Blue Ridge Gardener

I was reading the Natural Gardening blog today and ran across a great website:

Gardener’s Supply Company based out of Vermont.

They not only have unique projects to sell, they have an excellent collection of articles, guides and tips for gardener’s of all stripes.

A quick tip from that site:

Easy Seeds for Beginners

Blue Ridge Gardener is now included as one of the websites at Gardening-Alltop.

The purpose of Alltop is to help you answer the question, “What’s happening?” in “all the topics” that interest you. You may wonder how Alltop is different from a search engine. A search engine is good to answer a question like, “How many people live in China?” However, it has a much harder time answering the question, “What’s happening in China?” That’s the kind of question that we answer.

You can think of Alltop as the “online magazine rack” of the web. We’ve subscribed to thousands of sources to provide “aggregation without aggravation.” To be clear, Alltop pages are starting points—they are not destinations per se. Ultimately, our goal is to enhance your online reading by displaying stories from sources that you’re already visiting plus helping you discover sources that you didn’t know existed.

From About Alltop

As I would have guessed, it was included with a mispelled name (BLUE RIDGE GRADENER)–we’ll see how long it takes to get it right.  You know that there are humans involved in the process, since the RSS feeds clearly have the right spelling.

I find the gardening page to be excellent reading and Blue Ridge Gardener is another blog on the rack.

After several days of rain or cold, I was able to get out in the yard and garden a bit on Sunday and Monday…

• I cut grass Sunday afternoon in 40 degree weather.  After the fertilizer from the week before, and a couple of inches of rain, it needed a fresh cut.  The blade is set at 3 inches and I must admit that the yard has not looked better.
• Plants were covered on Sunday night and the Covertan was moved late morning on Monday..  The temp got up to about 65 degrees by late in the afternoon and everything was looking healthy.
• I weeded several beds and footpaths–the soil was damp and the weeding was easy.
• Cover crops are looking healthy and there is a solid stand of rye/buckwheat in the 4 beds that are not planted
• I planted a lilac bush that has been in a container all winter.  I should have done it earlier, but had the desire this afternoon.  It should do fine.
• Checked over seedlings.  Basil, Chives and Dill are all coming up solid.  Tomatoes began to peek through the soil this morning (6 days germination)

Saw this article at Gardening Examiner based out of Charlotte, NC: How to grow lettuce

A couple of excerpts:

Lettuce is a cool season crop, so you can plant it in the early spring or in late summer for a fall harvest. In most parts of the country, you can plant lettuce right now by direct seeding in the garden or even in containers.

There are four types of lettuce, so depending on your needs, location and preferences, select your seeds with this in mind. It’s a good idea to consult your local garden center or agriculture extension service to see what grows most successfully in your area.

Most instructions say that for a continuous supply of lettuce through your growing season, start a new row every week or two. This is certainly true of head lettuce but I find that it isn’t necessary with leaf lettuce, which continues to grow bountifully until it finally bolts.

You may be able to extend your harvest by providing shade in the hottest parts of the day. (See this article from Mother Earth News.) At some point, however, your lettuce will become bitter, tough and will bolt.

Some of the most reliable loose leaf lettuces I have grown are ‘Red Sails’ and ‘Black Seeded Simpson’. I plant them in alternating rows to create a nice pattern in the garden.