Want to try to grow something different... but what?

Hi, everyone. I'm new to this forum. Usually hang out in "tomatoes." I'd like to pick your brains. I’d like to grow something new this year. Something EASY to grow, and nutritious. An annual that doesn’t take over the garden. I already grow tomatoes, peas, tons of herbs and am a “so-so” gardener. I cannot (and I don’t know why) grow corn, squash, or any type of melon, so they are out. I can grow lettuce (oh joy) and this year I bought some strawberry plants (for container growing - not certain how they will turn out next year). What I would like is something that I don’t have to cook, if possible. And I can say, right off the bat, that I do not like peppers, eggplants, or cukes. So, what is left? I know it’s a stupid question, but I’d really like some suggestions, if possible. My garden is very small and I live in zone 6, if that helps. And I grow from seed, but am not against purchasing a plant once in a while. Any ideas?

Do you like kale or broccoli? They can both be eaten raw, if you wish. I just direct sow both of them and forget them. Broccoli takes forever to make florets, but you can start harvesting kale leaves in just a few weeks.

Carrots are easy and fun to grow! If you need a few different kinds of seeds to start please let me know!!
Lisa

Kohlrabi!

I am not certain I like kale or kohlrabi, but I do like carrots and broccoli and probably most other cabbage. I was under the impression that carrots were difficult to germinate. What about leeks, or spinach or maybe, some baby cabbage? Which is easier, and which is more nutritious?

All help is appreciated and I will take a few seeds of whatever you would like to give away (I'll send SASE).

Thanks.

DonnaMarie - I've found carrots easy to grow. You do have to keep the bed moist. I sowed the carrot seeds, covered the bed with a floating row cover and watered it three times a day until they were well-established. Then I removed the row cover and attendended to them as normal.

As to raw vegetables. I've found any that are young taste good raw.

Have you ever tried growing sprouts? I've read that sprouts are far more nutritious than the actual vegetable. I've tried sprouting in the past when I lived in South Florida, but they always went "bad" - I think it was the humidity there.

I say try some Swiss Chard and/or Bok Choy. I'm growing them this year for the first time and both will definitely be grown from now on.

My suggestion is Hakurei turnips. They are fast, easy, and really really good. They aren't like your average turnip - yuck. My kids will eat them and they're picky.
Boiled or roasted, yum.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-7922-hakurei-f1.aspx

Here are some of my other suggestions:

http://www.growgreatvegetables.com/whattogrow/myfavoritevarieties.html

The pineapple tomatillos are another fun thing.

Have you tried potatoes or garlic? The garlic was easy and really tasty. We also tried "Yukon Gold" and "All Blue" potatoes. Both were really good but the "All Blue" was the most amazing potato I've ever tasted. Potatoes have always been "o.k." to me but home grown is AWESOME tasting. This year we are adding Russian Fingerling Potato.

Garlic interests me - as well as carrots. I have a seed catalog open at my computer at this moment, and I'm dogearing pages.

I ate red swiss chard today and celeriac - both raw - in a salad. They may have been nutritious, but neither one excited me. The swiss chard was pretty, but I can't grow for looks alone. I want to enjoy what I grow. Maybe I would have liked the chard cooked.

Thank you everyone. Something easy to grow, nutritious and tasty is what I'm looking for.

A question about potatoes - do they spread? Will they take over a garden?

I second the pineapple tomatillos. Very easy to grow, but I have found people either like them or really don't.

Radishes, red onions, green beans or pole beans(i know it has to be cooked, sorry)
Zucchini- squash family, but it's not vining and my experience much easier than any other squash
Maybe try some fruiting bushes if perennials are an option for you (i don't know if you mean you can only plant annuals). I don't have any experience with them and think they require a little more work with netting and such but blueberries, raspberries, grape vines. Asparagus is another option for perennials.
Potatoes won't take over your garden, but can be a bit more laborous because you have to mound them throughout the season and then have to dig them up. Searching for 'new' potatoes can be kind of 'fun'. Overall, I don't think this goes into the easy catagory. I haven't grown any of the different varieties, but as far russet potatoes go- I'm sticking with store-bought. It was worth growing them for a couple years to try it out, and like you I always want to try new plants but I'm not growing them this year.

The garlic we planted in Mid October and harvested around July 4th the next year. It was nice because I wasn't planting anything else in October and because I didn't need to plant in spring my mind saw it almost as a freebie :)

Asparagus is another one that seems like a "freebie" to me because we do basically nothing to it and it just grows... It is a perennial. I'd order roots grown though and not start from seed because it takes less time to get first crop. My kids have been caught eating it raw and like it that way.

