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termater_gw

What are you going to grow this summer?

Termater
18 years ago

After much "sweating" over the millions of seed catalogs :) I have finally placed my seed orders for the season.

This is a partial list of the new varieties that I am going to try this year if anyone has comments on any of them I would love feedback if you have grown them before.

I am adding some new varieties of Tomato this year:-

Tangerine

Brandywine

Green Zebra

Cherokee Purple

Evergreen

Orange Oxheart

Blondkopfchen

Moonglow

Red & Yellow Pear

Prudens Purple

Federle

Gold Medal

Isis candy

Nyagous

Three new peppers,

Sweet Marconi Purple

Hot Wenks Yellow Hots

Hot Golden Treasure

Eggplant

Purple Long

Black Beauty

Rosita

Cucumbers,

Smart Pickle

Sweet Burpless

Double Yield

Melons,

Sweet Crimson

Rocky Ford

Jumbo Melon

Okra,

Red Velvet

Star of David

Beans,

Kentucky Wonder

Jacobs Cattle

Empress

Calypso

Blue Lake

Carrots,

Red Chantenay

Danvers 126

Scarlet

Peas,

Oregon Sugar Pod

Tom Thumb

Pea Progress

Lettuce,

Buttercrunch

Red Oak

Rouge D'hiver

Squash/Zucchini

Black Beauty

Golden Scallopini

Happy Gardening,

Termater

Comments (24)

  • dottie_in_charlotte
    18 years ago

    The only thing my hubby would want me to plant and produce is iceberg lettuce and for 35 years,part of it up North, I refuse.
    I'm going to try Early Mazuna mustard and hope it isn't hairy. Harmony Hybrid spinach for it's upright leaves. Sugar Sprint sugar snap peas and oakleaf and ruffled lettuces.
    I have a very limited veg garden area but I hope to expand by interplanting veggies in annual and perennial border gardens. Red ruffles lettuce looks great tucked between flowering plants. A good filler plant. I throw mustard seeds all over the place. Where they land I'm promised an easy crop and later yellow flowerheads when they bolt.
    Never had it reseed though.

  • alicia7b
    18 years ago

    I would like to try spinach and lettuce. I'm going to grow spaghetti squash again, we really liked that. I love the dark tomatoes: Black Krim, Black Brandywine, Black from Tula, Cherokee Purple. I'd be happy just growing those. We grew Kentucky Wonder pole beans and they're always good. Scarlet runner beans -- they burned up as soon as the weather turned hot. We always have strawberries, we planted some that we brought down from Pennsylvania and they grow wild in a half-sun bed with azaleas. The dog usually eats most of those. Nancedar gave me some strawberries last year and they've been put out in the sun so they will bear more heavily than the others unless the deer won't leave them alone. I've had some arguments with the deer with those already. So I sprayed the plants with Deer Off (hot pepper/ rotten egg) and the deer have left them alone for now.

    Here's hoping we have a less pest-ridden year than last year. In my yard the hornworms and blister beetles ate everything in sight. I think it was the combination of all of the compost we threw down in the expansion of new beds (nice soft medium for insects to lay their eggs in) and the drought (less mole activity -- assuming moles eat blister beetle larvae). The long cool spring may have been a factor as well.

  • mrsboomernc
    18 years ago

    this will be my first kitchen garden season - it's small but i think i can get quite a bit out of it. i'd like to focus on planting perennials like rhubarb, asparagus, blueberries.

    so far, i've ordered victoria rhubarb
    vardaman sweet potatoes
    burpee mesclun & their microgreen salad mix

    i'm about to order fingerling potatoes

    seeds i'm looking at are malabar spinach (hot weather), tumbler tomato, different pole beans, scarlet runner beans, bush cucumber, garlic, onions.

    i'll pick up plants for tomatoes, bell peppers & summer squash.

    it would be terrific if i could grow a decent melon. haven't had any success with them in nc.

