Her War

Interpreting Women's Lives during the American Civil War

Frances Rhodes Brown Diary

Return to Year in the Garden

January
23   Garland sowed peas, lettuce and raddish’s.
26   Sent Mollie a bushel of potato’s and some carrots
30   Garland…sowed beets, asparagus and apple seed
31   I sowed 3 kinds of tomatoes, set out lettuce

February
3    7 papers of seed sugar corn, white flint corn
8    Sowed carrots, turnip, beets and peas
13  Sent Mrs. Peery artichokes
14  Gave Molly seed garden
16  Give Mrs. Ward seed goobers.
28  Planted large onions

March
2    Give Ann Brown seed goobers
5    Bit corn—Frost.
7    Planted gourds, squash, beans, cucumbers, sowed parsnips, lettuce, radish, salsafy, okra
9    Sowed parsley
11  Planted butter beans, sowed cabbage, . . . sweet bassle
15  First pea bloom
16  Stuck peas—planted more onions
18  Had radish’s.  bit corn, frost
21  Replanting corn
23  Tom worked in the garden pulled up the cabbage stalks
28  Sowed sugar corn

April
6    Had my first peas. . . Mrs. Rogers had tomato plants
7    Ann had tomato plants
10  Sent Mollie tomato plants—sent Mr. O. Pegues tomato plants
11  Planted butter beans again
23  I sowed cabbage seed
27  Susan planted cabbage plants—Garland planted tomato plants
29  Had beets
30 Planted scarlet sage seed, orange melon

May
4    Planted watermelons, potatoe slips, white beans, cranberry beans. . had irish potatoes
6    G. planted pease, speckle & crowders—gathered strawberry peas
7    Had beans
13  Called at Mr. Pegues & got some egg plants
15  Sowed a few english peas
21  I had cucumbers
24  Sowing stock peas
28  Susan finished working over the garden
29  Had squash—pepper in bloom
30  Saved cabbage seed 3 pints—had a good season
31  Planted potatoe slips. . . stuck tomatoes

June
4    Had tomatoes
5    Gathered late peas. . . Susan worked my pepper
7    Roasting ears
10  Had Okra
18  Bob planted piemelon
23  Got corn out of the field

July
No Entry

August
4    Scarlet Sage just begin to open
20  Planted cucumbers, squash
23  Plowed the garden—sowed turnips
24  Planted shallots
26  Lucinda cleaned out the walks—sowed cabbage, lettuce, onions, raddish

September
5    Sowed turnip seed L Nickols give us & radish
9    Sowed turnips
27  Frost bit potato vines

October
14  Aunt Nancy gathered sage
23  Killing frost
24  Garland diging potatoes

November
4    Killed the potato’s
5    Diging goobers
6    13 blue buckets of goobers
9    Garland at home covering the potato hill rotting badly
19  I set out beets, parsnips, raddish & other
28  Planted shallots

December
4   Gathering corn