Well, I want to actually grow something edible this year so I am getting an early start. I have a list of veggies I am gonna grow this year and wanted to know what is everyone favorite and which they have had the most success with. Thank you all in advance for your listings, hopefully it will help me have a productive garden this year. Cucumber, fresh raw eating Green beans for pickling mainly small peppers mainly fresh eating and salads Zucchini again fresh eating and salads Tomatoes, one species of small and one largest I can get to grow. Here is what I am thinking for each so far: Green bean: Jade, renegade Cucumber: Green slam, Rocky, Marketmore, Alibi, Diamant Peppers: Gypsy, Yum Yum Gold Zucchini: Latino, Giambo Tomatoes: Small; Sun Gold, Oregon Cherry Large: Gold Medal, Tiffen Mennonite, Old German, Big Beef, Chianti Rose, (the bigger the better, wife wants dinner tomatoes for slicing and eating). Again, thank in advance for your ideas, remember I am in Washington on the coast so short season and cooler temps most of the time. Might get lucky this year with El nino and a warmer summer but can't plan for it. Most maps same I am zone 8-9.
Sounds you have a great list of great vegies going. I didn't see any of the edible pod pea varieties on your list. We love them. :-D They are so sweet and well worth a try in my opinion. The vine/flower tips are even great in salads. The pods seldom make it out of the garden. (I don't like the pea/shelling varieties :-? but fresh grown they are better than store bought) I live in the Puget Sound region of Washington State and if you have space to try sweet corn, the little open pollinated variety of Hooker's corn is sweet, and tasty and ripens in our weather. (I actually got a second crop, because we had a long fall last year..planted it the last week of July) I have some saved seed if you want to give it a try. Seed Exchange carries it. Didn't notice any spinach or lettuces on your list. They do well here. Nothing like a fresh salad from the garden. Happy gardening, and have fun!
Our favorite bean is "Royal Burgundy". It grows purple, but turns green when cooked. They out perform any green variety we have tried and we liked it's flavor the best. We also love "Sweet Million" for our small tomatoes, but are still searching for our favorite large tomato.
Hope you have a bumper crop this year, don't forget to share photos of the garden with us. Looking at a USDA zone map, it is so strange that you in the northwest with a short/cool growing season are in the same zone I am in down here in Texas where we have a 6 month growing season with temps averaging between 95-110 degrees.
Yah it doesn't make any sense at all except for the fact that we rarely get any frost or freeze after March 1st. The ground doesn't make it to 60F until April and the nights are often still too cold for delicate veggies like cukes and tomatoes to go outside. Oh well, the good thing about it I guess is I don't have to spend 6 months tending my garden. I guess I should add that I am doing this all in containers. Hopefully rather large ones but we will see. Netty, I will definately have to try the royal burgundy, you are much colder than I am here so I should be able to get them to grow at least a little.
We're going to try brussels sprouts this year, the Falstaff variety. They're purple, and stay purple when cooked.
fish_4_all: you mentioned you will be planting in containers, thought this might come in handy for you to go by in regards to sizes needed: Beans (green and yellow wax) can successfully be planted in 5 gallon window boxs; would plant seeds in June once that soil warms up nicely and would also plant a bit of summer savory with them as a companion plant to enhance growth. For cukes: recommended is one plant per 1 gallon pot, or 2-3 plants per 5 gallon one. Zucchinis and Summer Squash: one plant per 2 gallon pot; plant one Winter Squash per 3 gallon pot, however. Nothing smaller than a 5 gallon container's recommended for tomatoes, and may I highly recommend planting onion bulbs in with them? Four, or five, little bulbs planted before tomatoes are, then the tomato set in the middle of them really helps to ward off diseases/pests, plus you can harvest the mature onions as well in the fall. ANYTHING can be used for container planting, just make sure the item to be planted has been disinfected well beforehand with one part bleach to 9 parts water as a precautionary measure, then let item sit in the sun a few days to allow the bleach to thoroughly disapate before filling with soil(s). And don't forget to punch DRAINAGE HOLES in the bottoms of anything with solid ones! With container gardening..for optimum results..it's best to "replenish" the soils every year to some extent. If feasible, gather some kelp off the beaches after a fall storm, cut it up and mix into the soils as soon as plants are pulled so it can decompose over the winter months. Bone meal, crushed up dried leaves or alfalfa meal are other excellant sources for soil building, as is chopped up comfrey plant. Liquid fish emulsion, mixed to manufacturer's directions, is one of the very best fertilizers, can also be used as a foliar spray to strengthen plants against diseases: with tomoatoes and the late season blight problem there tho', a commercial spray, containing copper, should be given some thought also. All in all, your planned container gardens sound like they'll produce very well for you, have FUN and ENJOY the harvests!
