A question came in via email "What are you planting in your garden this year?"
First, I want to clarify that we have TWO gardens.
Mrs ERJ has her garden and it is a kitchen garden that focuses on salad ingredients and quick-summer-meal ingredients.
She wants a single, cherry tomato plant. Hastey's nursery sells some that are 30" tall and are an early variety on an indeterminate vine. They are expensive but she is worth it.
She wants Super Sugar Snap peas planted in three "flights" a week apart.
She wants one cucumber vine. Tasty Jade has been a favorite but they are sold out.
She wants one zucchini plant. We trialed a yellow and a green variety and she like the yellow ones. They tasted the same and it was easier to find and pick the yellow.
She wants sweet pepper plants and scads of green onions.
Other women might want diamonds and BMWs, vacations in Cancun and
diamond tiaras. Mrs ERJ wants vegetables. Well! I can afford vegetable
seeds.
Odd-and-ends fill in the rest of the garden. Plants like basil and green beans.
She likes the garden long-and-skinny. Last years was 20 feet long by about 5 feet wide. She said that is about right.
It requires a fence to keep the animals out.
She likes a path of wood-chips around the garden so she doesn't sink into the mire after a rain.
The other garden
I intend to plant a couple pounds of beans for drying. Keeping the bunnies, woodchucks and deer out of them will be a chore. I will also plant some purple-podded pole-beans to keep the seed strain viable. They were all the rage in the seed trade about ten years ago but now seem to have disappeared.
We have been eating more dried beans now that the kids (for the most part) left the house. In fact, I have a pot of them I made the other day that turned out well. Belladonna picked the recipe. The basic recipe accepts ad lib additions well. Ginger, tomato, vinegar, cayenne, smoke flavor...knock yourself out.
Potatoes and dried corn are in the plans.
I intend to trial Hopi Black Dye sunflower this year.
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| Kimchi is sometimes called Korean Penicillin or Korean Prozac |
I will trial three kinds of Korean Radishes this year. We trialed three Asian Cabbage last year and Hwi Mo Ri did well. The seed packs for this variety had three times as many seeds as China Gold and Winter Crisp so we are growing HMR again this year.
It is very possible to get a full crop of snap peas by planting early and then a second crop of Chinese cabbage or radishes. The CC would be seeded in trays July 4ish and then moved to the garden three weeks later when the peas are gone.
It MIGHT be possible to get a crop of green beans and CC or radishes but I would have to interplant the new crop while harvesting the last of the old.
Three kinds of tomatoes will be trialed for drying: Stupice, Sweet Aperitif and Principe Borghese. Some of the plants will be placed in the hedge planting to see if they will naturalize. As a sidenote, I have seen sandbars in rivers that were absolutely covered with a jungle of tomato plants. The plants had regressed to a Yellow Pear-like variety. The had very little flavor so I did not keep any seeds although I was impressed with how well they grew. The nearest water-treatment plant was fifteen miles upstream.
I will plant a bunch of watermelon varieties this year to see which ones Mrs ERJ likes. I settled on Diplomat Honeydew as our "muskmelon" variety. Its only flaw is that it bares in one big surge and then it is done.
I will plant two hills of Butternut squash plants from saved seeds. By next winter there will just be the two of us and Mrs ERJ does not eat very much. One squash every couple of weeks is probably all we will eat. Too much Vitamin A might improve Mrs ERJ's eyesight to the point where she will notice how homely I am.
I will probably plant several, small flights of Romaine lettuce. Romaine lettuce varieties seem to be more resistant to bolting than other lettuce types AS LONG AS I NEVER LET THE SOIL DRY OUT.
The plan for the garden is influenced by how much stored food we have in our pantry. We are still good for canned tomatoes and frozen sweet corn so there is little incentive to plant big tomatoes or sweet corn. I might plant one "beefsteak" type tomato for slicing.
I encourage you to write in the comments section. I think there are many folks teetering on the precipice of getting into gardening. They are spooked by supply chain issues and rising prices. Teaser questions are "If you could only plant a single plant?" or "A garden plant that is absolutely bulletproof and that kids will eat?"
