Are you growing anything new this year?

13 years ago

In years past I'd answer that question with a long list--flowers and vegetables. This year my list is short, but I still love trying new things.

I had great success with beans last year, both pole and bush. This year I'm sticking with several from last year (Kentucky Wonder and Fortex pole beans and Provider bush beans), and adding some new ones. Kwintus is a pole bean, and Greencrop, Bush Blue, and Fantastic Filet are bush beans.

In flowers, I've been curious about Benary's Giant Zinnias for a couple of years. They're often mentioned on GardenWeb forums, and I'm told they're the zinnias florists use for cut flowers. When I found the seed (mixed colors) on eBay this week, I ordered some. They'll join four other kinds of zinnias in my garden. So far my favorites are State Fair and Burpee's Big Tetra.

I'm trying a new sunflower this year: Sunscraper. It grows 12' tall but is multi-branched. Unusual for such a tall sunflower. Skyscraper, also 12' tall but a single flower, has done well for me for years.

And I'm giving 4' tall cactus-flowered dahlias a shot from seed. It's been a long time since I've grown dahlias from seed........the seed for the larger varieties seemed to disappear for a time. So I grabbed this packet when I saw it.

Oh, and I've planted two varieties of sweet peas, including High Scent, which is supposed to be the most powerfully scented sweet pea ever. I love the scent of sweet peas!

I bought a couple of trellises and am also going to try morning glories this year. My track record with both sweet peas and morning glories is not good, so we shall see.....!

How about you? Anything new this year?

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Comments (10)

nicole__
13 years ago
I've started some persimmon seeds indoors and hollyhocks,will transplant them outdoors later. Also a few Lycoris squamigera and chionodoxa bulbs. I planted several new german iris rhyzomes, a solid red and solid pink that may bloom next year. Last year we planted crocosmia lucifer, foliage came up, no blooms.... they should bloom this year.

Susan......we want pictures..... when it's all grown up! :0)
dotmom
13 years ago
Apt living doesn't lend it self to gardening, but for my B'day my Daughter gave me three pretty ceramic pots planted with Chive, Basil and Parsley seeds. That will be my garden this summer.
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Every year is pretty much "the year of the zinnia" for me, but this year I will have a separate flower bed devoted to just white zinnias. It occurred to me last year that I have had very few good white zinnias, and this year I hope to do something about that. I plan to grow several white varieties of zinnias in a zinnia bed located at some distance from my other zinnias. I have already picked out the spot. That way, hopefully, much of the random bee cross pollinations will be white-on-white pollen transfer. I will be looking for extra good white specimens to self and inter-cross and save seeds from. Whites also give nice pastel colors when crossed with other zinnia colors. Also, since normal zinnia pollen florets are yellow, I will be looking for a way to breed white zinnias that have white pollen florets. I've never actually seen that, but I think it might be possible. Some of my experiments with scabiosa flowered zinnias have produced otherwise normal looking progeny that had florets matching the zinnia's petal color.
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Starter, I agree with Louisianagal that you could still try some things in containers. I do most of my plants(mostly toms and peppers)in containers, but I have a small raised bed too, and I always start too many plants from seed, so I always have poor little root-bound plants that didn't make it into the larger pots. If I can't pawn these off on some unsuspecting person that visits this building, I'll finally plant them into pots that can barely hold them. I'm getting ready to do that soon. I won't get many fruit, but I do get some. I started some zucchini late and they're just starting to flower, and the same with cukes(3 Spacemasters in a small fake whiskey barrel type planter)...they're only about 6" tall, but soon I'll add a stick teepee in there to tie them to(they'll get about 4' tall). You could still do bush beans, basil(mine is only 3" tall right now)and maybe you could transplant a few strawberry plants to a hanging pot. Also with containers, if they're not too heavy, you can move them around for optimal sun and to help keep the ants from coming up through the bottom. I have tons of those little red/brown ants here(not fire ants, but they do bite/sting)due to dry clay and sandy soil. Keeping the potting soil moist also helps keep them out. I use Safer insecticidal soap and Bt for bugs/caterpillars and Safer fungicide for powdery mildew and to deter a pesky doe(she doesn't like the smell). Hope this helps a little. Just go for it...you still have some time, and let us know how it goes.
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We're getting serious spring fever and are doing our garden planning now. We just placed our massive seed orders for the six raised beds OH built last summer, and there's lots of new stuff. Got three kinds of kale, three kinds of beets, gailan, melons, sugar snap peas, snow peas, bush beans, zucchini, scallions, spinach, three kinds of lettuce, hot peppers, sweet peppers, three kinds of carrots, arugula, cucumbers, Thai, holy, and Genoese basil, cilantro, parsley, thyme, lemongrass, sage, and marsh mallow, because a friend saw it in the Baker Creek catalog and wants us to try making our own marshmallows now. The big project this year is rebuilding the deck that is behind the garage. The previous owners had a massive climbing rose on it that recently died. This was not heartbreaking to me, as I don't understand why you'd want a plant that tries to hurt everyone sitting on your deck. So now we're planning a wall of clematis to cover the garage and make the deck pretty. Thinking Clematis Huldine and Etoile Violet, both of which would be new to me. Is it spring yet?
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linda_in_iowa
13 years ago
I haven't had a garden for a very long time but this year I am planting rhubarb and probably some blueberries and lettuce and herbs.
vala55
13 years ago
I bought several new plants this year. A pink and a yellow daisy like flowers, an ornamental cranberry bush, a weigela, and some of the regular annuals I buy every year. The darkest pink vinca I could find, grape hyacinth, dianthus 2 colors. I also have bought 5 house plants at Walmart for $2.75 each. I haven't had any house plants in years.
socks
13 years ago
Mostly the same--2 tomatoes + one volunteer tomato I couldn't bear to dig into the soil. I have 6 pepper plants. I love them when they turn red. The garlic I planted last fall is huge. Not sure when to harvest it. Oh, also a couple of parsley and a rosemary plant. The thyme hung on over the winter and is looking good now.
I really have very little room. The yard is overplanted with landscape plants.
ruthieg__tx
13 years ago
Raspberry plants
Blackberry
Blueberry
Strawberry
some new tomato varieties
2 new grapes
corn
thyme
I'm sure there must be others but off the top of my head that's some.
tobygirl
13 years ago
Socks: You can dig up that garlic when approximately half the plant's green tops have browned.

Only new thing for me this year will be kale, after reading on here how good it is for us.
ronf_gw
13 years ago
I'm trying a snapdragon variety called Bizarre.
Also, some lime basil this year.

Ron
bulldinkie
13 years ago
broccoli,cabbage,bak choi??not sure of spelling but good in veggie soup ...new tomatoes,garlic,onions,not done yet..I want to fill all 8 of raised beds..no weeding.
jannie
13 years ago
Same old stuff, potatoes, tomatoes, herbs. Also a pot of mesclun salad mix.

Are you growing anything new this year?

Comments (10)

nicole__

dotmom

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