Getting ready to move to Alabama!

Hello!
I just wanted to introuduce myself. My name is Dora Renee' Wilkerson. I am getting ready to move to the middle of Alabama (and I am very excited about it.)
I "TRY" to grow as much as I can here in Ohio and we have our own milk, egg, and some meat supply (sometimes fruit and veggies. This year I just got into canning but this is a first for me.) I would like to do more once we move to Alabama but I really don't know what grows best there (so, that's why I am posting here today.)
I love my apple trees here and from what I have been reading it looks like a lot of apples don't do so well there. What types do best? What other fruit trees and nut trees do well there (I am going to miss my black walnuts I am sure but maybe I'll find another that I like as much.)
How does wheat and corn do there also?
I am a big fan of Jerry Baker and would love to know if organic garden is something that can be done there or if since winters are so mild that it's too hard and the sprays need to come out?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for your time.

Dora Renee' Wilkerson
http://bricoreandfamily.blogspot.com/

Where in middle Alabama will you be? First, look up your local extension office - they have a ton of information. If you are close to Auburn University, it is a large agricultural school and will also be a source of info. Yes, we can grow apples here but varieties are limited. You can also grow black walnuts, pecans and other nuts as well as figs, blueberries, strawberries, the best peaches in the world and just about any vegetable. The secret to cool season crops is to plant in February or in August. Yes you can garden organically very easily (Check out the Soil & Compost forum). You might also want to take your local county's Master Gardener course. We can also grow tropical flowers as well as some of the cooler climate plants - placement is key. And, by the way, Welcome to the Great State of Alabama! Linda

Thank-you Linda,
I am VERY excited about moving there. A matter of a fact we were supposed to be there this weekend house hunting but there is some race going on and the reatlor said it's best to wait until the following weekend.
It sounds like I can grow just about everything there that I have been here which is great because I want to try to keep making us as much of our own food as I can.
I know one good thing is that you all have less snow then we do and I am looking forward to that this year. I am not a "Snowbird" type of gal. Give me sun and fresh air and I am happy!

Thanks for the warm welcome and I will check into all those things you talked about.
Oh, right we are looking any where within a 30 min. drive to Talladega to live. We have not found the right home just yet but still looking.

Dora Renee' Wilkerson

Here is a link that might be useful: Y-2K Hippie

Dora, welcome to Alabama. Linda has given you lots of good info. It is not "some race", it is the Ford-UAW Talladega 500 NASCAR race. LOL. ;-) The town of Talladega becomes the third or fourth largest city in Alabama during the April and October races. The grandstand seats hold 143,000 people and that doesn't count thousands in the infield - 175,000 - 200,000 people. I can't imagine a reputable realtor discouraging you from looking at homes unless he or she is going to the race. You may want to find another realtor. I don't know how realtors in Ohio work, but here the realtors have a lock box with a key so they can take you into the house when the owners are away. Cut and paste this URL http://www.aces.edu/counties/ to locate the extension agent in the county where you plan to live and contact them. I can't think of many things you can't grow in Alabama and there are so many things you can grow here that you couldn't in Ohio. The growing season ranges from 200 days in north Alabama to 300 days in the south. I am in the Birmingham area and I empty the greenhouse around April 1 and fill it back around October 15. Sometimes we don't get a frost until November. Welcome. We expect to see you at the spring plant swap. - Terry

Many of the publications put out by Auburn and the Alabama Extension Service are online at www.aces.edu - they will have a lot of the info you need.

Yes, snow is nowhere near as frequent here - you can go through some winters without seeing any accumulation at all, and when it does lay it does not last long, with anything over half an inch rare.

The area around Talledega is very pretty; it's on the border between the Valley and Ridge Province and the Piedmont, with some pretty high mountains, at least for Alabama!

Let us know when you do know exactly where you will be!

Dora, welcome to Alabama!

Hi Dora!

Welcome to the South, and especially Alabama! I hope you find heapin' helpins of hospitality!

As Terry said, you should make plans to attend the plant swap this spring (and again in fall). It's one of the best places to find the odd, unusual and bizarre (and that's just the traders).

Seriously, you'll make friends quickly among the generous and friendly people, and find a treasure trove of "Southern treasures" that you're unlikely to find at most run-of-the-mill nurseries.

Hope your transition is one filled with pleasure!

Nelson

Hi There and Welcome to the area,
We have several garden clubs in the area and an active Master Gardener bunch that would love to help you in your gardening efforts. I am in Calhoun County just north of Anniston. The city of Talladega in south of us down highway 21 about 30 minutes. Lots of nice property available and terrain ranges from flat to mountainous. Many choices. I lived in Ohio in the 80's. I hate snow! I don't worry about that here. The Jacksonville Garden Club would love to have you visit or join when you get settled. Let me know if we can help with anything.

Millard

Welcome to Alabama, Dora! All of the other postings have excellent information. There are also some good books I would suggest that are specific to Alabama gardening. Steve Bender is a writer for Southern Living magazine and he has published several really good gardening books (Passalong Plants, etc). There are some plants that don't do well in our hot summers. Steve's books encourage gardeners to stick with the plants that have been traditionally grown in the South. I am sure you will enjoy growing some of our native plants as well as some of your old favorites. Good luck!

