Ann.without.an.e Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 (edited) What I have in my cart(s) so far... Turnips: Tokinashi Carrots: Cosmic purple, white satin, koral Beans: Dragon tongue bush bean Cabbage: Suzhou baby bok choy, Brunswick Broccoli: Waltham 29 Cauliflower: Amazing Lettuces: Little gem, marveille des quatre saisons, parris Island, forellenschluss Greens: Five color silverbeet Swiss chard, dwarf Siberian kale, bloomsdale longstanding spinach, mustard greens Beets: Golden, Cylindra red Cucumber: early fortune Summer Squash: White Scallop, Fordhook zucchini Winter Squash: Honeynut Butternut Squash Potatoes: Adirondack Blue Garlic: Russian Red Hardneck Peppers: Anaheim, chocolate habanero, aji charapita, aji amarillo Herbs: cilantro, thai sweet basil, Genovese basil, greek oregano, bouquet dill I still need the following but want to try new varieties (recommendations please 🙂 )... white potato, sweet potato, acorn squash, tomatoes, onions, other things I can't remember now but I will remember and edit later lol. Edited December 20, 2022 by Ann.without.an.e 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 Tundra Hybrid spinach Nantes Carrots San Marzano tomatoes Derby Bush green beans Parade green onion Little Finger carrots Nellie Chives Salad Bowl Mixed Greens California wonder bell peppers Bellstar Hybrid Broccoli Sparkler Radishes Candy onions Wee B Little pumpkins Sparky cherry tomatoes Buttercrunch lettuce Sweet Basil Cleopatra Oregano Pretty N Sweet ornamental peppers Italian Plain leaf parsley My goal is that all of the raised beds will be devoted to bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, carrots, lettuce/spinach, radishes, and green beans. I have 12 decent size pots, two shepherds hooks that hold 4 pots each, and some oak stumps that I can sit pots on for summer so that I don't have any weed invasion for the other four, and they can be in the sun. Our back steps are shade in the morning and sun after lunch but not strong sun so I don't want to try to grow anything in pots there except maybe oregano which I have heard handles shade decently. The hanging pots will be devoted to green onions, chives, basil, and parsley. I have a patch of overgrown yard that we don't want to mow anymore. It is along a stone wall, very pretty, and the wall has iron spikes embedded into it, a leftover from the 1800's when folks needed to tie up their horses. I think it would be an okay spot for vining things. I also really do not care if anything grows or not other than I would prefer not to mow. So Mark is going to spade it up, flame throw it to kill weed seeds, and then we will add some compost, turn it under, and try those ornamental baby pumpkins. We will try the ornamental mini peppers in an old water trough we found which will make another raised bed . It is about 2 feet wide, 6 ft long, and 2 ft deep with a plug. So we can remove the plug so it drains, and then I also plan to have some garlic growing in there with just one of the ornamental peppers. We will see how I do. This is all so novel to me, and this plan is a huge undertaking. But I am so sick of the prices we are paying for absolutely terrible condition salad greens. I am also worried about some of my young adults possibly not eating as many vegetables as they would if living at home due to the rising prices of produce. On top of that, our youngest, a real foodie, is missing my homegrown herbs especially the basil. He is living in an apartment, but has noted that the balcony (big enough for four people in lawn chairs and a small grill) gets decent sun so he would like to try to grow some herbs and a cherry tomato. I am planning on sharing seeds with him as well as with our daughter. I want to share with my kids as much as I can, and there is an elderly neighbor who eats quite poorly due to poverty, and being mostly housebound. County elderly services bring him groceries once a week from the food pantry. It is a lot of pasta, hamburger helper (but they don't bring him hamburger) pasta dauce, canned soups, mac n cheese, ramen noodles, some canned veggies and fruit, tuna, and then usually a little dairy. It isn't great. I like to be able to drop of fresh things for him. She will have a spring garden due to how flipping hot it is from late June through August and then replant around Labor Day for some fall harvest. She will be getting some of these seeds too. Since she is busy chasing younglings, she is just going to have three beds of green beans, a lot of tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, herbs, green onions, and salad greens. We are going to spend three weeks with them in March, and will get the beds built pronto, and then order the soil and compost. With any luck, she will have seeds in by the end of the second week. She is going to start the tomato plants indoors in February. Fingers crossed. I would like to harvest 30 broccoli heads, 2 bushels of sauce tomatoes so I can make salsa, pasta sauce, and have jars of plain ones for making chili and other sauces, 4 quarts of dehydrated cherry tomatoes, bell peppers for eating fresh and for preserving, onions to eat as well as dehydrate, carrots to eat fresh but also to dice and freeze, green beans to can and freeze. I will buy more broccoli plus a bushel of sweet corn and some other things from my favorite Mennonite farmer/greenhouse, to shore up the fall harvest. He grows wonderful jalapenos so I can pick those up when I make salsa. I can also buy artichokes from him $1.50 each. I have been considering canning some for spinach/artichoke dip. We pay almost $4 a can for artichokes, and just about that much for fresh ones at the only grocery store that sells them. The last can I bought did not have good flavor. So ya, I am crazy enough to be considering taking on that crazy job too. My dehydrated apple rings are so crazy popular that the adult children and the grandchildren have gleaming eyes, maniacal eyes whenever they mention the apple tree. Woe to the apple tree if it both not produce abundantly again! September next year ya'll will be trying to keep me sane again. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 11 hours ago, Faith-manor said: ... That sounds amazing. I love all of your plans 🙂 I'm in a similar situation, I've always gardened but I'm taking on a much larger space this year, hoping to help all of our family grocery budgets (us plus the two dd's who are married and ds will be married in 2023 too). Food is just so expensive 😞 And I love to garden so if I can help and also enjoy a hobby then win-win. When the kids were younger I had a massive garden and it helped our grocery budget so much. I canned and froze things and I want to get back to that for so many reasons, budget only being one of them. This will be my first year growing in caterpillar tunnels and I'm super excited about it. DH is currently installing garden boxes within one of the large hoop houses so they are easier to work, we've had boxes outside of the hoop houses for years and we love using boxes, especially since our soil is heavy clay and sorta sucks. I'm so glad you shared your list, I forgot parsley and needed the reminder haha. Have you grown the San Marzano tomato before? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoVanGogh Posted December 20, 2022 Share Posted December 20, 2022 The dragon’s tongue bush bean was a favorite of mine this past year. I have always had a large garden (removed almost all of our sod 25+ years ago) but grew mostly ornamentals with some herbs and vegetables. After being diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s several years ago and clawing my way back to better health, I am shifting to growing mostly edible plants. We can garden year round in this area, though our record heat and drought this summer and now the forecast this week is challenging that. LOL I have only just started looking at what I will grow this year. I do know I will grow dragon’s tongue again and most likely just stick with cherry tomatoes. I tried so many tomato types this past year and most just did not do well. I am branching out to many perennial greens, after falling in love with the two that Baker Creek offers as live plants. They didn’t bat an eye at our 105+ degree days. I moved them inside for the winter and they are doing extremely well in our dining area. I have also had great luck at propagating them, so wanting to get more going and test outside in the ground and also share with other gardeners. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted December 20, 2022 Author Share Posted December 20, 2022 2 hours ago, GoVanGogh said: The dragon’s tongue bush bean was a favorite of mine this past year. I have always had a large garden (removed almost all of our sod 25+ years ago) but grew mostly ornamentals with some herbs and vegetables. After being diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s several years ago and clawing my way back to better health, I am shifting to growing mostly edible plants. We can garden year round in this area, though our record heat and drought this summer and now the forecast this week is challenging that. LOL I have only just started looking at what I will grow this year. I do know I will grow dragon’s tongue again and most likely just stick with cherry tomatoes. I tried so many tomato types this past year and most just did not do well. I am branching out to many perennial greens, after falling in love with the two that Baker Creek offers as live plants. They didn’t bat an eye at our 105+ degree days. I moved them inside for the winter and they are doing extremely well in our dining area. I have also had great luck at propagating them, so wanting to get more going and test outside in the ground and also share with other gardeners. That is wonderful. Your garden sounds great. I love Baker Creek and I order most of my seeds from them. I'm trying to order early this year since they ran out of stock on me last year some. We have hot days here too in the summer, what sort of perennial greens are you growing? Lettuce doesn't summer well here at all. We also grow more cherry tomatoes as our soil and slicing tomatoes don't love each other so much and we can't figure out why. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalmia Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 (edited) I live in Maine, so cold, short growing season. My (first, and probably won't be my last) order from FEDCO and Johnny's Selected Seeds. Asterix indicate tried and true varieties for me: Masai Bush Haricots VertQuincy Pinto Organic Shell & Dry BeanBlack Turtle Organic Shell & Dry BeanStrike Pea Shell PeaLincoln Shell PeaSassy Pickling Cucumber Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber*Naval Organic Main Season CarrotNewhall Main Season CarrotMokum Early CarrotCovina Organic BroccoliKing of the North Organic Sweet BellRevolution Sweet Bell PepperEarly Jalapeño Hot PepperAmish Paste Organic Paste Tomato San Marzano Paste Tomato* Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato* Blacktail Mountain Watermelon Georgian Fire Garlic* Dark Red Norland Organic Early Season Potato* Red Maria Organic Mid-Season Potato Stuttgarter Onion Sets Red Baron Onion Sets Red Pontiac Late Season Potato Edited December 21, 2022 by Kalmia 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 I haven’t gotten to varieties yet. I’m trying to adapt my original plan to a smaller footprint since we decided to keep more scrub brush between us and the mentally unstable neighbor. I know I want to can pasta and pizza sauce next year, so that’ll be a big focus. And I hope to get lots of berries going in the front yard, for us but also in hopes that animals will be less interested in harder to get food in the backyard. I’m on a pear kick, so my tree plan is in flux. I do want lots of different potatoes! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 22 hours ago, GoVanGogh said: The dragon’s tongue bush bean was a favorite of mine this past year. I have always had a large garden (removed almost all of our sod 25+ years ago) but grew mostly ornamentals with some herbs and vegetables. After being diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s several years ago and clawing my way back to better health, I am shifting to growing mostly edible plants. We can garden year round in this area, though our record heat and drought this summer and now the forecast this week is challenging that. LOL I have only just started looking at what I will grow this year. I do know I will grow dragon’s tongue again and most likely just stick with cherry tomatoes. I tried so many tomato types this past year and most just did not do well. I am branching out to many perennial greens, after falling in love with the two that Baker Creek offers as live plants. They didn’t bat an eye at our 105+ degree days. I moved them inside for the winter and they are doing extremely well in our dining area. I have also had great luck at propagating them, so wanting to get more going and test outside in the ground and also share with other gardeners. I have trouble getting any kind of bulk slicing or canning/slicing tomato to produce more than just three or four tomatoes per plant, but the cherry tomatoes are absolutely prolific. I am trying again one last time, and besides compost, plan on using some tomato fertilizer in the raised beds for the San Marzanos in the hopes they flourish. But I know that there is a good chance I am off to the Mennonite farm store and orchard for two bushels of sauce tomatoes in the fall. I am also only willing to try by growing from seed myself because buying 15 tomato plants is now getting expensive, and don't want to spend that money when the probability of success is low. I will start them indoors in April, put them out the third weekend of May, and cover them at night if it is going to be too cool. Or, I might totally bomb the whole endeavor since I have never tried starting my own plants from seed! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ann.without.an.e Posted December 21, 2022 Author Share Posted December 21, 2022 10 hours ago, Kalmia said: I live in Maine, so cold, short growing season. My (first, and probably won't be my last) order from FEDCO and Johnny's Selected Seeds. Asterix indicate tried and true varieties for me: Masai Bush Haricots VertQuincy Pinto Organic Shell & Dry BeanBlack Turtle Organic Shell & Dry BeanStrike Pea Shell PeaLincoln Shell PeaSassy Pickling Cucumber Little Leaf Pickling Cucumber*Naval Organic Main Season CarrotNewhall Main Season CarrotMokum Early CarrotCovina Organic BroccoliKing of the North Organic Sweet BellRevolution Sweet Bell PepperEarly Jalapeño Hot PepperAmish Paste Organic Paste Tomato San Marzano Paste Tomato* Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato* Blacktail Mountain Watermelon Georgian Fire Garlic* Dark Red Norland Organic Early Season Potato* Red Maria Organic Mid-Season Potato Stuttgarter Onion Sets Red Baron Onion Sets Red Pontiac Late Season Potato Love your list and fedco looks awesome, I'd never heard of them. I may have to do some shopping there 🙂 4 hours ago, Carrie12345 said: I haven’t gotten to varieties yet. I’m trying to adapt my original plan to a smaller footprint since we decided to keep more scrub brush between us and the mentally unstable neighbor. I know I want to can pasta and pizza sauce next year, so that’ll be a big focus. And I hope to get lots of berries going in the front yard, for us but also in hopes that animals will be less interested in harder to get food in the backyard. I’m on a pear kick, so my tree plan is in flux. I do want lots of different potatoes! Do you have any potato varieties in mind? I'm still trying to decide. I know I want Adirondack Blue but I can't decide on the others. 35 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: I have trouble getting any kind of bulk slicing or canning/slicing tomato to produce more than just three or four tomatoes per plant, but the cherry tomatoes are absolutely prolific. I am trying again one last time, and besides compost, plan on using some tomato fertilizer in the raised beds for the San Marzanos in the hopes they flourish. But I know that there is a good chance I am off to the Mennonite farm store and orchard for two bushels of sauce tomatoes in the fall. I am also only willing to try by growing from seed myself because buying 15 tomato plants is now getting expensive, and don't want to spend that money when the probability of success is low. I will start them indoors in April, put them out the third weekend of May, and cover them at night if it is going to be too cool. Or, I might totally bomb the whole endeavor since I have never tried starting my own plants from seed! For some reason cherry tomatoes grow like crazy for us too but we have so little luck with large ones. Heat mats help with starting tomatoes indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted December 21, 2022 Share Posted December 21, 2022 2 minutes ago, Ann.without.an.e said: Do you have any potato varieties in mind? I'm still trying to decide. I know I want Adirondack Blue but I can't decide on the others. Not a one yet. I know I want white, yellow, sweet, some big, and some little. January will be spent browsing catalogs and websites! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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