Wednesday, February 26, 2014

What does your garden grow?

We are very close to the first week in March.  On Saint Patrick's Day, I will plant my peas, and soon after that, I'll start tossing some other cool weather veggies into the ground.

In the meantime, I've been perusing seed catalogs, the grocery store, and the nursery, looking for foods that my family will eat.  It won't do me any good to plant stuff nobody will touch!

After much thought and deliberation, I've decided that this is what will be going in the ground this year:

Peas
Onions
Potatoes
Green Beans
Black Beans
Tomatoes: Plum, Cherokee, Siberian (all heirlooms)
Peppers:  cowhorn (an heirloom), jalapeno, and I'll give the bell peppers another shot.
Celery (New to me.  I've heard this one is tricky)
Summer Squash: Yellow, Zucchini, Patty Pan
Butternut Squash
Cantaloupe (New to me.  I've heard this one grows very well in our area.)
Spinach
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Sunflowers

I'm still debating another attempt at Sweet Potatoes.  I tried them two years ago, and they were a miserable failure.  I'm also debating beets.  I really like them roasted, and I hear they are really good raw.  I've also looked at Kohlrabi.  Nifty little bulbs of awesomeness.  They taste great in a stir fry.  I'm not sure exactly how to describe them.

I already have:
Strawberries, and I did not move them in the fall!  Rats.  I'm going to try to move them this spring as soon as the ground is warm enough.  They've spread all over the yard and really need a box of their own.

Blueberries, I need to trim back the branches.  They didn't produce well last year, and it looks as if they have been overtaken by wild grapes.  I may have to give up on the blueberries and stick with the grapes.

Grapes.  These things grow like weeds.  I need to give them an arbor to grow on, and tidy them up a little bit.

Garlic.  Planted in the fall, harvest in early summer.  The garlic scapes (where the flower bud is housed) will come up in early spring, and they need to be cut off so that the garlic bulb will plump up.  Garlic scapes are tasty!  They taste just like garlic, but look like a green onion stem.  They don't taste quite as strong as a bulb of garlic will.

Rhubarb.  It's an annual.  It grows strong all summer long, and I cut off what I need, as I need it.

Asparagus.  Love asparagus.  It takes years to get a decent bed going, and then harvest only lasts a few weeks before they leaf out into ferns.  (And by a few weeks, I mean two, maybe three, tops.)

Apple tree.  One tree.  I need to get out and trim it back soon - you know, like as soon as I can walk across the yard without sinking knee deep in mud.

Raspberries.  Again, the canes really need to be trimmed back.  The birds like to keep planting wild grapes in my raspberries, and it's a continual battle to see which of us will win-- the birds with their grapes, or me and my berries!

The last thing I'm debating is planting a tree or two.  I attempted to plant almond trees a couple of years ago, but they both ended up dying.  They really aren't native to Maryland.  I'm not sure what I was thinking.  I've been looking at pecan trees.  There are varieties that will grow well in the fluctuating temperatures we have in Maryland.   I've been researching them heavily this winter.

Last but not least, I've been looking at Meyer Lemon Trees.  I'd have to pot it and bring it inside in the winter.  It's a small tree, so it shouldn't be that hard.  I just need to check and make certain that I have the determination to carry through with hauling that tree inside and out again twice a year.

What are you going to plant in your garden this year?

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