What to Plant When

Local wisdom (or my Alabama mom's advice) says plant your garden after Good Friday to avoid frost. With the weather we've been having lately, you may be ready to plant now, and now is a good time to plant your cooler weather crops like peas and lettuce if you haven't already done that - but do hurry. The hot weather will come. (We've got radishes, lettuce, peas, carrots, arugula, and salad turnips sprouting at the farm as I type.)

How do you know what to plant and when to plant it? The Alabama Cooperative Extension Service has a handy Planting Guide for Home Gardening in Alabama. It's a concise, four-page guide that includes a chart of plants and when you can plant them for year round gardening.

A great book to get your garden growing is Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast by Ira Wallace. Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast takes you through the year, month by month, and explains what to plant and what to do in the garden January through December. The author, Ira Wallace, is a long-time farmer and seed saver who is part of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. She is an expert in heirloom plant varieties and the best plants for the southeast.

Do you have a go-to garden resource? Let us know in the comments!