The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

by Ira Wallace

Overview

How to grow your own food in the Heartland!

There is nothing more regionally specific than vegetable gardening—what to plant, when to plant it, and when to harvest are decisions based on climate, weather, and first frost The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast tackles this need head on, with regionally specific growing information written by local gardening expert, Ira Wallace. Monthly planting guides show exactly what you can do in the garden from January through December. The skill sets go beyond the basics with tutorials on seed saving, worm bins, and more.

This must-have book is for gardeners in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604693713
Publisher:	Timber Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	12/31/2013
Series:	Regional Vegetable Gardening Series
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	391,126
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Ira Wallace serves on the board of the Organic Seed Alliance and is a worker/owner of the cooperatively managed Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which offers over 700 varieties of open-pollinated heirloom and organic seeds selected for flavor and regional adaptability. She is also an organizer of the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, a fun, family-friendly event featuring an old-time seed swap, local food, hands-on workshops, demos, and more. She currently writes about heirloom vegetable varieties for magazines and blogs including Mother Earth News, Fine Gardening, and Southern Exposure.

Read an Excerpt

Preface
Vine-ripened tomatoes, succulent figs, crisp winter salads, corn on the cob, and sweet braised greens are just a few of the fresh-from-the-garden delights awaiting gardeners in the Southeast. Working with long, hot summers and mild, uneven winters, southern gardeners from Thomas Jefferson to Barbara Kingsolver have feasted abundantly in every season. Every year at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, a celebration of heirloom varieties, local food, and sustainable agriculture at Jefferson’s mountaintop home, I have the privilege of meeting hundreds of eager gardeners. The bountiful harvest on display at the festival is an inspiration to new gardeners. With a little planning and knowing how to make the right choices for a southeastern garden, even beginning gardeners can have that abundance throughout the year.
    
I often run workshops on year-round gardening and growing garlic and perennial onions at the Monticello and Mother Earth News fairs, and afterward, eager participants frequently ask if I have a book. Finally, this is my offering, sharing what I have learned about year-round food growing in over 40 years as an organic gardener and over 20 years as an advocate and producer of heirloom organic seeds at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE) in central Virginia. Our motto at SESE is “Saving the Past for the Future”; we strive to preserve the knowledge that lets farmers enjoy abundant harvests without chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Our farm is certified organic and I am committed to keeping our spot of earth healthy and productive. Throughout this book, I have shared the information you’ll need to make your own garden equally rich.
    
My gardening roots trace back to my grandmother’s backyard in Florida where I grew up. We had something growing every month, although all I remember growing in late summer were black-eyed peas, okra, and sweet potatoes. That was the slow time, but it didn’t last long. As soon as the weather started cooling off a little we went all out with greens, squash, peppers, tomatoes, and beans. Winter brought on lettuce, celery, and even more greens. I don’t think I grew broccoli and other more refined members of the cabbage family until after I went off to college. But, boy, did we have some fine cabbages, collards, turnips, and mustards. These memories make fall and winter gardening special for me. Fall harvests provide fresh organic food just when it is most expensive in the markets and less available from local farms. And growing a fall garden is actually easier than summer gardening, once you get the timing down. In the July and August chapters, I’ll go through the basics of summer planting for an abundant fall and winter harvest. I share the techniques and timing that work for us to start seeds in the heat.
    
In these hectic, modern times, many of you might feel that it is hard to find the time you need to produce your own food. Well, let me tell you that I struggle with having enough time myself. It’s one reason that I am always looking for new ways—like creating no-dig “lasagna beds”—to make gardening easier. Gardening is still a lot of fun for me. I always make time to try out something new in the garden each year. This is how I find new and exotic tastes like Thai Red roselle for jams and refreshing drinks or delicious new-to-me heirlooms like Shronce’s Deep Black peanut. I have tried to share many of my favorite heirloom varieties for those of you who want to be able to save seeds as well as enjoy fine flavors. I have included basic seed-saving instructions for each of the vegetables in the Edibles A to Z section.
    
