Blue Ridge Gardener

I have a good bit of spinach in my SFG boxes, but if the weather continues like it has been the past few days, it will bolt and I will need to pick it all.  What are some alternative greens?

I saw this article on about.com this morning–

Three Great Spinach Alternatives

The three great alternatives (which I already have growing):

• Swiss chard
• Beets
• Kale 

I got an email from the Farmer’s Almanac that had a nice article about growing your own cut flowers and how to care for them…thought you might want to take a look:

Grow Your Own Bouquets

Excerpts:

Having fresh cut flowers can bring the cheer and fragrance of a garden into the house, but a beautiful bouquet doesn’t have to be store bought. You can make elegant arrangements from flowers you grow in your own backyard. This spring, try growing some of these flowers for a garden that will provide fresh cut flowers all summer long…

Be sure to place all flowers in water immediately after cutting, as air bubbles enter the stems blocking the flow of water to cells. You may want to cut the stem again under water to remove the lowest section where air has already entered. Be sure to cut stems on an angle to increase the area that can take in water. Use a sharp knife instead of scissors so you don’t pinch the stem.

I ran across this article by mistake as I was reading through some gardening tips at examiner.com.

Read the en tire article here: 10 Keys to Container Gardening

Here are a few of the tips:

• Make a Lighter Weight Pot
• Fertilizing
• Containers are Mobile
• Grow Vertically

It is nearly May 15th and in WNC that means that farmers are finally starting to plant their warm weather crops. They have decided that all chances of frost are over and it is time to get those tomatoes in the ground.

I have had my tomatoes in about 10 days, and I have been adding transplants to the garden for about a month now…but i ran across this article on the Old Farmer’s Almanac today and thought it would be good to share:

Transplanting Your Seedlings

Here are a couple of helpful hints from the article:

• During their last week indoors, withhold fertilizer and water less often.
• If possible, transplant on overcast days or in the early morning
• Anything that raises soil temperature will help plants adjust to the shock of cold ground.