  • gurley157fs
    18 years ago

    This will be my first year to try tomatoes from seed; I have ordered Cherokee Purple and Kimberly. Also ordered to types of small pumpkin, already have sweet peas in the ground and will keep planting for a little while longer. Always plant pole beans and have tons of garlic and onions. Planting lots more herbs this year.

    Just planted 4 apple trees but I won't allow them to produce fruit this year. I do have a peach and a plum that I'm hoping for fruit - I planted them two years ago and this will be the first year I let them produce - as long as mother nature cooperates.

    I want to try to do more plants from seed. I decided I need to set some sort of budget for myself and seeds seem to be the only way I can satisfy my addiction.

  • granite
    18 years ago

    Last year I tried some new pepper varieties and FELL IN LOVE with the red Italian roasting pepper. The Pimento pepper was also wonderful.

    I'll never plant Mr. Stripey tomato again. My co-worker loved the taste but I thought it was a waste. The majority of the tomato is a big hard cracked center that has to be cored out and tossed. It also makes a giant heavy plant that you need a rocket scaffold to hold up.

    As soon as the snow is gone I'm planting lettuce and spinach. In a few more weeks (between Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day), onions and sugar snap peas. On Mother's Day I'll add the rest of the summer veggies.

  • solaknc
    18 years ago

    EVERYTHING, according to my wife, Lynnencfan!!!!

    Actually, she's the flower power person, lost in Wintersowing, and I tend the vegetables. I've just planted out more lettuce, carrots, spinach, beets, and have some brocolli started for transplanting in a couple weeks.

    Just built and filled a new raised bed (4'x16'), 'cuz Mom (who can't get out and about) wants some special plants of 'hers', so we're accomodating her wishes ;) while sneaking in a few of my own :)

    Then it'll be the usual summer stuff for me - tomatos, peppers(bells and hots), squash(summer and winter),cukes and zukes, peas and beans, and we'll try our luck with some melons and pumpkins.

    Whatever happens, Lynne and I have fun out in the yard, trying to make the yardwork pleasant rather than a chore, or a 'job'. And more often than not, you might actually find us stopping to 'smell the roses', or watch the birds, or deer, or garden life as it happens...

  • tamelask
    18 years ago

    for the winter stuff i just have to figure out where to put my onions and plant another bed of lettuce. i have in a bunch of spinach, lettuce, misc greens, peas, carrots, radishes and a few beets already. i've started cabbage, cauli and broccolli in packs, but will probably end up buying some if my plants don't work fast enough. i always seem to get them going too late.

    for summer stuff i'll do beans(esp asparagus beans, aka yard longs), tomatoes(many from tomatopalooza), peppers- mildly hot & sweet, cukes, some winter & summer squash(even though i never seem to have luck with it), melons, maybe some gourds & pumpkins shoehorned in. i also like oddities like parsnips, popcorn, walking onions, assorted herbs, and ginger. 'course, that's the plan most every yr, and i usually do get most of it in, but something always gets left behind or bombs each yr. because i was crazy with work and of the cool spring & then drought, i got very little in last yr other than tomatoes and peppers, which did ok, considering.

    perennial things are great. had good luck harvesting the many kinds of berries we grow- black, purple & red rasps, blackberries, blues, figs, strawberries, persimmons, hardy kiwis and asian pears, before the drought got too bad(the kiwis were a bit bitter since they don't ripen til fall). i also had a nice set of apples, but neglected to spray, and bugs cleaned me out. so, i'm hoping to have all that stuff, plus a few new things this yr if the weather cooperates and doesn't blast all my buds. so far not too much premature swelling going on, but we'll see. i'm glad for the cold snap so long as it doesn't get really cold. we're hoping our varied cherries- dwarf sweet & sour in pots, plus bush and cornelian, set fruit this yr. the cornelian have lots of buds set, as does the bush cherry, so we'll see.

    if anyone in ths area has had luck growing rhubarb, please let me know, and how you did it. i love the ornery stuff, and it doesn't seem to want to grow here for anything. i've tried more times than i can count, all failures. it did get big a few times, but always died as soon as it got even a little warm. i'm beginning to think the only way to do it here is get roots in the fall, let it grow all winter & treat as an annual & harvest it all.