There are almost as many reasons for gardening as there are gardeners. But whatever the reasons, in the last five years we have seen the number of new gardeners buying our seeds increase by 10 to 20 percent every year and the attendance at the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello has quadrupled. The question of what is going into our food and where it comes from has led many of us toward local and organic food, and that excitement is only growing. And what food is more local than the food from your own backyard? Whether you are new to gardening or an old hand looking for tips, I hope this book will give you the tools and motivation you need to get gardening straight away.

Table of Contents

Preface 6

Acknowledgments 7

Part 1 Get Started 9

Welcome to the Southeast 10

Gardening 101 18

Garden Planning 35

Part 2 Set Planting 47

January: Planning for Fresh Food All Year 48

February: Sowing Seeds Indoors 55

March: Moving the Garden Outdoors 64

April: Pretty Enough for the Front Yard 72

May: Harnessing the Jungle 86

June: Succession Planting 88

July: The Dog Days of Summer 96

August: Heat and Harvest 103

September: Second Spring 110

October: Slowing Down 117

November: End of Hurricane Season 126

December: Rest and Reflection 133

Part 3 Edibles A to Z 141

Resources 199

Glossary of Basic Garden and Seed Saving Terms 204

Index 206

Editorial Reviews

[Ira Wallace] has nurtured seeds of traditional southern vegetables, gardens and even other seed companies. According to one woman she has mentored, ‘When you say her name in our community, all this love comes up.’” —The New York Times 

“I’ve taken inspiration (and bought seeds) from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange catalogue, so when I saw that one of its worker/owners, Ira Wallace, had published The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast, I spent much of January poring over her friendly, no-nonsense advice.” —The Washington Post 

“An absolute delight to look at and to hold. . . . a gardening book that you will want to refer to often.” —Washington Gardener 

“It’ll turn even an apprehensive dirt-digger into an obsessive vegetable gardener, and a successful one at that.” —Garden Gun 

“Her broad gardening experience is the source of some fantastic advice. . . . There is much to learn here.” —Lexington Herald-Leader

“A detailed, invaluable source for tried-and-tested varieties of the Southeast. Timber Press could not have selected a better author for this guide. Ira Wallace is a legend among followers of the organic gardening movement and champions of heirloom vegetable preservation.” —Southern Garden Society

“Are you interested in harvesting your own crops and would like to know the best way to do so? This guide for Southern gardeners is the perfect tool for that and more. Ira Wallace shares tips on the appropriate month to plant your favorite crop, how to grow and harvest it, how to avoid tips on bugs and weeds, and much more.” —Mississippi Magazine 

“If the fresher taste and greater nutrition of locally grown foods have you yearning to become a better gardener, The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast should be required reading.” —Triangle Gardener 

“Widely regarded as the book on year-round gardening in the Southeast.” —C-Ville Weekly  

“This compilation of tips for our climate, the names of reliable regional varieties, and the encouragement to start in any month and harvest in every month, is valuable beyond price.” —Sustainable Market Farming

From the Publisher

“An absolute delight to look at and to hold . . . a gardening book that you will want to refer to often.”

Garden & Gun Online

"This guide for Southern gardeners is the perfect tool."

Washington Gardener

“This compilation of tips for our climate, the names of reliable regional varieties, and the encouragement to start in any month and harvest in every month, is valuable beyond price.”

Mississippi Magazine

“Timber Press could not have selected a better author for this guide. Ira Wallace is a legend among followers of the organic gardening movement and champions of heirloom vegetable preservation.”

Sustainable Market Farming

“[Wallace's] broad gardening experience is the source of some fantastic advice. . . There is much to learn here.”

Magnolia

This compilation of tips for our climate, the names of reliable regional varieties, and the encouragement to start in any month and harvest in every month, is valuable beyond price.”

Sustainable Market Farming - Pam Dawling

[Wallace's] broad gardening experience is the source of some fantastic advice. . . There is much to learn here.”

The Lexington Herald-Leader