Peas, stringbeans, and lima beans. These all get planted as soon as I am able to do the tilling, and set down the fabric mulch weed blocker.

I'm harvesting some winter veggies for soups now, and my cabbages are beginning to head - for sauerkraut.

The strawberries are starting to form and had 4 ripe ones so far - they are looking good if the weather will stay warm. If not, there are local U-pick farms for them, and I froze a lot of lemon cubes for adding to jams, jellies from our trees.

Inside - I have 10 pottings of various peppers under lights - to harden outside - perhaps by mid-March, and hope to try those nice pepper powders and habanero jellies, that were such a rave here last year.

Some variety tomatoes - heirlooms, cherry types are already big enough and outside in a warm shady place being hardened, and will plant as soon as the early veggies are pulled - perhaps dry a few more this year - and hope to have an outside dehydrator going then.

The early snow/snap peas are beginning to slow now, but along with bok choy still good for a few stir fries. When they give up the space, will re-compost and plant the tomatoes there and beans perhaps.

I must remember to plant more pickling cukes and perhaps some dill as well - we ate a lot of dills from last years harvest (such a big difference having fresh picked cukes for making pickles - who needs crispers?).

The white wine vinegar for the dilly beans is fermenting on the shelf and should be ready by April for the May/June bean crop - hopefully.

It is my hope that I can find sources for more fruits this year - apples, peaches, pears, apricots. While we have trees - they don't always produce well enough for our use. Most of our trees are still young - and those very old are in need of replacing. Will really miss that Satsuma plum tree that fell over from termite damage - a very heavy producer.

Bejay

Have I made plans? Sure. But they change several times daily. I need to buy Rhode Island so I have enough room to grow all the things I want to.

For putting by, priorities are beans, tomatoes, and cukes. And I'm hoping to expand the culinary herb garden this season as well.

Plans also include putting in a couple of plum trees. And the fig should, the Mother willing, bear for the first time this year.

Gardenlad described my plans almost to a T. The only exceptions are that I don't plan to put tomatoes by and I don't have a fig tree.

Most of the stuff I grow is for fresh eating. I don't can as much as many other members of this site. I will dry and freeze some beans, just the special ones which aren't readily available for purchase at a cheap price such as pintos and cannallini. Store bought canned tomatoes will also satisfy my needs unless someone persuades me that I can get better taste from home grown canned tomatoes.

Cucumbers are a top priority this year. I will plant Boston Pickling for both fresh use and for pickles. The discussions with jt and others over the past few months have made me determined to perfect my fermented dill pickle method. Home grown cukes are essential.

I need a dedicated herb garden, not just a few herbs planted among the veggies. I have a plan for it and it will happen this year.

I planted a Stanley plum several years ago which hasn't been productive. It's anemic and needs some TLC. That also will receive attention this summer. Stanley plums are my favorites.

Now, regarding your plans for Rhode Island gardenlad, all of us gardeners understand your predicament. But I have a question. How long will you remain satisfied with such a small state?

So many seeds, so little soil.

Jim

Gardenlad,
My two year fig has had many last summer. Its the brown turkey type and is now in its winter location in my attached, mostly unheated garage. I water it every week, using vaious liquid fertilizers too. Once the weather is warmer in late April, it goes outside in back. Its usually strating to show fruits about mid July and they continue up through the end of August. I pull it back into the garage about mid September, early October.

I forgot to mention broccoli and brussels sprouts which are also favorites, but I cannot enjoy either as they contain too much potassium, just like peppers and tomatoes. Cukes do well, and every year I grow mammoth dill that gets up to 5-6 feet tall. Sometimes it spreads its seeds and they come up at the edges of the garden. Permenent items like asparagus are also very good for a patch area. I will be adding to mine, by doing a few seed startings now and planting in mid May next to the rest of the patch.

Tomatoes, cukes and beans..anything and everything..I have not had a garden for 2 years due to moving and relocating and finally settling in Maine.. I have to start an asparagus bed and strawberries.. I am literally starting from scratch so I have ordered enough seeds for a small state..lol.. I have ordered fruit trees and I put off on the fig tree but after reading ksrogers post I think I now can manage one overwintering in the garage, or I hope too..I am totally new to this New England growing season and have alot to learn! I am very concerned about such a short growing season up here and I have diligently sought seeds for this area and climate.. We lived in Mass. a year before buying this house and I wondered if limas were a growing option..I love them and I miss them but think unless new strains for earlier harvest are made available I will not get a fresh lima anytime soon..I really wanted to try the "Big Mama" lima but found they are sold out.. so I do have some of the bush lima beans which will be almost better than nothing.. and SQUASH, I got to have summer squash and I sure do not want to pay $1.99 a pound for it in the stores when its in season! Fresh vegetables are extremely high priced or they are to me up here. I lived in Mo. for 17 years and had a nice long growing season and guess I just did not appreciate how much I saved growing my own veggies...I do now. Wish me luck cause I am rearing to get in the dirt!