If I could only plant one thing...a single plant...it would be Mrs ERJ's cherry tomato. One dystopian trajectory has the government making a stab at keeping people fed by distributing bland staples like tortillas, flour, shortening, dried beans. Flavor will be in short supply. The second plant (or plants) are Mrs ERJ's green onions because they can be harvested very shortly after planting or left to bulb for storage. Hot peppers and garlic tie for third place.
I'm just getting my summer garden going. Okra, Asian long beans, A couple of pepper plants, jalapeno and sweet bell. I bit late, but I put in some Seminole pumpkin seeds that were getting past their prime. I can only plant what won't burn up in the heat. It is a challenging season to garden here (central FL). The pineapples are blooming, as is acerola cherry. We are picking some mulberries, if we can beat the birds to them. Papaya is going, but about 9 months out. I do miss my northern kitchen garden.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite winter squash is a bonbon from park seed.I plant spring and fall here in Plant City. They store really well and taste way better than butter nut
ReplyDeletePlanted two cherry tomato plants the last several years which provide plenty of results so much so that a couple of neighbors benefitted. Red potatoes, yellow onions and carrots round out the small patch.
ReplyDeleteCrushed raw garlic is also very potent as an antibacterial and anti viral. I know from personal experience.
ReplyDeleteI was able to get an MRSA infection under control via a pretty heavy dose over the course of several months.
My doctor's office basically said; "Yep, you got staph and it's the resistant kind. You want another round of some other antibiotic?"
Since I'd already been down that road I took matters into my own hands and did some research. Once I discovered that during WWI and WWII that both the Russians and Germans used it in place of penicillin when their supplies ran short, the rest was history.
I still eat roughly 1-3 cloves per week, with a periodic break of a few weeks. When I had a really bad infection I was grinding in a blender and adding to V8 juice. I was downing 2-3 bulbs per week. Very potent.
It can also function as a blood thinner, so if you have heart meds, keep that in mind.
I also like kimchi. Many of these fermented and pickled foods seem to have a lot of medicinal effect due to balancing gut microbiome and the immune system. Something lacking in our reduced variety of foods we eat now.
Meat for strength, vegetables for health...
I love Baker Creek Seeds. I discovered them couple years ago and have had a blast picking from the varied assortment. I typically grow Tomatoes (Amish Paste, Mortgage lifters), Asparagus (Martha Washington) Okra (Heavy hitter, easy to grow and great soup/stew thickener), Several types of peppers, lots of bush beans, onions (yellow and red), strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, Corn (dent type for flour), cukes for pickles, cherries, apples, cranberries, sunflowers, potatoes, squash (winter type primarily due to its longer storage life), and goodly supply of rocks. All of these from my tiny New Hampshire farm. I think our growing clime is similar to where you live, but with cooler summers and poorer soil.
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago we planted 12 "Mary Washington" asparagus roots in a contained garden bed. We harvested very little last year to give them a chanced to establish. This year we are being overwhelmed with spears.
ReplyDeleteRed potatoes, white onions, globe radishes, and winter greens are doing well. On Good Friday, we'll plant beans, summer squash, corn, okra, tomatoes and more. (Here in the South some still plant by the signs.)
If I could only plant one food it would be the "Beauregard" variety of sweet potato. Heavy bearer, rot-resistant, great keeper (I still have plenty from last year's crop.) Very tasty and non-fibrous. Best bang for the buck nutrition-wise.
