2023 Gardens

[Lucky_P]

Right now we’re growing a mescaline(sp) mix in the living room for some fresh greens in another week or so. Once the weather breaks we’ll put some more outside and will be growing black seeded simpson this year also. My dad grew the BSS last season and it turned out really well for him. Hopefully it does well for us also


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LOL, Fishing Coyote... mescaline is a hallucinogenic drug derived from some cactus species. Mesclun is the salad green mix.

Jeez, I can't even begin to list what all I bought seeds of for this year... though buying vegetable seeds and actually growing them are two different pursuits.

Last year I planted 40 tomatoes... will be cutting back a bit... Big Beef, Heidi, and Opalka will be the main ones. probably a cherry tomato or two for the wife. If I can find a 'Garden Gem' plant at a nursery, I'll probably get a couple... have been growing that one as a cooperator in UofFL trials. It's great!
Planted 99 peppers last year... will probably do a similar number this time... wish I'd pulled and overwintered more to get an early start on production. Trying several new ones this year ... Elephant Ear, Kapiya, couple of newer no-heat habanero selections.
Trialing several different pole beans this time, Alabama #1, Aunt Mary's Meat, a couple of 'greasy' bean selections.
Have several shell bean varieties that I've not grown before, but will also be planting a white marrowfat bean again... really like that one.
Cowpeas are my fave... trying a couple more black-seeded varieties, a whippoorwill selection, and again planting Piggot and Iron & Clay.
Watermelons and squash were a bust last year... but will be planting Crimson Sweet, Ledmon, and Wibb (reddest flesh I've seen, as it has the 'crimson' gene) watermelons. Have an assortment of butternut-type winter squash to trial. Burgess Buttercup is our preferred winter squash, but I'm always looking for another good one. Caserta is hard to beat as a productive zucchini.
Have seeds for 3 different okras - Heavy Hitter, Jing Orange, Granny Franklin... have grown them all before, and they're my top picks.
Will be growing a couple of Roselle selections again, and hoping that the deer don't hammer them like they did last year.
Sweet Potatoes... have a purple one I got from my son 3 or 4 years ago that's been incredibly productive, a white one (it's either Nancy Hall, Triumph, or Southern Queen), and a couple of orange-fleshed ones.

For fall planting (and I'll do a few this spring, but it gets hot early and they bolt), I've got some breeding grex samples of collards, rutabagas, and kale. A buddy sent me some Brussels Sprouts seeds to try, as well.

Don't usually plant corn, as the coons usually harvest it the night before I'm ready to, and we have some big-time farmer friends who plant 'Incredible' sweet corn and always have plenty to share. Grew some Japanese Striped flint cornlast year as something for Turkey Craw pole beans to run on. Friend sent some Hickory King and a blue corn... guess I'll plant a little of those. this time out.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

mescaline is a hallucinogenic drug derived from some cactus species. Mesclun is the salad green mix.

I didn't know that. I've never grown mesclun lettuce. Sounds like you'll be busy Lucky_P. That's a big list of crops!!

 

[swat1018]

I'm cutting back on tomato varieties. I never eat any except Mortgage lifters. I plant a large roma variety for canning. I may plant an early girl or 2. Once the mortgage lifters are ripe, they're all I want, just wish they were more disease resistant.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

We have a big pot of chives on our south-facing patio. They're up about 6 inches now. They're very easy to grow in pots, if you have no other place to plant them. We let the pot out all winter and they come back up every year. We also have a pot of sage out there too that's greening-up. I plant a fresh big pot of basil each year too. Nice to have fresh herbs growing at home.

 

[Telemark]

Radishes, spinach, lettuce, arugula will be sown next week for my spring crops.

When those are done around June, I'll put in my summer crops: beans, peas, beets, kohlrabi, chard, zucchini, hispi cabbage, New Zealand spinach, chilis, tomatoes, ground cherries.

As the summer crops finish up, they will be replaced with radishes, spinach, kale, and a cover crop of winter lettuce. The kale and winter lettuce will last until next Spring and give me my first harvest until they finish up around May.

I also have strawberries, honeyberries, gooseberries, currants, blueberries, and huckleberries.

The vegetables are mostly done no-dig on raised hugel beds. I experiment with different kinds of natural fertilizers, but so far I find Berkelry compost gives me the best results. This year I will try vermicompost as well as some fermented foliar teas.

 

[Telemark]

What kinds of lettuce do you guys grow - if you grow lettuce?? How does it do for you??

Hilde, Cerbiatta, Amerikanischer brauner, and a couple other types of leaf lettuce.

It grows great until about June. Then it wants to bolt, so I just cut it off at ground level and plant something else in the space for a summer crop. Often green bean starts or beets.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Radishes, spinach, lettuce, arugula will be sown next week for my spring crops.

When those are done around June, I'll put in my summer crops: beans, peas, beets, kohlrabi, chard, zucchini, hispi cabbage, New Zealand spinach, chilis, tomatoes, ground cherries.

As the summer crops finish up, they will be replaced with radishes, spinach, kale, and a cover crop of winter lettuce. The kale and winter lettuce will last until next Spring and give me my first harvest until they finish up around May.

I also have strawberries, honeyberries, gooseberries, currants, blueberries, and huckleberries.

