# What will be Growing in 2015?



## Kathleen

I planted a few seeds tonight: Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, Lettuce, Spinach, and Chard.

For tomatoes, I plan to grow San Mar's again as we have had good luck with them.  I channel my grandmother with Early Girls, a hybrid.  And am trying an heirloom called Bright O Day this year.  I also plan to grow my black cherry tomatoes.

Peppers will be mainly sweet peppers from Bakers Creek, a few bells (King of the North, Emerald Giant, and CA Wonders (hybrid),) cayenne, and a few jalapenos.  

I'm trying Diamond Eggplants this year.

I found an artichoke that is suppose to do well with a shorter growing season and will give it a try.  

Melons, beans, and cucumbers to be grown later.

I know some of you are either gazing at seed catalogs or have already bought seeds.  What do you plan to grow?

~Kathleen


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## Kayelle

Kathleen, do you still have your community garden plot? Such great plans you're making.

 The only produce we have room for is a couple of tomato plants and some herbs. The tomato plants are already waist high with lots of blossoms and 3 itty bitty tomaotes. I like curly leaf parsley, as I think it has much more flavor than flat leaf Italian, and I must have my chives and basil along with thyme.
My Meyer lemon tree in the yard is my all year treasure.


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## CWS4322

Peppers, leeks, tomatoes, eggplant, thyme are all started. We have at least 10 weeks before those can be transplanted. Growing the usual suspects this year.


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## Whiskadoodle

One or two tomatoes in big pots with chicken wire attached  to the cages.  Let the squirrels grow their own. 

I have cayenne pepper seeds started under grow lights.  A friend gave me 3 peppers and I dried them.  I planted some of the seeds and will transplant only a couple babies.  Marigold seeds starting in another week or so.    I buy most other seedlings from the farmer's market - esp basil , and I  think this year I might get both jalapenos and  Serrano chilies.  There should be  an assortment of perennial herbs returning.  I will have to supplement with new thyme plants, basil and a good sized rosemary.

Green beans and cukes  get sown direct  in the ground.   I haven't grown nasturtiums in several years.  They hardly take up any space and it's peppery and a little is good in various salads.


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## Katie H

We're going to continue our container gardening again this year, but with some refinements I've already determined.  Last year's effort was stellar and with the tweaking I'm sure we'll have another great return.

So far in the 5-gallon bucket garden, we'll have at least 5 different varieties of tomatoes, some bell peppers, cucumbers, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash.  We'll probably try some pole beans, too.  Not sure.

In the "big" garden, Glenn plans to do a boatload of corn, bush beans and some cantaloupe.  Might add some watermelon, too.

Really looking forward to "playing" out in plants and dirt.  Looks like we'll have to wait a little more since there's another winter storm headed our way tonight.  At least we're not on our east coast.  I'm sure those folks are more than sick of winter.


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## Dawgluver

I used to start all my vegetables and flowers from seed under grow lights in the basement, along with orchids and African violets.  That was a lot of work!  Now I just buy seedlings from a local greenhouse.  I direct sow cukes and bush beans, and grow tomato and pepper plants.

We only have one small section of the yard that gets enough sun, so I have a little fenced in veggie garden with raised bed containers.  We have an unending parade of critters who enjoy free produce.


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## sparrowgrass

Nine kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, brussels sprouts, celery and celeriac in pots in the sunroom.  Don't know when I will get into the garden--it is still snow covered.

I will direct seed corn, cucumbers, winter squash, gourds, lettuce, spinach, pole beans, pumpkins, and okra.

I am excited because my 5 year old granddaughter is coming for a week in May.  She is eager to help plant the seeds, and I am going to hatch out some chicks while she is here!


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## Cheryl J

So far....tomatoes, radishes, spinach, carrots, chives, basil, rosemary, and parsley.  I'll be going to Home Depot in the next day or two and picking up some bell pepper seeds, and that'll probably do it.  I've got limited spaces with full sun because of all the trees.  

My vining vinca is really taking off with beautiful purple flowers, the snapdragons are in full bloom, and I'll be throwing in some more marigold seeds wherever I can find good sunny spots.  The tomatoes are blooming, but no little 'maters have set on yet.  

I love playing in the dirt and watching things grow.  


sparrowgrass....how fun for your granddaughter to be able to see chicks hatch!


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## Kathleen

sparrowgrass said:


> Nine kinds of tomatoes, 5 kinds of peppers, brussels sprouts, celery and celeriac in pots in the sunroom.  Don't know when I will get into the garden--it is still snow covered.
> 
> I will direct seed corn, cucumbers, winter squash, gourds, lettuce, spinach, pole beans, pumpkins, and okra.
> 
> I am excited because my 5 year old granddaughter is coming for a week in May.  She is eager to help plant the seeds, and I am going to hatch out some chicks while she is here!



