I live in Rockdale County. Our garden is small - we live in the city limits of Conyers. Even though we don't have room for a garden big enough to have abundance for canning, I will share a few things since we are not too far from Madison. Lettuce has done fine for us as a spring crop. Heat turns it bitter very quickly. Others may have different experience, but for us, it is usually finished by early June. We have planted it as a fall crop with some success. We tried Brandywine tomatoes a couple of years ago and were mostly disappointed with them. I learned on the Tomato Forum that the early heat in Georgia can make it hard to grown them here since they are particularly sensitive to it. I was advised to get them in the ground as early as possible and the year we tried them, I was able to plant in March and keep them alive by covering them on a few cold nights. They grew beautifully, but we were disappointed with yield and also didn't think their taste was worth the effort. Other varieties have worked much better for us. Again, I have read others on the forum with much better results from Brandywine and also most people really like their taste. We planted Cayenne Peppers this year for the first time. I started them inside and we planted them out end of April. Very big harvest but it did seem like forever before they started turning red. Ours are still producing. The heat this summer did not bother them at all. (When you harvest, you may want to be sure to wear gloves. I found even the leaves of the cayenne pepper plants caused a burning sensation and I even got a rash from them.) Bell Pepper plants this year didn't do much of anything until the heat broke and then late in season they took off. Ours are still producing very nicely which I find a little odd. We always grow cucumbers but have found it necessary to keep them sprayed with insecticidal soap or we lose them early in the season. We usually do a second planting of them in July and we always train them on a trellis.

You may already know about the following link, but if not check out the info. at the UGA site. If you search on Home Gardening, it will return a list of lots of good info. At one time they had publications on vegetable gardening plans for the home gardener.

Here's hoping we get regular rain next season. Rain his winter would be fine with me also :~).

Here is a link that might be useful: UGA College of Agriculture

Hey, thanks for the reply. I had not found that page yet, though I've found alot of other UGA info.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and that link.

I am just south of you in eatonton. My garden is primarily raised beds. I raise enough food to eat fresh most of the year and can/freeze for winter. The challenge is discipline to plant timely and provide sufficient water.

Right now Iam planting winter crops - salad, beets, carrots, etc. The brassicas are in and starting to produce. (broccoli. Cabbage, etc.) Once you have an idea on timing, keeping the garden functional year round isn't too hard.

Would love to talk more! -cindy

Hi Cindy,

I haven't checked back on this thread in a couple weeks. Thanks for the response.

It sounds like you're doing basically what I'm wanting to do.

If you'd love to talk more, I've got plenty of questions for you.

Do you keep a journal of what you've done at what times? -If you do, it would be hugely helpful to know what I should be doing at what times. As an example, I planted beets and carrots in the late spring, but didn't realize I should have some in the ground for winter. How many raised beds do you plant and what are the dimensions?

Getting up and running while trying to learn about what the different plants need and how to treat them is a pretty big challenge. I'm treating it all as a learning experience and whenever I do have a success, it's just a great feeling. The physical work part of it is a great therapy for getting rid of stress and reconnecting with what I consider to be "real" living.

Would you mind keeping in touch and letting me know what you're doing so I can tag along so to speak?

I'll have plenty more questions for you. Hope to talk to you soon.

Thanks!