I picked my last harvest from 2024’s garden in early January. Yes, the final produce from last year’s garden came in 2025.
It was jalapeno peppers for an omelet, from a fading but still earnestly productive plant. Frost whacked the garden a week later, and my over-achieving jalapeno plant finally died.
Aah. In the Deep South, where I play backyard farmer, summers stretch to five months or more of hot and humid miserableness. Our tradeoff? Winters so mild that we know the season only by glancing at a calendar.
Winter eventually eases into spring, although it’s hard to spot just when. I planted 2025’s garden on March 15, near the end along our broad cusp of winter and spring. Twenty peppers. Two tomato plants. One basil.
And just days ago, I plucked my first harvest from the new garden – four basil leaves to flavor chicken noodle soup. A paltry harvest, but this garden’s glorious first.
Soon, spring must flee as summer unleashes its hellish breath.
But for now, with my plants still in adolescence, I declare my garden a success.
I will be preparing the planting beds (garden is a stretch now) on Mother’s Day weekend, when the frost date hits in North Carolina. There will be lots of basil. Not sure about the rest! Good luck.
Woohoo! When you get eight leaves of basil, you’ll be able to open a farm stand!
So funny, Darlene!