Five years old!  Well, then you absolutely MUST grow M&Ms!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrOmwrwE8TQ


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## Bookbrat

I started a tray of leeks this weekend. Tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherries, Asian eggplants and peppers (early jalapenos, Hungarian wax, green bell and some Jimmy Nardello sweet Italian frying peppers) will be started the first week of April. They'll go into high tunnels, the only way I can get them to ripen in our short season. I'll plant broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage a week or so later. It'll be after Memorial Day before anything will be set out. We have been fighting scab on our potatoes no matter what we do, so we're going to try growing them in cages with compost, straw and rotted shavings from the post mill down the road.

Carrots, beets, zucchini, some early winter squashes (Marina di Chioggia and a kabocha), green and horticultural bush beans, and an assortment of greens will be direct seeded, and I'll try some pickling cukes....again. Then there are 400+ garlic bulbs that I planted last fall. (I am down to 14 kinds...down from 39. It's sort of an addiction.)

We'll grab corn, and acorn and butternut squash (and probably cukes, sighhhh...) from a u-pick that's an hour away but in a whole different climate.

Kathleen, I always start a few Early Girls. I can count on them even when it's a bad year....and they always taste great. Trying one called New Girl this year.  I'm also looking for the perfect open pollinated, short-season tomato. I've been saving seeds from Black Krim, Legend and Stupice, and am trying a new red cherry called Sweetie. Gotta have a couple of Sun Sugars, too (hybrid, but soooo good!).


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## CWS4322

Watch out for the tomatillos, they are invasive. Ours come back every year. 


What will be going in later:


cauliflower, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, kale, chard, beets, cabbage, carrots, kohlrabi, lettuces, arugula, endive/chickory, peas, beans, more beans, zucchini, corn, summer squash, winter squash (butternut, buttercup), pumpkin, radishes, lettuce, rutabaga, collards, beets, more beets, six or seven kinds of heirloom tomatoes, onions, herbs, cucumbers, potatoes, sunflowers, parsnips, salsify, bok choy, Japanese/Chinese veggies (I'd have to look at the packages), melons, garlic (already planted), okra and shallots. I think that is everything we are planting. I probably forgot something.


In a good year, we have about 90-100 days of growing season. We start a lot of stuff in the greenhouse and cold frames. Notice, we do not plant summer turnips--we like rutabaga better. They keep! If I could transplant chickpeas, I would. Supposedly SK is the largest producer of chickpeas in NA. We also plant wheat, barley and oats in the fields. I don't know how well they transplant. I tried chickpeas one year--they didn't have enough time. I also tried artichokes as an annual...that didn't work either. And of course we have rhubarb, asparagus, berries, and apples.


We are trying edamame this year as our new thing to try in the fields.


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## larry_stewart

Actually heading over to the garden store in a few minutes just to browse a bit, as I wait for 2 feet of snow to melt off my garden.

Peas
Cucumbers ( large for salads, Kirby's for Pickling)
Potatoes
Asparagus
Tomatoes ( large for slicing, roma for sauce and drying, grape for salads and snacking)
Eggplants ( japanese and italian)
Peppers ( mild banana type, possbly one jalepeno)
Zucchi's
Chard
Garlic
Okra ( baby bubba variety, plants only get about 1 1/2 - 2 feet high)
Leeks
Broccoli
Cauliflower
romain lettuce
String beans 
Pumpkin
Spaghetti squash
Mushrooms ( Hopefully my mushroom logs produce this year)
Herbs ( rosemary, by leaf, basil, parsley, chives, sage, thyme, kafir lime, allspice)
Fruit trees and berries ( strawberries, black berries, raspberries, grapes, kiwis, apples, peaches, chestnuts, mulberries, figs, lemons, hopefully bananas)
May experiment with Hops and try brewing my own beer this year

***IM also a sucker when I go into these garden stores, so if anything else catches my eye, i will try and make room for it.***


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## Cooking Goddess

I don't garden much anymore because I'm lazy. I'll admit my flaws. However, I found an article about gardening that will probably have me make an effort to do something veggie-related this year.  Thought a lot of you would enjoy reading it too. It's about how soil has microbes that make you happy! 

*Soil Microbes And Human Health ~ Learn About The Natural Antidepressant In Soil*


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## Cheryl J

Kathleen, that was a cute video about 'growing' M&Ms. 

CG, interesting article....thanks for sharing.  No wonder playing in the dirt makes me happy!


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## Kathleen

Kayelle said:


> Kathleen, do you still have your community garden plot? Such great plans you're making.
> 
> The only produce we have room for is a couple of tomato plants and some herbs. The tomato plants are already waist high with lots of blossoms and 3 itty bitty tomaotes. I like curly leaf parsley, as I think it has much more flavor than flat leaf Italian, and I must have my chives and basil along with thyme.
> My Meyer lemon tree in the yard is my all year treasure.



