Happy Birthday, George!

Today is George Washington’s 282^nd birthday, and my thoughts turn to cherry trees. Growing cherries for fruit is not an easy task in the Tennessee Valley region, as hot summer weather stresses the trees and leaves them susceptible to disease. Nevertheless, for the gardener willing to expend some extra effort, cherry trees will produce a delicious crop for a decade or more.

The most popular cherry variety in North America is ‘Montmorency,’ named for the region of France where this cultivar originated. Trees are available on dwarf rootstock, an important consideration for the home gardener because you will need to cover them with bird netting when the fruit begins to ripen. Otherwise, your feathered friends will get the lion’s share of the crop. Although Montmorency is self-fertile, plant two if you have the room, as cross-pollination will increase fruit set.

Sweet cherries are even less accommodating than sour varieties, but can be grown here with diligence. Care is the same as for sour cherries. Many varieties of sweet cherries exist.

Cherries need full sun and organically rich, well-drained soil. Waterlogged soil will kill them quickly. A layer of mulch around the base of the tree, extending to the drip line, is beneficial. Make sure you do not pile mulch at the crown of the tree, which encourages bark damage. Mulching the base helps to prevent bark damage from lawn mowers and string trimmers. Keeping the tree’s bark intact prevents infections.

Plant cherry trees anytime after fall dormancy and prior to spring bud swell. February is your last chance, in most years. After your cherry trees have been in the ground one full year, you should begin an annual pruning program. Prune during winter, and before the buds have broken dormancy. Aim for horizontally spreading branches with space between them. This promotes good air circulation and allows sun to penetrate into the canopy. Each year, prune out any drooping or weak branches. These won’t produce good fruit, anyway.

Brown rot is a fungus disease that is a problem for all types of cherries. Control is possible using sulfur sprays, which must be applied multiple times during the spring season. Brown rot is an important pathogen of all types of stone fruits, and numerous chemical controls are also available. Managing brown rot also means removing all unusable fruit from the trees at harvest time, rather than leaving it to drop, and scrupulously cleaning up plant debris and fallen leaves in the winter. Cherry debris should be burned, not composted, to help control the brown rot fungus.

Onion sets and cool season transplants are appearing in garden centers now. Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower, along with onion sets, scallions, and leeks can go into the ground any time over the next month. The earliest plantings may be threatened by late cold snaps, so it is good idea to have a row cover available to toss over them, in case of severe cold. A light frost does no harm to established plants.

Sow pea seeds now for the earliest crop. Snow peas, snap peas and shelling peas all produce excellent crops in the Tennessee Valley, when planted early. Make sure to provide a sturdy trellis. Some varieties can grow over six feet tall.

February Planting Time

This week, we planted arugula, celery, chervil, cilantro, corn salad, curly parsley, Italian parsley, and scallions. The arugula and corn salad will be grown to maturity indoors, while the others will be ready for transplant to the garden in early March. This sowing is part of our evaluation of the LED lighting system I have mentioned in previous posts. 

Leek seedlings have grown beautifully with this light source. They were sown in January and are averaging about 4 inches in height. The plants exhibit no sign of yellowing or etiolation. Preliminary results, therefore, are encouraging. The use of LEDs in horticultural lighting remains somewhat experimental, but holds great promise. Electricity consumption is greatly reduced without sacrificing light intensity, making LEDs much more energy efficient than either fluorescent or metal halide sources, the two most commonly used in horticulture. The 20-watt unit I am evaluating adequately illuminates an area roughly the size of two standard nursery flats, sufficient for my backyard garden’s transplant needs.The difference in the size of the seedlings between the two photos is the result of only four days' growth.

If you were planning to add fruit or nut trees or berry bushes to the garden, February is an ideal time to transplant them. Strawberry plants should also be appearing in garden centers this month. Everbearing varieties will give you a decent crop this year, if planted early. Pick off and discard the blooms that may appear in late spring, to give the plants a chance to build a root system. This will not only improve the fall crop, but increases productivity for next spring and fall. If you’ve never grown strawberries, try ‘Sequoia,’ a widely available everbearing variety that produces big, flavorful berries all season once established. We are going to be renewing our planting of this berry this season. The strawberry patch needs relocation about every three years.

