Time To Talk About Next Year

[so lucky]

Ok, now that gardens are done for most of us, I am wondering what you tried new this year that you will definitely plant again? Or new-to-you varieties that just didn't make the grade in your garden?
Since my garden was accidentally "Round-up"ed early in the season, and never recuperated fully, I can't be sure of the performance of several things, but one plant I was impressed with was a pepper plant called "Orange Bell." It was slow to get going, but produced beautiful and tasty orange peppers up to frost. I saved some seeds, but it was probably a hybrid, so what I get will be a surprise, lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I dont know if that orange bell is a hybrid or not. I suspect it is just a generic name for a green bell pepper that turns orange instead of red or yellow when it ripens. Maybe someone markets it as a specific variety. I just dont know.

I grew Black Eyed Peas for the first time ever this year, the purple hull variety specifically. Im not crazy about the taste but my wife loves them. They need warm weather but were easy to grow, prolific, and easy to hull once they are ripe. Once the hull turns purple they are supposed to be ripe and easy to hull but thats not always the case. Definitely try that one again.

Because of one of Seedcorns posts I tried Jade okra instead of my standard, Clemson Spineless. The Jade grows differently. It suckers out a lot more and takes up more room so the rows need to be wider or keep it pruned but the okra was good and plenty prolific. Ive saved seeds for next year.

I normally grow Copenhagen cabbage but couldnt find any starts this year so I tried Early Jersey Wakefield and Flat Dutch side by side. The Flat Dutch easily outperformed the Jersey. If I cant get Copenhagen Ill go with Flat Dutch as a backup.

I got some Squash seeds at the Fur Traders Museum in Chadron Nebraska, Arikiri winter squash and Mandan summer squash. They both ran like crazy and took up a huge amount of space. The Mandan summer was sweeter than normal yellow or zucchini. I liked it. It is very prolific and a real pain to keep it picked, mainly because it spreads everywhere and grows thick. I found if I did not keep it picked off it makes seeds and slows down tremendously in making new ones. I probably wont grow it again because I consider that too high-maintenance. You have to keep up with it and frankly, I didnt. The mature ones are too stringy to use as winter squash. I tried feeding them to the chickens. They loved the seeds but didnt care for the flesh much.

The Arikiri winter runs even more than the Mandan. I got a lot of big squash off of them. I didnt measure any of them but Id guess the bigger ones were maybe 16 long and 8 wide, football shaped. They are pretty hollow. There is only a fairly thin layer of edible flesh around it so there is not as much flesh on it as you might expect from the size. That flesh was two colors, a pretty yellow with a green layer next to the skin. Its got a good taste and texture but there was something about that green color. Ill stick to butternut next year. It was still fun to grow both of them.

I tried a Ukranian Purple tomato and was not happy. Ive grown plenty of blacks and purples and know you have to watch them because of the way they ripen, but these had a lot of damage to the skin, tended to rot faster than they ripened, and just were not that good. They were very early. Maybe I just have the wrong climate for them but definitely not on my future list.

I think thats most of what I tried different this year. Some successes, some not so good.

 

[digitS']

Well, So Lucky, there is an Orange "Bell" that is apparently an open-pollinated variety - and, an Orange "Belle" that is apparently a hybrid. Or, you may be thinking that it hybridized in your garden with another pepper. That seemed to happen in my garden when I've saved pepper seed. My response to that is to raise a few plants of whatever I want for seed in one garden and keep the "pepper patch" in another garden.

I'll do some more thinking about this but I know that Gold Dust did exactly what I didn't want it to do in the tomato patch! It produced a quick crop of yellow tomatoes and then the plant began a down-hill spiral. Not only was it a one-shot deal but the slugs sure love yellow tomatoes, I've learned. What I can blame the slugs on is me not being willing to put down so much expensive slug bait & watching it dissolve the 1st time the sprinklers come on AND not tying those yellow tomatoes up off the ground.

Casey's Pure Yellow grew next to the Gold Dust and had the same big problems with slugs. Last year, all the tomatoes were staked and didn't have much trouble with the slugs. I want to grow Casey's again, no question. They did fine in 2012 and aren't to blame for the slug damage .

Another tomato I want back is Gary O Sena. I can't grow very many heirloom beefsteaks because of the climate but Gary O Sena has done well and has lovely tomatoes! Tasty, too! It has been around a couple of years and just about proven itself a winner.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

what did well for me this year was mostly the squashes i didn't plant myself, they volunteered and took over my garlic/pepper bed. Waltham Butternuts did well which have been poor growing for me and i had never got them to produce anything but vines before. last year i had a vine and it produced a few squashes but the squash bugs and stink bugs seemed to get to them before i did. this year, no bugs bothered them and they did very well!

habanero peppers usually do well for me but this year was a much different story weather wise. the plants grew nicely but the peppers stayed green and smaller than normal right up till they got pulled in early October during a cold night. i pulled 4 plants into the root cellar and let them turn down there. i finally got some to turn orange but very disappointed with them taking as long as they did. never had problems with them turning before the frost at the other house. will be planting them on the other side of the property next year and probably in large pots too.

out of 30+ types of tomatoes i grew in pots this year i will be sticking with about 7 varieties i saved seeds from-Juliet Grape, Celebrity, Oregon Spring, Linne's Oxheart, Subarctic Plenty (which produced well but did not look good after a few nights of low 40 degree weather which they touted it would survive.), romas i had from my garden that volunteered (won't be doing those in containers), and a medium/large tomato that was in a packet of seeds mislabeled as a Bianca Rosa Eggplant. they sized up nicely for me with very few issues with cracking and showed no signs of being affected from the late blight some others had issues with. i might try some more Belgian Giants next year, but they will have to be put in a much bigger pot and probably started earlier than i did.

the collards were the only plant completely new to me this year. i've done kale and those do fine most years. i have done cabbage but that hasn't done well for me and don't seem to head up. same with brussel sprouts, they never start heading for me and i mostly use the leaves to give to my chickens. the collards did nicely regardless of the weird hot/cold and stretched out fall. they are still out there growing but the hard frost has nipped them a little. i'm mostly using them to give to the chickens as treats. i'll be growing them next year for sure.

