what to grow

[Shasha]

Has anyone decided what they will grow this year? Are you trying anything new?

[Edson]

My wife's decided to get into gardening this year. After kicking around some ideas, we came up with a divide-and-conquer plan. She's going to put in a "kitchen" garden, with greens, brassicas, herbs, snap beans, etc. Meanwhile I'm going to do a bigger "pantry" garden, with potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, dry beans, onions, carrots, popcorn and so on. With fewer things to keep track of, it re-energized my gardening bug...

[Shasha]

That is a great idea. We have two kitchen gardens now. I may have to use the one that is close to rhe house in one manner and use the other in a different. I had thought herb and garden, but now I think produce and pantry may be a better idea!

[Phil Plasma]

I will be growing mostly the same things as last year as I still have all of the seeds from last year. I documented how my gardening went last year at this page. There were Carrots, Chives, Cucumbers, Green Beans, Lettuce, Peas, Potatoes, Strawberries and Tomatoes.

I've been thinking about adding a blueberry patch in my front yard, but due to other circumstances I have a rather limited budget this year.

[Amy]

Seeds are ordered and I'm trying cabbage this year. I'm also contemplating cranberries.

[Jess]

I think separating out the gardens as you've suggested is a great idea. I'm somewhat limited by full sun / slightly shady differentiations. I'm trying out more vertical gardening using the fence to support beans and courgette; I plan to put a lot of beans in the front garden which is also full sun - but will passersby pinch the produce?

[7]

This year will be my first garden in several years. I'm looking to grow only non-hybrid varieties. We're going with the usual early greens and summer annual vegetables but this year we're looking at good winter keepers too. More beets, turnips, winter carrots and cabbage, squashes, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, jerusalem artichoke. We're also looking into low power ways to keep this food through the winter. Everything from mulched in the row to pits and root cellars. Fresh, nutritious veggies all winter....yum. May also try forcing some shoots and greens in the root cellar this winter.

I also want to try the three sisters (pole beans, corn, and squash) with some heirloom varieties.

[Matt Mayer]

Let's see...where to start???

I'm going to plant 3 apple trees, 3 cranberry bushes and 3 blueberry bushes. I think I had more but I can't remember the order right now...

I'm going to grow Austrian Field Peas to "hay" up for the chickens to help feed them through the winter. I'm also going to grow a fair amount of sunflower seeds to store for their winter rations. (I'm going to see if I can grow enough to feed them through the winter this year)

I'm planning to rent a 2nd city plot which will be turned over to partial field peas but also a 3 sisters garden on the other half. I'm hoping to be self sufficient for our squash needs through this planting. (I hope the plots don't flood again this year)

I'll be adding a large herb garden to the front yard along with a large planting of potatoes for storage purposes. I may grow the potatoes in tires, I'm not sure yet, and I have to get that past my wife still.

I have a trellis along the front of a privacy fence which I'm going to make into an actual garden this year instead of planting things and hoping they grow.

Provided I have time and money for all this.

[Chris]

I am interested in hearing more about your chicken feed operation Matt. Plans for storage... etc. You have got me interested.

[Matt Mayer]

Well, I'm making all this up, but here goes. According to Gene Logsdon it's not imperative that chicken feed be ground up or cracked.

http://organictobe.org/index.php/2008/11/11/feeding-catching-and-bu...

So, I was planning on letting the field peas grow and then hacking them off close to the ground. After they dry I'll bundle them up with some twine and stack them in the garage. I'll pull out a block each week as the winter goes on. These plants may not turn out to be that beneficial to eat, but they also will have peas in there for the chickens to find, which will provide protein, and give them something to do as they hunt for the peas. I'm also planning to hay up some of the grass from the lawn towards the end of the season to put out over the winter as well. So far the best idea I can come up with this is to bag up the clippings and spread them out on the driveway to dry. Then I'll put them into a trash can to save for the winter and I can grab out a handful or two every couple of days.

I am also planning to harvest the sunflower heads from the sunflowers and save the seeds to throw out there for them to eat. Not to mention all the biomass from the plant which they seem to eat; or at least they did last year when I pitched my Sunchoke stalks in their pen.

Hopefully this will allow me to cut back on the scratch grain I have to buy for them.

[MN_homesteader]

We are venturing into squash, pumpkins, and melons here. Also trying our hand at berries, shrooms, and expanding what we are starting from seed this winter/spring

[Sealander]

I'm trying mashua......which is a sort of climbing tuberous nasturtium....and achoecha, a climber with fruit that supposedly tastes like a green bell pepper. It's not really hot enough here to successfully grow a lot of pepers, so I'm hoping we can grow lots of these instead. Also trialling several varieties of pumpkin and squash as I haven't found one I like enough yet to settle on. This year it's Amish Pie, Long Island Cheese, Musquee de Provence pumpkins and Delicata squash. They're supposed to be rambling around my perennial garden but there is not a lot of growth yet.

[Janet Jinkner]

I've got my garden plan most of the way worked out, and it's mostly the same as last year. Especially since I've saved so much seed from last year. A short list includes: potatoes, onions/garlic/leeks, cabbage, green beans and dry beans, peas, carrots, cucumbers, melons, summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins, marigolds, calendulas, nasturtiums, poppies, parsley, basil, chicory, plus a few other incidentals. The apple trees are all well established already. I'm hoping for fruit from the peaches, pears, plums, and cherries this year. I also have a young almond tree, some wild filberts, and I'm planting a couple of pecan trees.

Last year I started a couple of brazilian pepper trees from seed. It may still be a couple years until they get in the ground, but I'm just tickled they came up at all. They look great. The pepper corn from a brazilian pepper tree is not what you buy at the store as black pepper, but it is a very good substitute. I've had 'em before, and you can't tell the difference, except that the dried berry is red. The seed inside is still black. Just grind up the whole thing. I tell ya, if there's anything I would miss after the end of the world, it's black pepper. I also have a young carob tree that Ihave high hopes for. That one also started from seed, but growing much slower. Pepper trees are very fast growers.

Matt, will your chickens eat whole peas? Mine won't. My goats and sheep will eat peas, so I have lots of dried field peas. The rabbits will eat them, but it's not their first choice. The chickens will ignore them, though. What they DO like is chard. If I'm not careful, they'll get into my garden and eat every bit of the chard and lettuce. Have you thought of growing amaranth for your chickens? I've thought about it but never gotten around to it yet. There are some very pretty varieties of amaranth that you could put in the flower garden, then dry for the chickens to eat in the winter. Love-lies-bleeding is one variety that I have always wanted to try but just haven't done yet.

Sealander, I discovered this past year that pumpkins and winter squash REALLY love the fertilizer. I started mine in the greenhouse. When I planted them out, I dug a hole, put barn bedding in the bottom of the hole, planted the plant, then put more "enhanced mulch" around it. I wound up the year with 360 # of winter squash and pumpkins. One of my pink bananas was 30# by itself, and I had a bix max pumpkin that was 40 #. I grew so much of them because my goat friends all told me that goats really like them in the winter. Just chuck one across the fence to them and they're happy. Well... SOMETIMES, that's true. Sometimes they'll just let them sit there until they rot. (That's OK. That's when the chickens eat them.) I've been drying a lot of them, though, and the goats (and sheep and rabbits) adore them. They also like dried summer squash and dried cucumbers. Finally, something productive to do with all that excess produce. Oh. Squash and pumpkins also take a LOT of water. Large pumpkins can take a gallon or more every day. I hope you're not in a drought area...