Hi, i was thinking about different gardeners around the world and what they mostly grew in general each year. Then i got to thinking if anyone grew anything new that year. This will be my 5th season growing a garden and i like to try something new each year since I'm quite new and fond of this wonderful relationship with nature and also because of the amazing selection of what can be grown out there on the earth. Is anyone else growing anything new this year? Please post up if you are growing something different and maybe why are you growing it now.. G_N
Im growing Rutabaga this year and its my favorite food! I love it and i don't know why i haven't grown it before! Grew up on this stuff and ummmm Sundaay dinners..gravy....ummm.. I will probably have to grow it later in the year though due to temps here...but I'm definitely growing it. oh yes.. :-D G_N
I love rutabagas... It never ocurred to me to grow them though. You'll have to tell us how it goes. I try to add something new every year too. This year I'm trying a blackberry bush. Last year it was blueberries and strawberries. Two of my blueberries didn't make it through the winter (they were bareroot last year) so I replaced them with one large new bush today. I hope they bear fruit this year.
Nice thread. looks like i'm not the only one who like s to grow something new. Like Netty I am trying bulb Fennel for the first time. As my experiment crop. I call it an experiment crop as i'm not too worried if it fails. I did canteloupe last year and it was a great success. I'm also trying a few different varieties of beets, pumpkin and tomato this year. I'm also focusing more on my gardening skills this year. Primarily soil preparation, potting up of seedlings
It's nothing different for most gardeners, but we are trying sweet corn. This is the first time we've had a garden big enough to accommodate a block of corn (and it took me three years to catch on to that fact ). We also tried a new variety of Swiss chard, which is a total failure. It grew, but it's puny and scrawny and even the chickens give it a poor rating.
The good thing in growing new things is that even in failure of expected results we have hopefully picked up some knowledge of what to do or not do next time. We can gain a lot of good knowledge each year and build on it each season. Different plants, their unique growth habits, and mastering them, keep things from ever getting boring i find.
I am trying some new to me woodland plants. The ones native to my local are: Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick, Bearberry) Asarum caudatum (British Columbia Wild Ginger) Both of these plants I tried out last year in a mixed container. This year I am going to move them to the garden and hope that they do as well. The Kinnikinnick berries and leaves are used for teas. The ginger is a beautiful plant and I am hoping it will be as successful in the garden as it has been in a container. My previous attempts with another ginger has been expensive slug food. I am also trying: Trillium cuneatum (Little Sweet Betsy) Not a northwest native, but a pretty trillium I am hoping will likes its new location. The mottled leaves and red flower spike will be a great addition if it feels at home. Always a gamble trying new plants. Am replanting Cyclamen hederifolium, a hardy cyclamen that I had before careless weeding stabbed the dormant bulb. :-? This one is a white variety instead of the pink one I had previously.
This was extreemly slow growing for me in NH, in pots. Did better but was still glacially slow in a sunny sandy raised bed.
I'm growing brussel sprouts, graffiti cauliflower and celery for the first time. Hopefully I'll manage to get something out each of the crops. i found an old post about brussel sprouts which was very helpful, thanks whoever posted the link to the garden page for it, I would have managed to not get anything if I hadn't read it. So any help on the other two would be great. thanks, carolyn
Coppice, since the Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (Kinnikinnick, Bearberry) is native here it did very well in the pot. From the nursery starts the spread is just under a foot for the branches. If I planted it in the right location it should spread pretty well. If I didn't I will know :-? . Planting locals or having native volunteers is sometimes fantastic :-D
We're trying to get hold of blue potatoes. They're called Blue Congo and we very much want to grow them. Our children don't like potatoes much unless they can dig them out of the ground themselves, but we thought that blue ones might waken their interest. We're also sowing a carrot mix of white, yellow and orange carrots, plus the red ones that we've had before. The red "Falstaff" Brussels sprouts are sown, and we're just waiting for them to sprout plus better temps outside. We're also going to "plant" a water plant this year, Hydrocharis or Frog Bite. Blame it on my kids! I assume we'll aquire some new perennials and bulbs too. We always do.
kholrabi and ichiban eggplant. also, scarlet runner beans and yellow wax pole beans (black bean) are all new for me this season.
I had hopes this "heath" sized plant might adapt to pot training as bonsai. It was positively glacial slow growing. It sat unchanging in pot and feild.
Another old thread......back from the dead! Well this year I am growing a new (for me) annual. Its called a Cardinal Climber. I chose this as its supposed to be a hummingbird magnet. Its small right now but stretching up and out.... Super awesome fast germ rate. Up outta the soil in 2 days! I gifted my mum one for her yard. I really like the feeling of gifting plants. Ive got some more of these in the soil so I can gift my sister one too. Giving is fun in gardening isnt it