Putting in a big garden again this year; I grow for the two of us, and supply friends/neighbors and 3 of our 4 kids with at least some produce throughout the year. Greens: GA Southern collards, Nancy Wheat Malone Purple collards, Lacinato di Toscana kale, FL Giant curly mustard, unnamed green kale, American purpletop rutabagas. Bought seeds of the Rutabangin' Rutabaga grex and perennial Collard/Kale grex from Experimental Farm Network, to plant this fall. Beets: Detroit Dark Red, Bull's Blood, Early WonderTomatoes: Big Beef, Garden Gem, Better Boy, Sweet 100(cherry)Peppers: Jimmy Nardello, Jalapeno, Nadapeno, Habanada, Sweet Banana, Cayenne, Nick's Thin-skin, Elephant Ear, Trinidad Perfume, CA Wonder bell, Frank's Sweet, Stocky Red Roaster, Etiuda.Pole-type green beans: Striped Hull Greasy Cutshort - best for fresh cooking, Sicitalian Black Swamp - a really good green bean for freezing. Turkey Craw(can do 4-way duty: fresh, frozen, dried as leather-breeches beans, & dried beans),Half-runner/bush-type green beans, grown for horticultural dry beans: State(white-seeded) and a brown-seeded variety I've had in the freezer for a few years. Cowpeas: Black Cow, Pinkeye Purplehull, Piggott Family Heirloom, Franklin Red, Kentucky Red, Iron & Clay, Dimpled Brown Crowder (Can you tell I love cowpeas?) also Red Adzuki beans, planted in between cowpea varieties to help diminish cross-pollenation. Lima beans: Dixie White Butterpea(bush), Dixie Speckled Butterpea(bush)
ReplyDeleteSummer squash: Caserta(zucchini), Yellow crookneck, Zucchino Rampicante (a moschata type that is good, harvested early, as a summer squash.Winter squash: Butternut, Buttercup, Seminole, Scarchuck's Supreme, Sweet Fall, Mrs. Amerson, Vegetable Spaghetti.Okra: Heavy Hitter, Granny Franklin, Jing OrangeCorn: Japanese Striped flint. Sweet Potatoes: Purple, Nancy Hall, Papota, Tainung 65, Triumph, Southern Queen, Carolina Nuggett, Garnet.Watermelon: Kholodok(Russian winter-storage watermelon) , Early Arizona, Blacktail Mountain, Wibb, Orangeglo, Crimson Sweet.Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa)aka Jamaican sorrel - tangy leaves, crimson calyces can be made into jelly/jam, or dried to steep as a 'tea'. Various sunflowers (I was planting them before the Ukrainian sunflower virtue-signaling craze arrived)
I don't have a garden currently, I'm exploring options for this dry hot area I'm new to.
ReplyDeleteI've known many people who had parsley, dill, thyme, etc in their flower beds for seasoning. Also, when ground and mixed with oil, they make a great pesto sauce.
I agree that cheap staples will likely be around when other stuff isn't, so I'm looking at having vegetables, meat, and seasoning on hand more than corn, wheat, etc.
EastTN here, taters and peas are starting to come up already. Planning lots of taters and green beans this year. Green beans did well in the large pasture garden, so that free's up space in our fenced in garden where the soil is better. Might try something new there. Peanuts stored well and were greatly appreciated by the chickens (fed in shell as a treat), I believe I will do those in the pasture again.
ReplyDeleteStoring (canning) will be a big topic this summer, get ahead of the curve on jars and lids.
If you've never grown vegetables before, start now!
ReplyDeleteEven if you don't need to grow your own right now. Knowing how to grow vegetables productively takes knowledge and experience, and often learning by trial and error for what works in your location.
Each location is different: soils, climate, water. Timing, spacing, soil amendments, watering, pests, diseases, weeds, tools, techniques, skills and varieties. What works in one place may not in another. And finding out sooner rather than later is the key to success.
For the newb and experienced alike, growing vegetables productively and successfully is way more than just seeds and 'dirt'. Sharing local growing experiences with neighbours will be one of the future strengths of community. My hope and prayer is that we can help each other get through this together.
Start now.
The Texas growing season is split where I am, you have to get most things in early in order to reach to harvest before the heat shrivels everything up. Then you can plant again in August to get a fall harvest.
ReplyDelete5 different tomato varieties (2x cherries in pots), summer and zucchini squash, 5 different pepper varieties (fresh pimentos are great for flavor), sugar snaps, peas, pole beans, various herbs, lots of scallions from previous years.
Our garlic and Egyptian walking onions planted in the fall continue to do well; the seeds for Amish paste and Principe Borghese are growing nicely. We're getting some new raised beds ready and will be planting: tomatoes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, onions, peppers, butternut squash, and for the future, asparagus. We also have two red raspberry bushes, four blueberry bushes, and a mulberry tree that are ready to move into their permanent homes. Beyond that, who knows!