DonnaMarieNJ - Have you tried Okra? It's popular in the South and Midwest, but not so much in your part of the country. My wife is a Brooklyn, NY girl, and it's become a favorite of hers like it is mine, since I introduced her to it. The trade-off is that I've learned to love the European-immigrant NYC dishes she grew up with, while she now likes okra, fried green tomatoes, blackeyed peas, cornbread, and such. We're good for each other!

Okra is easy to grow, very productive, nutritious with good vitamins, it's a non-invasive annual, it has pretty flowers, and it's GOOD. There's a recent thread titled "Okra" here in the Beginner Vegetables forum where we've been talking about it for awhile, and it has a lot of good information about growing and preparing okra.

There are still regional differences in this country. Two of our grandkids went to California to visit their aunt, and they came back complaining that the fast-food restaurants there didn't have fried okra or biscuits and gravy. hehe.

This message was edited Jan 9, 2011 2:34 PM

Well, I found out that I belong on this "Beginner Vegetables" forum - I went looking in the catalogs for potatoes. Had no idea that you didn't plant them from seeds. Is that the same for garlic and onions as well?

Sheesh - I've got a lot to learn.....

After trying the swiss chard raw, I decided to cook it up and liked it better that way, but it was not the best. I understand that the chard and/or kale plants are easier to grow than lettuce and I can grow lettuce. Which one is milder - kale or chard?

I have to make my mind up soon - I want to order seeds ASAP.

Thanks again everyone!

Potatoes are great homegrown, you won't regret it. Easy to grow? Green beans. Pole or bush, my wife likes the look of pole beans on a trellis regardless of eating them. Good for your soil also. Use a bean inoculent powder on the seeds to give a boost to the plants.

Kale is more of a mild cabbage flavor. The Chard we've had has been more of an earthy flavor. Boc choi, Broccloi Rabe, Kale, spinach are some easy fall or early spring greens to grow. As soon as it gets warm they will bolt along with the lettuce. There are some slower bolting varieties and warm weather spinach type greens but you'll have to look for them. We are finding most of the asian greens easy to grow.

We also grow garlic over the winter. We use a hardneck garlic to be sure it make sit through our winter temps. DH has found that he has less problems with the garlic from Territorial Seeds then what he has purchased from Johnnies.

Have you taken a soil sample from the garden into the local extension office to have it tested? That may tell you why you are having problems with growing the other items. Watermelon typically needs well drained soil.

Yardlong beans on a trellis or tee_pee are easy. Potatoes in trash cans are easy and produce alot per plant. A climbing type lima. Nothing likee fresh limas. I try to grow as much vertical as much as i can to save space for squash. Most in raised areas also to group what grows best together in like soil conditions.

Yes, several years ago I took my soil for testing and it came back ok - not the best, but ok. My corn grows tall, but all ears are deformed. My squash/watermelon develops, what I gather is, powdery mildew. The leaves turn white and the fruit rots. I have given up on those.

I have a lot of containers and may use them as well and cut back on the maters. My freezer is full of sauce from 2010 garden. I think I grew too many. And I would like to branch out. Peas sound good, although I already grow snap/snow peas. I think I'm leaning more toward a choi or a leafy green - I heard brussel sprouts don't take up much room, but I don't know how easy they are to grow. And maybe one of the shorter carrots. I know I'm being picky, but I don't have much room and I get discouraged when my plants don't produce.

And I read somewhere that on some leafy greens, you cannot plant in the same place for more than one season. That's a problem because I have so little space. If I remember correctly that was a collard (I don't know what a collard is, but supposedly it is good for you).

So much to learn.....

I suggest spinach. They are great to add to salads, for both color and nutrition.
I use the leaves in place of lettuce on sandwiches or in tacos. They are also good to chop roughly and add to most anything -- stir fry, soup, stew, spaghetti sauce, to layer in a lasagna or quesadilla. Spinach takes only about 60 seconds to cook so you can just add them in to anything at the last minute.

You need to rotate crop position in the garden. Easiest is to rotate the position of the cool crops (lettuce, cabbage, brussel sprots, boroccoli, etc) with the warm weather crops (tpmatoes, peppers, etc) each year. Look at the Rodale Organic Gardening books for further information.

The soil test should have told you want to add to the soil to improve it for growing vegetables. GEnerally it's donein one form or another each year. Also you should be adding composted soil or organic matter to the garden each year.

Spinach is a must - have absolutely no idea why I never grew it before. I love the taste, it's easy, and good for you. I grew tons of lettuces (mostly arugula - yum) last year, and they turned out great.

2010 was the first year I used manure in my garden. Before that, I never knew that manure didn't smell. Where I live, the houses are very close to one another and I didn't dare put something that smelled offensive in my yard - they'd call the town on me! I cannot believe I let so many years slip by without adding manure.

Which is the best seed catalog for purchasing veggie seeds?

Look at http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/ for a listing of the top garden supply companies.

