I started 25 trays of seeds this year! I love seeds, and my favorite place to order organic seeds is Lake Valley Seed. Almost all the plants I grew this year I grew from seed.
I planted Broccoli, Cauliflower, Kale, Cabbages, Collards, Celery & Brussels Sprouts from seed in Espoma seed starting mix, and then transplanted them into my homemade compost & soil mix, with Espoma Plant Tone mixed in. I have ten beds total, and filled three of them with these plants spacing them 12-16 inches apart. I also add a couple trowel scoops of the compost/manure mix into the holes when I plant.
It rained torrentially for about two weeks in September. Everything I had already planted was pulverized from days and days of heavy rain, but luckily I had started lots of plants from seed & so I had extras to fill in. By then, it was a tad late for fall planting (first week of October). Update post soon with new photos of the plants. Organic is a bit slower, better for the environment, & tastier too! Harvesting Collards today!
Created & Presented by Cari Misseri & Karin Blankenship
Presentation delivered to Georgia Power Retirees, March 2020.
Notes on Georgia Power gardening talk. 30 mins. This is a very rough copy of the notes I made for our presentation. I will include them with the presentation file itself soon.
Gardening for Fun, Form. & Function
Gardening should be fun! Don’t stress or try to make it perfect. Just be creative and enjoy it.
Sun, Soil, Water Simple
We will talk about: Spring Basics, Seeds & Plants, Container Gardening, Raised Beds, and Pest Control.
1. Spring basics
Organizing, Planting, and Dividing
Plants to add for spring interest-1 perennial & 1 shrub/tree for each season
Take stock of your seeds or supplies, and see what you want/need for the upcoming year. Our last average frost is April 15th, so I usually wait until then to plant my raised beds. Now is a great time to plan for & plant seeds indoors for your spring and summer veggie garden.
2. Seed starting vs buying plants
Bed 2 Planting in AprilSeeds I planted this for fall & winter garden!!!March 2 Four types of peas and chives planted in early March
3. Container gardening.
ALWAYS HAVE DRAINAGE HOLES IN CONTAINERS
4. Raised beds.
overwinter backyard greenhouse
My beds are 3’ x 8’. I have 3 wood beds. Leave bottom open to native soil-no landscape fabric wanted. Untreated wood for edibles
Dirt is ⅓ native soil, ⅓ soil conditioner, ⅓ compost-I like mushroom compost. Add in an organic fertilizer like Espoma garden tone when you build the soil. Can also use a pre mixed soil, or straight compost. Plant dwarf or smaller varieties.
Fertilize throughout the seaon. I like organic fertilizer for many reasons but here are three:
Better for plants- slower release, no burning, slower more even growth and better plants
Better for people-natural fertilizer creates tastier vegetables hands down, no chemical concerns
Better for the environment-only use what you need, and not more. Then the excess does not run off into the streams, rivers and lakes, and create problems.
5. Responsible Pest Control
Hornworm covered in Eggs?!
Encourage good stewardship and organic gardening and pest control where possible. Pick them off, or spray with water as 1st pest control method. Always read the instructions thoroughly before treating anything
I tried several different methods of seed starting over the last 8 years, before I settled on this one. Good seeds plus good seed mix means you can’t go wrong, unless slugs are involved.
My best choice ever (seed startingwise) was to try a new product from my favorite organic fertilizer company, Espoma.
I had some old container trays that I recycled & brought home from Cofer’s when I worked there last year. They have drainage holes and are perfect for starting seeds, but any container with drainage holes can be used.
I transplanted from the seed trays into recycled 4 pack trays on Sept 4th. I mix 1/2 organic mushroom compost, 1/2 organic topsoil, & add Espoma Plant Tone. Mix these together well, and transplant seedlings. They stay in that soil mix until they are ready for transplanting into the raised beds.
Transplanted from the seed tray to 4 packs
Gradually move into more sun
Seed tray to 4 packs
I started the first round of seeds in mid August, but had a slugtastrope & had to plant more seeds. I now move the baby seedling trays onto the deck at night to avoid slugs. This fall, I planted Broccoli, Kale, Cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, Collards & Cauliflower in seed trays.
Some types of veggie seeds achieve best results by direct sowing them into the place they will grow until harvest. This past week, I direct sowed carrots & radishes.
Direct Sow Seeds
Carrot and Radish planting September 14th, 2021
The babies are getting some good gentle rain today! Sept 15th
New posts coming soon about the expanded garden bed construction, summer harvests & more fall planting details. These babies are almost ready to go into the ground! I will likely plant them around end of September.
I planted only two raised beds this year due to time constraints. Some of the pics are from April at planting time, and I am including new pictures from the end of June to show how much growth has happened over the last month and half.
Repair and planting of the beds April 20th 2019
Mid April Planting
Jalafuego, Jalapeno,Homestead Toms, Basil, Lavender, Bell Pepper
Bed 2 Planting in April
Early to Mid May
some growth
The first funny harvest, but lots more to come
I planted some Bonnie plants from six packs along with some seeds that I bought, or already had. Bed #1 has Bonnie Jalapeno, Bonnie Homestead Toms, and Bonnie Yellow Bell Peppers. See links to those three below. I also planted for the first time Jalafuego plants from Papa Joe’s Naturally Grown line from Sunbelt Greenhouses in Douglas, GA.
In ground herb garden in May, lots of progress since then.
Bed two is coming along in May. Needs fertilizer tho.
