New to gardening with questions...

[GeorgiaTiger]

I have a few questions if you dont mind. My gardening experience is practically nil, but i really want to start and to learn as much as I can.

Just FYI, I am in Georgia near Atlanta...just so you know the weather, etc here. What can I plant right now that will produce before winter comes? My MIL says tomatoes if I put plants down. What else can I plant? some things that I love to eat are cabbage, peppers (sweet and spicy), collards, Squash, okra, corn, and especially tomatoes. Im wanting to start a garden asap and it will be small (maybe 20'x20') so I can handle it for a first one.

Another problem I am having with my yard that will relate to the garden. My In Laws used to live in this house and we are buying from them. They always had a garden that covered the whole back yard. Fil says they had all of what I mentioned above and more. The problem is, there hasn't been a garden back there in a few years and there is an over run of what he calls Mole Beans. He says that they need to pulled up by the roots, but there are a TON of them back there. Anyone ever heard of this and how to get rid of it?

Thanks in advance for replies...

[Chris]

I do not know what mole beans are. You could solarize the entire place (cover it all with plastic, clear or black, and bake it in the sun) that'll kill most anything.

You can grow cabbage and its relatives (kale, broccoli, etc) in the fall, too early for you to plant it quite yet. You could also do carrots and beats in the fall.

Right now is the time for warm season crops, I don't know if you'll have time for peppers if you're just starting, but you could do tomatoes (make sure you plant them correctly, which is very very deep if using transplants). You can do both summer and winter squashes. You're probably too late for corn. Collards would be a cool season crop for the fall. I don't believe you'll have time for okra.