Monday Musings

  The last of the vegetables hang on the plants, a few straggling eggplants. I look forward to making a pan of eggplant parmesan. Now my duties involve cleaning out the raised beds in preparation for next year’s crops. My first job was to strip the plant debris from one bed to set up a cold frame, a mini greenhouse. I bought a lovely kit from Austria, a well-made product. Although it was a bit unwieldy for a single assembler, I accomplished the task. Note: (not in the photo) I repositioned the frame over a square-foot grid and zip-tied it to the grid to prevent the apparatus from flying away during one of our brisk winds. Soon I will plant spinach and lettuce within the frame so we can enjoy some fresh greens during the winter months. The first step to putting the garden to bed is to  remove debris and spent foliage . Pea and bean  nitrogen-fixing plant  roots can be left in place to feed the new spring crops; simply cut the plants off at soil level. If the plants we...

  It’s time to start planning for my 2025 vegetable garden. The seed catalogs are filling my mailbox. I placed my order for seed potatoes today (many varieties were already out of stock). I chose Yukon Gold and French Fingerlings. I’ll make other seed purchases soon. I love the taste of these tender French string beans. Roots laden with nitrogen-fixing nodules are an added soil bonus. I have lived and gardened in the NC Blue Ridge Mountain area for several years but still consult  Hardiness Zone calendars  for yearly updates. The link will take you to a website where you can drill down to your specific state and hardiness zone. In the example above, I can see that I live in Zone 7a (in the Appalachian Mountain foothills). It will also show you first and last frost dates. The chart includes a warning that there is a 10% chance of an earlier or later frost and cautions the gardener to watch local weather reports. From this information I see that I have approximately 175 gro...