New to southern gardening
Our weather man says our average last frost is April 15. I've planting just before and just after it, but I have a lot of problems with things bolting. I found an article by university of Tennessee with planting dates like leaf lettuce Feb. to April, radish Feb. 15 to April 15, peas Feb. 1 to March 20, spinach February. Would these crops make it through the frosts or would they need to be covered at night?
I have radish, spinach, and mescalin in and they are about 2 in. tall. our average first frost is Oct. 29. Will I have to cover these?
Thanks,
Billed
Hey Marlingardener,
Thanks man. We are in 6b so we would be a little behind you in the spring.
I'm jealous when I see all you have going in the fall. we are still harvesting tomatoes, green peppers, and egg plant all from the spring.
I planted my garlic yesterday, but I see from reading here that the North Carolina folks plant theirs in November so I may be a bit early.
It's been a bit frustrating having trouble growing something as easy as radish and carrots. In Michigan we grew several plantings.
Billed
Thanks man. We are in 6b so we would be a little behind you in the spring.
I'm jealous when I see all you have going in the fall. we are still harvesting tomatoes, green peppers, and egg plant all from the spring.
I planted my garlic yesterday, but I see from reading here that the North Carolina folks plant theirs in November so I may be a bit early.
It's been a bit frustrating having trouble growing something as easy as radish and carrots. In Michigan we grew several plantings.
Billed
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applestar
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I've been trying to put together [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23934]a general planting guide[/url] based on comments and advice from the members of the forum. It kind of got put on the back burner since spring, but I'll dust it off and start up again if there's interest. 
Billed, southern gardening is a lot of fun and can be done almost year round in many parts of the south. Here is SE Louisiana, I enjoy gardening all year long but our roughest months are during the hottest part of summer. Many of the things I put in by early spring tend to suffer with our oppressive heat from late June till September. Fall gardening is my favorite time of year and my garden is going full bore with new plants right now.
Just this morning I picked a gallon of soybeans for Edamame and a 5 gallon bucket full of collard greens that have been cooked for a side dish with dinner tonight.
I also have Broccoli that have silver dollar size heads coming in, brussels sprouts with heads forming on the stalks, tomato plants with lots of fruit and even more flowers. Then there's the leafy greens like chard, spinach, kale, lettuces, bitter greens that are up and in need of thinning this weekend. I'll transplant some of them between the pepper and tomato plants to maximize space. I now have some sugar snaps starting to climb the trellis but my late planting of cucumbers are not going as well as I'd like. They will be pulled this Sat. and replaced with some peas.
I really like the way I can work in the garden for much longer this time of year and there are fewer weeds, pests and diseases to deal with since things have cooled off a bit.
Like MG mentioned, your basic winter crops will survive a frost and actually it can enhance their flavor a bit. More typical summer plants like tomatoes, peppers etc. will need some help to make it when it gets down to freezing.
Just this morning I picked a gallon of soybeans for Edamame and a 5 gallon bucket full of collard greens that have been cooked for a side dish with dinner tonight.
I also have Broccoli that have silver dollar size heads coming in, brussels sprouts with heads forming on the stalks, tomato plants with lots of fruit and even more flowers. Then there's the leafy greens like chard, spinach, kale, lettuces, bitter greens that are up and in need of thinning this weekend. I'll transplant some of them between the pepper and tomato plants to maximize space. I now have some sugar snaps starting to climb the trellis but my late planting of cucumbers are not going as well as I'd like. They will be pulled this Sat. and replaced with some peas.
I really like the way I can work in the garden for much longer this time of year and there are fewer weeds, pests and diseases to deal with since things have cooled off a bit.
Like MG mentioned, your basic winter crops will survive a frost and actually it can enhance their flavor a bit. More typical summer plants like tomatoes, peppers etc. will need some help to make it when it gets down to freezing.
Hey,
It's a great morning here in Nashville, and I have a much better feeling toward my garden. I have a better "feeling" of cool-season veggies.
In the past, I read that fall gardens are much more difficult to grow than spring gardens. Reread your posts yesterday afternoon, got up this morning and went out to the garden to find my radishes and mescalin had grown an inch; remembered the radicchio (from the garden) in my salad last night and decided I can do this.
Of course, y'all now this means that captain question will be back!
Thanks,
Billed
It's a great morning here in Nashville, and I have a much better feeling toward my garden. I have a better "feeling" of cool-season veggies.
In the past, I read that fall gardens are much more difficult to grow than spring gardens. Reread your posts yesterday afternoon, got up this morning and went out to the garden to find my radishes and mescalin had grown an inch; remembered the radicchio (from the garden) in my salad last night and decided I can do this.
Of course, y'all now this means that captain question will be back!
Thanks,
Billed