Garden Chat

1327

The day before winter solstice I harvested a small handful of raspberries. I love my raspberry plants, which were all obtained for free.

Anybody in the northern hemisphere starting to plan next year’s garden? I want to focus more on things we actually eat as opposed to things I think we should eat but actually dont. That means:

Way fewer tomatoes, and fewer varieties. I think I’m going to go with sungold, brads atomic grape, pink berkeley tie tie and MAYBE one canning variety – probably the romas since they seem more disease resistant and produce more on smaller bushes than the san marzanos.

Only two tomatillos. I had way too many this year.

Only one zucchini.

At least two lemon cucumbers. Everybody loved them.

Two additional cucumbers – maybe marketmore? Or an Asian variety.

Lots of green onions. we go through a lot of them. They did well in smaller pots. I just need to plant them every 2-3 weeks to ensure a constant supply.

Potatoes. DD loves them. I’ll do more in the grow bags.

A couple of small pumpkins. We didn’t end up carving for halloween, but nice to have the option.

Tons of sunflowers. They made me so happy this year.

Tons of other flowers, especially ones that reseed like calendula, nasturtiums and cosmos.

More herbs. Did well with various mints, dill, several varieties of sage this year. Need to figure out a good spot for cilantro – it didn’t do well for me this year but has in the past. Also need to succession sow more consistently.

Strawberries. I have so many. Will do more in containers this year because they seem to do fine and it is easier to control the pests.

Carrots – love them when I can get them to grow.

Snap peas – these have always done well for me.

Bush beans – definitely better for me than pole beans, though I do want to grow more

Chinese red noodle beans next year. These did well but I didn’t harvest in time to eat fresh.

Need a more consistent supply of fresh greens, too – tend to have a big gap in mid-summer when everything bolts in the heat

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1328

I planted garlic in the fall. I’m thinking more parsley and cilantro this year.

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1329

I also planted garlic this fall. I am starting to think about seed starting, and need to plan to start celery in February, as well as onions from seed (don’t know the timing on that but it will need to be early as well, I think, probably February). Peas as well, as early as possible, as soon as the ground is workable, I was far too late last year.

I need to start deciding where things will go next year, as the productive food garden is moving to the back of the yard. The small area I used this year will be maybe herbs and flowers? TBD.

I also need to start planning what trees to buy next year. This year I got 1 peach as a several year old potted tree, and as bare root I got: 3 pear, 2 apple, 2 paw paw, 1 persimmon, 1 cherry, 1 crab apple (large fruit cultivar).The singletons are self-pollinating. I also got a fig which I may plant permanently outside, we shall see what I decide, and a potted lemon (which will remain potted). Next year I am thinking: 2 plums, 1 nectarine, 1 apricot, 1 additional cherry (rainier or similar), and a jujube if I can find one. Maybe another peach. One of these may be again a several year old potted tree and the rest bare root. I also may get a couple more apples or pears (cider varieties) if I see any I am interested in. I need to research varieties on all of these. It’s really important for me to get the slow growing trees/shrubs in in the first few years, so I actually see some fruits!

I may plant 1 or 2 nut trees as well. I don’t eat nuts as I am allergic, but it would be nice to have for the landscape and wildlife. There are a few options for my zone.

I also got 1 heirloom blueberry this year, thornless blackberry, and some bush cranberry. I would like to get some additional shrubs as well, currant, gooseberry, more blueberries, and a few varieties of grapes. Maybe raspberry. Maybe hardy kiwi + pollinator? They take a LONG time to bear. We’ll see.

For veg I want to plant more of everything… except maybe beans (I was so tired of beans by the end :joy:). I really missed not having things like cabbage, broccolini, carrots, zucchini, winter squash… More varieties of everything - I am used to having a lot of variety. There is very little I do not like at all. I want to plan better to have a longer, more varied harvest next year, as my season is a lot shorter than much of the US. I want to get rhubarb in the ground, and asparagus as well. I might try sweet potato this year (which I will have to start very early indoors as well).

I have so many seeds saved or left over from the past few years that I shouldn’t have to buy much in the way of seeds at least! Unless I see some variety that catches my eye…

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1330

The north side table is ready in the greenhouse, so I should start some greens this week, maybe avoid some salad recalls in the process.