Other berry crops that perform well in the Tennessee Valley are blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Among nut trees, native hickory and black walnut are good choices if you have plenty of room and patience. American filbert is more suited to the backyard garden, but typically only bears every two or three years. Fruit trees require attention to perform well here. June-bearing apples are perhaps the best adapted to our climate, but fall apple and pear varieties regularly appear at the local farmer’s markets. Local peaches also show up at the markets, too. Attention must be paid to pruning and pest control for fruit trees.

One fruit we seldom see in the market is cherries, which is surprising, because my grandparents always had an abundant crop from two sour cherry trees that my grandfather planted in the early 20^th Century. We also had a massive sweet cherry tree, far from the house, that undoubtedly had been planted by my great-grandfather, as it was a foot in diameter when I was a boy. All these cherries eventually succumbed to disease and were removed. They remain a challenge to grow here, owing to a plethora of diseases, but it can be done with dedication. For the backyard gardener willing to take up the challenge, ‘Montmorency’ is a traditional cultivar.

Vegetable Garden Basics

With the mercury hovering around 25 degrees, my thoughts turn to the warmer days ahead. I am refining my garden plan for 2014. If you have not made a plan yet, now is the time, before spring chores eat up most of your gardening time. Your plan need not be elaborate, but it should at least cover three things:

1. What am I going to plant?
2. Where am I going to put everything?
3. What is the best strategy for succession planting? 

Food garden at UT Gardens

Here are some tips for answering these questions. One of the best ways to determine what to plant is to ask the other people in the family. You may think growing salsify would be fun, but your kids may want tomatoes or strawberries. Make a list and let everyone vote. If you are a novice at food gardening, limit yourself to three or four crops until you get the hang of growing those, then branch out. My top four choices are beans, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. If I could grow only four vegetables, I would grow these, lettuce in spring and fall, and the others as summer crops.

Choosing a site for your vegetable garden can be the most critical decision you make, in terms of success or failure. Of primary importance is sunshine. Veggies need at least six hours of sun a day, and the more sun, the better. Don't locate your food garden in a low-lying spot where water stands for more than a few hours after a heavy rain. No vegetable likes wet feet, although they all need about an inch of water a week. Speaking of which, be sure you can reach your vegetable garden with a hose, or you will be toting water in buckets during high summer. Your soil should be well-drained, moisture retentive and organically rich. Work in composted organic matter in late winter, as soon as you can work the soil. For a small plot, you can buy compost, peat, or pine bark fines to work into the bed. I suggest adding 3 two-cubic-foot bags of this material per 100 square feet of growing bed, unless your soil is already in great shape. Add more each year, and in five years time you will have the best veggie beds on the block. Good soil is the key to great veggies.

Late winter is also a good time to incorporate organic fertilizers into your garden soil. Doing so gives the weather and beneficial bacteria a chance to decompose these materials into a form your plants can use. I add a cup of cottonseed meal per 10 square feet of growing space, along with a similar amount of bone meal and two tablespoons of pelletized dolomitic limestone. (I leave out the lime if I am growing potatoes.) These amendments are best added around the first of February, if you intend to begin planting in March. That allows a month for breakdown to begin. If you determine that plants need more nitrogen later on in the season, I suggest using a balanced organic fertilizer mix available commercially, rather than more slow-release amendments. When plants are really growing the nutrients will not be released fast enough.

I should also say that, although I prefer organic fertilization wherever possible, I see nothing wrong with using a soluble fertilizer, such as Miracle Gro(TM) in order to salvage a crop of veggies. Doing so is less likely to cause harm than allowing the plants to get stressed and attract insect pests.

