It's Time!! What you gonna put in the dirt this year?? A growers guide..

[rowdyhillrambler]

Well, I got the green house cleaned out from last year. It was a good detox from my louisville trip. So she is bare. I started thinking about getting some seeds going. I had a great garden last year, we always plant to much, but i am going to do the same this year. I am willing to listen or try just about anything, here is what i am going to start.

I know some people are as heated about tomatoes as we are about framebuilding. SPEAK UP!! spring is just around the bend.

Tomatoes:
Nebraska Wedding Tomatoe
Cherokee Purple
Brandywine
Beefsteak (for canning)

Squashes:
Romanesco zucchini
crookneck

Peppers:
Jupiter bells
Chili De Arbol
Padron
Ancho

Herbs:
Dill
Basil
Chives
Oregano
Parsley

All of these will be started in the green house by the end of the week.

This will be planted directly, first of march, or so.
Cabbage, greens, onions, Red Pontiacs and Kennebecs, corn (golden bantam and country gentleman)

alright, this seems like a lot of work and i know i have already forgotten something. I am going to sit down and put it on paper from what we did last year.

By the way: When riding yesterday i noticed the buttercups in bloom. That is Feb. 5th, I looked in the journals last night and the earliest i have since 1998, when i started paying attention, is Feb. 22 and that was in 2004. Spring was early by about a week that year.

[Too Tall]

I'm in a sad state of affairs with only a small patch of reliable full sun. We love heirloom tomatoes and seek just a few plants. If I put in more than 6 plants it is more than we can handle.
Cherokee Purple is on that list for sure.

Why don't you plant some hardneck garlic? Your list looks pretty great man, I'm envious.

[JoB]

Toots-

Garlic is a 'put it in in the fall' kind of deal.

I have had good luck with (in order of seasonality, more or less):

French breakfast radishes (first produce I can get)
Sugar snap peas
Asparagus (perennial, it is awesome)
Mesclun mix or similar - whatever you can cut, put it in a shady spot and it will not bolt when it gets hot and sunny; 2 x 2 feet is easily enough for two adults and if you play it right, you can harvest enough until maybe a week or so before the tomatoes are ready (plant more in late August, at least in my region).
Tomatoes: cherokee purple are great, as is brandywine. i always put in a few sauce tomatoes similar to san marzano. Grape/cherry tomatoes are really nice as well. doesn't really matter what kind you put in as long as you prepare the ground well. Growing tomatoes well is not the easiest thing, esp. if they go into the same spot each year.
Leeks: as much as I can.
Carrots: make sure you can stick your finger in the ground until the hilt, then do not let the patch dry out until they sprout. Thin out brutally. after that, they are easy to grow.

Herbs: basil, mint, chives, oregano, tarragon, flat leaf parsley, thyme, and you are in business. you can obviously to a lot more (say, cilantro, different types of basil and thyme, etc.). Except for the basil (which you can let go to seed), the others last at least two years (parsley) or are perennials.

Bonus tips:

1) Some small cantalopes, forget the name but it is a french variety. Amazing.
2) potatoes in a sack or barrel. good for a shady spot and taste so much better than store bought.

I'm in a sad state of affairs with only a small patch of reliable full sun. We love heirloom tomatoes and seek just a few plants. If I put in more than 6 plants it is more than we can handle.
Cherokee Purple is on that list for sure.

Why don't you plant some hardneck garlic? Your list looks pretty great man, I'm envious.

[Too Tall]

I'll expand my desires this yr. and see how it fares.
Growing up we had a 30X30 full on greenhouse and raised orchids. We also had a 1/4 acre farm plot for veg. All I've got left from than is a 1975 Troybilt tiller with bent tynes ;)

[maunahaole]

Herb garden is in full go mode right now. Need to get some more peppers in. Lemon and guava trees were pruned pretty aggressively, so still waiting on blossom and fruit. Sprouted avocado needs to be transplanted into a new pot. Lilikoi is doing ok in the dirt, needs a shot of compost.

Suggest planting shiso. A japanese herb. Interesting peppery/bitter flavor. If you can grow basil, you can grow shiso.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I got a better deal on hardneck garlic. We have a neighbor who has 5 acres of heirloom garlic. She only plants and sells garlic, it is an old world variety that she is very serious about. Believe it or not, she makes a pretty decent living just harvesting garlic. We trade her blueberries and blackberries for her garlic. It is a good deal for us both.

I keep Mesclun goin almost year round, as a matter of fact, i just pulled the last of it last week. That is about 48 weeks of fresh greens.

Maunahaole, I am not familiar with Shiso. Sounds good, i am going to see if i can find some seeds. Oh yea, if you ever mention lemons, guava, or avocados again, i am going to come over there, and we are going to fight.. If i could grow those three things, in our climate, my life would be totally complete. I have always wanted to build a greenhouse the size of an avocado tree just to see if i could.

[Too Tall]

Big fan of good garlic. Send me a link. We go thru buckets of the stuff.

[WadePatton]

I always say i'm going to plant garlic but i've never quite gotten 'round tuit.

My peppers this year will be seeds saved from last mostly.

Tomatoes will be a mix of what seeds i have left and some Arkansas Travelers fer shure. Aunt Ruby's German Green, Hillbilly, Cherokee Purple, ...and a white/yellow i can't recall just now, are my core varieties.

Okra. I messed around and didn't get any orka in last year. Corn, bloody butcher or somesuch, just venturing into the world of heirloom corn (before monsanto eradicates it all).