  • mrsboomernc
    18 years ago

    tammy
    i've got rhubarb roots on the way. they do like cooler climates so it's iffy. i had to try, though. if it succeeds, i'll let ya know. "victoria" is the variety, and
    it's rated to zone 9.
    *fingers crossed*
    marsha

  • tamelask
    18 years ago

    yeah, i saw that in your list. i'm curious if anyone else has already tried. my best luck was putting them in a big tub and moving it as it got hotter to cooler areas, but even then it died shortly into june. i tried a bunch of different varieties. kills me b/c it grew like a weed back home(western PA). i get some frozen when we go up, but it's not the same. good luck & keep me posted! nothing like strawberry rhubarb crumble! tam

  • immrlizard
    18 years ago

    This year I am looking to get some more rhubarb. The ones I got last year were a little weak when I got them, so only 2 lived. They did well though. Sugar snap peas again. They grew so well they broke the string trellis I built. Sweet baby girl tomatoes (cherry) from burpee. I never found a little tomato that was that hardy. Be careful though. The more you pick the more they grow, so dont plant too many.

    I am still in search of a good tomato and green pepper. I have tried a few different ones but haven't found THE one yet. Some kind of Zuchini and this weekend I am going to try to get some greens in. (for the little green babies)
    I have been toying with the idea of a bed for dandylions. The yard has a good bit, but it would be nice to have them in one place. For those who haven't tried them, don't knock it until you try them. We gave up on different types of blackberries and just got some from the woods. They are growing well now.

    I am from western PA too, so I miss having a mild summer where temperature doesn't hurt your garden, but not the snow and 4 months of cold.

  • mrsboomernc
    18 years ago

    lizard
    dandelion greens were a big deal at my farm grandmother's dinner table. my parents had the patience to walk large areas to harvest them, but i'm afraid i don't. they are delicious, i agree :)

    i'm nervous about the rhubarb down here ... i really wanted to have a perennial supply of ingredients for my favorite jam - strawberry rhubarb.

  • tamelask
    18 years ago

    ot, i know, but where in western pa, mrlizard? i'm from butler county, near the big lake, in prospect/portersville. i miss one good snow to play in, but don't miss the cold and endless winter at all. the summers don't really bother me that much here- i just work around the heat. i guess there are things you can't grow because of it, but it's more than offset by all the extra stuff i can grow because of the mild winters. did some of your rhubarb live the whole way through the hot, dry summer, then? where are you in nc? and where(shade/sun) & what kind of dirt did you have the rhubarb in? i've tried about all the varients here, but am more than willing to do it again if i think i can succeed.

    love some dandylion green wilted salad! i can't tell you how much i hated it as a kid, but as an adult....mmmmm. we usually do it with spinach &/or chicory, since i don't really have that many dandies around. funny enough- my kids hate the stuff, too. guess it's an aquired taste! lol.

  • immrlizard
    18 years ago

    I grew up.. Um. grew to 18 in Harrison City PA then moved to a quaint little town called Turtle Creek. Small older town outside outside of Pittsburgh (woo Hoo Steelers) I am familiar with Butler. I used to do a little car buying at the auto auction.

    I currently live in Person county now. I am about 15 minutes from the VA border. I don't know what (rhubarb) variety I have. I bought it at lowes in Durham. I think I saved the packaging. I missed the taste of it down here so I thought I would try it. I couldn't see it growing in that soil that they have down here so I built and 8x8 raised bed 12 inches high and filled it with good topsoil. I ammended that soil and added it's favorite (composted manure) It grew really well for the most part. I mulched them with hardwood mulch and that was it. I don't have any of that shade stuff at my house yet. If it doesn't grow in full sun then we son't plant it We built our house on what used to be an old tobacco farm. I am going to try to get some of the victoria variety that has been mentioned. Looks like I won't get to put the greens in this weekend. They are calling for possible snow. I know it won't snow, but it will still be too cold for me to be out there in the dirt.

