I was just wondering if anyone was trying some new in their yards and gardens this year - and perhaps the reasoning behind it. My husband's granddad is always trying some new variety of tomato or pepper - he says it keeps him young.

So this year, I'm trying a new squash - Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. It is in the same family as butternut squash so I shouldn't have problems with squash vine borers. Plus, I think it looks kinda cool ;) I'm still planting butternut but either I won't save seeds or I'll have to do some pre-planning to do so...

So, what about you?

1) I started my seedlings under LEDs. For the most part, they really love it. The UFO works better than the xmas lights. And the UFO only uses 90W, so it's affordable to run 24/7. I'm on the prowl for another ;)

2) I've strung overhead wires throughout my garden, from which I've dangled twine with vine clips. All of my vining plants will be growing up the clips, and their lower branches will be pinched off short and/or leaves and branches outright removed to keep them columnar up until they get to the overhead wires, where they'll be free to sprawl. My hope is that this will help keep insects off, keep them dryer (due to better airflow) and thus less prone to leaf diseases, steal the neighbors' sunlight, make the fruit easier to pick, shade out weeds, and provide me shade while I'm working in the garden.

Please post pictures as the season progresses. I'd like to see what it ends up looking like with the overhead wires and vines.

Oh, and I am trying a new variety of tomato too - Lemon Boy, got the seed packet free from Hy-vee last year!

Perennials in the garden:
* Rhubarb
* Asparagus
* Oregano
* Mint (invasive)
* Sprouting onions (invasive)

Salad fixins:
* Carrots (blanche de collet vert)
* Parsnips (hollow crown)
* Lettuce (devil's ears)
* Lettuce (whatever that bright green stuff that volunteers each year in my garden is)

Tomatoes:
* Japanese Black Trifele
* Rev. Morrow's Long Keeper
* Amana Orange
* Striped Cavern
* Great White
* German Tree Tomato

Peppers:
* Red Cheese (it's a paprika pepper)
* Red Marconi
* King of the North
* Chili de Comida
* Tomato Pepper

Eggplants:
* Casper
* Applegreen
* Thai Yellow Egg

Squash and melons:
* Pumpkin (Dill's Atlantic Giant)
* Watermelon (Carolina Cross)
* Cucumber (Vine Peach; yeah, I know some people call it a melon, but really, it's a cucumber)
* Muskmelon (Heart of Gold)
* Yellow crookneck squash
* Spaghetti squash
* Ronde de Nice (a type of round zucchini, for stuffing)
* Odessa squash (another zucchini-type, but large and white)

Beans:
* Lazy Wife (pole)
* Purple Hyacinth (pole)

Brassicas:
* Waltham 29 broccoli
* Romanesco broccoli (I've always wanted to grow this!)
* Giant of Naples cauliflower
* My volunteer mustard that I don't find very flavorful but I let grow anyway because it's pretty.

Misc:
* Ornamental popcorn
* Okra
* Flax
* Amaranth (annual, reseeds itself)
* Sunflowers (Short Stuff and some other dwarf variety)

On the deck:
* Cilantro/coriander
* Cinnamon basil
* Purple shiso

Elsewhere in the yard:
* Sage (if it's still alive)
* Strawberries (just expanded my patch this year)
* Grapes (concord; yielded 4-5 gallons last year)
* Blueberries (3-4 varieties, 5 bushes -- 3 just planted, two planted last year)
* Black raspberries (2 bushes, tiny, just planted)
* Blackberries (2 bushes, planted last year)
* Red Raspberries (2 bushes, planted this year)
* Cherry tree (5 years old, huge, but it's only ever given me two ripe cherries!)
* Fruit salad tree (just planted, ~5 feet tall, replaced a peach that died of sunscald; branches are Blenheim apricots, Gold Dust and July Elberta peaches, Late Santa Rosa plums, and Independence nectarines.)
* Apple tree (planted last year)

I'm probably forgetting a few things :)

* Coffee arabica var kona (Kona coffee)
* Camellia ptilophyla (the "silver hair tea" plant -- formerly Camellia sisensis var ptilophyla, it's a naturally decaffeinated tea plant)
* Rosemary

I'm still probably forgetting several, but... good enough :)

Oh yeah, I forgot all the annuals I grew from seed... and my sequoias...

I am also growing white eggplant. Again, not for the first time. Another great tasting, but odd looking vegetable.

I usually try a new pea or bean. This year I'm going back to an old favorite - Jacob's Cattle (dry) bean, and trying Masai Green (bush) bean for the first time.

My first year, our biggest yielding tomatoes were golden pear, so we had lots of cans of tomatoes that were not only yellow, but little tiny things shaped like teardrops! ;) In subsequent years, we got some really neat tomato appearances from seed saving without preventing hybridization -- lots of internal streaking.

I've never tried lemon boy -- what's the flavor like? Strong, weak? Acidic? Sweet/sour? Are they juicy or pulpy?

Ison's nursery. For something that had to be shipped in, it was a nice, healthy looking tree, so I'd strongly recommend them. Of course, I don't know yet how well all of the fruits are going to do in our climate, but if even a couple come in, that'd be great. :) And the rootstock is hardy. Standard treatment for stone fruit in our climate applies -- spray with copper or lime sulfur in the winter if you want to avoid leaf curl, etc.

any chance you have a extra plant or seed of the Odessa zuccini squash??

I'm pretty sure I do. Do you have anything you'd like to trade? Perhaps a passion vine seed or seedling? I also have tons of Kona Coffee plants if you're interested.

Peppers all new – Mariachi, Zavory and Blushing Beauty. Mariachi is different- it’s a short bushy
plant with ribbed leaves that would not look out of place in a rock garden.
To karen from a different post – I’m in Burlington and don’t need a chipper/shredder, but did you try the Just Ask Rental in Marengo?