Good morning, my fellow gardeners and vegetable enthusiasts! Today I would like to ask your help in my garden plans for next year.
We are still experimenting and refining what works best for us to grow here in our high plains garden. Some things I have eliminated just because we don't truly like to eat them.
Swiss chard, I'm looking at you.
Some things we have not figured out how to grow successfully here in our challenging growing environment.
But! I know there are some things that I probably could grow and would like, but I'm just not thinking of. Like the accidental rutabagas-that-were-really-turnips this year. I almost certainly would not have chosen to grow turnips, but once I had them on hand, I discovered the joy of sauerruben, and now I will probably grow them just for that purpose from now on.
This is where you come in. I need you to help me expand my vegetable gardening horizons.
Hit me with your favorite things to grow, and your favorite ways to eat them, so that we may all learn from each other and possibly expand our seed ordering list for next year.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
13 comments:
Hi Kristin, I love growing butternut squash every year. I’m in zone 9b and it grows and stores well. Our favorite is peeled and roasted. It’s good in soup too.
Has your family tried Okra? I'm in zone 7B-8A (NC/SC) and it grows really well for us as long as you keep harvesting it. I first saw it growing in Arkansas. We like it sliced, rolled in cornmeal, and lightly fried.
I will let you know how my cardoon project works out. I have tied up to blanch my largest cardoon (the sheep can eat the extras, and the leaves are great in flower arrangements). They have great"growing power" once they get started, and, if the prepared stalks really do taste like artichokes, they should be a winner.
Tromboncino squash is one I grow to beat the squash borers.You can eat it when it is young and green like summer squash or you can let it ripen on the vine and store like winter squash. It is similar to butternut squash when cured. Be warned it needs lots of room to ramble.
I like curly kale for winter greens. I don't care for it as a salad but we like it as cooked greens and in soup. It tastes better after a frost and can take some pretty cold temps. I am in zone 7a and I am able to harvest all winter.
I grow asparagus beans to use for stir fry and they are pretty prolific.
Great question! I love growing pak choi, and usually just steam it and serve with salt and olive oil.
Soy beans. Of course, I am fond of home-made soy sauce and will always plant soy beans when I have a garden.
We accidentally grew celery that had been labeled as parsley in its early stages and loved it! You can cut stalks off the same plant all season and it just keeps on going.
hey Kristin...ditto on the butternut squash. i had 2 plants that produced 50 squash!! use it in any pumpkin recipe...excellent roasted as well. okra is good too, I used to fry it as well, but now I just roast it with salt, pepper and parmesan...much easier and quick, good hot or cold with ranch dipping sauce. Also, Lady peas, pink ey purple peas and/or crowder peas also thrive in the heat/dry of summer and yeild like you wouldn't believe. you can use all three fresh or dried!!! make hummus with any of them...beats the pants off chickpea hummus. I have grown Siberian tomatoes for years...always produces hot, dry or cold and rainy. 'Diva' cucumbers always produce a bumper crop as well. purple bell peppers also produce early and well...just the open pollinated type. Rattlesnake pole beans almost can't be stopped!!! Hoping your garden does better next year..Dee
Hi Kristin, I enjoy reading your blog. I live in central Canada, so a much different climate than yours! My suggestions for your garden would be pole beans. I grow them on a purchased wire frame that folds up into a flat package for storing. I pound stakes into each corner when it's set up so the weight of the beans doesn't take down the frame. Easy to water a 24x24 inch square instead of a row. Or get your boys to build a teepee-like frame. That would work too.
Wondering why you transplant basil - I seed it shallowly directly into the garden, trying my best to keep the soil moist until the seeds germinate. After that it grows well.
Especially for a row of cucumbers - I place a drip hose along the row when the plants are small, then attach it to water every second or third day in the heat of the summer. Because the watering is quite slow I think I waste the least amount of water this way.
All the best (and lots of fun and success) as you experiment with what works best for you.
Valerie: We are not an okra-loving family, I'm afraid. Fried is okay, but it's not worth growing my own.
Ruth: Yes, I grow Kentucky Wonder beans, which typically do very well. We have a very hard time starting the more delicate plants--basil is one--from seed, because the tiny sprouts tend to dry up and wither away in our strong wind and sun in the spring. It is not a moist, gentle start for seedlings here in the spring. :-) It's why I cover most things, including the basil transplants, with the milk jugs while they're small.
This is such a good-flavor pumpkin. I bought seeds on a whim knowing we had almost no chance of getting all the way to 120 days, but usually one a year will mature for me. https://www.rareseeds.com/squash-winter-musquee-de-provence-pumpkin
Would potatoes work in your climate? I haven't tried to grow them yet (in Wisconsin), but maybe next year will be the right time. Carrots and turnips and sometimes parsnips grow well here. I keep herbs in pots so they're near the kitchen when we're cooking.
Daisy: We've tried them most years. If they get enough water, they do okay, but it's hard to get them enough water, so the yield usually isn't great.
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