    Dandylions are an aquired taste. I have to say that I only eat them on occasion, but my little green friends would eat them every day. Once I get my web site updated I will post a link. I just got a digital camera, so I should have lots of pics for those who are curious.

  • tamelask
    18 years ago

    cool- thanks for the info on how you did your rhubarb. i don't have a good source for manure, but may have to investigate. i don't have any full day full sun- 6 hrs is my max, but gave it about the best sun i had the last 3 attempts. i know it's grown in full sun in PA, too. you may be just enough cooler than us that it helps, too. i have a feeling the folks out chapel hill way will have it easier than us, too. it's amazing how little distance can make a big difference for some things. i'm right there with you- if it's below about 50, i'm not going in the garden. even then i have to be enticed out. i'm a weenie.

    have to admit, i had to look up turtle creek & harrison city. never been to either- really didn't have a reason to go to that side of the city much. but it's still neat we were only a county or so apart! we moved down in '91 when i was 20 & hub was 25. so i feel like i've been here 1/2 my life- not quite, but getting there. i know this area a lot better than where i grew up- i guess because i didn't have anyone to drive me around & had to figure it out myself.

    i agree- dandy's are strong & distinctive. i like them in sparing quantities a few x a yr is all. so, green babies- i guess lizards? whatcha got? iguanas? we used to have skinks, anoles and a gecko in a terrarium, but finally gave up and let them all go after the gecko died(they were all natives but him). we'd also kept green snakes, worm snakes, small brown snakes, and treefrogs at various times in with them. we had one old anole that lived to be 6 or more- with a big cyst or tumor, even(and the gecko was about that age when he died, too). fun watching all of them- you learn so much. i still catch the anoles and chatter to them outside any chance i get. they certainly are abundant. i managed to get a few neat pix of them, but we didn't handle them much, so it was few & far between. have fun with your camera!

  • rodger
    18 years ago

    I've have about narrowed my list down. These are the tomatoes I am growing. Approx 4000 I will only be planting two of each in my garden the rest will be sold at the Midlands plant and flower show in Columbia.
    Abe Lincoln reg leaf
    Ammana Orange
    Amish Gold
    Amish Paste
    Ananas Noire
    Andrew Rahart's Jumbo
    Anna Russian
    Arkasas Traveler
    Akansas Marvel
    Aunt Ruby's Green
    Azoychka
    Banana Legs
    Basinga
    Beefsteak
    Black Cherry
    Black from Tula
    Black Krim
    Blondkopfchen
    Blue Ridge Mt
    Box Car Willie
    Brandy Wine Suddath Strain
    Chadwick Cherry
    Cherokee Chocolate
    Cherokee Purple
    Copia
    Costoluto Genovese
    Creole
    Cuostralee
    Dad's Barber Paste
    Dad's Sunset
    Dagma's Perfection
    Dr Carolyn
    Dr Wyches Yellow
    Druzba
    Earl of Edgecombe
    Eva Purple Ball
    Evergreen
    Flame (Hillbilly)
    German Johnson
    German Red Strawberry
    Gold Medal
    Golden Pineapple
    Green Grape
    Henderson's Pink Ponderosa
    Ildi
    Isis Candy
    Kellog's Breakfast
    Kentucky Beefsteak
    Lemony
    Lillians Yellow
    Little Lucky
    Luck Cross
    Lumpy Red
    Manyel
    Marianna's Peace
    Max's large Green
    Nepal
    Old German
    Orange Strawberry
    Orange Russian
    Paul Robeson
    Peppermint
    Persimon
    Prudens Purple
    Russo Sicilian Toggeta
    Rutgers
    Sandul Moldavan
    Soldacki
    Spears Tenn Green
    Sun Gold
    Super Choice
    Super Snow White
    Tappy's Finest
    Uncle Mark Bagby
    Wapsipinicon
    White Beauty
    White Tomesol
    Wild Cherry
    Williams Stripe
    Winsall
    Wolfords Wonder
    Yellow Ruffled
    Zogola

  • rootdiggernc
    16 years ago

    how is the drought influencing what you all want to plant this year?

