In addition to my tomatoes, herbs and some veggies, I am growing ramps, Crocus sativus (for saffon), yuzu orange, Meyer Lemon.

dcarch

I am always missing tomatoes. I will grow some of the same things I have in the past but leave some others off the list.

On the growing list I have at least 10 types of tomatoes. Five types of radishes, two types of celery and my ginger plant plus another will go back outside when it's warm. I won't grow fennel bulb this year - I'll just buy it when I need it. Nantes carrots!!!!! Only one vendor at the Farmer's Market has had them in 20 years so I will grow my own as I have in the past. Mammoth dill for pickling and for floral bouquets. Sweet banana peppers and garlic. I have two types of strawberries at the moment and adding a third in the spring. I also have rhubarb, raspberries and lingonberries. My fruit will produce enought to eat and make flavored vinegars. I don't can jellies because I rarely eat them.

In the past I have grown many types of cukes, summer and winter squash and melons. Not anymore because the vines take over my yard and don't produce enough. My yard is very sunny and I have squished onto my quarter acre lot several hundred hosta varieties. Yes - you can grow hostas in the sun in Minnesota!!! The vegetables are mixed throughout the yard as well as in pots on both decks. Celery, ginger, banana peppers, tomatoes and dill and other herbs do extremely well in pots for me.

Windchills may reach -30 tonite and dreaming of gardening is a good thing!

I grow some of the same things, and some new things every year.

I grow several types of tomatoes, always at least one new variety. My garlic is already planted, as is rhubarb. I'll grow purple carrots this year, I had some recently and really liked them, as well as turnips, parsnips and rutabaga. Sweet corn, Red Pontiac potatoes, cucumbers, watermelon and muskmelon, pumpkins, butternut squash, beets, snap peas sweet peppers, habaneros for Elery and for Habanero Gold. Did I forget pink half runner beans, Royal Burgundy, some yellow wax beans, onions, shallots and kale? This year I'm trying celeriac and bok choy, I was not successful with the bok choy last year. Oh, and tomatillos, they did wonderfully here last year, the first time I've grown them. Some kind of lettuce, although I don't eat it if I can help it, Elery loves it, and radishes because I use them as "markers" for my rows of slower germinating things like carrots and parsnips.

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it. Oh wait, zucchini, eggplant, cabbage and Brussels sprouts!

Annie

I've been working on my garden plan and some gardening talks I'm giving this spring. I am ready for some garden dreaming!
Teresa your list is inspiring for a small yard, way to go!

Some old favorites I'm looking forward to next summer include:
Piracicaba Broccoli
Tipoff Romanesco
Graffiti Cauliflower
Violet Queen Cauliflower
Cheddar Cauliflower
Diva Cucumber
Regina di Maggio lettuce
Gonzales Cabbage
Mokum Carrot
Super Zagross Middle Eastern Slicing Cucumber
Costata Romanesca Zucchini
Arugula
Bright Lights Chard

Due to some bug and disease issues, there's quite a few things I'm not growing this year, but hope to again for 2014. Things I will be growing are lots of beans, broccoli, collards, kale, lettuces and herbs (basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, & marjoram). Some of my favorite beans to grow are Cherokee Trail of Tears (pole), Lazy Housewife (pole), Tongue of Fire (pole) and Roma II (bush). Chinese cabbage did well too last year. So I'll be growing that as well.

We planted garlic last fall. I'm going to do Sungold tomatoes again. They were a huge success last year. The other tomatoes fell victim to the marauding rabbits so I don't know if I want to bother with them again.

I always do Thai basil, sometimes lemon and cinnamon as well. This thread reminds me that I can start salad greens soon, perhaps in a week or two. I tried microgreens last year, with mixed results. They grow quickly, but yield is tiny, only suitable for a little garnish. I'll probably do them until I finish off the seeds.

I don't grow any other vegetables. I have big bushes of rosemary and thyme, and parsley that self-seeds. I put in oregano, tarragon and sage last year. We'll see if they come back. I tried garlic chives as well but these lost the battle with the quail and rabbits.

Cheryl

All the usual stuff, like tomatoes, beans, baby watermelons, peppers of all kinds, and the usual suspects. But this year I want to increase my herb garden. I want to grow tons of Basil to make pesto for the winter, and I want to grown Thai basil, Thai Bird peppers, lemon grass, and some other things for Asian cooking (particularly Thai and Vietnamese) that I can't easily find most of the time.

