Every spring without fail, I host a gardening-themed storytime at Richland Library Northeast. Watching seeds sprout, buds open, and flowers drop away to reveal a tiny green bean or tomato is inherently exciting and educational, and let’s admit it – kids love to play in the dirt. But gardening is even more important in our urban and suburban community, where children are rarely exposed to food in its original state. Good nutrition is easier to encourage when your child is involved with the process, witnessing the magical transformation from seed to plant to lunch.

The sights and sounds of spring are in the air, and it is the perfect time to think about improving the world around us by planting a tree. Share the following stories with your family to teach everyone how important trees can be.

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013
Start Time: 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Location: Wheatley

Years ago, when home vegetable gardens were more the rule than the exception, home yards were not always the focal point of the home. In other words, yards were yards—usually expansive and not necessarily designed landscapes. Vegetable gardens were an integral part of life. As society migrated to more urban living, smaller lots and focused on the beauty of our homes, a grander landscaping focus naturally followed. However, now many are questioning the wisdom of devoting so much money and our precious resources to landscape maintenance when the yard space could be used for more productive use, such as, once again, a vegetable garden.

Each time I approach the walk to my mother's home, I stop to study the lawn just outside of her house. Tucked under the shade of large white oaks and nestled by half-century old camellias and azaleas, her once-groomed lawn has faded into a menagerie of weeds. At least, these small plants are what most of us would call weeds, but, I hasten to add, they are beautiful weeds. Broadleaf and narrow leaf grasses, mosses, violets, small ferns, and everything in between, this area of shade loving plants is a study in shades of green. The effect is so soft, so lacy, that I have to wonder just how we as a nation became so enthralled by having a solid green mass of lawn.

A plant is only worth growing if it looks good when it is dead." - Piet Oudolf, Dutch garden designer

Planting sugar peas shouldn't be such a dilemma. I’ve been instructed for years by the Lexington Master Gardeners to plant this vegetable over the Thanksgiving weekend in November. Quite honestly, that weekend doesn’t work for me; life is much too busy. However, once I began searching for resources for this information, I have not found a book on South Carolina gardening that says to plant these peas in the fall! So, I turned to the 2010 South Carolina Midlands Master Gardener Calendar and Journal (an annual local publication), and there, on the “November To Do List” (under “Edibles”), is the entry, “Sow English and sugar snap peas, (as well as radishes, kohlrabi, lettuce, parsley, fennel, and dill) the vegetable garden during Thanksgiving weekend. Harvest winter crop early next spring.” So there’s our documentation for planting this crop now.