What are your growing plans this year?

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What do you plan on planting in the garden? Just curious to see what others have planned. I am working on mine now! I have the graph paper out, along with my square foot gardening book, and am trying to make some decisions now. I haven't ever been too successful with my garden (season of life... pregnancy/little ones aren't very conducive to gardening success for a newbie), so I am trying to hold myself back on doing too much this year (like I usually do :roll: ) and focus on something a bit simpler so I can gain some proper experience (and in turn, confidence).

I hope to do a "three sisters" garden where the chicken run used to be... it's good and picked clean. We're getting at least one more load of compost so I hope to spread some on top of the soil, loosen up the area (with a hand tiller type thing so I don't turn over a bunch of weed seeds), and maybe add some leaves for mulch. I know it is full of worms, which I hope is a good sign. Once that gets established, I hope it will be pretty hands off. In another area I want to plant gourds (louffa, birdhouse and dancing) along cattle panels, with sweet potatoes underneath. Again, I hope once it gets established it will be good to go for a while.

For the main planting area I have 11 4x4 squares plus some extra area around the perimeter where we squared off the triangles (I'll have to take a pic because I am sure that doesn't make sense). I am going to plant a variety of things using the square foot method, but try and space things out just a little bit more so I can get in their easier. Also trying my best to use companion planting. I have seeds for a wide variety of things, but not sure yet what I will actually plant this year. I also have some crates I want to fill for potatoes and root veggies since we have clay, and my other raised beds aren't terribly deep (although the carrot seeds I bought specifically said clay soils in the description).

Our church has a large area that is thick with old leaves - I'm talking probably 3 feet?? If I spread those out over the garden area after the seedlings are decently established, would that be OK enough for mulch? Some of them have started breaking down - would those be better? Or the "fresher" ones on top?
 
I hope I find the time to get a garden started this year :)

l already planted topinampur, but that's mostly for the rabbits. For me, I'd like to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin, hot chili, red beet, black radish and some herbs like chive, lovage, parsley and so....
 
We planted 900 onion seeds in the greenhouse Saturday--our first indoor planting of the season. Today we're inoculating shiitake logs. If the week continues warm, we may be able to get started in the outdoor garden Saturday. With our first rabbit litter born this morning and the sap running well today I guess the "slow time" is over :D
 
The kale is already back. Arugula, cukes, tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, and collars for sure.
 
I've already planted cabbage, kale, broccoli, lettuce, brussel sprouts, peas, and ornamentals larkspur and hollyhocks. Most of them are at the cotyledon stage or just getting their first true leaves. We will be adding some more asparagus to the bed and be putting beets, onions, carrots, and potatoes in shortly- I even found some blue taters this year!

I am so excited because I used to buy blue potato chips at a specialty grocery store but they no longer carry them. They were the only chip that I found so addictive that I could eat an entire bag, and I MUST HAVE THEM AGAIN. So I will make my own! :p :p :p

Our warm(er) weather crops will be Roma and other tomatoes, bell peppers, table and pickling cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash, butternut and acorn squash, pumpkins, beans (purple beans are our favorite!), assorted melons, and a wide variety of herbs. Oh! And strawberries- we need to get more since we let ours die off last winter.

heritage":1dvktz9c said:
Also trying my best to use companion planting.

I have a guide printed up that I keep with my seeds, which makes it really easy to do.

I found it at http://www.ghorganics.com, but sadly there was a death in the family and their business is currently closed. I found the list at https://rufong.wordpress.com/2010/07/07 ... anics-com/ but it doesn't look as print friendly. Still, the info is all there, so you may want to just copy it into a word document or something.
 
I had some cabbage, strawberries and broccoli started, but used the wrong soil in the starter pots and totally fried them. I was being impatient and using what I had, not realizing it had fertilizer in it. Doh! Also bought some strawberry plants for the kids' beds and set them up so the chickens couldn't get to them. Forgot about them so they dried out... and then blew over in the last storm which really did them in (if they had any chance of coming back at that point). One day I will be able to call myself a gardener.
 
Tomatoes, peppers, onions, kale, potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, pumpkins, squashes, corn, beets lots of greens & lettuces, lots of flowers :D That's off the top of my head, I think I'm missing some...

And an extensive herb garden, which is solely mine. It will have at least 30 different herbs growing in it this year...yeah, kind of a herb freak :lol:

The 3 sisters work well, heritage. Tried it last year and all 3 did amazing! plus you do less weeding and it takes less space :)
And so does companion planting...love doing that! Especially marigolds with kale, keeps bugs off the kale.
 
Tomatoes, Squash, potatoes, beans, carrots, cabbage, spinach, for the most part. Then herbs as well.. Rosemary, thyme, basil, sage ect. Maybe some other greens as well.. i haven't quiet decided yet. I'm doing raised beds again this year.. the soil here is very clay like and hard to grow in. so we switched to raised beds last year... had some good success before my sheep (which i no longer have) got into my garden and ATE IT.

I also want to plant some flowers as well... not sure what yet. I've had no success with Roses... so I don't think I'll try again.