Tomatoes of course, but I've got more room this year so I'm happy. I may even have enough room for a tiny hand pollinated patch of corn. I found some Musica bean seed this year. Nobody seemed to have it last year, but it's been very productive for me in the past as well as tasty. We moved too late to get any peas or favas planted. I've already planted some young artichoke starts and four fruit trees.

I'm planting ornamentals too, but they aren't nearly as interesting as food.

Mabel, I notice that you are growing Costata Romanesca Zucchini. Have you grown it before? I am growing it for the first time this year because of the high recommendations it gets for flavor. Last summer I grew Cocozelle, which was pretty good. My all time favorite summer squash is Yellow Crookneck. It has wonderful flavor.

Along with tomatoes, radishes and a few other of the usual must haves, I like to grow edamame, daikon, cowpeas and a few varieties of pole beans. A good pole snap bean is Fortex.

An outstanding lettuce is Nevada. It makes big, loose, crisp heads and holds for a very long time in the garden without bolting. Everyone who has grown it is crazy about it.

A radish I have found to be reliable, even in somewhat warm weather, is French Breakfast. It's pretty and good tasting.

Jim

Here are some specific varieties I'm gonna try (tomato seeds are in starter cells, haven't sprouted yet):

Tomatoes:
Cherokee Purple
Stump o' the world
Opalka
Arkansas Traveler
Black Krim
Black Cherry
Mortgage Lifter
Wins All
Brandy Boy (Burpee Hybrid)
Marianna's Peace

Beans: Musica (from Renee's), Fortex, Gold of Bacao

Melons: Charentais, Ha'Ogen

Cucumbers: Armenian cucumber, Garden Oasis, Baby Persian, Japanese Soarer Hybrid

Miscellaneous: Red Malabar Spinach, two varieties of Bitter Melon

If anyone has experience with any of these, feel free to offer tips. (I'm almost exactly on the dividing line between 7b and 8a) I may have tried to start my tomato seeds a bit early; the house is still a tad chilly (in high 60's) and I didn't get a heating pad for them.

On the California gardening forum, we were talking about gardening burnout because we do not get periods of rest and have to work in the garden all year. It is particularly important in the wet season (winter) to keep oxalis under control, which is close to impossible. It seems easier to garden when the days are longer, and that makes winter that much more difficult to keep up with.

I have thought about what I want to plant for this spring/summer, and I have decided to omit tomatoes, although I will probably scatter some tomato seeds and let them fend for themselves. I have volunteer cilantro already growing in a couple of pots, but I will also plant more seeds. I will also continue to grow the required chilies, but the plants I have are still producing chilies, and I will not replace them until they stop. I tend to buy chili plants rather than seeds - I can't remember whether the seeds germinate well or not, but the basil seeds do. The Greek and Italian oreganos that I have do not need to be replanted, but the English thyme does, although I have tons of dried thyme that I harvested, and I find it much easier to use. It takes no effort to grow, however, and so I will get another plant. The mint and rosemary plants are doing fine, but the epazote is scraggly and I am hoping it will reseed itself.

My back yard is too small to grow vegetables, and so I just limit it mostly to fruit. My blood oranges should be getting ripe soon, but my papaya trees are not doing well - perhaps they do not like being in a pot.

I'm trying to root some galangal, but I'm not sure how much I will end up using it. I have a lot of dried galagal as well as frozen, and so I might not need it. I know the flavor is different, but I do not mind substituting regular ginger for it, and I like the flavor or regular ginger better. That's not true for Kaffir lime, but I already have the lime tree and have been using it.

I would like to try growing tumeric, but I will have to look for it. I might find growing galangal and tumeric plants at the San Gabriel nursery, and I will go back there this spring.

Lars

Jim I have grown the Romanesco for several years it is my favorite there are a few company's that have seed that is almost the same. You can tell by the heavy ridges and the squash bugs do not like this variety. The yellow summer crookneck with the bumpy skin taste better than the smooth skin ones. I have alway put in a large garden with all the standards tomatoes onions peas beans beets Swiss chard tomatillos potatoes okra eggplant all kinds of peppers hot and sweet kohlrabi ground cherries greens leeks fennel summer squash winter squash pumpkins carrots cabbage broccoli cucumber. In the past I have grown for farmers market on a bigger scale will be cutting back some this year. Patty

Last year a friend who works seasonally at Jonny's collected expired packets of seed of every weird (to her) veggie she could find. I ended up with a lot of asian greens which I like stir fried, in kimchi, soups etc... I do need to figure out what to do with garland chrysanthemum. A little patch of amaranth greens produced well in the hot weather.