I did a soil test and realized I was totally nitrogen deficient in the beds. I fertilized with an Organic fertilizer from Espoma called PlantTone about a week ago, and am seeing very good results. Updates to follow soon.
Next post will be about planting my Dad’s Memorial Garden in North Carolina.
It was warmer than usual, longer than usual in fall of 2017. I harvested peppers and peas until Dec. 8th. It was a great garden year, and it was fun trying new seeds and plants for the first time. New garden beds, seeds, plants, and new adventures to follow for 2018!
I harvested green bells, orange baby bells, and absolutely no Poblanos. The Poblano bloomed many times, but no peppers.
Beautiful Pea Bloom
My first time growing peas, and I planted late Sept/early Oct. It was hot all fall, so they had trouble getting started, but continued to produce peas until December.
I grew two varieties of Burpee brand peas from seed for the first time- Sugar Daddy and Super Sugar Snap. I learned about the types of peas, Snap vs. Garden. With Garden Peas, the peas inside the pod are the edible part, and you discard the pod. Snap Peas have tender, edible pods. The peas are tiny and tender, and you eat the whole thing pod and all!
I have a small, metal frame greenhouse on the porch for the first time this winter. I put plants from the raised beds in the greenhouse before the first frost, and everything is still alive. My next post will be about the greenhouse, and the new seeds I’m planting for my 2018 garden!
The three raised beds have produced more this year than I hoped! I harvested many beans, peppers, and herbs. I will give descriptions & details, with links, for all plants soon. Here are a few photo galleries & brief info for each month from June through August, 2018.
June
July
August
I planted new fall & winter seeds the week of Sept 19. See my previous post for detailed information about the raised bed building process, seed starting, and garden harvests from earlier this year. Also, my next post will feature some of the gorgeous, Georgia native plants that finally bloomed in my garden this year!
Tomatoes-Yellow Pear, Okra, Baby Sugar Pie Pumpkins,
Peppers- better pictures of later harvests to follow in my next post which will cover the progress from June-Aug.
1. Jalapeno 2.Habanero 3. Sweet Italian 4.Tabasco
Herbs-
Basil- 3 varieties 1.Thai 2. Cinnamon 3. Genovese
1st Basil Harvest. Many more to follow!
Borage, Dill, Fennel, Caraway, Cucumbers. Details to follow in next post.
I moved the Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Peppermint, Oregano from Raised Bed #1 to in ground locations very early in the spring, because I wanted to make room for more veggies in the bed, and those herbs are perennials which survive the winter here.
February
The garden area in early August! So much growth this year.
March
April-May
I really needed a new third bed, given how many seeds I started this year. I finally got it built in mid April-, but then didn’t get it filled and planted, until first week of May.
I’ve been needing a large Strawberry Pot, and I finally found the perfect one at
Cofer’s – my absolute favorite garden center of all time!
Below is a link to my transcription of my handwritten, in a hurry seed starting notes. Not very interesting, but I’m trying to record my data to improve my yields and timing for the future.
I will post the details of the garden progress from the months of June, July & August very soon. I have already harvested many beans, herbs and peppers! The garden work finally slowed down enough, and the weather is too hot to be outside working much anyway, so I am finally catching up posting.
I planted pea seeds of several different types this year- Snow Peas, Oregon Sugar Pod, Sugar Daddy, and Super Sugar Snap Peas, in Raised Organic Garden Bed #2, on March 2nd, 2018-
The Snow Peas produced the best this time. I harvested the 1st peas on May 10th. It was 69 days till harvest, and the packages said 68. Even with the weather being so dry and warmer than usual, they still produced a gallon size freezer bag full so far. The snow peas produced a few more pods over the last weeks of May, but very few compared to earlier in the season.
I harvested Snow Peas that I planted from seeds sold by Lake Valley Seed Company. Every other day or so over a couple weeks I harvested pods, and added them to a freezer bag in the fridge crisper, lying on a paper towel. Then, I blanched them for about 2 minutes, drained, and put in the freezer.
Then, I ate them a few weeks later, because I could’t resist. They stayed so vibrantly green, and sweet and tasty! Love them!
I had a huge slug infestation this year; I spent a great deal of time cursing & pulling slugs off my plants-mostly the peppers and peas, but there were still plenty left for us to enjoy. It was extremely wet the last few months, and the slugs seemed to have moved on now because of the drier, warmer conditions.
I knew nothing of the history of peas. Turns out they are the longest cultivated crop in history! I found some very useful info about the history of peas at
I will update info and add links on all plants grown this year soon. Here are some pics, and a few details, on the garden happenings the last few months. Whew! Too busy to write much now, but check back soon. I welcome any southeastern gardener’s input, or anyone’s thoughts at all. Thanks!
3rd amazing Basil harvest this year, at least! My husband & I made this & some other herbs & ingredients into my first homegrown, homemade pesto later that week.
But wait … there’s more!
We used almonds instead of pine nuts in the pesto, and it was incredible. I gave it away as a gift, but had some left over. It was one of the most flavorful and delightful mixtures I have ever tasted. Using many fresh herbs from my garden including Basil, Rosemary, Parsley, and Oregano makes me happy. Yay!
I will post details on all 2017 plants soon. I am so busy with the gardening work, I haven’t had time to write much. What an exciting garden year!
August brought lots of harvests, and I planted a bunch of new seeds. I will post details about each very soon. I even canned some cucumber and jalapeno pickles for the first time this year.
I am working on a cool season garden for the first time this year with cabbages, lettuces, radishes, pumpkins, mustard greens, peas, and various herbs. I will post soon about those endeavors.
