Poll: what are you most looking forward to growing this year?

What are you looking forward to growing?

  • Fresh herbs

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Fresh sweet corn

    Votes: 1 12.5%
  • Fresh berries

    Votes: 2 25.0%
  • Fresh tree fruits

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Flowers!

    Votes: 1 12.5%
  • Homegrown tomatoes

    Votes: 3 37.5%
  • Other

    Votes: 4 50.0%

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .

Artichoke Lover

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What are you looking forward to growing the most? Fresh fruit? That first homegrown tomato? Fresh sweet corn? Or maybe you prefer growing flowers? Personally I’m looking forward to cooking with fresh herbs for the first time.
 

flowerbug

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other, green garlic comes in the earliest (and up until early summer), peas and strawberries then come in, but for me the color of the spring flowers after seeing so much greys, browns and whites (and some greens too).

i don't mind winter, i enjoy doing other things for a change from gardening, it is nice to take stock and ponder other things and to read some books or study a subject or work on a project. the challenge for me is to actually get it done before i get sidetracked into something else. which is important, i get kinda blah and out of sorts if i have too many projects going at once and can't get them finished. task oriented people like to have things crossed off their lists. :)
 

digitS'

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I will start off saying that nothing beats the days when I can have fresh corn on the cob with some green beans. A plate of fresh sliced cucumber and ripe tomato to start off with and a nice big slice of ripe melon to finish! Nothing beats that time of the year and that good food on the table :D.

"fresh herbs?" I believe that Southerners refer to greens as "herbs." Am I right? Of course, the category is broad enough to include greens like spinach and turnip greens and basil and oregano. I don't really want to call cilantro and thyme "spices" (maybe "seasonings") - if I don't call them herbs.

Oh well. I know that I go on and on about greens in my TEG posts. It isn't that I find them so very wonderful. Mostly, there are a couple of things that hold my interest. I feel that I should eat plenty of vegetables and greens come early and late. Learning to cook stir-fry really added to my use for them sometime during my adult years. Summer greens are a challenge in this arid climate. I'm interested in challenges (especially if I can have successes on both sides of them)!

I've learned that tender leaves of Scotch kale can be eaten right thru the summer. They survive the winter. I tried Portuguese kale and some cold weather early killed the plants in 2020. I have Italian kale for the first time to see how it makes it into spring. Looking at the plants today, I see that one of them appears to be dead. Pretty mild winter so far but I suppose that it would be plenty cold for Portugal and Italy.

This year, I will be growing Senposai again ;). It's a Japanese vegetable and I don't really think of here as much like Japan - the west side of the Cascades, probably but not the west side of the Rockies. Still, I grew it about 10 years ago for several seasons. It did well and then I tried it in the shade. Senposai must really not like the shade. Well fine, not much of my garden has shade.

What I want to try is planting a few seeds in the greenhouse for early transplants and, a few seeds in the garden about the middle of April, then, a few seeds late about the end of August. Can Senposai overwinter ...?

It's supposed to be year around, some places. I remember that it grew large and bolted to flowering. The leaves were tasty before and the buds could be harvested like broccoli and tasted very much the same. The large leaves were like Portuguese kale which kinda displaced my Senposai trials. Portuguese kale is a biennial altho it might be difficult to grow any here for bearing seed. It's not that I want Senposai for seed - I want to learn about its "versatility." :) It wouldn't work for seeds, anyway. The plant is a real hybrid. It's a cross between komatsuna (much like bok choy) and cabbage. Dang - that's a mule! I'm not sure if the seed would even be viable or how the plant breeders managed that cross of 2 species. I can remain ignorant on that but maybe a tasty green for 4 seasons in my neck of the woods? I wanna know about that.

Steve
 
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Zeedman

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Last year it was sweet corn, since I hadn't grown it for two years (and it did well). This year: garlic, gherkins (the real gherkins, not cucumbers) and a naked-seeded "pumpkin" that I am trying to stabilize. Garlic, because I love home-grown, and am trying to rebuild my collection for the third time (hopefully not in vain). :he The gherkins make a crunchy, super-firm pickle to die for. The pumpkin is a breeding project, I've started a separate thread for that.
 

baymule

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After spending hours in the hot sun searching for elusive GREEN beans in masses of GREEN leaves, I asked if anybody had PURPLE prodded green beans and 3 of my friends here sent me seed! I’m excited to grow and can the different varieties to see which I like best.
 

