Heat Tolerant Greens to Try This Summer

May 7, 2019 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Summer brings a bounty of garden produce but it can be a tricky time for greens production. Many leafy greens do best in the cool weather of spring and fall. When the midsummer heat hits they bolt and turn bitter. If you appreciate having greens in your garden as long as possible consider trying a couple of these heat tolerant varieties this summer.

A great tip to help you preserve your plants during difficult weather is getting air conditioning repair Columbia SC to fix or install new HVAC in your garden and house.

Green Glaze Collards

Perfect for southern and warm coastal states this collard is heat-resistant, slow-bolting, and non-heading. It was introduced by David Landreth in 1820 and is easily recognized by it’s uniquely smooth, bright green leaves. It’s also great for those who struggle with pests because it’s resistant to cabbage worms and loopers.

Magenta Magic Orach

This deep red orach is a great addition to any salad mix. It has a slightly spicy flavor and tender leaves. It tolerates heat well and leaves may be eaten even as plants go to seed.

Perpetual Spinach (Leaf Beet Chard)

This European heirloom dates back to 1869 and is an excellent summer substitute for spinach. Though not quite as sweet as spinach it produces all summer long!

Jewels of Opar (Fame Flower)

A relative of purslane, Jewels of Opar offers mild succulent leaves as well as beautiful flowers and seed pods. Read more about this awesome plant here.

Jericho Romaine Lettuce

Introduced from Israel, this variety is bred for the desert heat. Jericho has good tip-burn resistance and retains its sweetness when other varieties have gone bitter.

Red Malabar Summer Spinach

These Asian greens are a great heat-tolerant substitute for spinach. They’re good for salads and stir-fries but they do require trellising. This season our grower has been having trouble but we have conventional seed available here.

Speckled Bibb Lettuce

Speckled Bibb is a great tasting and attractive variety for any season. It holds longer in the heat without bolting than other varieties like Slo-bolt and Buttercrunch in hot weather.

Tips for Hot Weather Greens

Use shade cloth or plant in partial shade.
Keep well watered.
Mulch around plants to help keep the soil temperatures cool.
Start plants that germinate better in cool soil (like lettuce) indoors and transplant out.
Check out these other helpful posts:
– 12 Easy Ways to Help Your Garden Thrive in Hot Weather
– Tips for Direct Sowing in Hot Weather
Also, check out our summer mesclun mix.

This summer keep a steady supply of greens coming in from your garden with one of these vareties.

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5 Free Shows on Gardening, Food, & Farming

April 30, 2019 Jordan Charbonneau Leave a comment

Gardening may be as good as therapy but sometimes we all need to kick back and enjoy a little screen time. While Game of Thrones may be really exciting, next time you’re in the mood for a Netflix binge consider one of these five documentaries. They’re all free to watch and shed light on gardening, food, and farming.

Living Soil Film

This documentary, produced by the Soil Health Institute, discusses the problems with humans’ relationship with soil. It introduces staggering statistics like, “the societal and environmental costs of soil loss and degradation in the United States alone are now estimated to be as high as $85 billion every single year” and provides methods for more sustainable farming. It features innovative farmers and soil experts from across the United States. Learn more about soil and how you can keep your garden’s soil healthy.

Tales from the Green Valley

Though not a documentary this TV show created by the BBC as part of a historic farming series is an informative look at agricultural techniques of the past. The show follows historians Ruth Goodman and Stuart Peachy as well as archeologists Alex Langlands, Peter Ginn, and Chloe Spencer as they run a historical farm just the way it would have been in the 17th century for a full calendar year. Try an episode (or twelve!) for a glimpse of history through the lens of everyday life.

Unbroken Ground

Created by Patagonia Provisions, this short documentary discusses the role of agriculture in our current environmental crisis. It takes an inspirational look at folks who are trying to change the way we produce food and protect our lands and waters. Join the food revolution with this informative film.

Treasures of New York: The New York Botanical Garden

This PBS special explores the 250 acre New York Botanical Garden. A “museum of plants,” the New York Botanical Garden is home to over million plants and operates one of the world’s largest plant research and conservation programs. Get inspired as you follow along on a tour of this amazing garden.

Stone Age Stories: First Farmers

This documentary focuses in on archeological evidence that Stone Age peoples began gathering and growing grains. It attempts to explain their transition from nomadic hunter-gatherers to farmers. It also looks at the beginning of permanent settlements, animal domestication, and metal working. Check it out to learn more about agriculture’s profound effect on civilization.

Next time you’re having a family movie night or just want to relax on a rainy afternoon try one of these documentaries. They might change your ideas about food and farming!

Pin it for later.

Garden Advice

April Garden Tips from Ira Wallace

April 25, 2019 Lisa Dermer Leave a comment

April Garden Tips from our own Ira Wallace, author of The Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast

(also published in the VABF newsletter)

April is the month to start your succession plantings of beets, lettuce and carrots every 2 weeks. These small succession plantings let you have a steady supply of vegetables fresh for the table all season. Early in April is a good time to harden off your cabbages, broccoli and other brassicas started in March; then transplant them by mid-month. They thrive with compost, a good organic mulch, and row cover against the frost.

Hill your early potatoes when plants are eight inches high, and again two weeks later. Watch out for potato beetles – handpick. Don’t forget to buy more seed potatoes for a second June planting, while you can. Store them in a cool dark place until you are ready to plant them. This late planting often yields less than your tradition St Patrick’s Day planting, but they will store better for winter eating.

When the weather is warm enough (soil temp is over 65°) then sow corn and transplant a few early tomatoes such as Glacier or Stupice under row cover. There is still time to start more tomatoes from seed. You can also start watermelons, cucumber, and cantaloupe in soil blocks or paper pots to get a jump on the warm weather crops.

If you ever wonder how to polish concrete to make your garden even better, just follow the link.

We are still eating sweet potatoes from last summer’s crop. They are really an amazing crop that can be stored at room temperature for almost a year. So don’t forget to order some slips now so you will have them in time for planting when May rolls around. We start our slips in the greenhouse from the best of last year’s crop. We grow a dozen varieties, from All Purple to white-fleshed O’Henry, Sweet dry white fleshed red skinned Japanese Red, and traditional orange-fleshed Beauregard or Bush Porto Rico. I love them all. If you haven’t grown sweet potatoes before, Southern Exposure’s Sweet Potato Growing guide will tell you how.

Harvest greens, enjoy abundant salad greens, savor asparagus, and prepare to weed.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange