Share Your Family’s Fall Planting Tips (the real, proven ones)

GFFL's Matt Jolley kneeling with a bumper crop of lavender in his garden on Fair Chance Farm.

GEORGIA FOLK AND FARM LIFE - Y’all know we love a good “how Pawpaw did it” story—especially when it grows supper. As we head into fall planting, we want your family’s tried-and-true tips and tricks. Not the stuff that’s already in every gardening book… we want the handed-down wisdom, the little rituals, the oddball tweaks that actually work at your place.

We’re fixing to write a big roundup featuring the best of what you send. And remember: we’re Georgia Folk & Farm Life, not Georgia Folklore & Farm Life—so make sure your tip is proven in your dirt, not just pretty in a story.

What to send

Help us (and your neighbors) by including:

• Crop & variety: (Collards, turnips, mustard, onions, garlic, fall beans, cover crops—whatever you plant.)

• The trick: What’s the exact thing your people do? (Example: “A coffee can of wood ashes scratched in before collards” or “Seeding turnips on the first cool snap after a thunderstorm.”)

• When & how: Timing, moon signs if you use ’em, soil temp, spacing—step by step in plain talk.

• Where you are: County/region, sun/shade, sandy/loam/red clay, raised bed or row.

• Proof it works: How long you’ve done it, yields, flavor, fewer bugs—pictures welcome!
  

A few ideas to jog memories

• A pinch-of-this, dash-of-that you add to the row before greens.

• A watering trick your granddaddy swore by during the first two weeks.

• A cover-crop mix that sets your garden up for spring like a champ.

• A seed-starting shortcut (old biscuit pan? burlap? porch shade?) that never fails.

• An old-fashioned pest deterrent that’s still worth its salt.
  

How to share

Drop your tip in the comments below or post it in the Georgia Folk & Farm Life Facebook group. If you’d rather email, send it to the contact listed on our About page. Include a photo if you’ve got one.

We’ll gather everything up and publish a big fall planting feature with the cream of the crop—crediting you and your kin, of course.

Alright, folks—dig deep (literally and figuratively). Here’s to a bumper crop after the best ever fall planting!