Spring Garden
It’s time to start planning for my 2025 vegetable garden.
The seed catalogs are filling my mailbox.
I placed my order for seed potatoes today (many varieties were already out of stock). I chose Yukon Gold and French Fingerlings.
I’ll make other seed purchases soon. I love the taste of these tender French string beans. Roots laden with nitrogen-fixing nodules are an added soil bonus.
I have lived and gardened in the NC Blue Ridge Mountain area for several years but still consult Hardiness Zone calendars for yearly updates. The link will take you to a website where you can drill down to your specific state and hardiness zone. In the example above, I can see that I live in Zone 7a (in the Appalachian Mountain foothills).
It will also show you first and last frost dates. The chart includes a warning that there is a 10% chance of an earlier or later frost and cautions the gardener to watch local weather reports. From this information I see that I have approximately 175 growing days.
I have a greenhouse which I utilize for seed starting. I’ll start my seedlings at the beginning of March.
I’m sketching out my plots on grid paper to allow for proper crop rotation. This helps reduce plant pests and diseases.
I tidied up the planting areas in the fall, but my raised garden beds must be topped off with fresh raised bed soil mix.
I’m eager to dig in!
Do you plant a garden? Consult the above link for your local schedule.