It was also the first real growing season in my garden and my first real vegetable garden although about half the space was taken up by flowers. This year I want the flowers elsewhere. I froze a lot of greens, tomatoes and pesto and other herbs. I want to freeze more this year.

I am planning on -

salads, peas and radishes to get started

greens - and more greens

tomatoes, cucumbers
smaller varieties of winter squash, potatoes

herbs - basils, cilantro, parsleys, verveine, thymes, tarragon, sages, lemon balm, mint, bee balm....

I can't wait. I brought in a couple of Thai peppers that are starting to flower - they are eager too.

I hope to have a garden this summer after many years of not having one if I can get my husband to help. He grew up helping his Dad with a commercial garden and so got really burned out as a kid doing all the work in the hot sun, but we want to eat better as we age so hope to grow lots of tomatoes to can--the store bought ones always seem to have hard spots in them. Beets because I always used to can pickled beets and I miss them. Cucumbers for pickles, carrots, lots of beans for canning because store bought just do not taste as good. Maybe one zucchini only as they grow big way too fast, corn to freeze and would like to start an asparagus bed too--that sounds like plenty to start with.

We have a very small plot, but over the years we've developed a type of square foot garden in raised beds. And we devised hanging trellises (I know that sounds strange, but it really works well) that can be moved to different areas of the garden as needed. We grow as much as we can "up", including the cucumbers, melons, and some of the squash.

Last year we had a bumper crop of tomatoes so for the first time I made sauce for the freezer. DH absolutely loves using it for his spaghetti sauce and asked if I would plant more tomatoes this year. No problem!

The garlic has been in the ground since October.

I will also be planting broccoli, cantaloupe, several types of peppers (bell for the wimp and jalapeno for me, as well as others), mizuna, several lettuces (my favorite is Atoll), bush and pole beans, peas, cucumbers, onions, several types of summer squash (Kuta is our favorite). And I always throw some flower seeds into the garden to attract the bees.

I finally gave up on the strawberries. Every year DH insisted we keep the plants, but we never got more than 2 or 3 at a time that the worms didn't eat holes in. Last fall I pulled them all up and gave them to a neighbor. Good riddance, I planted the garlic in their place.

Jim, I LOVE Costata Romanesca. I love the flavor, it is kind of nutty, and very tender but not watery. It is always very successful for me, it takes a while for get started, it will start by producing a lot of male flowers, great for stuffing and frying. Once it does start producing, look out, it is prolific. The young squash look a lot like the leaf stems so they are easy to miss.

I will have to give the Nevada lettuce a try. I usually grow pole beans so may try the Fortex alongside my purple pole beans. I can hardly wait to get in the garden again!

I've not seen Costata Romanesca...will have to try. Love Cocozelle. I'm sticking to those and a yellow zucchini this year. And some patty pans. And Marina di Chioggia and Sunshine for winter squash.

We have some window boxes of kale, lettuce and Asian greens going in our greenhouse. Staves off the cravings for spring greens. We are missing good tomatoes though. We did try some Kumato tomatoes and they weren't bad, but not like garden fresh.

I vowed to cut back this year. That lasted until I got my seed catalogs. We have a lot of space and since we started using trickle tape (makes watering really easy) it's a hard resolution to keep. I am, however, down to only 20 or so kinds of garlic.

Tomatoes: Black Krim, Legend, Sungold, Stupice, Moscvich, Green Zebra. Also trying Indigo Rose and Annie inspired me to try Mortgage Lifters, but I have doubts. (Annie we may both be in Z5, but I couldn't grow a hab to save my life, even in our hoop houses.)

Beans: I'm trying a new Blue Lake type as well as some seed I saved last year. Also planting Tongue of Fire beans from saved seed and a few bush Romas and wax beans.

Cole crops and greens. Cheddar caulifower was last year's keeper.. Also like Broccoverde, and Snow Crown. Brocs: Premium Crop and DeCicco. Stonehead and red cabbage. We toss row cover over to keep out bugs, so I plant assorted tender greens in between. Chard, kale and various spinach-ey things get their own row.

Carrots: Storage carrot from Johnny's called Bolero. Also Nantes and Danvers and Little Finger.

