Logically the South Carolina gardener should cultivate South Carolina seeds — they are more resistant to our hot summer climate and to our local insects. Seeds are sensitive to the weather patterns around them and know what to do to survive in their indigenous climate. This intelligence comes from being native to a place for centuries. All of the following South Carolina vegetables can be found at Sow True Seed in Asheville and ordered from them online at SowTrueSeed.com, subject to availability. Other heirloom seed companies and local nurseries carry them as well.
The most popular backyard product for the novice and veteran vegetable gardener alike is the tomato. After experiencing the pasteboard impostor shipped here over thousands of miles, everybody wants the real thing, not a substitute. Luckily, the old Sease family tomato provides the South Carolina garden with one of the tastiest varieties. The Sease family of Newberry County has been growing this tomato for more than a century. It is a cat-faced, pinkish-red, very large tomato resembling the well-known Brandywine. Some of its largest fruits are 6 or more inches across — the perfect size for that much-anticipated homegrown tomato sandwich made from a firm, meaty thick slice with tomato hanging over the edges. Elderly folks in the Dutch Fork all knew the Sease tomato and always planted their saved seeds after Good Friday in order to have that longed-for first sandwich on the Fourth of July.
The popular and readily available Marion tomato introduced in Charleston in 1960 will serve in the South Carolina garden if the Sease can’t be acquired. The Marion is a good alternative that takes heat well, and gardeners can find them at most local nurseries or even Lowe’s.
If growing tomatoes from seed, sow them around February in pots and keep them in a warm, sunny place inside. Once they sprout and have grown to 6 inches or more, plant them after the last frost. Tomatoes like as much sun as possible — they should not receive more than 10 percent shade in a day.
When tomatoes are considered, many South Carolinians also automatically think of okra for okra gumbo. At least three okra varieties have verifiable South Carolina pedigrees. For decades since its introduction in 1939 and improvement in the 1980s, Clemson Spineless has been well known, but now two new introductions with perhaps older South Carolina roots are being sold in the heirloom seed trade. These are the Bradford Family and the Kibler Family okras. Chris Smith, a native of England and formerly with Sow True Seed, calls the Kibler okra superior to Clemson Spineless for taste and its ability to stay tender even when 8 inches or longer. Chris notes that its pods are grouped closer to the main stem for easy and productive harvest. His new book The Whole Okra: A Seed to Stem Celebration (2019) is the go-to handbook for everything okra.
It is personally gratifying that my father passed the Kibler okra on to me in the 1970s, the only okra that our family has grown in Prosperity for many decades and that I have now passed on to Chris. As of this year, it is now available from as far away as Wardah Seeds in Pakistan and is sold online there. Despite its growing popularity, Wardah lists it as “Rare.” It has been available in the trade for only five years.
When growing okra in central South Carolina, do not plant the seeds until after May 1. It helps to soak the seeds overnight in water before planting; this will improve germination. Drill them in a row in full sun, about half an inch deep. Do not plant too deep. I water in the row before I plant the seeds so that there is extra moisture in the ground. Expect your crop to coincide nicely with your tomato harvest!
Okra and tomatoes served over rice is certainly one of the quintessentially South Carolina dishes, and we now have the famous Carolina Gold seed available once again after a long lapse. Novice gardeners in central South Carolina should know that Carolina Gold does quite well as far north as Union County. Farm statistics for the Upcountry in the 1840s and 1850s listed “Upland Rice” harvests by the barrel in the bottomlands of central South Carolina in Lexington and Newberry counties and at least as far north as Union County. With locally grown tomatoes, okra, and bacon over rice, it is now again possible to have a 100 percent signature South Carolina dish.
I grew Carolina Gold quite successfully to full heavy heads of golden grains several years in succession from saved seeds of my own growth. The secret is to germinate the seeds under water in trays of rich soil as early as possible in a warm place, then after the last frost, transplant the little clumps into very rich soil with as much sun as possible. Contrary to most people’s beliefs, rice does not require flooding or more water than it takes to grow corn during the growing season. Lowcountry flooding of rice fields is to kill weeds. It ripens like grain at the end of the summer, but give the rice as long as possible. When the heads are full and heavy and begin to nod, you know it is ready.
It is necessary that a true South Carolina heirloom garden has butter beans, and luckily, we have two excellent South Carolina survivors — the Carolina Sieva and the Livingston Family Large. Thomas Jefferson’s favorite vegetable was the Carolina Sieva; in fact, it gets its name “butterbean” because, according to Jefferson, the tender young Sievas were eaten in a pool of warm, fresh butter. He considered this a food fit for a king, or a president. Today, Monticello sells the Carolina Sieva in its heirlooms list. It was originally resupplied to them by central South Carolina gardener Rodger Winn.
In the 1850s, South Carolina nurseryman William Summer called the Sieva the Siewee, perhaps suggesting its origin in Carolina with the native Sewee tribe of Coastal South Carolina. This is only a surmise on my part, but it stands to reason that the Carolina Colonists may have gotten the seed from the Sewee, likely the trading partners with the natives of Central America where the butter bean is said to derive.
The other South Carolina butter bean option is the Livingston Family Large, about twice the size of the Sieva. Both are white. Summer described it in 1859 as a large desirable butter bean from South Carolina. Mr. Carold Wicker of Pomaria is responsible for saving this heirloom. He had gotten it from the Livingston family of Pomaria. I have grown it successfully for several years now.
Some people plant in hills; others plant in rows. I plant in hills. Plant about five seeds per hill after the last frost, each spaced about a foot apart and no more than an inch deep. It helps to water the holes, but don’t soak the seeds. Once they come up, eliminate the two weakest plants to allow the stronger three more resources. I have never watered these two heirloom varieties as they are extremely hardy. Even in drought they usually persevere.
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