What are you trying that is new to you this year in the garden?

[Emerald]

Potatoes, corn, cow peas, limas, blue squash, cantalope and about 20 or so various new herbs.
Not sure if I will actually be able to pull all that off though, but I'll sure try.

I have a new area that gets really hot in the afternoons in the summer and I hope to get some herbs going on that side. I need a good hot area for good oregano so that the flavor shows up better. and some more thyme and a perm place for some chives and more walking onions. the grand babies have been chowing the little new bulblets from my walking onions so I need to really get them going better than just the here and there spots in the flower beds. plus some of my mints are not doing well due to the invasion of black raspberries so I have a moister area to move them to and hubs can just mow the ones that crawl under the garden edging.
I have some cow peas that I got that I didn't get to plant last year I forgot them! can't remember the name either BRB well booger.. I'm missing a jar of seeds somewhere.. but I want to say razorback -guess I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!
and it is time to be testing some of my older seeds anyway. I have some older carrot seed to check before I decide to buy new. maybe that would be a good job for me and the grand daughter to do.. she can count to 15 and i can put the seeds in wet paper towels and we can check them together. She's already informed me that I didn't grow enuf cherry tomatoes for her last year as they ran out.(it frosted lol) I may have to find some orange ones as she had me grow yellow submarine( a very nice bright colored and flavored little pear) and green goose berry and black cherry(see where this is going?) and large red cherry and I had a couple volunteers of OSU blue that are like large cherries with a very dark purple/blue blush on the sunny side that she just loved even tho I thought the other types tasted better.

 

[nelson castro]

The common plant that is present in almost all the garden is the tomatoes. But I am planning on planting potatoes. Thanks frustratedearthmother for the info.

 

[baymule]

I have brussel sprouts growing, they have little tiny sprouts on them right now. I am also going to plant chard, never have planted or eaten it. I planted white beets, Baker Creek said they could be used to make sugar with. So I will try to make sugar, just for fun. I am going to plant jade blue corn and Damon Morgan's Kentucky Butcher corn. I have never planted colored corn, just the yellow kind.

I ordered and recieved green cotton seed. Years ago when the kids were small, we planted a row of cotton. Mean 'ol mommy that I was, I made them "chop cotton" in the hot sun! They watched the flowers open, the bolls form and burst open. We picked the cotton, twisted the fibers in a rough thread and I explained how thread is made and how it is woven into fabric. They both took a bag of cotton to school for show and tell. They still remember that. Now I have a 5 year old grand daughter and we will plant cotton, only the fibers will be green. Something weird just for fun!

 

[heatherlynnky]

I'm trying several different tomato varieties - mostly different colored ones, like an orange tomato and one called Carbon. And, I'm going to try rutabagas. We loooooooooove rutabagas, so I'm really excited! Root crops grow pretty well for me, with the exception of carrots. Several years ago I grew sweet potatoes. I was sooo excited when I dug them up - they were beautiful! Except they had some kind of tiny, thin wire wormy looking thing in Every Single Potato. I baked 'em up for the chickens - at least they enjoyed them. So, I'm not sure how rutabagas will do...

This past fall I tried Napa cabbage for the first time. We loooooooooooove it! I've used it in stir fry's and this past weekend I made an awesome and delicous batch of kimchi. Yummy!

I'm also trying some different kinds of beans - like Rattlsnake beans. Hurry up warmer weather!

We have of course DE that we use for the chickens and such. Anywho last year my mom was so sick of picking bugs and finding wormy veggies that she had me treat all her plants with it. We even put some in the soil on a few plants where we had issues before. Of course when it rains its all over but it was worth a try. So after every rain I would retreat what i could only using the DE. No potato bugs, none of those bugs that attack my vines, No horn worms. It worked great. With the potatoes dad put it on the ground after each rain and all over the plants. We have HUGE sweet potatoes. Potato crop was our best ever, no lost plants and my finger tips weren't orange ( yuck). This is the first year we did not lose a tomato plant too. We are buying a bulk bag again. We did try using nothing but honestly it felt a bit futile. This was our compromise.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Can't hurt! I may have to try that - thanks for the idea!

 

[Emerald]

I just bought and put some out and some in little pots to try of something called "Spinach Mustard" I hope it is as tasty as the internet makes it sound. I may pick up some more seeds as they are the 4 and 5 for a $1 seeds from american.

 

[me&thegals]

A few new types of choi and Napa cabbage, plus Tokya Bekana

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I'm going to try to grow some peanuts. We have a long enough season for it - but I've never tried it before.... I've got an empty bed and I'm gonna put it to use with this experiment. Peanuts take a loooong growing season, but it shouldn't be a problem here. I consider this an experiment and I'll be planting this weekend.

 

[Emerald]

I'm going to try to grow some peanuts. We have a long enough season for it - but I've never tried it before.... I've got an empty bed and I'm gonna put it to use with this experiment. Peanuts take a loooong growing season, but it shouldn't be a problem here. I consider this an experiment and I'll be planting this weekend.

I've grown peanuts here in Michigan and got a wonderful crop. we only got to taste a few tho as the chickens got loose when they were curing in the shed and they enjoyed too many of them before we did haha..

 

[frustratedearthmother]

That is awesome! I hope I have the same luck that you had growing them - and thanks for the warning about the chickens!