Peppers : Yankee Bell (since Johnny's stopped carrying my favorite North Star Bell), Gyspy Bell, Jimmy Nardello's Sweet Italian Frying Peppers, an early Jalapeno and Hungarian Wax, NuMex. The other end of the greenhouse will be Orient Express and Fairy Tale eggplant.

And potatoes. DH has made it his mission to grow enough for the entire neighborhood. This year we'll stick to Yellow Bintje, fingerlings, Red Caribe (excellent mashed potatoes) and some Russets.

It doesn't seem that long ago that we were sick of gardening and weeds and processing food. Spring must be coming, I'm itching to drag out the starting trays.

We won't be planting any edibles this year or for the foreseeable future. I have to call the extension service this spring and see if they do a more extensive soil test than the standard homeowner test. We were totally flooded out by Sandy and I'm sure our soil is contaminated. We've spent a decade building rich organic soil here and the loss of it is probably one of the worst consequences of the storm. The beautiful garlic we planted last October (just a couple weeks before Sandy) has failed to even sprout. :(

It's more than just the saltwater inundation that concerns us. We are near three marinas and I know their waters overran our property because we found various "stuff" from the marinas all over the site post-storm. So, we're concerned about gasoline, oil, bottom paint, and boaters too lazy to visit the pump-out and discharge at their slips. Nope, don't want to eat crops from our site until we can find an agency to thoroughly test. There are so many places needing testing I'm sure a lowly homeowner will have a tough time in the pecking order this year.

I will miss the heirloom tomatoes the most.

/tricia

Tricia
I'm sure having your soil destroyed is hugely disappointing.

Your garlic wouldn't be sprouting now anyway - would it? Didn't you just get 30" of snow a couple weeks ago? Not that I am suggesting you eat the garlic if it does come up.

You don't have to miss your heirloom tomatoes entirely. Many of the tomatoes I grow are in huge pots on my deck. I've had great success growing tomatoes this way. You should at least try a couple of plants in pots. Too bad you don't live closer. I'd share my tomatoes with you.

Teresa

My garden plan this year isn't that different than last year's. They will all be in pots on my side deck as that is 1) the sunniest area in my yard and 2) being 20 feet in the air, I only have to battle the raccoons, not the deer.

Basil--lemon, genovese, and summerlong
Oregano--Mexican and regular
Grape tomatoes
Lemongrass
Black pearl peppers
Peter peppers
Shelling peas
Blueberries
Raspberries
Blackberries

If I had the sun and the deer proof area for it, I would love to grow my own corn again. Nothing tastes as good as supersweet corn right off the stalk. You just informally introduce it to the hot water and chow down.

Teresa,

Our garlic has always sprouted in November and continues to grow until late January then takes a rest until mid-March. We don't have the type winter as you do in the mid-west. Our grass stays green year around and the soil usually does not freeze. We have another significant Nor'easter coming this weekend and yet another mid next week. Both though will be a rain events for us here on the coast. We're Zone 7 and, I'm guessing, you're Zone 4-5? Big difference in how crops perform.

/tricia

kimka,

I purchased a package of a new Burpee hybrid corn that grows in a pot. I got it for a couple great nephews that don't have a yard. I intend to keep a couple seeds for my self to try it out.

I think it will be fun for the boys.

Teresa

Here is a link that might be useful: Corn on the deck hybrid

We had some hits and misses with last years' growing season in our garden. Carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli and cantaloupe did not do as well as expected. Along with wayyyy to much zucchini.
What we will be growing again are tomotes-Roma and San Marzano
Leeks and onions-Lexton and Bridger
Red pepper-Red Knight
Jalapeno-El Jele
Cabbage-Early Green Caraflex
Yellow Wax Bean-Rocdor
Green Beans-can't remember which type
Shelling Peas-Maxigolt
Snap Peas-Sugar Ann
We may grow a couple zucchini plants. But just a few! There are only so many jars of mustard pickles that I can can!
It's a family affair too. Everyone gets involved. Ariel and Kayla really enjoyed the garden. Along with the small flower garden they made. Many a time Wayne and I came home from work to see the both of them in the garden looking to see what was ready to pick for that nights' dinner. NancyLouise

Wow Teresa that sounds like fun. I've ornamental red corn in a pot before, but real eating corn. How neat! Please let us know if you actually get corn to eat.

