Update on the Gardening Calendar

Here is an updated list of local retailers who are carrying our calendar:

Booksellers at Laurelwood
   387 Perkins Ext

Dan West Garden Centers
   4763 Poplar
   12016 Highway 64 in Eads

Dabney Nursery
   5576 Hacks Cross Road

Urban Earth
   80 Flicker Street

Country Gardens
   7858 Moore Road
   12016 Walker Street in Arlington

Millstone Nursery and Market
   6993 Poplar Ave

Wild Birds Unlimited
   704 S. Mendenhall


Or click on the calendar at the upper right of this site and order online!

The 2015 Gardening in the Mid-South Calendar

Click here to buy the calendar!

You are not going to believe the fabulousity of the Memphis Area Master Gardeners' calendar this year!  The gorgeous photos are just the beginning.  You know how you'll read an article about a certain plant or about how to do a certain gardening task, only to find out that the writer is telling you about something in the Pacific Northwest, or Connecticut, or England???  Not here, sister.  All of the information in this calendar is specific to the Memphis area.  

Here's what you get:

Local experts list their favorite plants in 8 different categories, including hostas and daffodils.

Plants best suited for the Memphis area in terms of drought/heat tolerance, deer tolerant, native plants, flowering plants.

Turf grass tips for growing the perfect lawn.

Kitchen garden guide.

Dates of all plant society meetings and other horticultural events open to the public.

The calendar will be available for sale from Nov 13 - Dec 13 only (pesky Tennessee sales tax rules...)  It's only $15 - makes a great gift for the gardeners in your life!  

So act quickly, there is a limited supply.  Click on the link on the upper right side of the page or underneath the photo above.  They're also available at Dan West Garden Centers, at Memphis Botanic Garden, and through any MAMG member.  We'll be selling them at the plant society meetings during this selling period as well.

Did I mention the gorgeous photos?  They were all taken by our MAMG members - what a talented group!

Getting ready for the 'big freeze' at PAR Davies.

Hi Everyone,

Harvest Today 38 lbs.       YTD 1652 lbs.

Gardeners braving the nippy weather today were Susan, G.A., Steve, Mary Elizabeth and myself. It didn't take us long to warm up as we started to work. The main task today was to harvest....beets, mustard, kale, lettuce, swiss chard, radishes, turnip greens, bok choy, peppers, herbs and lavender. All was packed up and delivered to the women's shelter.

Today's varied harvest.

We also sent the dried peanuts along. Susan included instructions that she used for roasting a portion of these, which we had for sampling at the garden tour. The variety is 'Tennessee Red,' and they were really, really good. Also included was a recipe for Portuguese Kale Soup which we found on Renee's Garden website. This recipe is actually what prompted us to try the Portuguese kale. The curled dwarf kale was also included. After trying Lacinato or Tuscan kale last year, we were encouraged to try different varieties...so many to choose from and so hard to decide.

Grosso Lavender

The few little lavender blooms were picked and included in the delivery. Our lavender plants grew beyond our expectations, but the blooms were few. I think all the energy went into the foliage. But that's okay, we expect lots of blooms next year.

Kohlrabi

Susan spied the kohlrabi bulbing up. We have several varieties, including a 'giant' that is new for us this fall. I don't know which variety this is, but it looks like there will be a good many that will reach maturity. Fortunately, kohlrabi are very cold tolerant.

All our babies are cozy in their beds tucked under blankets.

After we finished harvesting, G.A. transplanted a lot of the tender leaf lettuce into one of our winter cover beds. Then beds were covered until we ran out of row cover. The cabbage is heading up, but the broccoli doesn't seem to be in a hurry, so I don't know if any will reach maturity before it gets too cold. Even if we had row cover for the broccoli, we'd have to do a higher tunnel because of the height, and we aren't ready to do that this year.

Gingko ready to do a leaf rain dance.

I saw this little Gingko tree in front of the manor house this morning. It looked so cute that I just had to take a picture. I'll bet tomorrow it will be naked.

'Spaghetti' zucchini.