ReplyDeleteIn my location, you can garden year-round. You just have to pick the right crops for the right seasons. I'm currently in a bit of a transition between my cool season (fall/winter) garden, and my spring/summer garden. We have a lot of greens (kale, collards, salad fixin's), garlic, sweet onions, sugar snap peas, carrots, and cabbage. The current batch of spring crops consists of potatoes, Seminole pumpkins, cherry tomatoes, and green beans. There is a whole other suite of crops that I usually grow in the hot, humid summer such as sweet potatoes, okra, yardlong beans, and cowpeas. Each season's veggies kind of run into one another, so there are no hard breaks in my garden. Any open spots get some kind of cover crop thrown on, if only even for a month or two. If I could only grow one crop, it would be sweet potatoes. They are a great source of filling calories, contain many nutrients, are delicious, store well for a relatively long time, and you can eat the greens as well. On top of all that, they are super easy to propagate and save "seed", and are incredibly tough plants. As another bonus, you can feed the vines to your livestock as fodder.
ReplyDeleteSigh... I miss having a garden, but unless I do it in the front yard, I won't have more than about 5 sqft to play with.
ReplyDeleteAs someone starting their 3rd year of gardening I have come to one conclusion.There are just some things where beginners luck don't apply. My problems range from having a family of very picky eaters to what I suspect is a problem with light because of location. A couple of years ago I learned not only that I like butternut squash but that I'm the only one in the family that does like it. Having heard that that family of veg is the plant version of rabbits I planted only one each of butternut squash,summer squash, and cukes.Both yield and quality. Two years in a row I got just one butternut squash. Both were about the size of a 12oz soda can and the cukes were not only small but bitter. I suspect my problem with yield had more to do with not enough female flowers and their timing regarding the male flowers. And yet I had added more containers to better my odds. I have also added sage, thyme and ginger to the basil and rosemary. I've added bush beans, peas and parsnips to the bunching onions and peppers(both hot and sweet)deleted the beets(whatever ate the beet tops didn't do me the favor of eating the beet roots too) I have a spot where I think I may be able to put in some asparagus. If my luck holds I'll get about half a meal for one person.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to add last year I actually had some tomatoes the year before I planted cherry tomatoes and the birds pecked them so they were no good.
DeleteIt might be worth trying some of the new yellow cherry tomatoes. It is rumored that birds do not bother yellow sweet cherries.
DeleteThere are also green and brown (i.e. chocolate colored) ones available in commerce.
I have a clump of chives that has been producing for years without any sort of work on my part and is always a bright addition to salads as well as it's usual part in the baked potato section. Sage is another low-maintenance perennial that has a wonderful flavor. These can all grow in a little corner of a plot.
ReplyDeleteNote to all:
ReplyDeleteThank-you for contributing your comments.
Joe, if I was going to do a single plant, I would do garlic. It has never failed me in almost 20 years of gardening - and, tons of good things you can do with it: eat it raw, add flavoring to other foods, pickle it, roast it, bake it. And set aside bulbs for next time.
ReplyDeleteThis year I am trying to aim for things that seem to grow well here - that will mean sweet potatoes, garlic, Egyptian walking onions, black eyed peas, Sorghum, and perhaps one or two plants of okra. I am trying a new variety of soybean and bush bean - always looking for something that will grow.
And a new variety of corn. I have not had luck with corn in 14 years, but that does not mean I do not stop trying.
Painted mountain corn (an experiment), 'taters, shelling peas (to be split peas), fava beans, golden nugget squash. All handle cool weather and short seasons.
ReplyDeleteGreater Houston area here. I've been experimenting with jalepeno peppers and banana pepper varieties in the front flowerbed for the last three years, and will continue with them this year. Going to a container garden in the backyard (better sun) this year with cherry tomatoes, okra, cucumbers, and yellow squash, plus a couple of pepper plants. I also have a couple of citrus trees in containers, but they won't produce until fall 2023 at the earliest. One of my bigger struggles is getting anyone to help take care of the plants beyond just the harvesting and eating - if I don't do it then most things don't survive long. I've found that many pepper varieties can survive without a lot of support.
ReplyDelete