Started some grape vines last year. need to prune and roots some of those cuttings, build the trellis for this year--but that's viticulture, which leads to oenology...

Between the free fill dirt coming in and the logging we've done, no telling what my garden will actually look like this year.

Made cages for the tomatoes last year, still learning how to deal with that. need pepper cages too.

My local heirloom-only plant nursery closed up shop this year, so options will be more limited without bedding my own. Hell i plant late enough to direct seed.

[maunahaole]

Lemons, guava, avocado.

Bring it on Rowdy. Keep in mind that we are getting drunk before we fight.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I have warned you, at least twice.. drink-->fight-->cry-->hug-->repeat.. just another friday.

Lemons, guava, avocado.

Bring it on Rowdy. Keep in mind that we are getting drunk before we fight.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I got all of my tomatoes, peppers, squash and cucumbers seeded in the greenouse wednesday. Now is when i walk out and check on them about every 6 hours. It kind of reminds me of when our little lady was born and i would watch her sleep just to make sure she was breathing.. I walk out and check, and the first sproutling i see, i will come running into the house shouting at my wife, "COME LOOK, COME LOOK!!" i do this every year, and i never get tired of it.

About the last of april, first of may when we have our first full meal of everything out of the garden, it makes it all worth it.

Wade, what is the Bloody Butcher corn all about. I am not familiar with it.?

[caleb]

Sounds like lots of you guys are saving seeds. My mom is a big gardener, and for Christmas she asked for a membership to the Seed Saver's Exchange: Seed Savers Exchange: Passing on our Garden Heritage Sounds like it's a gardener's roundtable or box-pass of heirloom seeds. She's starting them under lights now, and she's promised me lots of seedlings in April. Looking forward to seeing the results.

[WadePatton]

Seed saving will help us retain some different, non GMO, plants for some time, but in the end I expect the chemical companies and commercial ag to ruin the ecology of plantlife as we know it.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is where i get most things: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, Saving the Past for the Future

Bloody Butcher corn (there's a tomato of the same name):

[MacLaughlin]

Tomatoes:
Cherokee Purple
German Lunchbox
Amish Paste*
Heinz 2653*
Stupice (I grow these specifically to eat while I'm out in the garden picking tomatoes)

Beans:
Cherokee Trail of Tears
Yin Yang
Yellow Wax
Anasazi

Peppers:
CA wonder
Purple Bell
Thai chilis

Onions:
Guardsman
Red Bunching

Danver's Half Long carrots

Detroit Dark red beets
Purple top turnips
Cucumbers! Early fortune and some random ~70 day slicer

I have a patch ready for Pumpkins that I might plant corn in early (knowing full well I won't get much any corn) just to help out the pumpkins.

the same strain of Spinach I've been growing for 5 years (not sure of it's real name, but very similar to bloomsdale)
Red, green, buttercrunch, and others lettuce.

I have a strain of Peas I accidentally created a few years ago. Asian snap pods x improved snow (or something). Yields soft tender pods filled with effing HUGE peas inside. Perfect for everything.

I can't even keep track of which garlic I grow anymore. I have a hardneck and two softneck; all have purple streaks on their shoulders.

Basil, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Sage, Summer Savory

This was off the top of my head, if I come across something I've got I forgot to mention I'll chime in later. This summer will also involve preparing for asparagus and horseradish, which I've been meaning to grow for a while, but never had the space or time (Horseradish is 2 years from seed, asparagus is 3).

Also, for the love of Dog people: Nasturtiums and marigolds are the ultimate pollinators/pest controllers you can ever plant anywhere.

I almost "got my grump on" yesterday about all the G D fashion threads on this here board (I get it: guys look good in suits), but this is much better.

*If you're serious about canning tomatoes, these are the cultivars to be using. Heinz is basically an improved Amish paste, but all they improved was the determinate nature of the plant. Amish paste can be trained up a trellis or to grow in a cage, but Heinz needs the cage.

[rowdyhillrambler]

I have a pretty solid policy of not planting anything you can't eat something from. For a few years, when we built our house, my wife always wanted me to plant some sort of flower or plant. It was more to take care of, and nothing to eat. So, if i plant something it is at least going to be benificial some way.

That being said, kthe only flowers i plant any more are nasturtiums and marigolds. I plant a lot of them. Also, around the garden and the deck i plant lots of citronella. Citronella is super hardy, but not very pretty. I put it in any bare spot we have. My wife and little gal are very bug sensitive. We can brake of a stem, crush it and wear it. I actually love the way it smell naturally, and sometimes wear it as a cologne.. Yea, i know what a hippie.

[WadePatton]

The flowers/bud of basil, crushed and smeared on my skin...smells like "Old Spice" and keeps the bugs at bay.

I should plant that Citronella fer sure.

[maunahaole]

Just put in some sugar cane. I hope that I didn't let the stalks sit too long before transplanting. The puppy seems to like the taste of it, so I may be competing with him to keep the plants intact.

[MacLaughlin]

Deep African Blue is the basil I grow solely for its aromatic properties.

[steve garro]

Only adding a few trees - pomagranites x 3, white peaches x 2 and an Arizona Sycamore for shade.
- Garro.

[JoB]

not sure if they will work in your climate and soil (but if peaches work, you can try), but if you haven't planted any apricots, you are missing out. No shorty varietals as far as I can tell though, and they bloom early, so a fair amount of loss from late frosts. Of all the stone fruits, my favorite by far.

Only adding a few trees - pomagranites x 3, white peaches x 2 and an Arizona Sycamore for shade.
- Garro.