I pulled out my seed jars today to get the onions started. Last year I didn't start them soon enough and they didn't do well because I planted them when they were tiny. There are actually a few onions growing in the garden right now left over from that failed attempt last year. A friend of mine who runs a CSA has started experimenting with overwintering his onions. Our zone seems to be warming up quite a bit so plants we previously wouldn't be able to overwinter here are doing nicely now.
Things we'll be trying out for the first time are:
Pickle cukes - Sage loves pickles but because of his sensitivities, there aren't any options where we are so I hope to ferment some for him this year
Shallots - Something we don't get from the store often because of their cost
Ginger & turmeric - I have grown ginger in a pot for myself before, now I'm going to try to grow both for selling at the farmer's market. I've ordered #5 of each to try out.
Purple Potatoes - The kids are tickled about purple mashed potatoes and they are supposed to be higher in antioxidants, etc.
Longkeeper Tomato - Eating tomatoes that we had stored from October in January was the clencher! I'm going to be growing Rev. Morrow's Long Keeper and Giraffe, a Russian variety.
Things we'll be returning to are:
Luffas - I grew these successfully a few years ago and my stash is now almost gone. I tried growing them again last year but the drought didn't allow them to start blooming until it was too late for the fruits to mature.
Garlic - I used to be so good at planting garlic in the fall. The past 3 years I've slacked off, probably because my friend who runs the CSA sells 10 varieties of garlic at the farmer's market so I know I can always get good garlic from him.
Amish Paste Tomatoes - These are a long time favorite for me to grow for using in making sundried tomatoes and ketchup
Rose Tomatoes - Hands down my favorite slicing tomato. This heirloom has few seeds and that's the one thing I don't like about eating tomatoes are the seeds. This tomato is thick and beefy and a beautiful rosy pink color.
Corn - Though we've grown corn in the past, this year we'll be bagging the corn so that we can hand pollinate so it won't cross contaminate with the gmo corn that grows all around us
What tried and true favorites do you return to every year? Which ones are you throwing out? Are you trying anything new this year?
2 comments:
O, I am (as usual) behind. I barely feel like fall was here. I need to get my seeds ordered (I had planned on saving some seeds, but my garden was picked cleaned by the boys before I could stop them, so I only have a few). Last year, I tried this new method of starting tomato and pepper seeds by basically overplanting the seeds and them separating out the tiny seedlings once they had true leaves and it was one of my most successful years of seed starting. I plan to try it again (I can't remember the name of the method). I love that the season is sooner in KY than northern IN.
I'm really getting anxious to start my seed too. I need to try growing luffas again, but the weather here has not been cooperative the last couple of years.
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