Above is some zucchini that I made using the Veggetti. I usually don't buy gadgets because I find that they end up in a drawer never to be used. For that reason I hesitated on getting this, but I'm glad I did. I've been having fun with it. This is the last of the zucchini...I usually steam or sauté. The only things I've found that work in this gadget are zucchini, carrots and cucumbers. Just a different way of fixing your garden produce when you start to run out of ideas.

I hope you are able to enjoy the cool crisp weather.

'Til later,
Dianne

Quilt show visitors enjoy fall/winter garden at PAR Davies.

Hi Everyone,

Just a quick note to tell you about yesterday’s visitors to the garden. There were 20 folks who ventured back to the garden…interesting people and mostly avid gardeners themselves. Best of all, we were able to encourage and give advice to those who were thinking about starting a vegetable garden.

Davies manor house decked out for the quilt show.

The garden looked really good, due in great part to some ‘garden angels’ who did a marvelous cleanup job. The only clue we have is that it was "two ladies who worked all afternoon,” per Rannie. They painted, rearranged furniture, put down a new walkway and got rid of trash. All the things we’ve been looking at and wishing we had time to do in the midst of all the harvesting and planting. A BIG THANK YOU ladies, and please let us know who you are!!

The entrance area has had a makeover!

Of course, every MG event seems to have food, with this being no exception. Jamie’s wife, Jan, graciously furnished us with coffee and breakfast goodies and we had chili at lunch time. All the visitors who arrived around eating time were invited to partake. Susan took some of our peanut harvest and roasted them. These were a hit, and we could proudly say that they were grown right here in the garden. I'd hoped that the peanut crop would have been ready to be harvest by the visitors, but I truly think they enjoyed eating them instead.

Some people couldn't quit eating peanuts.

Even after our Thursday harvest, the garden still looked full and productive, and we were proud to show it to all our visitors. The peppers are still growing and producing, but this week's temps may put an end to that.

Barbara with one of the behemoth Poblano ‘pepper trees.’ 

We will definitely plant Poblanos again next year.

Volunteer garden guides today were Jamie, Barbara, Nancy, Al and myself. G.A. dropped by early to help Jamie blow out the irrigation system to get ready for winter.

Three visitors and Al Hayes 'talking garden.'

It was overall a great day and we were able to share much and learned some in the process.

Time travelers?

'Til later,

Dianne

Veggies and quilts at Davies this Saturday.

Hi Everyone,

Today's Harvest 35 lbs.          YTD 1614 lbs.

Gardeners today were G.A., Susan, Nancy, Barbara and myself. The weather made our work easy today. We picked and picked and picked.....radishes, mustard, kale, lettuce, swiss chard, turnip greens, bok choy, spinach and herbs. Peppers and a few green tomatoes were picked Saturday in anticipation of the freeze, which actually never happened in our garden.

Kale, leaf and romaine lettuce, and swiss chard.

There were so many different kinds of greens today that I gave the ladies at the shelter a list in case they had difficulty identifying all of them. Everything was so green and beautiful with the chilly weather....and best of all, the bugs were gone today!

Barbara planted a flat of pansies around the garden. This will give us some color when our marigolds are gone.

Turnip greens and bok choy.

Our garden is looking good. The broccoli and cabbage is heading up, kohlrabi heads are starting to form and the beets and carrots are growing. I hope the weather holds out so we can see all of these things reach maturity.

This week we received our new winter row cover. Agribon AG-50 was again ordered, which can keep veggies from freezing to 24 degrees. This has been used in the past two years with good results, so we ordered another 50 feet, which is enough for two additional beds.

Radishes, red and green mustard, and a variety of peppers.

We are looking forward to showing our garden to visitors on Saturday. The Davies Manor Association is hosting their annual Quilt and Fiber Arts Show and Sale this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we are taking this opportunity to invite attendees to see what is happening in the garden. They will be able to see the bees and chickens too. Drop by if you are able...admission is only $5 to see dozens of artsy quilts. Admission includes a tour of the manor house, which is a real treat especially for history buffs.

'Til later,
Dianne