A Glorious Cacophony of Color and Fragrance and Food

Listen, I don't like to hover. I never imagined I'd be a gardener. Too tedious. Too slow. Too much work. Now, of course, I love it. I'm not going to attempt to try to sell you on the joys of gardening--they reveal themselves slowly over time, and differently to each person. But I will tell you that if you have only tried vegetable gardening in the summer in Atlanta and have decided you hate it, it's no wonder. It's the toughest garden of the year here, filled with fungus and pests and low yields from prima donna crops that think they own the joint. Plus, the heat. Did I mention the heat?

However, Atlanta is a perfect four-season gardening city, and the fall garden is my personal favorite. I call it The Year in Review, because things I planted from January on through the year all intermingle to create a glorious cacophony of color and fragrance and food.

And I'll give a plug for the value of home vegetable gardens--during the World Wars, when our government encouraged citizens to plant Victory Gardens, families grew on average 40% of their own food. Some grew all of it. So it's totally "do-able." I estimate I grow at least $350 worth of salad greens each spring and fall.

Here's my Victory Garden Drive press release, by the way, but also check out these two great sites for more Victory Garden info: Red, White, and Grew and Victory Grower.

Anyway, Hastings Nature and Garden Center on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven (a very enjoyable place to visit, by the way--kids love it) has a one-page Vegetable Planting Guide hand-out that is Atlanta-specific with vegetable names, days to maturity and planting dates for both spring and fall. According to this (which I follow pretty closely), here's what you can put in your garden now:

Summer crops:
Okra (until August 1)
Cucumber (until August 15)
Bell pepper (until August 15)
Summer squash (until September 1)

Fall crops:
Broccoli
Kale

Here's what you can add starting August 15:
Beets
Celery
Summer squash
Turnips/greens

I've also already added some heat-hardy lettuces and other greens that are growing beautifully.

I'll post about additional planting dates in the next few weeks. There's more to plant throughout the fall, and yes, you can harvest stuff all winter long and have a spring garden already up and running when that season arrives yet again.

Just start. Plant a seed. See where it goes. Or, should I say, grows.