Tomatoes, corn, peppers. Berries - I have some strawberries and raspberries, but not enough to preserve, so have to find pick-your-own places. Peaches and apricots and cherries, I love, but they don't grow here, so I purchase from the Peach Guy who brings them in. Apples in abundance. Pears I buy from the Apple Man.

Jimster, can we have an ongoing thread/discussion about perfecting the fermented pickles? I tried those two years ago with satisfactory but not outstanding results, last year every batch I tried failed. Now DH has said he will take over this task. We are very eager to perfect these as well.

Eggplants, now that I have found a way to preserve them. I am hoping my horseradish takes off this year. My asparagus should be ready for harvest this year.

I can't even remember what else....

mscratch,

Figs are fairly hardy, but because your in Maine, it may be a bit later to set the plant outdoors. Some people do plant in outside soil all year round, and even for that, they can survive down the cold of Z5. Only problem is, the tree can freeze and die on its branches, but if there is enough life in the roots, will send up another new shoot for the next spring. By the time the new shoot has a decent size though, the tree will get frozen due to the next winter, so thats why I bring it itn during the winter. Mine had one of these small shoots emerging from the soil nearby the main trunk, and I plucked it out, only to find it was just too young to survive on its own. MIne is planted in a 20"x20" square pot about 25 inches deep, and is on wheels. But once I move it in and out, it needs to be handled by a two wheel hand truck . Its weight right now is about 50 pounds (in its soil). The height is only about 4 foot tall. It needs no spraying or any protection from disease. No flowers form, only the very sweet fruits. I expect that this year I should get maybe twice what I got last summer. That summer, I got a good sized quart of them, but the ripening was just a couple at a time.

My asparagus patch has been enlarged about 4 times in the last 6 years. Now, I usually get a few pounds on a single picking in the middle of the season. I never cut any spear under pencil size in diameter. Most are not bigger than that. Once the end of June comes, I stop, and let the rest to to full growth ferns, which get cut off in late fall once they die out. I do NOT compost these. I also apply a liberal coat of corn gluten in spring and in fall. Its helped my patch stay neary weed free from year to year, and gives the 'gus plenty of nitrogen. A few of my 'gus plants are female so I get some seed pods that I replant in soil for expanding every year or two. The 'gus start to sprout about mid April.

As to a fermented pickle, the short version is a half sour. Simple to make the brine, by just mixing salt (pickling type of course) and water so that the brine isn't too salt or bitter, and not under salty when it tastes bland. The middle (ideal) point is almost a mouth watering taste. Add plenty of dill and garlic and then pack the fresh trimmed ends pickling cukes in a big jar and cover them with the brine. Let sit out at room temp for about 2-3 days, then add a small dash of vinegar, and place in the fridge where they keep for many months. I still have almost a whole half gallon jar loaded with them. Goes great with tuna fish sandwiches and other lunch favorites. The taste is similar to a Claussen half sour, if your into those. I also sometimes use a prepared pickle mix like Mrs. Wages or Ball, as these contain a lot more flavorings of dill compared to the fresh seeds and weed.

mscratch,
Many of the vegetables we grow as annuals are native to far warmer regions where they are perennial. So length of growing season need not be terribly important. Have you visited the Bean forum? There is a discussion there about growing limas in New England. We'll be scratching the dirt soon!

prairie love,
Why not have an ongoing thread about fermented pickles? There have been a few very active threads on that and related topics here on the Harvest forum already, notably those lead by john__showme__usa. Fermentation on purpose, as MellyoftheSouth calls it, seems an appropriate topic for this forum. See you here when the first cukes start to ripen.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Lima Beans in New England

Fermented pickles have been discussed ingreat length in recent months, all the way back to the beginning of last year. Suggest you do a search for the info.

