Tell us about yourself Kelly.
I grew up in Athens and went to college in Sewanee. After graduating college in 2000, I moved to Birmingham to work in magazine publishing, and I spent more than a decade there working as an editor and writer, including for Southern Living and later for Bonnie Plants. At Bonnie, I got a crash course in vegetable gardening and was able to get my master gardener certification through Alabama Extension. My husband, Derek, and I married in 2012 and moved back to Tennessee, to Knoxville, later the same year. Since then, I’ve worked as an editor for HGTV.com at Scripps Networks, now Discovery Inc. I love growing food, cooking from the garden, and sharing the harvest with friends.
What is the concept behind your book?
The book Vegetable Gardening Wisdom started with the idea that gardening is a practice you learn through experience in bits and pieces. It can be fun to gather those little learnings over time, but a lot of new gardeners try to amass all the knowledge at once, which can be overwhelming. I wanted to create something that helped people learn about growing vegetables in a way that felt light, enjoyable, and inspirational. So the book includes “bites” of knowledge about different plants along with inspiring quotes from some of my favorite gardening and food writers like Barbara Kingsolver, Michael Pollan, and Wendell Berry.
What are a couple of the edibles you feature in your book?
I tried to include a little information about a range of popular vegetables and culinary herbs, including tomatoes, peppers, basil, potatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, squash, cabbage, thyme, asparagus, and so much more! The information is arranged by seasons — Late Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall — but not attached to certain calendar dates since “spring” in terms of garden timing is much later for Minnesota gardeners, for example, than it is for us here in east Tennessee. The tips and quotes cover everything from starting seeds to planting, pest control to preserving. I also included several very simple recipes for things like pesto and refrigerator pickles.
Can you address requests that you receive for indisputable gardening advice?
Sure! When I worked at Bonnie Plants, I spent a lot of time answering questions that came through a service on our website, and now at HGTV, I answer questions that come from our audience on Instagram and Facebook. Through those experiences, I’ve noticed that people want really definitive advice about their plants — “Do this” or “Don’t do that” kind of advice. But that’s not really how I approach gardening and not how I think it works, for the most part. Usually, the answer depends on a lot of factors, such as where you live, what your soil is like, how much sunlight your garden gets, etc. I usually follow up a question with my own set of questions to get more information about a situation. Gardening is about nuance, and it’s also about experimenting to see what works and what doesn’t.
For a Mother’s Day gift, is your book available from local Knoxville booksellers?
It is! I’ve been delighted at seeing my book carried by local stores in town. And the book makes a perfect gift. I know it’s currently available at Rala in the Old City, Three Rivers Market on Central in Old North Knox, Union Avenue Books off Market Square, and Barnes & Noble in Suburban Plaza near Trader Joe’s.
Join Amy Campbell-Rochelson weekly at “The Tennessee Farm Table Podcast & Broadcast” for stories of Food, Farming, and Folklore. Listen on your schedule by podcast at TennesseeFarmTable.com or by radio Saturdays from 9:00-9:30, 89.9. WDVX, Knoxville, and 2:00-2:30 WUTC, Chattanooga.