This is what winter is supposed to feel like, maybe not in Georgia though. Over the last 31 days temperatures have only risen above 60°F 6 times. This week is unusually cold and hopefully you are reading this after coming in from sledding. Either way these cold temperatures are good for many different reasons. First freezing and thawing of the soil can actually help reduce compaction. As moisture in the soil freezes and expands it opens pockets in the soil when it thaws. Secondly, it should kill some insects, but don’t expect a mosquito free 2025. Finally, we don’t need it to be this cold, but chill hours are important not only for our beloved peaches but many other fruiting trees and shrubs.
However, this is Georgia, and I know few of our residents really enjoy the cold. I really did not write this article to try and convince you that cold weather was good. I am writing it as a reminder of what you could be doing to get ready for the vegetable gardening season. I like to grow my own tomato and pepper transplants. It is hard to find seed locally so I purchased from one of several mail order seed companies.
Purchasing seed like this can be good for several reasons. You get a much larger selection of varieties. You can also choose varieties with resistance to the diseases that we battle in the south. You can also experiment with new varieties to see what works best for you and your management style. For example, through trial and error, I have learned that I don’t do well at growing large slicing tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes. If I rely on local stores for my tomato transplants that is pretty much what I am stuck with.
With the tomato varieties you can purchase from suppliers like Bonnie, you can find disease resistant plants. Peppers are much easier to grow and you don’t have to worry too much. When we start looking for cucurbits we need to try and find varieties with resistance to powdery mildew. If you are relying on local sales you probably won’t know what variety you are getting and I have not seen labels with disease resistance on crops like cucumber, squash, zucchini, melons and pumpkin.
Finally, I like to purchase my own seed because many of the crops grown in a garden do better when grown directly from seed, and not transplanted. The cucurbits are probably the worst as far as transplanting. I actually saw sweet corn transplants, which I though was humorous. Six corn plants for $5 equals about $0.85 per ear. If you order or purchase your won seed you get seed from $0.02 to $0.05/seed depending on if you get a conventional or a herbicide tolerant variety.
There are a lot of benefits to purchasing seed from different sources, but I am not saying stop buying from local sources. I still get much of my seed from local sources, like green beans, okra, and greens, which I would call low maintenance veggies. I would not wait much longer to purchase seed if you are getting them from another source. If you are going to grow your own transplants you need about 6 weeks, and seed supplies will be low as we get closer to planting season. If you have questions or comments contact your County Agent for more details.