January Planting

I’m just gonna come right out with it: So far, I’m a terrible gardener.

Right now, there are two (empty) raised, garden beds in my backyard that look like a couple of medieval caskets.

After learning about the lead contamination problem in New Orleans soil, last Spring I enlisted my long-suffering husband to build them. We went to go buy some soil to fill them up, but then we needed like a dump truck, and then it got really hot, and, oh, nevermind.

And, until very recently, on my back deck was the remains of a Topsy-Turvy tomato planter, thirty pounds of soil and dead tomato plants, splitting its seams. But! I am determined to keep trying! One of the wonderful things about living in Louisiana is our incredibly long growing season and Dan Gill, the Louisiana gardening guru, wrote an indispensable book called Month-By-Month Gardening in Louisiana. You should buy the book. But, here’s an idea of what edible things can be planted in January (if and when this insane freeze thaws). Go locavores!

beets

broccoli

cabbage

carrots

cauliflower

Chinese cabbage

English and snow peas

kale

kohlrabi

lettuce

mustard

radish

rutabaga

spinach

Swiss chard

turnips