The vegetables are mostly done no-dig on raised hugel beds. I experiment with different kinds of natural fertilizers, but so far I find Berkelry compost gives me the best results. This year I will try vermicompost as well as some fermented foliar teas.

Sounds like a great rotation. What do you surround / contain your raised beds with??

 

[OakSeeds]

I gave up on tomato cages for that reason Bill, although I still use a few I’ll never buy another on. We went to a section of Cattle/Hog panel it works so much better. Here it is right after
planting and a couple of months later

View attachment 49424
View attachment 49423

Extremely nice looking raised beds. A great site that discusses using panels for raising tomatoes - and lots of other issues like the highly efficient solitary orchard mason bee - can be found on ....
https://www.growingagreenerworld.com/
thanks for sharing

 

[Telemark]

Sounds like a great rotation. What do you surround / contain your raised beds with??

Most are just old pallets. I get a lot of them for free. I also have some steel frames about a foot high. I will be making some new beds this year with treated 1x8

 

[Bill Loser]

What's everyone planting this year?
Last years produce sales were a success. Almost sold out of pumpkins and couldn't keep enough sweet corn out to keep up with demand. This year I picked up a planter and will expand the pumpkin and sweet corn crops.
I have about 18 types of tomato and 12 peppers started now. Probably 50 or so of each, next weekend will start more from seed. I won't plant all of them, just the best of each and probably sell/give away the rest to friends and family.
Planted another asparagus patch last year,and expanded another, also I tried planting a bunch with the wild patch I have growing in the front yard .
I'm going to try bows straw method to keep plants separated from the dirt. This year. The weeds last year were out of control!

 

[SD51555]

I've got plans.

*Build 2-3 new raised hugel beds. I'm not 100% sure on what's getting planted yet, but the theme for expansion this year is perennial fruit: Strawberries. I put in the elderberries last fall. Gonna try to isolate and nurture a wild patch of raspberries. Planting a bunch of chokecherry around the area where the yard meets the woods. Also need to track down some juneberries in the neighborhood and gather some cuttings possibly. There are enormous patches of JB in my country, but they get lost after the blossoms fall off.

*I've got a shitload of garlic I planted last fall. I got my hands on some 'music' garlic. Some lady at the office hooked me up with 4 bulbs and I got them interplanted into my asparagus bed, and more into another bed. Also putting the onions and sweetcorn in that same bed. It's got the best soil of any I have right now.

*I also bought some heirloom tomato strains I want to try. They are just bigger cherry tomatoes. Anything other than cherry takes up too much space for me and doesn't produce as much as the cherries. Also shooting for more green beans so I can get up to a can-able amount so I can have spicy pickled green beans.

*Last noteworthy thing I'm gonna try is planting a couple acres of squash and pumpkin. I've got conneticut field pumpkins, jumbo pink banana squash, acorn squash, and butternut squash. I'm planning to just drop seeds on the top of the soil and then cover them with a scoop of partially composted sawdust. Hoping it serves to boost germination and hold back the clover long enough to get the plants up above the clover. I tried it last year, but the drought made it tough, even with that mulch layer, for the plants to do anything.

 

[Barndog56]

I've got peppers, onions, broccoli, and cauliflower growing under the lights right now. I'll start the tomatoes in a couple of weeks. Then it'll be time for the cold-loving stuff outdoors like peas and lettuce. Expanding the amount of sweet corn and pumpkins. Pumpkins are getting tougher to sell around here as everyone seems to be doing it now. Don't think it's possible to grow enough sweet corn to actually part with some. Lol

Watermelons did better than expected last year, so adding more of those to go with the cantaloupe. Doubling our green beans as well. And growing more herbs like cilantro and basil.

I've got about a dozen varieties of perennial wildflowers from Prairie Moon cold stratifying in the fridge. Most of those will go out into the orchard to bring in more beneficials.

Dahlia tubers and rooted cuttings will start arriving shortly. We're expanding to about 70 varieties this year.

 

[Bill Loser]

Barndog, you had good success with watermelon? What's your secret? I've tried for 3 or 4 years now and best I've got was basketball size melons totally green in side. Plants were dead or dieing by that point.
I'm planting a half acre of just sweet corn so I can afford to let some go. Besides, I hate preserving corn.

 

[RGrizzzz]

Only new/interesting thing going into the garden is the new GMO purple tomatoes. Will grow one and give a few plants to friends and family.

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[Barndog56]

Barndog, you had good success with watermelon? What's your secret? I've tried for 3 or 4 years now and best I've got was basketball size melons totally green in side. Plants were dead or dieing by that point.
I'm planting a half acre of just sweet corn so I can afford to let some go. Besides, I hate preserving corn.

I start my watermelon inside around May 1, then transplant 4 weeks later. They need lots of time and warm soil when transplanted, and plenty of water. I grew Crimson Sweet last year.

We freeze our sweet corn right on the cob. Put it in the microwave for about 4 minutes with the husk on, then shuck, put in cold water, then freeze. Tastes great.

This was the final melon harvest just before our first freeze.

 

[Bill Loser]

Freeze it right on the ear? Never tried it, I will this year though.
I might try to start a few watermelons 1 last time. I usually just direct seed, but I'm farther south than you so I'm usually planting the garden early may