I do still have my community garden plot.  Some of the people there have the most awesome gardens.  It's motivating.  I am growing most of my herbs and lettuce in my front flower bed though.  Just easier that way!  Good choice of fresh tomatoes!  If I could only grow one thing, it would be tomatoes!



Bookbrat said:


> I started a tray of leeks this weekend. Tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherries, Asian eggplants and peppers (early jalapenos, Hungarian wax, green bell and some Jimmy Nardello sweet Italian frying peppers) will be started the first week of April. They'll go into high tunnels, the only way I can get them to ripen in our short season. I'll plant broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage a week or so later. It'll be after Memorial Day before anything will be set out. We have been fighting scab on our potatoes no matter what we do, so we're going to try growing them in cages with compost, straw and rotted shavings from the post mill down the road.
> 
> Carrots, beets, zucchini, some early winter squashes (Marina di Chioggia and a kabocha), green and horticultural bush beans, and an assortment of greens will be direct seeded, and I'll try some pickling cukes....again. Then there are 400+ garlic bulbs that I planted last fall. (I am down to 14 kinds...down from 39. It's sort of an addiction.)
> 
> We'll grab corn, and acorn and butternut squash (and probably cukes, sighhhh...) from a u-pick that's an hour away but in a whole different climate.
> 
> Kathleen, I always start a few Early Girls. I can count on them even when it's a bad year....and they always taste great. Trying one called New Girl this year.  I'm also looking for the perfect open pollinated, short-season tomato. I've been saving seeds from Black Krim, Legend and Stupice, and am trying a new red cherry called Sweetie. Gotta have a couple of Sun Sugars, too (hybrid, but soooo good!).



Wow...lots of things!  I've not saved seeds yet.  Perhaps this year!

I have to grow Early Girls.  Like you, I can always count on them and they do taste great.  One of the flavors of "home."



Cheryl J said:


> Kathleen, that was a cute video about 'growing' M&Ms.
> 
> CG, interesting article....thanks for sharing.  No wonder playing in the dirt makes me happy!



I wish I knew a small child to grow M&Ms with.  So fun.


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## Cheryl J

I have tiny little grape sized tomatoes on my two container tomato plants. The plants themselves are only about a foot tall, but they're doing very well so far.  I've had really good luck with patio tomatoes so sticking with them.


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## CWS4322

It would be easier to say what we aren't growing. 

Oh, but that's right, it is a luxury to be able to grow one's own veggies. 


Weather has reached the temps for tapping the maple trees. Let the sap start running!


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## Cooking Goddess

CWS, "saps" have been running in my neighborhood for weeks. 

It may not be a "luxury" to grow your own veggies, but I think it is a blessing. Whether she was growing vegetables, flowers, or weeds, my Mom made sure when she planted in the spring she also "planted" her favorite garden sign:

Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You're closer to God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth. ~ Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858 - 1932)


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## Cheryl J

Cooking Goddess said:


> CWS, "saps" have been running in my neighborhood for weeks.
> 
> It may not be a "luxury" to grow your own veggies, but I think it is a blessing. Whether she was growing vegetables, flowers, or weeds, my Mom made sure when she planted in the spring she also "planted" her favorite garden sign:
> 
> *Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You're closer to God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth.* ~ Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858 - 1932)


 
I love that.


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## CWS4322

Cheryl J said:


> I love that.


I love that quote! I think I need to make a wooden sign to put on the corner of the garden with that quote on it. Just to remind myself that it is a blessing when I am cursing how many beans, etc., I have to process.


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## Vanitas

I started my seeds at the beginning of February. So far I've got peppers (Cali wonder, jalapenos, habeneros, scotch bonnets, poblanos), onions (yellow & white bunching), spinach, lettuce (red looseleaf, buttercrunch,mesclun mix), beans, pumpkins (small sugars, Caspars, Jack be little), basil (sweet & dark opal) and goji berries. This is my first time growing the berries, but my little spouts are looking good.

I've also started some flowers - snapdragons, pansies, portulacas, penny black nemophilla, and a couple varieties of poppy (Shirley mixed & Cali mission bells).

Once it warms up outside, I'm also going to direct sow dill, cilantro, corn, carrots, cucumbers, and peas. This year I'm trading my container gardening for an actual garden, as we moved into a home with a great backyard last year. I have been bursting at the seams all winter thinking about my garden this year. Can't wait to get out there!!


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## Cheryl J

Awesome, vanitas!  I can just feel your excitement about growing things.  I'm happy to hear about everyone's gardening plans this year.  Keep in touch!