Regarding succession planting, this is the key to growing a lot of food in a small space. The most important point to remember is that here in the Tennessee Valley, we have three growing seasons. Two cool ones in spring and fall, and a warm to hot season in summer. Once you have your veggie list in hand, divide it into cool season and warm season crops. The most popular warm season crops are beans, corn, cucumbers, okra, peppers, tomatoes and squash. Greens of all types are the easiest cool season crops, including arugula, lettuce, mustards and spinach. The cabbage family also needs cool temperatures, as do green onions and leeks. Plan on growing cool season crops from March 1 to June 1, warm season crops from June 1 to September 1, and cool season crops again around Labor Day. for the ones to be grown from transplants, either plan on purchasing them from a garden center (recommended for beginners) or start seeds about four to six weeks before you will need plants.

When your early crops of greens and scallions are done, remove plant debris and move in the summer crops. When these are up and growing well, fertilize. Start moving in the fall plants as the summer veggies start looking exhausted. Feed the fall crop when all the summer crops are gone and the fall plants are established. 

By following these simple guidelines, you should be able to grow enough food to eat, and perhaps have some extra to can or freeze this summer. 

The First Seeds of Spring

Now that the January full moon (and a beautiful one it was with Jupiter beside it) has come and gone, it is time to plant leek and onion seeds. These plants grow slowly when they are young, do well when transplanted, and are universally required in cooking. It therefore makes sense to start a bunch of seeds in January for transplanting about six weeks hence.

We are growing a "generic" leek from Knoxville's own Mayo Seed Company that we have had good success with for years. I sow the seeds rather thickly on the surface of moist grow mix in a 6-inch square plastic pot, cover them with about a quarter inch of vermiculite and water them in. I keep the pot in the garage, and move it under artificial lights as soon as the first seeds break the surface. When the plants are an inch and a half tall, I begin watering with soluble fertilizer once a week. They will need six to eight weeks to reach a suitable size for transplanting, about three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter at the base.

Onions can be started from seed in the same manner. Many gardeners prefer to start bulb onions from sets, but if you want many plants, seed is much cheaper. I will be doing sets this year, for red "summer" onions.

Our overwintered leeks survived the bitter cold of the Polar Vortex without much noticeable damage. This variety, 'King Sieg,' was developed specifically to overwinter from fall planting for the earliest possible spring crop. Last season, they were the best leeks we grew.

It is worth noting that the onion family, in general, is probably the best possible use of your garden space during winter. When spring or summer crops have been cleared, garlic, shallots, perennial onions, leeks and scallions can move in. Leeks can be transplanted any time, although they fare worse during July and August. Scallions will grow throughout the season, but they are at their best in cool weather. Garlic is typically planted in July, shallots in October, and perennial onions in November. Fall planted leeks and onions are transplanted in September for overwintering. All of these crops, with the exception of scallions, keep very well after harvest. Leeks need refrigeration, but garlic, shallots and perennial onions should be stored dry at cool room temperature, about 60 degrees.

Unless you have a coldframe, the month of January offers little in the way of harvest. Parsley usually overwinters and can be picked when it isn't frozen. Some other herbs, like rosemary, struggle along. This is a great time to turn to frozen vegetables from last summer. Here's a recipe for corn pudding that is made from "cream style" corn. That is corn that was scraped, rather than cut, from the cob, producing a mixture of smashed kernels, milky juice, and whole kernels. That is how I prefer to freeze it. You can also use commercially frozen corn, mixed with a small can of cream style corn, for approximately the same effect.

Southern Style Corn Pudding

2 cups frozen cream style kernels from homegrown corn, thawed
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of cayenne pepper or a dash of Tabasco
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter an eight-inch baking dish with a teaspoon of the butter, reserving the remainder. Place the thawed corn in the dish and dot with the remaining butter. Drizzle with the cream, distributing it evenly. Sprinkle with the cayenne, salt and pepper. Bake until golden at the edges, about 30 to 40 minutes. Serve hot or warm.