More raves for Costata Romanesca zucchini! I'm eagerly waiting to taste that one.

Annie, what variety of bok choy was it that did not do well for you? My best one so far has been a baby bok choy called ching chiang, also mei qing and I think some other names. It has green rather than white petioles (leaf stalks). It grew well and was delicious.

Tricia, will you be sowing a cover crop to help restore your garden soil?

I should mention that a row of zinnias (California Giants) is a must in my vegetable garden.

Jim

tricia, that is disheartening news. I hope the Cooperative Extension Service in your state can help with soil testing and remediation. If not I know there are other soil testing services available -- there is one not far from where I work that does tests for all over the country.

I visited a research facility in Nova Scotia long ago that was researching the use of leafy greens to remove heavy metals from the soil, perhaps they have come up with something that can help. In the meantime perhaps a couple of self watering planters with tomatoes can provide a few tasty treats? A friend has made them pretty successfully with rubbermaid tubs and she gets a lot of good tomatoes. Best of luck as you recover from this devastating storm.
Mabel

mabledingadine,

I would be very grateful for the name of the testing facility near you. Our extension service is swamped (oops, bad choice of words - lol). There are literally tens of thousands of people in the state with the same, or similar, situations as ours all wanting testing. We would gladly pay a reasonable sum for private testing if they were faster.

Thanks,
/tricia

Sorry, looks like I butchered your name. :(

/t

edited to remove duplicate post

This post was edited by triciae on Thu, Feb 21, 13 at 11:11

Tricia, I will try and find it tomorrow.
Mabel

Jim, I grew an heirloom called "White Stem", I think. Not doing my research very well, I planted in May and it all bolted withint 2 weeks of coming up. I did a little research and found that it does better as a fall cro here so I bought something called "Toy Choi", supposed to be a 30 day drop. It came up but never grew more than a couple of leaves and about 2 inches tall. It just stayed that size through August, September, into October. It survived a couple of light frosts but never got big enough to bother to eat. It was still green and about 2 inches tall in December when it snowed, so it's cold tolerant, at least!

I'm going to try again this year, I think as a fall crop. We'll see.

Katie, you reminded me, I also have fingerling potatoes. I bought organic seed potatoes, a French Fingerling. They grow like crazy and are prolific. I save some each year for next year's planting and they'll keep in my basement until planting time in the spring. I'm still eating some of that 5 gallon bucket I grew last year, it's amazing how well they store.

I think I'm going to try that zucchini, the squash bugs just decimated the zucchini and pumpkins last year. Anyone know how to get rid of the blasted things? I sprayed with soap, didn't help. I try to not use any chemicals but finally resorted to Sevin, which didn't work either.

Annie

Tricia,

I asked a friend and college faculty member for suggestions, and here is what she said:

Here is a list from University of Maryland that would be a good start for her:
http://anmp.umd.edu/files/Soil_Lab_Comparison_4-13-12.pdf
The list is useful primarily for contacts--the descriptions were developed for the consultants working with UMD nutrient management plans.

A+L http://www.al-labs-eastern.com/Default.aspx can analyze samples for at least some environmental contaminants--it may depend on what she's looking for. I don't know if UDel can do so in a speedy manner. Does she already have a list of contaminants she wants to check for? If so, she can check A+L's price sheet, or I can contact one of my colleagues in CT to see what they're recommending for post-Sandy analysis. I couldn't find any of that info easily online. Broad spectrum contaminant testing would be very expensive. Maine's state lab can also do that testing:
http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/health-and-environmental-testing/inorganic.htm#organics Again, the key is to know what she's looking for.

Without so many words, for nutrients my suggestion is A+L, being sure to choose the S1 test for nutrients. Let me know if I need to get more input on contaminant analysis, or if she only needed the lab.

Hope this helps, and that your friend is able to a have good garden this year!

I have what they call a kitchen garden we put next to log cabin,I love it I have 8 raised beds.Fun gardening in raised beds.I ordered seeds my order was $200 ,if you order by a certain date you get $100 off so that was a bargain.Some plants ,a tree.I plant tomatoes,potatoes,corn,beans squash,celery,parsley,dill, I have a box of asparagus,peppers,3 different kind,a box of strawberries,radishes,carrots,I pack boxes full use shredded leaves for mulch,cant wait....Sunflowers,pumpkins,watermelon,canteloupes,spots here and there things.pots with plants,mini fruit trees.love gardening..