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## CWS4322

Vanitas said:


> I started my seeds at the beginning of February. So far I've got peppers (Cali wonder, jalapenos, habeneros, scotch bonnets, poblanos), onions (yellow & white bunching), spinach, lettuce (red looseleaf, buttercrunch,mesclun mix), beans, pumpkins (small sugars, Caspars, Jack be little), basil (sweet & dark opal) and goji berries. This is my first time growing the berries, but my little spouts are looking good.
> 
> I've also started some flowers - snapdragons, pansies, portulacas, penny black nemophilla, and a couple varieties of poppy (Shirley mixed & Cali mission bells).
> 
> Once it warms up outside, I'm also going to direct sow dill, cilantro, corn, carrots, cucumbers, and peas. This year I'm trading my container gardening for an actual garden, as we moved into a home with a great backyard last year. I have been bursting at the seams all winter thinking about my garden this year. Can't wait to get out there!!


Oh my, you are ambitious for the first year! The pansies (flowers) are lovely in salads. Add some nasturtiums to your flower beds (direct seed). The leaves and flowers add that peppery bite to salads that you get from arugula or watercress. Be sure to plant your pepper plants far enough apart (varieties) so they don't cross  pollinate. If they cross pollinate, you can end up with sweet "hot" peppers and vice versa. Or, not knowing which are hot and which are not. Been there, done that. You can practice three sisters and put squash/pumpkin and beans in with the sweet corn.


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## tinlizzie

A request to you gardeners -- please find a spot for some milkweed.  I know the plants can be invasive, but they are the host food of our beautiful Monarch butterfly caterpillars, which will not eat your veggies.


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## GA Home Cook

The standards:  Silver queen corn, purple hull peas, many types of tomatoes, okra, Blue lake green beans, and several varieties of squash.


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## Souschef

*Tomatoes*

I bought one gallon plants this time, and put them in the beginning of February. I have unripe tomatoes on them now. I have a Celebrity and an Early Girl.
I have very limited space to plant here


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## Cheryl J

Souschef, I bought already established tomato plants this year too, rather than planting from seed, and also have limited space for planting so have to resort to container gardening.  Mine were in little pint sized pots and about 3" tall when I bought them.  They're over a foot tall now, have little grape sized tomatoes and doing great.  I tried Early Girl and didn't have much luck, unfortunately, so went with patios, which I've had good luck with.   

Here's hoping to a good tomato harvest for those of us with limited gardening space!


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## Dawgluver

tinlizzie said:


> A request to you gardeners -- please find a spot for some milkweed.  I know the plants can be invasive, but they are the host food of our beautiful Monarch butterfly caterpillars, which will not eat your veggies.




Indeed.  I let my wild milkweed grow, and fling the seed in my little wildflower garden.  The seedless pods make for some cool decorations.


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## taxlady

tinlizzie said:


> A request to you gardeners -- please find a spot for some milkweed.  I know the plants can be invasive, but they are the host food of our beautiful Monarch butterfly caterpillars, which will not eat your veggies.


You reminded me about this: FREE Butterfly Garden Starter Kit From National Wildlife Federation! -


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## CWS4322

Cooking Goddess said:


> CWS, "saps" have been running in my neighborhood for weeks.
> 
> It may not be a "luxury" to grow your own veggies, but I think it is a blessing. Whether she was growing vegetables, flowers, or weeds, my Mom made sure when she planted in the spring she also "planted" her favorite garden sign:
> 
> Kiss of the sun for pardon. Song of the birds for mirth. You're closer to God's heart in a garden than any place else on earth. ~ Dorothy Frances Gurney (1858 - 1932)


February was the 2nd coldest month on record here since 1900. It was brutal. We tapped the maple trees and some birch trees on Friday.


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## tinlizzie

taxlady said:


> You reminded me about this: FREE Butterfly Garden Starter Kit From National Wildlife Federation! -



Thank you for posting the link, TL.  Every little bit helps.

While we're *en*couraging milkweed, we should try to *dis*courage the use of Roundup (a USA herbicide product) whenever possible.


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## Cooking Goddess

CWS4322 said:


> February was the 2nd coldest month on record here since 1900. It was brutal. We tapped the maple trees and some birch trees on Friday.


We had record cold and snowfall too. They just started tapping maples around here about a week ago. The "saps" I referred to were the neighborhood joggers.  

Note to self: a joke is not funny if you have to explain it.


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## CWS4322

Roundup is  banned in Ontario (farmers can buy it, as can golf courses). It kept under lock and key at the garden centres. Our milkweed has purplish-white flowers and grows everywhere.


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## CWS4322

Cooking Goddess said:


> We had record cold and snowfall too. They just started tapping maples around here about a week ago. The "saps" I referred to were the neighborhood joggers.
> 
> Note to self: a joke is not funny if you have to explain it.


That went over my head--since I think of saps as being maple and birch!


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## FrankZ

CWS4322 said:


> That went over my head--since I think of saps as being maple and birch!




They really could have any last name...


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