I had decent luck with fordhook and a couple of other lima varieties. All were very tender when cooked. Some were bigger than others and most pods had at least 4 beans inside. Yes, I agree that tey are quite bushy with lots of leaves, but you do get a decent quantity if you plant a couple of 20 foot rows. Even though a couple of the types I grew claimed to be a bush variety, they all grew long vines and went everywhere I put string and trellising up. I do like to use a bean innoculent for the stringbeans, limas and peas. This is a freeze dried, granulated product that you sprinkle into the planting holes when adding the seeds. It helps to increase the ability for the plants to get more nitrogen uptake. It does remain in the soil once its put in. The only thing though, is I till deeply every year, so any formation of nodules in the soil will get dispursed once the soil has been disturbed. Also, I don't plant beans or peas in the same area twice. I got a good sized gallon bag of shelled lima beans from my two 15 foot rows 2 years ago. Last year, I only planted about 6 plants in a very small area, so I only got about a quart or so.

Its becoming difficult to find store bought limas either fresh or frozen. I just hate the canned ones..

I prefer the pole limas over the bush variety but I will grow the bush to just get limas.. I most definitely will pot the fig(s) up if I decide on ordering some.. there is no way they would ever survive a winter up here in the ground, I am barely surviving in the house! lol.. does it matter what brand of bean innoculant that I use? Is the innoculants the same for both beans and peas? I dont recall ever using innoculants but I sure want to get a good start on planting and any advice is very welcome. I would like to grow eggplant but have not decided if I should pot them or try them in the garden..I do know I will have to start my seeds inside. I guess I could try both ways with the amount of seeds I have! What I would normally direct seed into a garden is just not practical in this area as I would not have a long growing season and its doubtful I would get the plants in this area from other sources..I have figured that I must start my seeds for tomatoes,peppers, etc. by the second week of March in order to get them set out by the last of May or beginning of June.. I can direct seed the radish and lettuce and green beans and spinach and carrots.. I am not sure about the summer yellow squash but I think I can direct seed those also.. I do have a couple of neighbors that have gardens but they seem to have to replant everything twice..okay, sometimes that does happen..One man mounded his tomatoes so high I was speechless?? is this a practice that insures a better crop, as his crop was really pitiful..I have never seen so much soil banked up around a tomato...that dirt was so high it looked like termite mounds..

The link below will take you to a lively discussion of legume innoculent which occured last fall on the Bean forum.

Jim

Here is a link that might be useful: Legume Innoculent

Tomatoes are not planted in mounds. The reason they did that was probably an old wives tale. Use a decent fertlizer for the tomatoes and make sure they get plenty of sunlight, and your usually going to get a decent amount. Because of some soil borne pathogens, tomatoes do have problems surviving in the same area they were planted in after several years. The soil holds onto things like septoria leaf spot and some other nasties, like a black fungus. Crop rotation will help some, but doesn't solve the infections every summer. Root crops do best when directly seeded in soil, as do most eggplant varieties and yellow squash (I prefer the crooked neck variety). Peas and beans do use the same innoculent mostly, and it just increases chances of the formation of the proper kinds of enzymes to help the roots of beans/peas to absorb more nitrogen. The more absorbed nitrogen, the more they produce the peas and beans. As mentioned before, because I roto till deeply every year, the soil has been broken down quite a bit, so any nodule formations are usually destroyed. I also start my indoor seedlings about the beginning of March, and that includes flowers like impatens and petunias, which are grown for the front of my house. The innoculent I buy is from Gurneys, and comes in a shaker can. The cost is minimal, and after a few years of using it for my peas and beans, I have found it invaluable for their higher yields. Last summer, out of 6 each of purple, Kentucky, and red noodle pole type beans, I froze several gallons of the beans, and gave away about the same amount. I actually had no more room in the freezer, and pulled up, and composted, the rest of them. I suspect that the highly mounded soil around the tomatotes was probably to help them root more, as they do send off a lot of roots off the lower parts of the stems. He probably also tried to use sterilized soil in hopes of averting the diseases from getting to the leaves of the tomato plants. If you like broccoli, start the plants indoors too. They do love cooler weather, and do quite well even down to Z4.
For the fig, its the Brown Turkey variety that does best in a colder climate.

My garden plan is done and hopefully done for good. We are starting from seed this year an asparagus bed, of course that won't show much for 2 or 3 years. But the seedlings are kinda cute any way.
I am growing all the standards for canning including carrots,squash, greens, parsnips, potatoes tomatoes and green beans. We can many quarts of mixed veggies every year.I am working on a herb bed this year too, but more for tea than regular cooking.

veggiecanner -

I noticed in your post that you can mixed vegetables a lot.