We will be buying an orange tree once I figure out where to get one. Or do we need two? ETA: some sort of miniature, maybe a satsuma.

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1331

You need as many as you can afford, and fit. :joy: And are varieties you are interested in. :wink: Citrus are self-pollinating, I think, so technically you probably only need one…

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1332

We will have to grow in a pot and move into the greenhouse over winter. Satsuma are cold hardy, but not enough for us. We might do okay with one or two in the atrium (south slope and sheltered), but until we get it enclosed I think we’d sacrifice productivity. So we can fit a couple in the greenhouse, and maybe a couple more in the atrium if we want to give it that much space. Not sure how much we’d eat…

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Ah this chat being active makes me want to plan something! I have thought about a lemon tree because my husband and daughter are obsessed with lemons. Are there some varieties that do well in pots long term? I live in northern Minnesota so outside is 100% not an option. Where does one also obtain a lemon tree?

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I’m thinking of adding a Calamondin orange to my citrus collection (which currently exists of just my new Meyer lemon)…It’s a miniature orange, and more sour than an orange we think of for eating, but like… I want one.

Also a key lime.

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I would like key lime. I don’t know how cold hardy they are. I thought for sure I’d grow Meyer lemons, which I think I could get by with in our atrium, but I bought some of the lemons at the grocery store and … I don’t like them. :frowning:

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You can probably get them at your local nursery, even in the winter, if they have an indoor area. They can be pretty pricy at a nursery if you don’t live in a zone that doesn’t support them for outside planting.

I buy a lot of my fruit trees from Stark Bros online, they have a great guarantee policy that many people report they absolutely honor!

1337

Oh no!

No citrus will grow outdoors at my house, all will have to move inside in the winter.

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THANK YOU FOR THIS!! I just found this lemon tree and it is so pretty!
https://www.starkbros.com/products/fruit-trees/citrus-trees/variegated-pink-eureka-lemon

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:smiley:

I wasn’t really planning on more lemons but that one looks cool… and pink lemons!

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It’s out of stock right now, but they carry Valencia! There’s an idea.

https://www.starkbros.com/products/fruit-trees/citrus-trees/valencia-orange

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Oooooo… do I need a sweet orange?

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1342

OMG, I have never looked at Stark bros before. Now I want a house with a sunroom and ALL THE SMALL CITRUS TREES!

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1343

I admit that one of my ‘if I kept working’ stories is that I change my porch to an enclosed sunroom / greenhouse to keep plants alive over the winter

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I’m planning my gardening for late summer! I can’t plant anything right now because it’s so hot it will all fry (although I’m going to plant some watermelon seeds to see if anything happens after Christmas).

I am planting cos lettuce and beets for greens, and might try spinach again. I’m also trying to keep my blueberries and strawberries alive so I can try propagating both of them. I need to pick a bed to plant carrots because those were great. This all slightly complicated by knowing I’m leaving my garden sometime in the next 6 months while we renovate. So… Pots?

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WAIT hold on - citrus trees do OK potted indoors?! I was under the impression they didn’t, but have been wrong about many things in my life. I have an empty sunroom and feelings about having to leave California that might be cured with indoor citrus trees?!

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Well, people who are good at growing plants in pots can do it very successfully. :joy: I am not one of those people intrinsically, but I am going to give it the old Harvard try. Part of it is that you may have to provide supplemental light via grow lights, unless you have old windows that are not UV coated, especially if the amount of time your plants need to stay inside is long. I’m planning on setting up some sort of winter hydroponic growing area, so I will be adding a lot of lights anyway (and LED grow light price has been coming down for a few years now so it isn’t as expensive anymore, and LED lights use almost no energy). All my windows are old (currently) and they aren’t UV coated, so that’s a benefit as well (even though they are shit windows in terms of insulating properties, TBH), my plants actually get a broader spectrum of light through my windows than most people with modern windows do. (Plants that need full sun or even partial sun will generally do quite poorly if you just try to grow them in a modern window because they don’t get enough of the right spectrum of light.) Humidity is another thing that can be kind of hard to regulate indoors, specially in the winter. I apparently like playing all the time on hard mode, so we shall see!

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