'Tis time to start planning our next live workshop! What topic(s) would you be most excited to learn about right now?? We could tackle something seasonal, like preparing your garden for winter, or we could dive into a specific topic or crop and walk through everything you need to know from start to finish! I've put some ideas below, but if you're in between a few or there's something else you've been wanting to learn, 𝗱𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮(𝘀) 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!

How many of you have seen planting calendars for USDA Hardiness Zones that tell you when to plant? Like, "𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘦 8 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴: 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳!" Or, "𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘡𝘰𝘯𝘦 5." Well, I hate to break it to ya, but your USDA Hardiness Zone doesn't actually tell you much about your growing season or when you should plant things. In fact, people in the exact same zone can experience wildly different summer temperatures, rainfall, humidity, frost dates, and growing seasons. Just take a look at the USDA Hardiness Zone map I attached below. I put pins on the map for Oregon, Texas, and North Carolina. If we handed gardeners in all three locations the exact same planting calendar just because they're all in Zone 8... My spidey senses tell me at least one of them would have some less-than-ideal results. Agree? So if our USDA zone can't tell us 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁, what 𝘤𝘢𝘯 it tell us? It actually gives us one very valuable piece of information: 👉 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗺𝘂𝗺 𝘄𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗮. This is especially useful when choosing perennial crops (plants that live for more than two years) because it helps you determine whether a plant can survive your winters and how much winter protection it may need. But as far as telling you when to plant your vegetable garden? It's basically useless 🤣 So now if you're thinking... "𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗗𝗢 𝗜 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁?!" I got you. To answer that question, we want to look at things like: - Your average first and last frost - Your average first and last hard freeze - Choosing crops based on their preferred growing season - How to read the "days to maturity" number on the back of the seed packet (and how to use it to your advantage). - Microclimates within your own garden - And season extenders that can help you keep growing longer I covered allll of this (and more) in the 𝗙𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗚𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 I hosted last month. And if you missed it, the workshop replay + the 𝟵-𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 are both waiting for you inside the DIY Gardening Academy.

Hello everyone! I am glad to join. I am currently living in Albania (right across the Italy)). I am still waiting to buy the house with a garden here and want to get ready to start it. I have been doing organic gardening in Ukraine, but never in the southern region! I am excited to learn!

Have you ever had all your lettuce bolt (go to seed and turn bitter) in the same week? ...Or harvested a mountain of bush beans all at once, scrambled to use/preserve them… and then had nothing for the rest of the season? That's "feast or famine". And succession planting is how you fix it. 🌿 𝗦𝗼, 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴? Succession planting just means spreading out your plantings over time instead of putting everything in the ground at once. Instead of planting all your lettuce seeds on the same day, you plant a small batch, wait a couple of weeks, plant another small batch, wait again, and keep going. The result? Instead of 20 heads of lettuce all ready on the same Tuesday, you get fresh lettuce coming in steadily for weeks, or even months! It’s a fairly simple practice, with a big payoff! 🥗 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: Some plants are natural candidates for succession planting because they tend to produce their harvest all at once, and then they're done. 𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗲, 𝗦𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗰𝗵, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗱 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘀 — Classic examples. Heat makes them bolt fast. Planting every 2–3 weeks keeps the salad bowl full from spring into early summer (and again in fall). 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 — Unlike pole beans (which climb and keep producing), bush beans give you a big flush of pods over just a few weeks, and then they're mostly finished. Successive plantings every 2–3 weeks stretch that harvest 𝘸𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘢𝘺 out. 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 — These mature in as little as 4 weeks, which means a single planting is gone before you know it. Succession planting radishes every 1–2 weeks keeps a continuous trickle coming. 𝗣𝗲𝗮𝘀 — Cool-weather lovers that stop producing and die off once summer heat hits. Plant in waves in early spring & again in late summer/early fall to maximize the growing windows. 𝗖𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼/𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 — This herb bolts (goes to seed) incredibly fast in warm weather. Planting a short row every 2–3 weeks is basically the only way to have it reliably all season. (At least, it is for me in Texas 🥵)

Carrots are one of those veggies that 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 easy, but gosh darn they can be tricky! If you've ever had trouble growing them before or are trying for the first time, check out this video 🎥 I cover: - How to start carrots from seed - My #1 tip for germination success - Watering & fertilizing for healthy growth - When and how to thin seedlings - Best practices for harvesting - Tips to prevent common carrot growing issues P.S. I recorded & edited this video over a year ago, so while a lot has changed in my garden (and with my editing skills), the points still very much stand!