As I mentioned on May 16th, it has been a learning month for me in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia. The weather started very hot in May, with numerous thunderstorms, but as the month progressed, particularly into the 3rd and 4th weeks, it changed. It got cooler. No complaints on that, though. It made life a little easier. I only had to water twice in the last 2 weeks of the month. But cold it got – down to 57* yesterday. The past few days, it has been barely above the mid-60s. But that isn’t bad – if anything, it encouraged me to get work done. It felt great sitting outside in the shade. The bugs seemed less energetic in general and left us mostly alone.

I gave up on the onions and the soft neck California garlic in the 3rd week and pulled them.  I don’t know if it was the weather or the hard plastic containers, but both had absolute cellular collapse, and the stems rotted. I dug up the garlic, and it wasn’t growing much. I shall try again next year, but this time it will be in raised beds, with more room and better temperature control.

My theory is that the large, hard plastic grow containers were not the best choice in this case. They performed well in Washington State, but the temperatures are significantly lower. I think the soil was too hot here, and the heavy May rain led to the soil being too wet, which prevented it from drying out quickly enough.

I also realized that as the Oak trees finally leafed out, one side of the patio out back wasn’t getting enough sunlight. So that led to containers being moved around in the 4th week.

The raspberry plant I potted up is producing berries.

These two tomato plants have done well in this wooden holder.

Mid month the were around 2 feet tall.

And already had tomatoes setting.

I try every year to find an African Blue Basil. It is a woody type of Basil. They produce long stamens of flowers that attract pollinators, versus being an eating Basil.

In the 4th week I started moving more plants to the other end of the patio, to seek out more sun.

One thing I paid to have shipped was two of my folding tables I used in the gardens. They are invaluable for holding plants – and keeping them up high off the ground. My herb plants I started from seed, to build my new herb harden, are doing their kob and getting biggger.

The shade is very noticeable on the patio, on this side, now in the afternoon. Therefore, it was worth the effort to relocate more of the containers to the right.

Stevia is in bloom.

And with the month ending, I have four types of Basil growing, all of which are doing well.

As I mentioned above, the rigid plastic containers haven’t been the best choice for growing here, but the fabric felt grow bags have performed well. They breathe far better, and let out excess water when we have sudden downpours. The only things in hard plastic that grow great here are blueberry bushes, but next year I will move those into really big felt bags once the permanent garden is built. They will grow along the fence, is my idea. Digging into the ground here isn’t easy due to the amount of rock seams under us.

~Sarah

It’s been a learning month for me in growing in the ShenandoahValley of West Virginia. I’ve had some big success, but also some losses, where I had to tell myself to cut my loss, pull, and replant something else better suited. Learning a new grow zone is worth it, but it’s also a huge and sometimes painful/pricey set of lessons.

We are in grow zone 7a, for reference. The last “frost date” is around May 1st, but that doesn’t mean you are safe necessarily. Optimism is a powerful force for sure.

I had a few broken tomato branches and drowned lettuce. I lost one of the two Stevia plants. It was just too delicate.

The onions never recovered. They absolutely wilted and collapsed. Full cellular collapse. Was it the rain? The shift from 80+ temps to 55? I also lost a couple of small pots of garlic. Thankfully, not my big pots. Also, a cellular collapse.

Then I realized something: every plant I lost after that massive set of thunderstorms and rain? They were in large hard plastic pots. Everything in the felt pots? They were fine.

Which leads me to thoughts. That the rain was just too much at once. It couldn’t drain fast enough. It has very much shown that felt pots are far better here. In Western Washington, I didn’t have these issues. Rain would be gentle, drizzle, all day long. Here, it dumps for an hour, and you can have a quarter inch fall in that time.

A lesson learned there. When I see heavy rain predicted, the seedlings trays go into the pop-up greenhouse for protection. It is under the deck, so it is protected from the heavy rains to a point. The table we bring under the deck as well, while the larger potted plants do get rain, it’s not non-stop damaging. This week, we had another set of storms. It dropped 1.5″ in a 24-hour period. I’m paying attention now.

It’s all lessons, and every year, I will adapt to growing here better. I’ve harvested strawberries, lettuce, and greens so far. That leaves me happy.

~Sarah