Branchin' Out - growing something NEW!

[Lavender2]

Lavender2, the spinach is well worth it. If you get a winter thaw try digging and planting really early, like in February, and then cover with mulch. We had a couple of mild winters and my spinach overwintered and survived AND some seeds sprouted, so for 2011 and 2012 we ate spinach for over 3 months before they bolted. Did you know that spinach has almost as much protein as meat?

Thanks for the encouragement! ME, plant in February ... oh that would be a crazy dream. Well, we did have one year with little snow and the ground thawed a bit in March. I hope to get some going early in planter boxes in my three season porch, moving to the deck when it warms up. I'm trying to get DH to eat more greens.

 

[AMKuska]

This year I plan to grow plants that LIVE.

Yes...last year was quite an eye opener in the gardening department.

 

[Lavender2]

This year I plan to grow plants that LIVE.

Yes...last year was quite an eye opener in the gardening department.

Welcome AMKuska!
Sorry for your disappointing garden. We can learn just as much from our failures as we can from successes... it's just not quite as much fun. Hang in there, start small, and ask a lot of questions ...
When I think back to my first garden .... ... OK, it wasn't quite so funny back then!

 

[Smart Red]

Welcome, AMKuska! Glad you joined TEG and happy to have you growing with us.
For all of us, gardening is a progressive learning experience. That's why we're joined together here -- we all need gardening help from time to time.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

i'm thinking of getting some sun chokes the next time i see some at the local farmer's market. i think years ago i may have planted some at my parent's property and never knew what they were other than a 'perennial sunflower'. i'll give them a try since they look pretty and not just edible! i want to do sweet potatoes too and should have grabbed a few at the market. i did get some new varieties of potatoes to add to my collection-Blue Gold (aka Peter Wilcox), and a fingerling the lady selling them couldn't remember the name but i think they are Austrian Crescent. last time i got the Magic Molly fingerlings.

this is more of a future want and not something i'll immediately be able to add to the garden patches/orchard this year, hardy kiwis, plum/prune trees, beach plums, and though i've grown grapes before i want to add a few different types besides Canadice and the wild ones taking over the border of the property. i may see about some cuttings this year from Lon Rombough's website bunchgrapes.com

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Since my parents can't eat potatoes I was planning on trying sun chokes also. Potatoes make all of our stomachs bloat to the point of making us all look pregnant, my mom has the worst problem with it. Supposedly they taste like water chestnut raw and potato cooked. And I love the idea of a heavily producing perennial vegetable with pretty flowers. I've been looking one of the old french purple-skinned varieties.

Have you ever tried true potato seed, Chickie? I've found a berry on one of my plants before and got a whole range of different colors and shapes out of them. The best one was a fingerling type that was a blue-red mix with purplish skin. It's been forever since I've seen a potato plant...

I'm very excited on trying sorghum for the first time. Mine is a syrup variety but you could probably use the grain also. That and sorghum would probably be great for feeding the animals. Has anybody tried sorghum before? Did you make syrup out of it?

I was also thinking... could you make sorghum sugar? You'd think that it would already be up with the other alternative sweeteners if you could; stevia, xylitol, etc.

 

[AMKuska]

Yes, it's definitely a progressive learning experience. After checking some books out of the library and reading up online, I've decided to try planting the cool season plants when it is cool out, and not in the middle of July, and the warm season plants when it is warm out, not when it is freezing. Hopefully this change helps!

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I am going to try bok-choy and parsley this year for the first time. I have bought parsley seed several times and for some reason I never get it planted.

 

[Kassaundra]

Two new things for me this year are Minnesota Midget Mellons and sweet potatoes. I may try the mellons in a straw bale with some type of trellis or pole. Any suggestions are sure welcome.

Straw bale and anything a squash bug will eat seems like a disaster waiting to happen to me, but I may be squash bug centric.

 

[baymule]

I ordered Dixie Speckled Butterpeas because my Mom's 87 year old friend always tell about being raised on a farm in Arkansas and how thay raised everything they ate. She always talks about butterpeas and how good they were. I had never heard of them and I found them in Baker Creek's catalog! I am going to grow them for her and her husband, not say anything, just take her a bunch of them.

I also ordered a melon, Bateekh Samarra from Iraq that has been grown there for over 1,000 years. And I also found Tommy Toe tomato seeds at Baker Creek, my husband has fond memories of the Tommy Toe tomatoes his Daddy grew when he was a child. I am delighted to find these seeds and grow them for him.

I am going to grow Pearl Millet just for giggles and grins. If I don't like it, I bet the chickens will.