But maybe something hardier... we moved into a new house/property in September.. there was catnip EVERYWHERE... my cats were stoned for a week straight... lol so i think I'll cut some of that back this year... my front flower beds are perfect for some easy growing flowers that my kids can plant. anyone have an ideas for that?
 
I have no idea. Given how last year ended I might not be planting much of anything and just rebuilding to suit my tastes. I want to separate all my planting areas into raised beds and get a good fence in place.
 
MoonSpiritMom":1ek7vrug said:
my front flower beds are perfect for some easy growing flowers that my kids can plant. anyone have an ideas for that?

Nasturtiums are easy to grow, the seeds are big enough for a child to handle easily, they bloom until frost and the blossoms are a pretty and tasty addition to salads.
The other flower I like to grow with children is sunflower--because they get so big--but maybe not in your front garden.
And if you want roses, have you tried any of the old shrub roses--very hardy and most have great fragrance.
 
New to our house this year is condition called gastro paresis. Due to some nerve damage from a virus, my wife's stomach is mostly paralyzed and does a poor job of emptying food. This means that her food has to be low fat and LOW FIBER, the latter generally being inconsistent with fresh food and garden veggies. This will be a huge change for me and I will be switching to mostly lower-fiber products like Buttercup Squash (growing lots of that!), some Butternut squash, and will try my hand at sweet potato. I'll dedicate a small area to a salsa garden, as the cooked and chopped nature of canned salsa in amenable to her in small quantities. I am also looking at growing herbs (I have only grown basil in the past because I like it for doctoring up frozen pizza and in soups) to make her food more flavorful, especially the stuff that has to be "blenderized."

The kids love beans out of the garden, so there will be, of course, some Blue Lake bush beans and I think I'll try strawberries in a large container on my deck that I've modified for that purpose. Also, the kids want to grow corn. I hate growing corn because it uses up so much resources for what you get from it, but I will let them companion plant a little corn among the squash vines to help shade the squash a bit.

This is my 3rd year in South Dakota. Gardening is far more challenging here than it was in N. Wisconsin. :cry: But this year, I have garden beds that have rested over the winter with sheet mulch and bunny berries. :mrgreen: Gonna be better this year.
 
An old cowboy, ex-farmhand and long-time work associate just gave me a jar of the best pickled okra I've ever tasted. We occasionally compare notes on gardening and our tropical fruit trees, etc. I love hearing about his younger years, growing up in the interior of the state. Several years ago, he suggested I plant some okra and I've been growing it every summer since. It loves our heat and humidity.
This may also finally be the year I put in some pumpkins, to be ready for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I keep talking about it. I grew up in a small, northern Illinois neighborhood, surrounded by soy beans, dairy farms and pumpkin fields. After 45 years in Florida, the only time I've ever felt homesick is during the fall harvest season.
I guess I'm a "nostalgic gardener." :cool:

Now... If I can just get him to give up the secret of his okra pickling! :twisted:
 
karebru":34ray6x1 said:
Now... If I can just get him to give up the secret of his okra pickling! :twisted:

If you do, please share it with me! ;) Okra is one of the few things I have grown successfully :lol: I was excited to fix fried okra and potatoes for my FIL one evening... he was leaning on the bed of his truck commenting on it so I picked some and had him stay for dinner that night.
 
I grow tomatoes year round and chives and purple sweet potatoes.

A few things I want to try again (tried in the winter and crops not so good) are cucumbers and beans. The beans did "ok" but the rats ate the stalk near the root. Now that I've got the rats killed back I want to re try to grow some more. Those beans were yummy.
 
I'm going to try growing a garden for the rabbits and Guinea pigs. I was thinking Cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, and sweet peppers just because that's what we have right now, but I could definitely use some suggestions! Are there other easy to care for plants I could add to my critter garden?
 
The_Dutchess":32hiyycb said:
I'm going to try growing a garden for the rabbits and Guinea pigs. I was thinking Cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, and sweet peppers just because that's what we have right now, but I could definitely use some suggestions! Are there other easy to care for plants I could add to my critter garden?

Last year we grew a variety of chicory that people use as greens and fed some to the rabbits--we had fed wild chicory for a while. Also any of the root crops--turnips, carrots, parsnips, radishes--the rabbits like the tops. And we grow buckwheat, oats, clover for cover crops but cut from them when we're filling the buckets with forage for the rabbits.
 
The_Dutchess":5e7j5fed said:
I'm going to try growing a garden for the rabbits and Guinea pigs. I was thinking Cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, and sweet peppers just because that's what we have right now, but I could definitely use some suggestions! Are there other easy to care for plants I could add to my critter garden?


Pumpkins/squash and sunflowers

If you want something that grows on it's own Jerusalem artichokes. Both the tubers and the tops can be fed to rabbits. Just be warned they spread...
 
Swiss chard will grow from snow melt through several frosts, is fairly resistant to pests, can be grown very crowded (no thinning) which helps with weeds, and does not bolt and go bitter in the heat like other leafy greens. The animals loved it all year long. Mints are extremely hardy, easy to grow, and enjoyed by most animals but it is a bit too easy. It's suggested to build a barrier around a mint bed, isolate off across the yard where attempts to spread will get mowed down, or plant it in something like a buried bucket. It will work it's way through sidewalk and stone path cracks to cross them.
 
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