Last year, I canned quite a few quarts and pint size carrot/onion/celery mixes. They were OK. But I wonder if you have any helpful hints for processing these. I used the Blue Ball Book for processing in the pressure canner, but I would have liked the finished product to be less "overcooked" - so that I can add the opened product to other cooked dishes - say added to a pot pie or stew.

This type of use, makes the pie or stew veggies taste a bit overdone. Perhaps there is no way to get around this, but I thought I'd ask - as you may have picked up a few good pointers along the way.

I recently made some chicken pies - with top crust only, using some pressure canned chicken and the veggies above. I opened a jar of canned chicken broth and then added a can of cream of chicken soup to help the gravy flavor. Also a few frozen peas/carrots. Baked 450 till crust browned.

It wasn't bad but still feel "overcooked" came to mind.

I'm still new to the pressure canning. But if some things are better frozen, then so be it.

Bejay

For canning, preserving, and winter storage:

- tomatoes (many varieties)
- peppers (ditto, sweet and hot)
- onions
- herbs (basil, sweet marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc.)
- beans

Those vegetables provide the basic ingredients for salsa, pasta sauce, and stew/chili starter.

I've already got eggplants sprouting indoors. Most of it will be eaten fresh, but I want to make fire-roasted eggplant salad, too. I love it, but have never made it before.

I grow tons of other vegetables, but most will be eaten fresh. I grow summer and winter squash, and if the latter produces and abundant crop, I'll put some away for winter. I especially love spaghetti squash and butternut.

I grow cucumbers as well, but don't pickle any. I eat them all up in yummy summer Bulgarian recipes such as tarator (a cold soup) and shopska salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, and brined cheese).

Last year we had a bumper crop of muskmelons, but again we ate it all fresh. I always grow greens (chard, collards, kale, mustard, etc.) and root vegetables (rutabaga, carrots, turnips) too.

Because I don't opwn a pressure canner, I usually don't can any veggies, other than acidic ones like pickles and tomatoes. I may try doing some roasted red peppers this year however. They only contain salt, water and citric acid. I would assume that once the are skinned and are prepared in a citric acid based liquid, they would be safe to can in whole pieces. Love the store bought ones, but many are just way too soft to give you any decent texture.

I much prefer to freeze things like corn, peas, etc. as they offer a better color and flavor when cooked. When cooking, they simply get poured into a covered ceramic (microwave type) dish, with NO WATER added. The end result is a really flavorful veggy, and I usually drain out the residual water that will come from the veggies.

I've also planned, then planned again. LOL

What are my prioritie?

For canning I need tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers. Dill for pickles and cilantro and peppers for salsa. Asparagus gets frozen.

For winter storage I need butternut squash, potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, parsnips, garlic.

For fresh eating I have to plant radishes, swiss chard, sweet corn, SunGold tomatoes.

There are a couple of things that do double duty, like tomatoes for canning and eating fresh, as well as for fried green tomatoes. My cabbage gets made into sauerkraut, but a couple of heads are stored in the root cellar. Apples are stored, become applesauce and are also pressed into cider. Rhubarb gets frozen or eaten fresh as do the cherries, strawberries and blueberries.

This year's plans include a couple of apricot trees and I'm hoping my goosberries actually bear this year, it'll be their third year planted. I'm still buying peaches to can, my trees are on their second year but doing well. I get all the pears I want from a friend with a pear tree.

I forgot lettuce, gotta plant some of that too....

Annie

My biggest crop is sweet corn. Most frozen and some canned with tomatoes. We cann a lot of tomatoes and make cocktail juice for drinks. I should have about 175 # of thornless blackberries to sell and freeze. I do a lot of brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli. I grow Yukon Gold potatoes and cann with green beans or just by themself. Make french fries and fry till allmost done, then freeze. Everything else is for fresh eating. Hope everyone has a good year. Last year was the worst garden I have had in 55 years. I am going to hit the weather man where it hurts if he does this to me again.

Planted a fig tree this morning and I've ordered an alvacodo and banana tree. How's that for Long term planning?

Well, Belinda, that's what gardening is all about.

To plant a seed means to believe that tomorrow will come.

Before I order seeds I have to take an inventory of the left-overs from last year. I hate that part!
I am enjoying the mixed vegs that I cooked and froze in pints and half-pints last summer, consisting of tomatoes, summer squash, beans, peppers, basil (and the later ones include giant puffball mushroom). In addition to these, I hope to plant green soybeans, okra, eggplant and more basil!

