What Do Fellow Zone 7-ers Grow In The Garden?

[<ErinElizabeth>]

I'm in Arkansas in Zone 7. I finally managed to start a vegetable garden this year. We planted pepper plants, tomato plants, and a strawberry plant. The strawberry plant did quite poorly and eventually died. The pepper plants and tomato plants have done quite well and we've made three batches of salsa from them. My question is what else grows well in Zone 7? When do you guys plant these things? Do they need shade or sun? I have chickens and think it would be cool to grow some food for them to cut back on feed costs. However, I don't know what would do well and I don't know when to plant it. I would love to find out some more things to grow for my own garden as well. Also, what would be good to plant in a food plot for the wildlife or a field? Sorry for so many questions. I'm a planting newbie.

 

[desertlady]

I am zone 8 you can almost plant pretty much anything but melons. Sun is best for them to grow. Now its the time to plant , so you will have Fall crops. Beans, tomatoes, bees, lettuce. cabbage, carrots.. or your choice you want to plant !

 

[catjac1975]

Curious. Why not melons? I thought they loved the heat!

I am zone 8 you can almost plant pretty much anything but melons. Sun is best for them to grow. Now its the time to plant , so you will have Fall crops. Beans, tomatoes, bees, lettuce. cabbage, carrots.. or your choice you want to plant !

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined us!

It's good to have another Arkansan on here. I suggest you find your county extension agency, in the phone book under county government, and get their bulletin "Year-Round Home Garden Planting Guide". It gives you a calendar of when you can plant what. For example, in August we can plant:
Basil, Lettuce, Kale, Mustard, Parsnips, Carrots, Beets, Chinese Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cucumbers, Collards, Squash, Snap Beans, and Southern Peas.

These are arranged in the order they need to be planted throughout the month, the first ones earlier than the later ones. They need to be adjusted some also if you are up here with me in the Northwest corner of further south. Several of these are from starts not from seeds. So there is some adjustment but it is a great start.

While at the extension office, look for specific bulletins on how to grow specific things. In Washington County's extension office, many bulletins are on a rack out front, free for the taking.

 

[desertlady]

Curious. Why not melons? I thought they loved the heat!

I am zone 8 you can almost plant pretty much anything but melons. Sun is best for them to grow. Now its the time to plant , so you will have Fall crops. Beans, tomatoes, bees, lettuce. cabbage, carrots.. or your choice you want to plant !

If your planting for Fall ,Melons wont make through cool weather. they are sensitive to cold weather,

 

[<ErinElizabeth>]

Thanks for the replies everyone! This gives me a good place to start.

 

[lavendar65714]

Hello from SW Missouri! I treat my chickens to red worms from my worm farm. Between the dog, chickens, worms and compost pile, I have no food scraps for the disposal. I love raw okra when it's about 2 inches long. It's so tender. So I recommend planting okra in zone 7. This year I planted broccoli, swiss chard, sweet potatoes, onions, garlic, cherry trees, apple trees, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, lettuce, arugula, corn, green peppers, banana peppers, okra, yellow squash, radishes, turnips, heirloom melon (Jenny Lind), asparagus, parsley, cucumbers, zucchini, kale, green beans and black-eyed peas. Everything did very well in spite of drought and record heat. I also planted spinach, but it withered in June. Squash bugs got the zucchini early in August, but I didn't fight them. I was tired of trying to come up with different zucchini recipes anyway. The cabbage didn't make, nor did the watermelon or brussel sprouts. It could have been the location. Companion gardening is important! I grow sweet potatoes in a large pot on the patio. It makes an attractive vine. I didn't pick any kale. It's just for looks, I guess. It is tough and tasteless raw, and I don't have any experience with it. Any ideas?

 

[897tgigvib]

Zone 7 Arkansas, hmmmmmmmmmmm

For trees, there are varieties of apple trees suited for your short winter. If you have no leaf curl around your locality, Peaches should do great. Most any kind of blackberry'd do great there.

For things to feed your chickens, correct me if I'm wrong about chicken diets, but, Amaranth grows like crazy, there are varieties of quinoa you can grow just for greens even if you can't get them to seed, Peas'll grow for greens this time of year...if it's good for chickens, Lettuce should grow well if you can keep the soil cool enough for it to germinate.

By the way, careful with that storm coming in.

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