garden goal for the coming summer

[picturerock]

Every year most try something new, pursue a new gardening goal. This year for me it's heirloom tomatoes.   I've got seeds for several interesting varieties, and my goal is to get a great crop of some unusual tomatoes.   

What would you like to learn or accomplish in the garden this year?

[longwinters]

We have a relatively short growing season so I am pretty limited on what tomatoes I can try.  This year I am going with a 52 day tomato, and two 70 day tomatoe types.  Never went beyond 65 days before so we will see.  I also start them from seed 8 weeks before I plant so they have a pretty good head start.

The other thing I want to do is get a decent bed of asparagus.  I planted 16 crowns two years ago and none survived.....I think they all drowned from all the rain we had in the spring.  Last year I planted again and filled in the trench right away so it would not act like a ditch with our spring rains.  7 crowns survived.  So this spring I will plant 10 more crowns and hope that most of them survive and grow.  I don't know what I am doing wrong as I have no problems growing multiple other veggies.

Long

[LunaticFringeInc]

This year I am trying out a few new things.

The first is I will be growing a Japanese variety of radish called a Diacon Radish.    Unlike your typical Radish grown in America these actually get to be quiet HUGE!  The Japanese use them much like we use the Potato in soups and a dish simular to a a Stew called Oden.

The other thing I am trying out this season, is since I have had such great success with Tangerines in large planter pots, I am going to try doing a Meyers Lemon and Mexican Lime.  I have one of each that I am currently trying to winter that I bought at the end of the season on clearence sale for 3.00 each.  Not really hoping for a bumper crop, just enough to use on the grill and to squeeze over Carnitas.

Although not really something new for me, but this year I instead of just experimenting with a Brandywine Heirloom Tomato, I am going to probably grow six to ten of them this season instead of the Hybrids I typically grow.  I didnt get as many tomatos off this variety as I did the Hybrids, nor did the plants grow quiet as vigorous, but the flavor was increadible to say the least!  Unlike the hybrids whos seeds arent worth saving, I will be saving a gang of the seeds from the Brandywine Tomatoes for next years garden.

I was diddy boppin through Lowes the other day and noticed that they also had some Dwarf Alberta Spruce "Living Christmas Trees" discounted to 2.25 each.  Got a wild hair up the wazoo and bought one thinking that since I live in a small cabin on the lake where space is at a premium, that this might be a neat little project to grow for next Christmas to use as my Christmas tree.  Of course the object of the game is to keep it alive and pruned and see just how many years I can go and use this as my Christmas tree each season.  Having had it for just 3 weeks inside and under a grow light it has already shown some growth so the outlook on this project seems to be good.  We will see.

[blind ear]

To "help" my neighbors raise bigger, better gardens.  I will keep he varmits killed out. 

[charles p]

Waiting on my soil test to come back.  I started six years ago with very sandy soil and have added a lot of organic matter over the years.  I can go back through my old test data and see a big improvement.  Compost, old chicken manure, rotted peanut shells, and shrimp shells are really working.  In last two years my analysis has only called for a small amount of nitrogen.  I stll put down a ballanced fertilizer in my new rows and apply Miracle Grow during the season.  I have drip irrigation and once put miracle grow powder in a syphon tank.  Big mistake.  Had an algae bloom in the tank that clogged up the emitters.

Hoping for a good stand of spinach.  Put it in last fall and germination was almost too good after two planting failures.  Good seed makes a difference.  Got some brocolli and Swiss chard out as well.  Onions bulbs are under the soil.  Don't know if they will sprout or rot.  Will plant romaine and red leaf lettuce in March-April.

A garden is good therapy for me until the weather and weeds get the best of it. Then it is almost depressing.  My friend has a very large garden and the weeks take it over each summer.  His yield is still better than mine.  Go figure.

[blind ear]

charlesP
I always had good luck germinateing spinach by keeping the new planted bed covered with plastic and damp to get those hard seed to germinate. Took well over a week often. ear

[Hit or Miss]

I'm planning to increase production and hopefully can more food next year from the garden.  I think I'll try digging up an area in the yard to add some watermelons this year too.  I'm planning to go no-till on the garden too.  Last year I went as all natural as possible and this year I will be interested to see if it makes a difference.  After studying some soil biology I have come to a new philosophy for gardening now.  I also want to be able to grow produce without having to rely on buying fertilizers and chemicals that may not be easily available in the near future.

[gypsyman]

I'm going to try tire potatoes, or fence potatoes. Talked with several people at gun shows, and want to try one, or both ways. Soil around here,NW Ohio, is pretty tough. 3-4 inch's of top soil, and into clay. Hard to get potatoes,carrots and the like to get very big.
So I read about growing potatoes above ground, and had a customer tell me about using fencing. Start a layer with leaves and clippings, and keep adding on. So will give that a try. gypsyman

[steg]

Lunitic, one year I tried brandywine, and another variety called prudens purple, to me the prudes came out just a little better all around than the brandywines, I usually save a bunch of seeds and I would have sent you some to try, but I screwed up last year, and I have to start over. I'll be buying them at pinetree gardens seeds, it's the only place that I've found them, I'm going to be placing an order in shortly, so if you want I'll pick you up a packet and send them to you..................................steg