We have big plans for this little half acre of ours, big plans. We know that our soil is probably less than ideal and first year gardens aren't usually the most successful, but we have high hopes that it will produce enough for our meals throughout the summer with a little to spare and put away.
In the fall we tilled a vegetable garden space in the yard and this spring we will be adding at least one raised bed in our pool area for herbs and lettuce. What are we planting? Well,:
-Oxheart, Pruden's Purple, Trophy, and Amish Paste Tomatoes
-Black Cherry Tomatoes
-Green Arrow Peas
-Bushy Cucumber
-Seed Savers Lettuce Mixture (Australian Yellowleaf, Pablo, Forellenschluss, Red Velvet, and others)
-Lacinato Kale
-Bloomsdale Spinach
-Genovese Basil (this will be in the main garden instead of the herb garden because I plan on growing lots!)
-Helenor Rutabaga
-Dragon and St. Valery Carrots
-Chioggia Beet
-Purple Viking Potatoes
-Ailsa Craig Sweet Onions
-Copra Yellow Storage Onions
-German White Garlic (already planted)
-Slick Pik Summer Squash
-Black Beauty Zucchini
-Burgess Buttercup, Waltham Butternut, and Anna Swartz Hubbard Squash
-Calypso and Mayflower Dry Beans
-Provider and Empress Green Beans
-Tango Celery (an experiment)
-Calabrese Broccoli (an experiment)
-Two Inch Strawberry Popcorn (an experiment that will be grown in containers)
-Pride of Wisconsin Melon (an experiment that will be grown in containers
-Titan Sunflowers (these will grow along one of our property lines for a little added privacy)
The Herb Garden:
-Chives
-Garlic Chives
-Dill
-Black Peppermint
-Spearmint
-Greek Oregano
-Giant from Italy Parsley
-Thyme
-and I'm hoping to track down some Lemon Balm to add here too.
Phew, we're going to be busy. While it looks like a lot, many of the seeds we are sharing with my parents. So the variety is large but the quantity of each variety will be fairly small. We wanted to get a good grip on what varieties we really like and what will do well in our soil.
Have you planted any of the varities we're going to try? I'd love to hear your experience with them! Or is there a variety you love that we should add to our wish list for next year?
I've never had much luck with dry beans. I find they are just not worth the space in my garden for the price you can get them at the bulk food store.
ReplyDeleteI love the Amish Paste tomatoes and Bloomsdale spinach but to be honest Black Beauty is not my favorite zucchini. I'm using Ambassador for the second year and hope it's as good as before.
Looks like a good plan though. It's only adding to my excitement for the growing season!
Thanks for the zucchini tip! I'm going to write Ambassador down in my garden journal as a reminder for next year!
DeleteHow have I missed all these lovely posts? I've been a bad blogger. We've liked the waltham squash, it was a good producer, and it stores well. The melons, onions and broccoli you need to plant now! Also, I'm not sure if you should grow the corn in containers. I don't really know, because I've never had successful corn, but it seems like it needs lots of room, and lots of plants for pollination...
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up on the melons and broccoli! We ordered the onions from Johnny's and they offer seeds, sets, and starts, we went for the starts this year, so they'll be coming in a month or two...starting onions from seed intimidates me to no end.
DeleteThe popcorn is a semi-dwarf plant, so I was hoping it would do okay in pots simply because I didn't want to lose the space in the garden, but maybe I should shift things around and try to get it back in the main garden...hmm...
I looove your diagram :) makes me excited for summer!
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