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

[Emerald]

For me, just getting a good garden in will be different! My life has been so messed up over the last few years that I never really got a garden in and if I did get a garden in, I didn't really do much w/it. :/

I didn't do much last summer and still feel like a cripple due to the knee surgery so I totally know how you feel! and the black raspberry canes are taking over half the yard cuz I just didn't feel like tackling them last year! (the leaves I dried last spring did make a tasty tea tho so I know where some of it is going this coming year )
so here is a big just for ya!
at least I did get about 50feet of tomatoes and pole beans in and about 25 feet of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers(not many cherrys only about 5 types and 3 to 6 of each type planted) lucky for me tho a good friend of hubbies invited us to come to his farm for a pig roast and to show off his gardens and he also shared the harvest once he and his wife got tired of canning and freezing and eating! I ended up with over a bushel of jalapenos red and green and I smoked and dried the red ones and grind them when I need them and I sent some back to them. and they sent over at least a bushel of tomatoes so with what I grew and theirs and the ones I went and got from the PickURown place near me I did well.
on a good note-the knee is strong enuf to catch me in this nasty slushy slippery snow we have had and while it is strong the arthritis still hurts.. darn getting old anyhoo!

 

[Emerald]

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!

Oh man I want to try sweet potatoes this year to.. just a few hills as hubby and son and I love them baked or french fried and it sounds like you might have had nematodes! naughty things( try this plant as thick as you can old fashioned marigolds in the spot that you want sweet potatoes next year and in the fall chop them and till them in, then plant your sweet potatoes there the following year they have had good luck with getting rid of nemotodes in florida with them)
I love napa cabbage too! may have to check out the seed rack again this weekend! I did buy the diakon radish seeds today.
and if you are growing the polebean Rattlesnake you are so gonna love them! it has edged out my other favorite (Cherokee Trail of Tears) for best bean in the garden. they are like green candy to eat off the vines! and when you get tired of picking and canning or freezing them they make a very tasty pinto type bean for soups!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks so much for the info! I forgot to add that I'm planning on planting marigolds too. I sure hope it works!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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