I was in home depot today to get a few things for our bathroom remodeling project, and was distracted by a display of blueberry plants. Looking at them and thinking this is not the right variety for our area and being a little frustrated that these stores don't take in to consideration the area they are selling them to, a friendly lady says,"I just love this weather; Can't wait to plant something." I said, "ya, I want to plant some blueberries, but these are not for our area", not realizing she had two of them in her buggy. We shared our thoughts for a second and I talked her right out of those blueberries. She was not from this area and just recently moved here. Feeling a little bad about it I continued shopping. I went to the gardening area and saw some lettuce, cabbage, and broccoli plants, and put them in the buggy. At the check out she came by and said, "so what did you find". I explained what I had; wanting to tell her more about why I had these plants for this time of the year in zone 8, I just set there thinking. Thinking about how hard it is to know what and when to plant. Most books don't tell you specifically about a certain area. A lot of books will have zones listed for plants that will not really grow in that area. Like Cherry's for instance. I have never seen a cherry tree that bares edible fruit in this area, although they have some listed for zone 8. Some call gummy berries a type of cherry, but that is about as close as I have ever saw here. When I invest money in a tree or plant, I want to know it is the time and area it will grow. Over the years I have found a few resources that will help for this area. Wanting to tell her about these, but not wanting to impose to much on her and her family, I just simply wrote this blogspot address on a piece of paper and told her I would try to put some info on here. I am not a expert by a any means, but I have had some experts teach me a few things. One being my mother who has her masters degree in Horticulture. So for Melissa, the lady at the store, this is for you.
This is the time of the year we get ready for spring planting in zone 8. Last week we had a low of 17 degrees. This week we hit 70. The forecast says not below forty for the next 15 days, so I think it is time for that early stuff. However we could have another freeze or two, or even a snow, so be prepared to cover anything you plant with a row cover. We have planted small gardens and very large gardens. Large gardens are not our specialty. We have been much more successful with smaller gardens, however at present we have a three acre garden. We have had some good success and some failure with this big garden. I use the Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations guide, and make sure I add a couple of weeks to there dates. The dates for planting time are for south Louisiana. Sometimes it will specify North LA. This is the same as South AR. You can find this production at http://www.lsuagcenter.com/. Also http://www.uaex.edu under fruits and vegetables has some very good info. Just make sure you use the Verities for South Arkansas. Some things that will grow in North Arkansas will have a hard time in South Arkansas, like raspberries. uaex also has a gardening calender that looks really good. I think it would be good for anyone in zone 8. Just know it is for north and south Arkansas so you can do things a little earlier than what the calender says, in the zone 8 area. If you don't understand the zoning lingo, google it and look at some zoning maps on temperatures in the USA.
http://www.backyardgardener.com/zone/index.html#what is a good spot to understand zoning for gardening. Once you study about your zone then it is time to plan your garden or fruit orchard. We are hurrying to plant any fruit trees before things bud out. They need to be in the ground already here. They could have been planted two months ago. January would be a good time for blueberries, blackberries, and other fruit trees. We plant strawberries in the fall. All commercial growers south of Conway plant strawberries in the fall. Use the Louisiana vegetable production guide I mentioned above for strawberries. I know very few people who plant strawberries in the spring here and are successful. The problem with all this is that stores don't sale strawberries in the fall and fruit trees in December and January here. There is a place you can order these plants. It is http://www.simmonsplantfarm.com/ I have ordered blueberries and blackberries from them and have been very pleased. Another word on strawberries. The everbearing sound good but they do not produce near as many berries as the June bearers. We have been successful with the variety, Chandler.
Today Joy, Webster, Sally, Alena, and Mike planted onions, broccoli, cabbage, and lettuce. The lettuce could freeze but for the next 15 days the forecast says we will not be below 40. After that if need be i will try to cover with a row cover if i have too. Deanna cut our potatoes up yesterday and they are setting on my kitchen table in the light so the buds will sprout. We will plant them next week. Mike put lime on the garden yesterday which was really late. It should have been done a month ago, but better late than never for lime. We tested our soil at the cooperative extension office and it needed lime, lime, lime. We also put a fungicide on our strawberries. Not really what I like to do but they are looking like they may need it, so we did. I would love to be a complete organic gardener. but I have a lot to learn about all that. I am trying and reading of how to garden in a more sustainable way. The kids also raked leaves to put on the garden. They have a trick to this that I will share in another post. Should have been done earlier also, so it could rot and decay.
This is my first gardening help post. I will post more as I have time. Until then, back to the bathroom remodeling and gardening chores in zone 8.
Bonnie
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