Artichoke Lover

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I will start off saying that nothing beats the days when I can have fresh corn on the cob with some green beans. A plate of fresh sliced cucumber and ripe tomato to start off with and a nice big slice of ripe melon to finish! Nothing beats that time of the year and that good food on the table :D.

"fresh herbs?" I believe that Southerners refer to greens as "herbs." Am I right? Of course, the category is broad enough to include greens like spinach and turnip greens and basil and oregano. I don't really want to call cilantro and thyme "spices" (maybe "seasonings") - if I don't call them herbs.

Oh well. I know that I go on and on about greens in my TEG posts. It isn't that I find them so very wonderful. Mostly, there are a couple of things that hold my interest. I feel that I should eat plenty of vegetables and greens come early and late. Learning to cook stir-fry really added to my use for them sometime during my adult years. Summer greens are a challenge in this arid climate. I'm interested in challenges (especially if I can have successes on both sides of them)!

I've learned that tender leaves of Scotch kale can be eaten right thru the summer. They survive the winter. I tried Portuguese kale and some cold weather early killed the plants in 2020. I have Italian kale for the first time to see how it makes it into spring. Looking at the plants today, I see that one of them appears to be dead. Pretty mild winter so far but I suppose that it would be plenty cold for Portugal and Italy.

This year, I will be growing Senposai again ;). It's a Japanese vegetable and I don't really think of here as much like Japan - the west side of the Cascades, probably but not the west side of the Rockies. Still, I grew it about 10 years ago for several seasons. It did well and then I tried it in the shade. Senposai must really not like the shade. Well fine, not much of my garden has shade.

What I want to try is planting a few seeds in the greenhouse for early transplants and, a few seeds in the garden about the middle of April, then, a few seeds late about the end of August. Can Senposai overwinter ...?

It's supposed to be year around, some places. I remember that it grew large and bolted to flowering. The leaves were tasty before and the buds could be harvested like broccoli and tasted very much the same. The large leaves were like Portuguese kale which kinda displaced my Senposai trials. Portuguese kale is a biennial altho it might be difficult to grow any here for bearing seed. It's not that I want Senposai for seed - I want to learn about its "versatility." :) It wouldn't work for seeds, anyway. The plant is a real hybrid. It's a cross between komatsuna (much like bok choy) and cabbage. Dang - that's a mule! I'm not sure if the seed would even be viable or how the plant breeders managed that cross of 2 species. I can remain ignorant on that but maybe a tasty green for 4 seasons in my neck of the woods? I wanna know about that.

Steve
Ive heard greens called herbs maybe once or twice around here but it’s not common in my area but it could be in other areas the south is a big place. I’m referring to culinary herbs in this case. Sage, thyme, parsley basil all of those. I love to cook but have never gotten to experiment with fresh herbs so I’m really excited! On a side note one of the advantages of living in the south is fresh greens are available all winter. I only have one big pot of collards for my dad but it would be easy to trade some eggs to the neighbor for mustard or turnip greens if I wanted.
 

digitS'

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If it is a new experience, you are so likely to have fun and, even, make some changes in your diet, Artichoke ❤️ Lover.

When I first grew herbs, what grew and survived included thyme. Immediate appreciation and, for several years, it became a dominant seasoning in my cooking.

Going just a few years farther back, I remember as a kid the fragrance of the Chinese and Mexican restaurants when we were so fortunate to go out to eat. What was that? I liked it and it was common to both! Years later I learned that it was cilantro. That herb is grown every year in my garden and plays an important role in the kitchen.

Steve
 

Zeedman

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@Rhodie Ranch , Have you ever tried "Diamond"? It is very tolerant of cool weather, and bears heavily on sturdy hplants.

100_0821.JPG
 
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