Suburban Homesteading in North Carolina

Greetings fellow Gardenauts from Raleigh, NC. My wife, son, and I live on three acres in the city limits that we affectionately call, “Sourwood Farm.” We group our activities here under the heading “Suburban Homesteading” and producing some of the food we eat is central to the homesteading lifestyle that we like to cultivate.

Gardening in central North Carolina is probably not as difficult as it is in many other places but it's not without its challenges. For one our weather is notoriously capricious. Despite the fact that we've already had 80 degree days this year there is a frost warning for tonight, which also happens to be our supposed frost-free date. Go figure. The natural soil here is also a challenge because it isn't soil - it's hard, heavy, practically impenetrable red clay. Another issue for us is water. For about a year now we've been enduring our worst drought on record. According to the local newspaper we've past the extreme drought stage and have moved into the "exceptional" drought stage, which doesn't really capture the severity of the situation for me. It sounds more like, "Hey - great drought!"

Despite these challenges we can't wait to get started on another year's vegetable garden. We actually got some seedlings this weekend and were going to put them in but decided to wait. Given tonight's forecast I'm glad we did. Here's a look at what's likely to be growing in the garden once the weather settles just a bit.

I always grow a lot of tomatoes but I have to admit that I haven’t been as daring in my variety selection as I could be. I usually stick with what works – German Johnsons, Sweet 100s, Homesteads, etc. – nothing fancy really. This year is going to be different. This year a friend of mine has started all kinds of crazy heirloom tomatoes and has promised me a baker’s dozen seedlings from this group. Check out some of these names and descriptions:

• Aussie Tomato: "Large Australian heirloom plant producing big yields of 1-2 lb. red, meaty, beefsteak tomatoes that are somewhat ribbed." Now that's a tomato, mate! I'm hoping Paul Hogan will read this and agree to autograph some of my fruits.
• Dagma's Perfection Tomato: "Deliciously flavorful with overtones of tropical fruit. Firm, juicy and elegant in the mouth, and jewel-like in appearance." These should go well with my gold tooth! I've actually never heard of anything described as "elegant in the mouth." I'll let you know how that turns out.
• Flamme Tomato: "A delicious full-bodied flavor that literally bursts in your mouth." As long as it doesn't burst into flames in my mouth we'll be in business; that would be very inelegant.
• Kellogg's Breakfast Tomato: "Juice and inside flesh have the same bright orange color as orange juice." Plus each fruit comes with a flimsy kids' toy inside that is a serious choking hazard!

I'm also excited to grow bell peppers – big meaty ones that actually have flavor to them unlike the pricey ones we've been getting at the grocery store all winter that taste like water strained through grass clippings. Every year our peppers have been getting bigger, thicker and more productive. Hopefully this year that trend will continue.

A Lovely Pumpkin Blossom from 2007 that Never Became a Pumpkin

Beans and cucumbers of some sort will no doubt find their way into the garden this year. Last year we grew yard-long beans and boy did they go nuts. We also grew Kirby cukes and ended up making pickles out of some at the end of the season. The pickles were OK initially, but got soggy after a while. I think some of the cukes were not as fresh as they could’ve been and our pickling method was also probably not the best – we'll be on the lookout for a better recipe this year.

Mr. O. Hauling a Load of Cukes and Zucchini from 2007

A big item on the to-do list this year is to start a new, smaller veggie patch next to our existing one. We're planning to experiment with watermelons and cantaloupes in there. My inspiration for the new patch was a volunteer cantaloupe plant we had in a flower bed last year. I had never grown cantaloupe but when I saw this one taking off with virtually no encouragement from us I thought why not try to actually grow more of these? To be honest I don't even like cantaloupe, but my son and my wife do and I found it terribly satisfying to watch my 2.5 year old son scarf down big wedges of juicy cantaloupe that was grown on our property.

We're looking forward to sharing our gardening adventures from NC's piedmont with the Gardenaut community and hope to learn a bunch from all the contributing gardeners and Gardenaut readers.

Gardening for flavor in Texas

I don't like vegetables. Wait, not a good way to start a gardening post. Let me rephrase that. I don't like industrial, grocery-produce or canned vegetables.

I grew up around gardeners as far back as I can remember. We didn't buy any produce in the grocery store, save the occasional citrus or celery. All vegetables and fruit we ate either came from our family garden or from those of my grandparents. I didn't eat vegetables in the cafeteria at school or in restaurants - especially not peas or spinach. Green beans were somewhat passable, especially when cooked with bacon. Applesauce, never.

When my husband met me, he couldn't believe the lack of veggies in my life. I told him I loved peas, lima beans, green beans, asparagus, spinach, yet I never bought those in the store. After one trip to Virginia to visit my family, he understood why.

My own garden started with herbs - basil, oregano, mint, rosemary, and thyme. Living in Central Texas means that with the exception of basil and cilantro, I don't need to replant my herbs every year. Since I started, I also have a huge cilantro plant, two parsley plants that I will never be able to use up, lemongrass, and four varieties of mint (we were in search of the perfect cold mint garden tea). I know little about flowers and bushes and ornamental plants. So in the beds around the front of my house are my herbs. When making a pasta sauce, I walk out my front door and chop some fresh basil. While making salsa, I go clip some cilantro. It works out nicely and my food tastes much better.

After we moved into our house "in the country" (fifteen minutes from downtown Austin), I started a garden and tried the veggies my parents grew in Virginia. I failed. (More on that another time). I now have a 12x12' foot garden surrounded by chicken wire to keep the armadillos and rabbits out. That's right, armadillos!

That was then, this is now. We are finishing up with our winter garden - beautiful spinach left from the bok choy, broccoli, and spinach we tried this year. I have six tomato plants in of four different heirloom varieties, and one poblano pepper plant (enough to keep my freezer stocked for a year). I hope to get in a couple of butternut squash plants if I can only find the seeds my mom sent me from one of her squash.

Around the garden I have planted some flowers and a dill to hopefully draw those helpful bugs to keep those not so great pests away this year. That's an experiment - we'll see how that goes. In my herb gardens I also have a grape tomato and cherry tomato plant. I planted those for my almost three-year-old daughter. She picks all the cherry tomatoes out of salads. My husband and I never get any. Hopefully these two tomato plants will help solve that problem.

There are some fairly philosophical reasons why I garden - wanting to eat locally (you don't get any more local than your own backyard); wanting my two children, ages three and thirteen months, to love vegetables and know how they grow; the connection to the land and weather gardening brings; being able to see immediate results from my work. But really, I garden because I love to eat. I believe if it's worth eating, it's gotta taste really good. There is nothing better than a fresh-picked tomato sprinkled with fresh-cut basil with a little olive oil drizzled over top. That's why I bother with the weeds, fire ants, and armadillos.