I forgot to mention what is probably my highest priority for this year, parsnips. They are a favorite vegetable in my family. I've tried to grow them a couple of times and had very poor germination. However, last time I grew them I got enough at least to save seed. I am determined to get everything right this time and have a bumper crop.

Parsnips! Yay!

Jim

When I can mixed veggies I only can them for the longest time needed. I was adding corn meat,and dryed beans and canning them all together as a mix, They had that over canned feeling to them.
Now I have what I call a 40 minute mix. carrots, potatoes, onion celery, summer squash, snap beans and any thing else that is 40 minutes or less. Quart jars work for this.
Then i can seperate canner loads of pints of tomatoes, beans, corn, and meat. When it is time to fix dinner I asemble assorted jars of food mix and match to make different dishes.
White beans soup made up of canned beans, mixed veggies and a jar of canned pork cubes or ham cubes depending on what we are in the mood for. We don't eat much cured meat any more because of the salt.
I have to can, my freezer is just too small.

Veggiecanner, I'm starting to mix and match. I canned some basic meat and veg mix late last year and have used 7 jars so far. It was nice to add a can of rotel tomatoes to a jar of mix and heat. My hubby had neck surgery and it was convenient to fix him a meal which was soft enough for him to eat with a little spicy heat.

I also used one of my quart jars of pear pie filling for a pie. Made me look so efficient. I've been busy because I'm a tax preparer plus doing all of his jobs and he needs extra care. I have a turkey I need to cook up and can. It should work for numerous meals spread out over a year and taste much better than store bought canned chicken and be cheaper.

When I roast a turkey or big chicken, and there's lots left over, I will make a batch of gravy and mix the chopped meat chunks into it along with frozen vegetables like peas, corn and carrots. Also some partially cooked diced potatoes. These all get put into prepared pie shells and are covered with dough, bagged, and frozen. A hearty pie takes an hour to bake at about 425-450 degrees, if its been baked after coming right out of the freezer.

Most of the veggies now coming off - snap peas, broccoli, choys, onions, beets, spinach - cool weather stuff - are being eaten fresh - but if we can't eat all of it, I'm making soup bases and veggie type soups for the freezer.

I recently ground up enough sausage for 12 lbs worth, but had some nice bones with lots of meat left over on them - so tried browning the meat and put into a crock pot with whatever veggies I had left that missed the stir fry pot.

This pork meat - as Ken mentioned in one of his posts, happened to have a couple of bones in it - so didn't get quite as much grindings - but salvaged anyway as a lot of tender meats came off the bones. I browned those bones in the oven and added to the stock pot.

Every time I walk past that stock pot, it gets "addings" and it is beginning to smell and taste pretty great.

Some of the addings -

A few potatoes that were beginning to sprout.
Ditto for carrots.
Handful of snap peas - that didn't make the stir fry.
A couple of small hot sauces from the take-out burritos we had for lunch.
A few garlic cloves that were getting a bit soft - the rest were sprouting - so planted them.
Multiplier onions that were thinned out a bit - straight from the garden.
Some chopped cabbage leaves from thinnings, and a few beets that missed last week's soup.

To that, I seasoned with the left over spices that I ground up last year - my own blend of - I think - dill, thyme, oregano, basil and some lemon/pepper salt - that was also home dried this past summer.

I may add some dried cherry tomatoes - from last year's harvest, and vowed to do preserve a few more this year (and started a few more cherry type seedlings with high hopes).

The pepper seedlings that I need for the dried pepper powders are all doing well - in their little seedling cups - and the window sill is doing the job just fine, so retired the grow light in the pantry. (Saves a little electricity maybe - and works quite well - so long as the sun isn't too high yet. But need to watch it, as weather is warming up and they might cook otherwise).

Most of my tomato starts are hardened and planted - doing well. We had one of our Santa Ana conditions yesterday. I kind of like those warm easterly winds off the desert, but they dry the plants and soil very quickly - so they need extra watering early in the day.

Along with the warm weather, of course, comes bugs. I caught the aphis moving in on my cabbages - so made some hot pepper/soap spray and gave them "what for." That seemed to clean them out well. (Hot pepper spray - same as that we get from the burrito place in those little take-out cups - doing double duty -grin).

The new compost pile is almost finished - will need some for the cukes and cantaloupes I want to have ready for April plantings - as they need direct seeding. Hopefully, the seeds I planted last year will still be fresh enough - so need to try a few in damp towels.

Just my 2 c's.

Bejay