich the soil as it rots.

Right now you can find sweet potatoes, pumpkins, collards, satsumas, and of course pecans, for sale by local producers. Locally the pecan crop is rather sparse this year with good ones being hard to find due to all the rain this year. Cassebaum's has a sign up so they have pecans to sell. Last winter was hard on any citrus growing in the region with many people losing their lemon and lime trees. While most satsumas made it through the ice storm and hard cold last winter, they did not produce a good crop locally. I have seen some being offered at roadside stands but not nearly as many as in a bumper year like last year.

Freezing Time

It may not be freezing weather outside but it is definitely freezing time inside. I have been filling my freezer with fresh snap beans, okra for both frying and boiling, pears, tomatoes for canning later, squash, and butter beans. Local growers have had a very good year so far, so there are many sources for fresh Baldwin County grown produce if you know where to look. Here around Lillian I have seen signs advertising okra, pears, muscadines, scuppernongs, melons, tomatoes, and squash.
Our unusually cool summer this year has given me tomato plants which are still putting on fruits and I have yet to see any of those terrible big black stink bugs. I wish I could say the same for the army worms which are chewing my okra to pieces. We had a heavy crop of figs and our fall peas are looking good. I am afraid all the wet weather has ruined our pecan crop though, with most of the small green nuts turning black already.

The Berries are Ripe

  We are pickin' and grinnin' once again. Our blackberries are coming in and this year we have a nice crop of blueberries for everyone to enjoy. Come out to our farm and fill up some pails with fresh sweet berries for cobblers, pies, smoothies, and just to snack on and fill up on antioxidants. You can find some good blueberry recipes listed on my gardening site, Growitveg.com, near the bottom of the recipes on the home page. I have already made two blueberry/peach cobblers that were enjoyed by all. I just replaced have the blueberries called for in the recipe with some fresh peaches from our tree.
  All across Baldwin County fresh produce of all types is available, from sweet corn and tomatoes, to blueberries and peaches, growers have their stands open for business. Our farm is located in Lillian not far from the Florida line, on county road 91, the same road as Cassabaum's sweet corn operation. They have a sign up saying their corn will be ready soon. Our thornless blackberries put on a heavy crop this year which we have for $3.00/lb we pick and $2.00/lb. you pick and the blueberries go for the same prices.
  Hillcrest farm is open for business with their own crop of blueberries and produce, along with homemade preserves and fresh eggs. So come out during the cool of the day, bring the young ones, and make it a family affair to gather this year's abundance and thank God for the chance to be together and enjoy life. See Ya'll in the berry patch.

Springtime Plantings and a Promising crop

                                                                                                                  

Well the temps are on their way up and its time to get those summertime vegetables in the ground. Spring flowers are their full colors like my Amaryllis. I've had tomatoes in the ground for 3 weeks now and just planted my first crop of pole beans today. I like the old fashion pole beans over the bush varieties because I think they taste better along with being easier to pick and staying cleaner growing up off the ground. Kentucky Wonder is still my favorite variety for eating fresh and canning later. Strawberries are starting to come in and our asparagus is coming up with nice thick spears appearing everyday. You can find locally grown winter crops like cabbage, lettuce, turnips, and collards in the farm markets right now. It is time to plant sweet corn if you have the room along with cukes, peppers, eggplants, butterbeans, and melons. The blackberries are blooming and the blueberries already have a nice crop set on for our you-pick customers to enjoy later.

Bit but not Dead. Brrrr

Well we may not have suffered as much as those up north, but we still had our share of the cold this last week. I hope everyone came through the hard freezes alright and without any busted pipes. We got down to around 21 degrees and did not even reach the thawing point of 32 degrees on one day. I spent most of the week thumbing through the new seed catalogs that have been arriving already, to start planning for next season's garden.
The only thing I have growing in the garden right now is turnip green and the cold even made them wilt slightly for several days. We did enjoy fresh greens and blackeyed peas on News Year's day. I have seen local roadside stands with citrus, cabbage, and greens to sell.
If you had outdoor plants that were damaged by the cold, hold off on cutting them back until the weather warms as the tougher stems may still be alive and sprout out in the spring. Now of course any tender annuals that are dead can be pulled up to clean up the garden and do away with hiding places for overwintering bugs or their eggs. Now is the time of year to prune back grape vines, fruit trees, and rose bushes, as well as setting out new ones.