We're retiring from market gardening but I still need my fresh veggies so I'm planting in large containers and open spaces in the flowerbed. I already have radishes,lettuce,turnips,mustard and pok choy sum growing in containers and just last Friday ripped out an entire flowerbed (20-25 ft x4ft)along the driveway,replanted my bunching onions and sewed seed for purple top turnips,3 kinds of spinach,two kinds of radish and Autumn King carrots.
Next year I want to grow squash,cukes and zukes but need bush type variety so they won't over run my flowers. Needs some suggestion on varieties. It'll just be the hub's and I but we do eat a lot of fresh veggies so they need to produce well but not go just hog wild. I'll also be growing on trelliises so I can do a few that vine moderately.Oh and small melons that can grow on trellises.
P
Bush type
P ~ congrats on downsizing. I can't believe you won't be tucking bloomers in here and there.
You might look into some of the smaller cultivars but remember they will also make smaller "fruits". Like instead of the patty pan squash, there is one called Peter Pan which is a small vine and fruit. There are also small eggplants ~ Ravayya is one I tried. The eggplants were tiny which was fine as only I eat them. On okra, I used Lee which was a hybrid but a small and good producer. Good luck!
well,I haven't retired from growing "prudies" just veggies for market.
I've got a few small varieties of eggplant but hub's and I don't eat enough of them to grow. I'm going to grow "Silver Queen" and "Little Lucy" okras like I would hollyhocks in the flowerbeds. We like squash and cukes and I have mini white cukes that probably won't make big vines and will look good trellised w/ maters and japanese morning glories.
I gave up that one flowerbed along the driveway just out the kitchen door for our fall/winter cole crops because we eat a lot of greens.
I 've got collards growing in another flower bed and from now on instead of flowering kale and cabbage,I'll tuck in the edible kind.
I have some patty pans but will look into the Peter Pan. I like the little ones because you can cook them whole.
Big Red. Most summer squash and zukes are bush forms. Most of the newer versions and a few of older ones are pretty compact, but still occupy about a three foot circle. Size of the vine is correlated with soil fertility, feed them heavily with plenty of water and they get much bigger than those left to fend for themselves. Never noticed that Peter Pan was any more compact than any other green tinted scallop. The antique white may sprawl a little more, but its still a bush scallop. There are of course bush cucumbers like Bush Champion, Picklebush, Spacemaster, Burpless Bush, Salad bush etc which have three foot vines. Of course trellising a regular vining cuke also saves, probably as much as you get with a bush cultivar.
Peter Pan
Farmerdill,
I've read a bit on Picklebush and most wasn't good. We like Burpless so the bush varity will probably make the cut.I'll google the other varities. I ahve several cattle panel arbor/trellises in the yard. I grew a tomato on one that did really except for the fact it vined so well and I fell behind on my tying up duties that it was blocked use of the pathway it was over.
try this website www.containerseeds.com
Thanks...I'll check it out