Thanks! I would love more info about the plant swap, that sounds like fun

From a recent announcement:

"The Spring 2017 East Tennessee Plant Swap will be held at New Harvest
Park, 4775 New Harvest Lane, Knoxville TN 37918 on Saturday, May 13,
2017. Swapping begins at 10:00am (no exchanges before that, please). We
will have a pot-luck lunch at 11:30am. Please make plans
now to come join the fun on swap day! As always, new gardeners are
especially invited to attend. There are always plenty of plants in need
of good homes, fellow friendly plant addicts excited about trading, and
the best food around. Even if you don't have much to offer for trade,
PLEASE come, make new friends, and be prepared to leave with lots of
awesome stuff!
The swap is entirely free and absolutely nothing will be sold, but it
does cost the coordinators a little to reserve the park and pay for
hosting services for the website. A donation of two or three dollars per
person, with a maximum of five dollars per family, would help us cover
these expenses."

Usually, for spring swaps, we average about 50 attendees. Last year, we had over 70! We try to have it at New Harvest Park in east Knoxville (which has a really awesome picnic shelter to keep us dry if it rains) if we can get the reservation in on time (usually 6 months in advance). Gardeners that come to the swap range from complete novices to people with fairly impressive horticultural experience and knowledge. Gardeners, as a group, are usually pretty fun and friendly people, so I think everyone enjoys getting to know people and hanging out for a while. I'm familiar with lots of plants, but I almost always see plants that I have never seen in person before. Sometimes people bring plants that I didn't even know existed!

Do you allow out of state guests?

That sounds rad and worthy of a road trip.

Definitely! Sometimes I even call it the INTERNATIONAL East Tennessee Plant Swap. (-;

Rooooooad Trip.

Hey Elizabeth, I'm new to TN as well. (from Oregon originally) A lot of my veggies failed last year, but I learned a lot from the experience and local folks. Pests and summer storms are a much bigger deal here: As long as you can learn to work around them you'll love it. Here's a few things that might be helpful:

Tomatoes: Biggest challenge was keeping them from drowning/rotting with all the rain we had. A buddy who grows professionally says tomatoes are best under a clear cover. (Commercial growers use open-ended high tunnel greenhouses.) I suppose a good raised bed in a protected location would help with drainage too. Calcium is super important for tomatoes so be sure to feed along with fertilizer.

Summer squashes: Storms can really put the hurt on these guys. Their big leaves act like parasails that lift the plant off the ground and tear at the roots. Short cages might help, or plant in a protected location.

FLEA BEETLES ARE FROM THE DEVIL. Seriously, they're evil and everywhere in Spring and they love the leaves on cabbage, eggplants, beans, and who knows what else. Start your plants early or buy transplants that are large enough so when the flea beetles show up it'll make less of an impact.

Great advice, I appreciate it!

I'm just up the road a bit from Jeff City. Most of the clay usually isn't too bad, you just have to be ready to put in a little work. I do mostly veggie gardening, and as I break up new ground, I mix in as much organic matter as I can. Start a compost pile, it is the best 'cure' for that nutrient-rich clay.

I've also grown gardens in NY, and the clay here can be a bit different... but minus all the rocks. It's going to depend on your specific property, and how it has been maintained. Like brandon said, it varies quite a bit, and some plants do well in clay, some... not so much.

Where I am, a few miles east of you, I have one area of my garden where the clay is nearly impenetrable. The tiller was jumping all over the place lol. The rest is a mix of the clay, and a dark, rich loam. Once you get some organic matter into the clay, it begins draining quite well.

Most people here garden in rows. I prefer beds. Walking on the clay after you break it up kind of defeats the purpose. After I initially break the soil and form my beds, I keep the ground covered with mulch. Personally, I like organic mulches. They break down quite fast in Tn., but it only improves the soil. I don't use the tiller after the initial turning. The mulch keeps the soil loose enough to turn it with a fork, and the organic matter will draw lots of worms. I don't wall my beds, but some prefer the look. Adding the OM to the clay will cause it to expand, and raise... a lot! This will improve the drainage.

Anyway, like brandon said, feel free to ask questions.

Oh, and yeah, pests and diseases here can be over-whelming. I use row covers and a trap crop to keep the flea beetles off, but stink bugs can be a pain some years. I don't use chems though, and still do okay. Last year however, the cucumber beetles were horrible. We'll soon see what pest made it through this year.

That's very helpful, thanks! We did start a compost pile, hopefully once it warms up that will start converting to useable material. We're only renting right now but we're in the country and the owner is super flexible, he offered to till the garden for me! I was just planning on lasagna gardening but I'll let him till and see what happens Looking forward to possibly buying in the next couple years and really working on improving whatever soil we end up with, but for now I'm happy to be able to have any kind of garden