Seed selection and garden plans for 2023

[saysfaa]

What would you suggest for habitat for bees ? I love to see them around too. Are marigolds good for them?

A dish of water with very low sloped sides or with stones in it so they can get to the water without getting their wings wet is good for the bees.

Yes, marigolds are good for them if they are the single blossomed kind. Planting single blossomed varieties of other flowers is helpful also. I like the honey bee suite website for information on supporting bees; she has information for wild pollinators as well as honey bees. Quite a lot of the information for honey bee pastures is helpful for native bees too.

That website has information for several types of shelter for wild pollinators, also.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Over the past year, we discovered we like Brussels sprouts after thinking they were awful for many years. I'm not sure if our tastes have changed or if we found better recipes. Probably both.

Egg plants and rooted parsley will be totally new to us.

Trick with Brussels sprouts is in the cooking, I think. It's literally the only vegetable my mother (who will eat anything) won't eat, but that's because she tried boiling them. My father in law also served them boiled, who does that?? They really need to be roasted or pan-fried, and I cut out the core as well as that tends to be more bitter. A good roasted sprout is delicious!

The Hamburg parsley is basically a parsley on top and a starchy root underneath. I expected something more of a parsnip root but it's a lot less sweet.

Eggplant does poorly for me, I just don't get a long enough growing season for it, though I keep trying. I'll be starting up seed in a few weeks. I grew Ping Tungs last year but got maybe a total of 5 fruit from 3 plants.

 

[Peaches Lee]

I bought a heat mat this year to start peppers. We have a very short season here and the big sweet peppers don't have the time they need to grow mature, maybe this will be the boost they need.

I'm going to give grow lights a try this year--hoping for sturdier plants come time to put them in the soil.

I'm going to attempt mini greenhouses using milk cartons to encourage my Musquee de Provence squash to mature into the beautiful tan pumpkin it's meant to be.

This year, we are going to plant beets and carrots in a raised bed, one of those metal water troughs from TSC.

I think I've got most of the seeds I will be planting this year, but, Baker Creek added a new purple tomato called Queen of the Night--I might have to get it.

I would absolutely LOVE to buy some heirloom apple trees this year. Can I make it happen?

@Coldd The White Queen tomato has been my favorite white variety!
My bucket of tomatoes. The Pineapple variety was the most stunningly gorgeous tomato I've ever seen! Definitely recommend!

Carrots--horses enjoyed getting these treats!

Sugar Baby watermelons--my chickens loved these!

Anyone try pallet gardening? This little huntress is seen here by a Detroit Dark Red beet.
The cornfield. It required 5 rows of electrified tensile wire to keep the deer out. We planted corn and squash on one side, and the other had summer squash, beets, carrots and potatoes. The potatoes did amazing!

Here's to a successful season, happy gardening everyone!

 

[Coldd]

I bought a heat mat this year to start peppers. We have a very short season here and the big sweet peppers don't have the time they need to grow mature, maybe this will be the boost they need.

I'm going to give grow lights a try this year--hoping for sturdier plants come time to put them in the soil.

I'm going to attempt mini greenhouses using milk cartons to encourage my Musquee de Provence squash to mature into the beautiful tan pumpkin it's meant to be.

This year, we are going to plant beets and carrots in a raised bed, one of those metal water troughs from TSC.

I think I've got most of the seeds I will be planting this year, but, Baker Creek added a new purple tomato called Queen of the Night--I might have to get it.

I would absolutely LOVE to buy some heirloom apple trees this year. Can I make it happen?

@Coldd The White Queen tomato has been my favorite white variety!
View attachment 3375411My bucket of tomatoes. The Pineapple variety was the most stunningly gorgeous tomato I've ever seen! Definitely recommend!

View attachment 3375413Carrots--horses enjoyed getting these treats!

View attachment 3375416Sugar Baby watermelons--my chickens loved these!

View attachment 3375418Anyone try pallet gardening? This little huntress is seen here by a Detroit Dark Red beet.
View attachment 3375419The cornfield. It required 5 rows of electrified tensile wire to keep the deer out. We planted corn and squash on one side, and the other had summer squash, beets, carrots and potatoes. The potatoes did amazing!

Here's to a successful season, happy gardening everyone!

Those tomatoes look great! Thanks for the recommendation. Where are you living that the growing season is so short? We’re in Montana and experience late/early frosts pretty often. Also long cool springs with rain, then no rain for most of the summer. Fall is quite short.

 

[Peaches Lee]

I live in north western PA. Zone 5. It's considered "safe" to plant (squash/tomatoes) after May 31st. October will start preparing for frosts.

 

[Sally PB]

I ordered the rest of my seeds yesterday. I still want to order some grape vines. I'm adding the more expensive things, like fruit trees, a few at a time. Yeah, I know, they take a few years to get going, but so it is.

I've found I get really excited about, say, cherry trees, and get a couple. The first year, I practically want to sleep out there with the little babies. Gotta take care of them! Special fertilizer, a water schedule, whatever. By year three, I want to get on to something else, like grapevines.

Spreading out the buying spreads out the cost, and I don't get overwhelmed with caring for all the little babies who need coddling.

 

[Callender Girl]

Sounds like my approach to cost and care. I'm hoping my grapevines, which will be on their third season, produce some grapes this year.

Last year, I added a new strawberry bed and four end-of-the-season-clearance-priced red raspberries.

Two years ago, I added more rhubarb, and some purple asparagus. I hope to harvest a bit of both this year.

I have not had great luck with trees. Rabbits girdled my only producing apple tree, and I'm hoping that two survivors produce apples in the next couple of years. My peach tree and my cherry tree have both produced fruit, but last year was not good for either of them. Hoping for better this year.

Optimism is certainly a requirement for growing those permanent additions.

 

[Iluveggers]

Haven’t finalized my last order yet, but trying some new tomatoes and needed romaine lettuce since I used it all up this fall. We added a regular & crab apple tree this fall, too. Hoping they do well. Garlic is in. Will also be planting peppers, zucchini, peas, beans, onions, kale, chard, winter squash, radish, beets, carrots, celery & a few collard & Asian green plants. Asparagus should be big enough to harvest this year. I also put zinnias, nasturtiums, & sunflowers in the north corner of the garden. Bees love them & the chickens eat them. As far as bees (& hummingbirds), I planted a runner bean two years ago with bright red flowers, and never saw as many pollinating as that year. Did not give a lot of beans, but if the purpose is pollinator attraction, it worked beautifully. We are digging up a new section for perennial flowers, and I’m going to move some herbs into a designated area there. The chives have taken over my raised bed so everything is getting relocated.

 

[Sally PB]

Optimism is certainly a requirement for growing those permanent additions.

And gardening in general.

 

[5 Points Wingfeather]

I have about 25 rows. I don’t re-till. Just plant in same old rows.

This week will spread homemade compost and will go get some finished chicken litter to put out soon.

My wife will have flowers
Bulbs—tulips and dahlias and ranunculus
Seeds—sunflowers cosmos zinnias and marigolds

I have vegetables:

I’ll start cool weather seeds this week: lettuce, spinach, onions, and carrots

Warm weather stuff later: corn, squash zucchini watermelon pepper tomatoes okra


I’m sure I’m missing something but that’s the gist. Almost all my seeds are supposed to arrive this week and I just put up the grow lights to start them.