  • susandonb
    16 years ago

    We are putting in
    Pacman Brocc.
    Cabbage
    Red Ace And Detroit Beets
    Collards
    Delectable Corn
    Marketmore Cukes
    Pickling Cukes
    Vidalia Onions
    Burgermaster onions
    Bell peppers, green red & yellow
    Hot Cherry peppers
    Yellow Summer Squash
    Zucc squash
    Canesi butternut squash
    Okra
    Tomatoes:
    Early Girl
    Better Boy
    Golden Rave
    Roma
    Potatos
    Russet
    Irish Cobbler
    Padre Spinach
    Corn Salad Lettuce
    Green beans
    Asparagus
    Muscadine grapes
    Various Basil

    I think that is it?

    Susan in NC

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    i'm figuring my seed list now (or what i don't have and need to order, that is). i'm not sure how much i'll plant- i'll feel it out gradually depending on what happens with the drought. if it stays droughty, i'll probably severely limit myself to what i can barely water and still get a crop. so far i've planted some lettuce, spinach, carrots and other winter veggies on the deck in pots that are easier to water by hand with leftover dish water. if we continue to get frequent, if small amounts of rain, i'll consider adding a bed up front with mixed lettuces. for summer, tomatoes seem to do well with little water, so i'm sure i'll plant a few of those. i won't do beans, melons or any of the other things that need lots of water unless the situ changes.

  • alicia7b
    16 years ago

    If the drought continues I think we'll just plant tomatoes. They're fodder for the blister beetles and hornworms (at least they turn into lovely moths). I have not had resounding success with vegetable gardens yet.

  • rosebush
    16 years ago

    Well, hopefully the weather will cooperate this year and I will try to add to the mix. Typically, I grow little white cucumbers - a must for bread and butter pickles,
    tomatoes - this year will try the little ones ("Ruby"),
    green beans (Tennessee cut-short did well last year),
    spinach, leeks, lettuce, various herbs and flowers.
    New for this year: butternut squash, eggplant, chioggia beets and more peppers.
    And, while praying for an end to the drought, I will plant even more blueberries from the 4-H sale.
    I would plant many more varieties, but am concerned about the water supply since the creek and the well dried up last year.

  • PRO
    Lavoie Boho
    16 years ago

    I am planning to order seeds from Tomato Growers Supply Co. for any tomato plant that will remain short and compact while producing large Tomatoes. The staking has gotten out of control each year and topple over in those square collapsible cages. I love those cages b/c they fold flat and I can easily store them. Anyone else use em?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Growers Supply Co.

  • rootdiggernc
    16 years ago

    Not doing a lot this year, Will do some of the spring stuff (lettuces, peas, etc), once I figure out where to put it this year. I want to try some beet greens as ornamentals in the flowerbeds this year and I want to try some of the fingerling potatoes. Then the usual toms, cukes and peppers. Might do some watermelon seeds someone gave me last fall, if the drought looks better this year and I'm determined to try growing the squash seeds I got from Tammy last year, lol.... if I can get a fence up for them.

  • jeane
    16 years ago

    Hello All,

    I've been catalog and online shopping for plants and seeds. I really worry about buying anything in light of the drought.
    How are you all planning to keep your plants alive?
    Thanks,
    Jeanne

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    if it gets bad enough and i have plants i will just let them die. i figure they are only good for one season anyhow. if we get some rain, i'll supplement with fish pond water. i won't start things if there's no rain. i only use a small portion of my seed each year anyhow- and most veggie seed keeps for years if properly stored, so i don't mind trying some. so, if you want to buy seed on the chance you can plant it and then it gets too dry, just store in a plastic shoebox with some silica packets (like from shoes) or dry rice or keep them in the fridge if you only have a few. tomatoes, in particular, will germinate after 10 years if kept cool & dry.

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