I can't wait. We are going in the morning to look at houses (Pell City area is where two of the homes are.)

I just got some neem trees and a couple stevia plants and can't wait to bring them with me once we move. Both are going to be kept in and out of my home (I just know they will do better down there then up here. Too cold for them as well as me here.. lol..)

Thanks again everyone for the warm welcome. Once we get settled into a place I'll be sure to join some of the gardening clubs and read up on lots of Southern growing (one of my daughter's questions where if we moved there if I could grow sweet potatos for her. She just loves them.. I told her that I would grow some for her next year..lol.)

Well thanks again!

Dora Renee' Wilkerson

Here is a link that might be useful: Y 2-K hippie

If you can buy a place near that large lake in Pell city or any of the large lakes on the Coosa River you will extend your growing season about two weeks on each end. I live on the shores of Lake Neely Henry, about an hour from Taledega, and often we have no frost when there's heavy frost a 1/4 mile away.

Dora, I have a black walnut tree I would not even guess the height, the trunk is about 6ft in dia. so you can guess the height. you are more than welcome to all you want because we just throw them in the woods, no one here is crazy about them. I know if I have thrown 200 I have thrown 400 in the woods.
Jill

Thanks ladies,
I look forward to getting down there. We are still looking for the right home. I look forward to having a winter without snow for a change :).
My family isn't crazy about the black walnuts either really. They are wonderful for getting rid of worms tho (livestook and people..lol..) I like the stain for dyeing my Angora wool and I'll eat them sometimes but my kids and husband really don't like them that much (I have to sneak them into things..lol..)

Dora Renee' Wilkerson

Have you found a house yet? My son in law works at the Honda plant in Lincoln and drives from Hokes Bluff. It takes him about an hour but they don't want to move any closer.

Hi Dora just moved here (S of you near Dothan) last year. Unsure about zone 8a- I am 8b I think- but I chose to plant Israeli and Florida apples- Anna, Dorsett Golden, Ein Shemer, and Chenango Strawberry and Cinnamon Spice which I found in some extensive googling supposedly need under the number of chill hours I usually get here. (That term- chill hours- is the one you need to verify- how many will you get where you live and how many does the cultivar you are considering need? Cherries need over 800 hours which is why they don't grow I mean FRUIT much S of Ohio!) Sadly northern growers don't even need to consider chill hours so the northern nurseries including Starks don't list these for their cultivars.

And me, just as an excuse for a large peach orchard, covered the gamut of chill hour numbers for my peachs- some may never fruit always frost the blooms instead (deep FL cultivars) but the years the other guys find it too hot they ought to give me peaches!

Dora,
Having grown up in UCLA(Upper Corner of Lower Alabama), I can tell you that most of the black walnuts you'll encounter there are not much to write home about. If you want a really good one for nut production, I'd recommend that you plant some good, grafted, named-variety BWs, like Thomas Myers, Daniels, or Emma Kay. See linked nursery below - your best source.

Apples: Jennifer's recommendations follow those of the Extension service for low-chill selections - though I don't know how well C.Strawberry or Cinnamon Spice will do down there. MonArk is a great early-season apple that will do fantastic for you - good for eating out-of-hand, cooking, and unlike most early apples, it will keep for 6-8 weeks under refrigeration. Centennial apple-crab works well down there, and is primo quality. Callaway crab, an ornamental, is a favorite in my family for eating out-of-hand; guess it'd make good jelly, too - but we eat 'em as fast as they get ripe - it's a heavy producer of big clusters of 1-1.5" tasty little crabapples.
There's a lady, Joyce Neighbors, in Lay Springs,AL, who has been collecting Old Southern Apples(as well as more contemporary varieties) for decades; she's scaling back on her operation(she's 80), but would still be a good source of real-world information, and she's still going to be grafting a few trees every year; could be your best source for apple trees.

Here is a link that might be useful: Nolin River Nut Tree Nursery

Thank-you all so very much! I can't wait to get down there. It wont be long now (looks like the second week of January we should be able to move in.)

I am going to be asking you all a lot of questions here in the future (hope that's ok.) The house we are getting is on a hill (I don't have my hill legs yet either..lol..) Anyway, it's pretty much coverd with tree and brush (so I know things will grow on it) but it's steep. I am sure there are ways to adjust and to do things even better but I have always worked with flat land. Right now tho, I keep looking at that hill like, how the heck am I going to do this?..lol..

I am just going to start small this year with the garden. Out of the 30 acres there is only about 2 acres cleared. One of those acres is rock and the other is going to be for my horses (I am not bring all of them because I worry about them over grazing and causing an issue there but we are going to bring a couple of them.)so we are going to have to clear out a small spot for my garden some how (I need to learn how to pick the best spot of this before I go and do it too.)

I will be looking at going to any garden meeting I can find in that area to learn more.

Thanks again for all your support!

Dora Renee' Wilkerson

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