The threat of frost is past, which means it’s time for planting out tomatoes, peppers, and all manner of warm-weather crops here in Virginia. While planting out is certainly not rocket science, and plants can recover from much rough treatment, there are some ways to ease the transition for them, keeping them happier and healthier and ultimately leading…
Tag: tomatoes
The Only Reason You’ll Ever Need to Start Your Own Tomato Plants
Here in USDA Zone 7, this is the week for starting tomato plants indoors. They’ll have seven weeks to grow inside before the last expected frost, enough time to get big and robust but not so much time that they’ll outgrow their 3″ pots and the space allotted for them at my south-facing windows! Starting your…
The Vegetable Oscars
It’s that season of the year when every vegetable gardener is up to their ears in seed catalogs. They’ve been arriving for weeks now, and, if you’re like me, you can’t throw away a single one–even the ones you’ve never ordered from–without peeking to see what stunning new varieties they may have on offer this…
May’s Bounteous Promise
May is the season when the garden is at its greenest, every plant lush with the possibilities of the coming months. When later everything’s yellowing in the late August drought, or better yet, blanketed under snow next January (fingers crossed!), I’m going to look back at these pictures with longing… And between now and then,…
The Earth’s Gift to Itself
For Earth Day, it looks like nature decided to give herself a present–around here, anyway. The ground in our part of Virginia hasn’t seen substantial precipitation since March 5. When it was snow. But today, when May flowers are already in bloom, April showers have finally arrived. It’s a luxurious feeling to go out and…
Planting Tomatoes
April 15 is a red-letter day here in Zone 7. It’s our last expected frost date. And especially in a warm year like this one, it means all the frost-tender crops like tomatoes and peppers can safely go outside! Actually, since the weather was already so warm (today we’re supposed to hit 90 degrees…good grief),…
It’s Not Paranoia If…
Back in January, at seed-ordering time, I wasn’t sure if my plan for extending the vegetable garden by 1200 sq. ft. in one season was going to be feasible. Since I dig a new bed three times in order to kill the sod, that’s a lot of hand digging. But it turned out we had…
The Rush of Spring Planting
As you may have gathered from my “Digging in the Rain” post, I’m the sort of gardener who thrives under pressure. I love to feel that it’s do or die time, that things absolutely must get done today, or there’ll be no hope of a gardening tomorrow. Maybe this is partly because gardening is overall…
gettin' fresh! 