The Journal

• Week of Aug 31

  September is our second spring

  With first frost here not due until early November, September is the finest planting month of the year. We're setting out pansies and violas for the downtown pots, sowing spinach, lettuce and collards, and putting in mums while the soil is still warm enough to root them well.

• Week of Aug 24

  Divide now, thank yourself in April

  Daylilies, hostas and iris all divided this week while the ground is warm. Eastern North Carolina gives divisions a long, gentle autumn to settle in — far kinder than a spring move. Water them in once, deeply, and let the season do the rest.

• Week of Aug 17

  Sowing the fall brassicas

  Cabbage, broccoli and kale seedlings went in under light shade cloth this week. The trick in our heat is to start them in trays, harden them off slowly, and transplant on a cloudy evening. Collards sown now will sweeten after the first light frost.

• Week of Aug 03

  Keeping the downtown pots alive in August

  Ninety degrees and clay soil is a test of character. The roster has shifted to early-morning watering — a deep soak before the heat beats three shallow sprinkles after it. The lantana and sweet potato vine have earned their keep this month.

• Week of Jul 20

  The pollinators have found us

  Coneflowers, bee balm and black-eyed Susans are pulling in swallowtails and goldfinches along the Nash County corridor. A reminder that a little unmown corner and an unsprayed bloom are worth more to wildlife than any ornament.

• Week of Jul 06

  Deadheading as an act of optimism

  Fifteen minutes with the snips each evening keeps the zinnias and cosmos flowering into October. We're also letting a few basil and cilantro plants bolt on purpose — the bees are grateful, and the seed is free.

• Week of Jun 22

  Mulch before the furnace arrives

  Two inches of pine bark around everything, kept clear of the stems. In our humid summers mulch is not decoration — it is the difference between watering twice a week and watering twice a day, and it keeps the clay from baking to brick.

• Week of Jun 08

  Summer pots planted downtown

  The seasonal planters are in: lantana, coleus, calibrachoa and sweet potato vine, chosen to shrug off a Carolina summer. Our thanks to the watering roster — the pots only look effortless because someone is out there at seven in the morning.

• Week of May 18

  The arrival of the Hellebores

  An observation on how this year's mild February shifted the dormancy cycles in the Nash County corridor — and what it means for our spring transplants.

• Week of May 11

  On staking tomatoes before you think you need to

  A short polemic on the costs of waiting. The cane should be in the ground the same week the plant goes in, not the week the first cluster sets.

• Week of May 04

  What the dogwood told us this year

  Bloom date arrived four days earlier than the ten-year average. We chart the implications for our successional sowing schedule.

• Week of Apr 27

  A defense of clay soil

  It is fashionable to complain about Piedmont clay. The truth is more generous — given compost and patience, clay is the great preserver of moisture through August.

• Week of Apr 20

  Seed exchange notes & varieties to watch

  A roundup from last week's swap: Cherokee Purple held strong, the Tennessee Britches were back, and three members brought a butterbean we cannot identify.