What are you planting "new to you" this year?

donna13350

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Every year I have most of my garden planned with tried and true things, but always manage to find something I haven't tried yet.
This year it will be Giant Bullet Head Wax Melon ...mostly because I have diabetic friends and I'm always looking for things for their diets. This melon is supposed to be able to be dried and made into a nice flour substitute, and since it makes such huge fruit, I have to try it.
The other thing will be Amaranth, Pink Beauty...it's supposed to be very tasty, and can take the heat without bolting, and the color is gorgeous, so I couldn't resist!
 

meadow

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Artichokes! lol, I was just taking a break from working on the 2023 garden plan before I logged in here.

I have amaranth and quinoa seed too, but not sure if they will get planted this year or not. Still figuring out placement of things and how much we will be able to handle this year.
 

meadow

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Ha! Yeah, my plan is more like, "How many bean varieties can I grow while still allowing enough space so that the seed will be true?"

So I always have plans and schemes shuffling around in my mind. The height of other plants can sometimes interfere with optimal bean placement. Really the problem is that I want to grow more varieties than makes sense... but I keep thinking on it anyway! Lol!
 

donna13350

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I had new garage doors installed a couple of years ago and had the installers leave me the old tracks...they made great supports for more bean growing...they thought I was crazy...I never stop thinking about how to cram more veggies in without sacrificing productivity...it's a constant experiment.
 

Branching Out

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We are kindred spirits. It is all about how much can be squished in to one garden, without losing control. A fine balance I would say. One interesting new plant for me this year will be Ethiopian Kale. I am also trying to grow every packet of Salpiglossis that I can get my hands on (ugly name-- beautiful flower!)
 

donna13350

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I'm trying few new bean varieties this year. New peppers.new corn. New tomatoes. New flowers. You get the idea....I'm an addict 😂
Do you try mostly new things every year? I just try to keep varieties that give me the flavor I like best, and are productive in my climate. I will usually try something new every year, but mostly stick with what I know works here.
 

digitS'

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New? Oh, I don't know!! One part of it is that I'll need to see what is missing from the seed stash and whether I feel some resistance to having it out there again. So! I can handle tossing the old and try something new.

Donna, your Pink Beauty Amaranth sounds good. I am a baby beet fan which has such a short season here but have grown an amaranth for 3 or 4 years. The seed that was given to us by a friend. She didn't know what variety it is but I really think that it was an ornamental type. But then, they might all be ... beauties ;).

@Branching Out , Salpiglossis flowers are true beauties and have such interesting patterns to the petals. I had some problems with the plants distracting from the flowers. They sprawled across the ground and since they weren't very floriferous, that was the distraction. It may well have had to do with the limited sunlight where they were growing.

If you do a search on the Ethiopian kale for 2022, you will see my frustration with them. @Phaedra had much better performance from hers.

The seed availability of some new-to-me garden plants will be a deciding factor for choice. Have-to-haves will determine sources and then - what's being offered beside them? Please! Let it be something interesting ...

Steve :)
 

flowerbug

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i think this season most of what will be new to me for plants other than bean is still a bit of a mystery. i'm hoping for some new squash seeds but i'm not sure what i will find to try.

in the beans department a lot of projects i would like to explore from seeds i already have on hand so i'm not planning on growing many others for a change. i have a backlog of ones i'd like to try one more and perhaps the last time to see if i can get them to finish enough seeds or not and if they can't then it is time to let them go and use that space for other plants in future years. it's not like i don't have a lot of other ones waiting to use that space. three strikes and out... :(
 
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