Questions on Gardening......

Recently I was asked a few questions regarding gardening and since I know people try their hand at gardening this year I thought I'd repeat the questions and answers here.

Do you plan to add anything new to your garden this year?
Yes this year I'm adding garlic, onions, corn and possibly peanut bushes. I might try my own hand at making peanut butter. Each year I like to try new crops and push myself to try and do something that I've never done. Last year it was pickles and this year peanut butter.

What will you start from seedling and what from seed? How do you decide?
I do a mixture of both seeds and plants. Here's how I decide: Do I really rely on this crop? Does it belong in the category of I'm going to be crushed if I don't grow it? If my answer is yes I will purchase plants and maybe try to grow from seeds on the side.
I've done this for a number of crops and have found what grows well from seeds and what does. For example you cannot ever mess up lettuce so why buy the plants. Just throw the seeds down and water. It's no fail. Others like tomatoe would just crush my house if I grew from seeds and they didn't take (that happened once). We NEED tomatoes throughout the year so now I just buy plants.

Where do you buy your plants?
Hudson's Hardware in Clayton. I've had the privilege of talking to Mrs Hudson herself. She's gardened in this area for over 30 yrs and seeds everything herself. There's never been a seed nor plant that I've purchased from her that didn't take (unless I messed it up). AND if I've messed something up or have a question I either ask her or her son. The sweetest family ever.

Do you know your 2011 planting and pruning schedule yet?
Yes years ago Mrs Hudson introduced me to a planting schedule from Wyatt-Quarles Seed Company, Garner NC. She told me that it's pretty darn accurate so that became my base. Hardware trusts this guide so much that they give it free to their customers and it's on the internet. From that I took notes each year regarding the weather and how long the crops actually needed. Then I transferred that to a calendar where I received monthly reminders of what to do next. Hudson's http://www.wqseeds.com/

Where do you get most of your gardening information? internet/ books/ other gardeners/ nursery or garden center?
When I started I knew NOTHING. Had never done anything like this before but my family ate sooo much food that I had to do something to offset our costs each month. So I started asking questions and reading books. Most books where too general and gave information on a large scale like across the state or US. That wasn't accurate for this area so I started scaling back. I talked to every home and garden shop in this entire area. I stopped farmers in the field and asked them questions. I stopped in people's yards and asked them questions. Afterall no one could tell you how to garden in this area better than other gardeners. What I found was how friendly the gardening community is. Talking to others increased the knowledge faster than any book or website could. And I found contacts that could help when my garden was in trouble like NC State Agricutural employees or the Hudson family at Hudson hardware. Now I feel like I actually know what I'm doing and enjoy it. It's fun each year to sit with the kids and wonder what this season's garden will look like.

Well I'm off to build 2 new 8x4 boxes for this year's garden. Enjoy!