 

[majorcatfish]

was out in last years freebie garlic bed taking down the fence found that i missed a few so dug them up removed some weeds cultivated a area and replanted them if they make ,they make.. only have 650 in the front gardens.

so while walking around looking at what needs to be harvested before this arctic front comes in wednesday had a good long think what was good and what was ok but not again and of course what are going to add first thing that come to mind was not so much rain!!!!!!!!

heres my list as of now...

keepers
blue lake pole beans <yes will wear glasses while opening packet>
yellow wax beans
onions red/white/shallots/bunching <kind of funny dw hates onions but she sure enjoyed cooking with all of them>
bok choi
bibb lettuce
potatoes
eggplant
bells
tomatoes
cucumbers
herbs
carrots
beets

nope not next year
squash zucc type fun to grow but takes up to much room
tigger melons neat but only a few were sweet
purple bell peppers interesting to grow just was not impressed on flavor
iceberg lettuce would rather eat bibb anyday

maybe again
spinach
brussel sprouts
fiesta bells only if bonnies can get their labels on correctly < like you are going to know till they produce>
parsnips going to give them one more try < will be interesting to see what the that did grow looks like this thanksgiving>

veggies switching or expanding too
potatoes early and late going to do yukon gold and for the late have not made up my mind yet
tomatoes have done howard german for many years but going to switch to san marzano we are not a big fresh tomato eater but when we do eat them prefer a tomato that has more meat than snot.
cucumbers we canned enough pickles for 2 years so no pickling but going to do slicing type
herbs have the common 3 types basil, thyme, oregano going to try a few different types, good reading up over the winter
eggplant want to try a japanese type as well
squash going to try winter squash next season

and the possibility on starting raspberries again...

well thats my list of course it might change 3 times before it comes time..

 

[ninnymary]

Chickies, what size were those containers you planted your tomatoes in?

Mary

 

[so lucky]

What kind of cabbage is best for kraut? I've had Copenhagen Market seed the last couple of years, but am ready for a change. When I was "in the business" the old German gardeners used to buy a lot of Late Flat Dutch, to make kraut with. Last year the Copenhagen cabbage was sweet; this year it wasn't. Do you suppose that is due to the weather? We had a cooler spring, and more rain than usual during the summer. You would think that would be wonderful for lots of things, but it wasn't necessarily so for me.

DigitS', I have seen you mention Stupice tomato. Do you grow it because it is an early one? How is the taste and performance? I bought a pack of Stupice seeds on a whim, then couldn't remember why I thought I wanted them.

I won't plant eggplant again next year. We didn't find a way to cook it that made it worthwhile. Probably not zucchini, either.
I have been buying more organic veggies, when I have to buy veggies, so I am getting very aware of how darned expensive they are. I didn't think growing spinach was worth the trouble, till I had to buy it organic, now I see I need to devote more attention to growing it.

 

[majorcatfish]

So lucky have you tried making eggplant Ragu over the season we will make a couple pots of it and freeze it and as needed pull out
A bag and add some Italian sausage and fresh pasta. Good stuff but that's another tread

 

[digitS']

The only spinach variety that has fairly consistently done well for me is Unipack 151. It is just that weather here goes from cool to hot & dry so quickly that spinach tends to bolt to seed while still small plants, every year. I should try something new, I'm relying too much on that one.

Stupice, So Lucky? You have me confused with someone else: Marshall.

I grew Stupice once and when it (2 or 4 plants) began producing fruit, they were deformed. I had been practicing how to say "Stupice" - wanting to get it right. DW patiently listened to me but when those tomatoes started ripening (very early) she had a name for them, my "stupid tomatoes." Well, that hurt my feelings.

Marshall had success with that variety and finally grew impatient with me bad-mouthing those plants. He has convinced me that I didn't give Stupice a fair trial. That there may have been a seed problem. He hasn't quite convinced me to try it again.

Steve

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

Chickies, what size were those containers you planted your tomatoes in?

Mary

i used 1 gallon landscaper pots up to about 5 gallon pots. most of my pots were 2 gallon and the bigger tomatoes were sending their roots through the holes into the soil underneath (found out when i went to move a couple. they took the shock of ripping roots well and sprung back nicely). i had 2 plants per pot on average. i did have a lot of smaller plants i had from my starts that i just couldn't part with so i stuck them in pots too. i shouldn't have wasted the space with those and just thrown them in the compost area instead. those seemed to be affected with the blight. good thing they weren't close to the ones i was focused on growing. i had other tomatoes i bought locally that i wanted to try but didn't know much about till i looked them up online after i got them home, those i found out take too long to ripen in our area anyways and i won't be doing them again. when it comes to tomatoes in my area i need something that will ripen around 60-70 days or it just won't make it through fall without the frost taking it's toll. we did have a later frost during the week before Memorial day when i had already set out my transplants in their pots.

Next year i will be using those 5 gallon plastic buckets you can get from the hardware store. if i ask at the local restaurants i might be able to get their green pickle buckets for free! i'll save my landscaper pots for the peppers since they can take the smaller space better than tomatoes.