When working with the people of Appalachia you will quickly discover that they can be a stubborn… very stubborn. I can say that because my family has been roaming these mountains since at least the mid 1600’s.  You will learn very fast that there is a certain way things are done, especially when it comes to gardening.

These are some of the rules when gardening:

  • Plant your peas on Valentines day.
  • Blue Goose (Kennebec) potatoes are the best.
  • Follow the planting signs in the Almanac.
  • Plant potatoes on Good Friday.
  • The only kind of Green Bean is a White Half Runner.
  • Have bugs in your garden? Put Sevin Dust on it.
  • Triple 10 is the only fertilizer you need. So put it on everything.
  • Plant your potatoes after you hear a Whip-O-Will call.
  • Wait till the White Oak leaves are as big as your thumb before you plant corn.

Trying new things is a shock to the system for most folks around here and it takes time to introduce new things. Weaning people off chemical fertilizers and getting them to try the organic Mountain Pride fertilizer took a little while. But folks saw results and realized after taking about it was much better for their families and it actually worked. Had we not been able to provide the fertilizer for free through Grow Appalachia I really doubt that we would have had as many people use it.

Along with organic gardening we have introduce new produce, like kohlrabi, kale and Brussels sprouts. We have also provided different varieties of green beans other than White Half Runners…but that’s going to take more time.