Hey Tanya,

Welcome to GardenWeb and to the Tennessee Forum. It's hard to know where to start with answering your post because it covers so so so so so much ground. I'll respond to a few parts...

Inexpensive tree removal: That all depends on the situation. If the trees are not near a building or something that could be damaged, and, you feel qualified, you might consider cutting them down yourself. If the trees are not likely to hurt anything when being felled but you don't feel qualified, ask around and see if you can find a neighbor that has had trees cut for a cheap price. Knoxville, for instance, has a bunch of "amateur arborists" (tree cutters that don't meet the qualifications of a real arborist), and many are willing to remove a tree for not all that much money. If the trees could damage property if not removed correctly, hire someone with insurance (and verify that they do indeed have it). All ISA certified arborists will be properly insured, but they may be a little pricey for just cutting down a tree without any complicating factors (potentially easily damaged properly, tricky removal, etc).

Fungus: I'm not sure what gives you the idea that Chattanooga (assuming that is the scope of the area you were referring to) has a particularly unusual fungus problem. You must have something specific in mind, but I'm not sure what you mean.

Butterflies: Yes, there are lots of butterflies around here, and if you provide a good habitat, you should see more. GardenWeb's Butterfly Forum has quite a bit of information in the FAQ section (linked at the top of that forum's main page) as well as in forum threads. The University of Tennessee has a publication, Butterfly Gardening, about this topic.

When to plant: For edibles, a lot of information can be found in the UT Ag Extension Publication, Growing Vegetables in Home Gardens.

Where to get tons of plants: The East Tennessee Plant Swap is a wonderful place to meet fellow gardeners and get tons of plants, seeds, cuttings, tools, etc. The website will be updated soon, when next spring's plans are finalized. An announcement will also be made here in this forum.

Someone to talk to: I'm pretty much always available to talk with people about plants. Feel free to email me though GardenWeb anytime you want. I have quite a few resources that might be of help, like lists of edible fruit suppliers with ratings, fairly comprehensive tree and shrub planting instructions, and many others.

Hi Tanya! Welcome to Chattanooga. You should plant your asparagus seeds now. Onions too. Oh, now it's January, there's more that can be planted directly in the garden. Check out this awesome Climate Zone Garden Calendar(link below). Email me if you want a garden buddy. Chattanooga has some really nice nurseries. Oakes Daylilies isn't far from here either! If your into those.

Promise :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Calendar

I know this post passed a long time ago but after I posted it last year I was unable to find it again! Thanks so much for your responses! And I would still love to take you up on your garden buddy invite, Promise.

Last year's garden was not even remotely productive as it could have been and I'm aiming for better success for its second year! I was successful at starting my tomatoes, artichokes, etc. But the artichokes struggled in my garden but thrived in my friends new garden. I need to start again this year! Tomatoes went out on time, but seems things were too hot for them to produce anything until after august. Huge bummer! Snap beans were 'meh' - small plants mediocre production. And my assortment of winter squash, devastating. Something kept eating the blooms! Even the zinnias weren't very excited!

My tiger lilies were awesome though ;) And I was excited to discover a sweet little double flowered day lily that I moved into a sunnier location with hopes of it growing more vigorously this next garden season.

Promise, thanks for the calendar link. I'm not sure which zone I am though, 7a or 7b. But I can see that I should put celery out here pretty quickly which went out in march. Artichokes aren't recommended to start until feb or march? I started in Jan so I could put them out in feb for some chill so that they would fruit for me. Looks like I can get my lettuces out lots earlier than I did last year. I was sad that we had such a teeny lettuce season last year!

Does anyone have a recommendation for tomatoes that don't mind producing when it gets hot? I usually plant heirloom types and my varieties were very stubborn once things got a little hot! (granny cantrell, dr. whyche's, jasper violet, tigerella and Japanese black trifele).

signed,

cabin crazy in chattanooga LOL

Tanya

Hi Tanya, last year, I had great success with an heirloom tomato named Rose. There are a number of different heirlooms with 'rose' in the name, but these are simply called 'Rose'. I got mine from Johnny's, but they are available from a number of sources.

Along with replanting the Rose (and a few others,) I am also probably going to plant Cherokee Purple. Not only is it a variety heralded for it's flavor and fairly good yield, it was first collected from seeds long grown in the Sevierville area. Because of its local roots, I hope it will preform quite well.

I've enjoyed cherokee purple in the past. They are really good! I'm terrible at remembering the histories of the seeds but that is fantastic that this has local roots! Putting this one on my list! I will look into rose as well. Its been a long time since ive seen a johnnys catalog. I'll have to see about getting that one. I do order a lot from territorial seed and baker creek. More recently a bit from shummways. Do you start your own seed too? If yes then when do you usually start and then aim to have them outside by? It feels somewhat criminal to be putting lettuce in the garden in a few weeks, LOL after 10 or 11 years in the midwest ;) But I'm thinking I may have gotten my tomatoes out too late last year (mid april?).

After a number of years without a garden, I found Johnny's again through their website.

Yes, I do start my own seeds. To be honest, I need to get better at keeping records. I usually start them when I think it's time to start them lol. Last year, I think I started my tomatoes either the last week of Feb. or just going into early March. I want to say I put them out in early to mid April. I just remember that it was the week the long-range forecast gave for 'warm-enough' weather. I have a thermometer that I use in the soil that helps a lot [okay, it's just a meat thermometer, but it's close enough ;-) ] Last year, it turned out that I was later than those who mistakenly thought it was warm enough, but earlier than some who waited 'til what I considered was a bit too long. Thankfully, I wound-up timing it just right.

I think you have a few days lead time than where I am... a bit NE of Sevierville... but yeah, I grew up in upstate NY, and while gardening here has it's own challenges, it's nice that the season starts so early.

I agree 100 % with earlier and longer growing season! Thanks for sharing your experience!!

Tanya, the time should be getting close. Have you got your seeds and supplies ready? Depending on how much growth you're looking for before transplanting out, any time between now and the end of march should be about right for tomatoes.