When we moved to the Low Country last summer, I had no idea how vastly different Zone 8b would be from Zone 7. My first crops in July turned out to be a bust. You can have a second round of summer veggies in Zone 8b, but a super lofty goal to start a vegetable garden in July. We visited the college community garden while at Parent’s Weekend at Guilford College in the fall, and I decided to try again. Here are some things I learned about gardening in the Low Country.
Cool weather crops are s-l-o-w growers. Broccoli can take over 100 days before ready for harvest. I did have to use some Seven Dust on my early broccoli plants (please do not share this information with my environmentally overly conscious college age children). I had that one crown of broccoli for what felt like decades before she burst into multiples. It is tricky to know when to harvest broccoli. Mine ended up turning into broccolini before I took the shears to the crowns. A fun fact I learned while patiently waiting for my beautiful crowns of broccoli? You can also eat the leaves. They taste just like the crowns.
Collards. I planted one row which was not nearly enough. But it was the first crop ready for harvest on New Year’s Day which felt like a good sign for 2024.
Cabbage felt like the most uneven grower. Maybe because of the way the sun hit them in the fall? We had our last head of cabbage along with some newly planted Kale in a slaw last week. You read that correctly. I harvested the last head of cabbage planted in late September in late March. And I only covered the raised bed a handful of times those months.
Because of my first failed attempt, I only planted cool weather veggies in one raised bed. With the success of that bed, I added 2 more raised beds to make 5 total. I am currently growing sugar snap peas, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts.
In the fall I also started some hydroponic gardens. Some of my favorites include mizuna, tat soi, mustard greens and mixed salad greens. I decided to try some cherry tomatoes in the top section of this garden and they quickly outgrew this system but it wasn’t time to move them outside yet. So I planted them in pots and put them under a taller grow light. They quickly outgrew those lights and pots, so last week they went into the raised bed that will be dedicated to just tomatoes. Things I learned about tomatoes this year: they are indeterminant or determinant growers. Cherry tomatoes are indeterminant which means you have to cut the lower leaves so the plant focuses all of its energy on the big leaves up top. My farmer friend Rob also told me to pluck off those first yellow blooms which felt very counter productive until I heard his explanation – you do not want the plant to focus all of its energy on those first tomatoes. If they are gone, it will focus on becoming a bushy, healthy tomato plant with lots more tomatoes.
I am also discovering some amazing fruits on the property. Keep in mind that I planted every single tree, shrub, plant, flower, etc at Wild Azalea Lane (except the actual wild azalea that our road was named after) so I feel like a kid in a candy store walking the 3.5 fenced in acres with my Plant ID app snapping pics of spring blooms to find out what kinds of fruit we can enjoy this summer. My finds so far: figs (2 trees near the pond, one of which was completely overgrown with shrubs), dewberries, Brazilian cherries and Japanese plums.
The big goal with my gardening is for something from our property to be included on the dinner plate every night. With the 4 hens and 5 raised beds and tons of fruit, I think this is a reasonable goal. And it turns out, Homesteading is actually good for my health. At a physical last week, my BP was 110/70 (a first in a long, long time) and heart rate was 72 BPM which isn’t too shabby for a middle age lady.