I panicked the 1st year I grew carrots - thought I'd only gotten the greens. Then someone told me it just takes a long time for carrots to develop, and sure enough, with patience, they did fine. I cheated last year and bought the tape with the seeds on it because I always feel so cruel thinning things. The volunteers that I missed from the year before actually did better. Last year I tried beets. I think I'll always try to grow them. I'd had canned beets all my life and they were ok, but fresh from the garden, wrapped in tinfoil and roasted, and sprinkled with a little feta cheese - HEAVEN!

Corn is hard to grow in a raised bed because it takes up so much room. But if you want to try again, heed the advice about not planting them in a row. They need to be able to reach out to each other to pollinate. Such a friendly vegetable.

This message was edited Feb 5, 2011 9:23 PM

I agree with Muttlover your deformed corn sounds like poor polinaztion. Corn is best with company.Single rows should be avoided as it is better grown as five 10 foot rows rather than 1 50 foot row.

"I agree with Muttlover your deformed corn sounds like poor polinaztion."
----------------------

That's right. Plant corn in blocks of short rows rather than in long rows, so each plant has other plants near and around it.

Each strand of corn silk leads to a kernel, and pollen from the tassels on top of the plants has to get on each silk for that kernel to develop. When the wind is calm and my ears of corn have silk, I walk the rows tapping each cornstalk sharply. That shakes little clouds of pollen from the tops and on to the corn silks and produces ears with (hopefully) no missing kernels.

Hi, everyone! I want to thank you again for your help, and maybe pick your brains once more if I can.

I purchased carrot, onion (evergreen long white), spinach, swiss chard, pak choi (a mistake), and baby choi, among other things. I have a few questions...

Wanting to grow something somewhat nutritious, I bought spinach, chard, cabbage... if something is called "nutritious," for instance spinach, would EVERY spinach be just as nutritious? There were so many types of spinach to choose from. I purchased Bloomsdale and Baby spinach - are they both just as packed with vitamins/nutrients? I also purchased an early large cabbage, pak choi and baby choi. Would the baby choi be less healthy? Are veggies bred for their early maturity and/or smaller size and/or better "qualities" be less nutritious? On the outside of the pak choi packet, it claims "highly nutritious." Not so on the baby choi or the early cabbage. So, my question is, would every spinach, cabbage, etc. be as nutritious as the next? Or can the nutrients differ?

Another question - I purchased Burpee seeds. When I came home and looked on their website, the seeds were not listed. It seems that my local store had seeds that Burpee was not listing on their site - why? The packet is dated 2011.

Wanting to try something different, I purchased seeds for "Chinese Celery." Again, this is not listed on their site, and the info on the packet is very limited. A google search didn't help much. Does anyone know anything about "Chinese Celery?"

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you again!

Donna

I bought spinach, chard, cabbage... if something is called "nutritious," for instance spinach, would EVERY spinach be just as nutritious?

I would guess more or less be of similar "nutritious" value. Would they necessarily be breed that way. Maybe or maybe not, it will depend on the individual variety and I doubt that there has been a across the board comprehensive study done.
Try this search it looks like it may have promise to answer some of your questions.
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=relative+nutrition+vegetable+varieties+site:edu&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=b85525ec5e1425d9

Spinach is more complicated because there is more than one species that's called spinach.

I would treat "nutritious" as a marketing term and ignore it. Any vegetable is more nutritious than eating a fast food burger and french french fries.


As to the Burpees Question. I think their retail and catalog lines are different. There was a discussion in the tomato forum about a variety called Summers Choice the I speculated might be any kind of red tomato that they had a lot of.


As far as Chinese Celery is concerned. this is what I Googled up. From
http://www.melissas.com/Products/Products/Chinese-Celery.aspx
"Melissa’s Chinese Celery can be distinguished from ordinary celery by its size, color, taste and pronounced fragrance. This Asian herb is thought to have originated from a wild form of celery. Certainly a heartier variety than regular celery, Chinese Celery has long been considered a staple in China and an aid to good digestion. Compared to western celery, Chinese Celery is actually quite small. Stalks are thin, hollow and extremely crunchy. Colors range from white to dark green and both the stems and stalks have a strong flavor. When used as an herb, Chinese Celery adds great flavor to soups and braised dishes. As a vegetable, Chinese Celery is often stir-fried and almost never used raw."

Thank you, Doug. I wish more info was printed on their packet. Had I known that the Chinese Celery was not meant to be eaten raw, I wouldn't have purchased it. Honestly, I DID google it, and did not find that info that you posted.

Sometimes the seed companies will take products off their website when they run out.

Garlic is easy and very nutritious. Get a bulb of your favorite kind. Remove the outer "paper" covering and separate all the cloves. Plant the cloves pointy end up, individually.

Carrots seem to be very easy, too.

Good luck!

Here is a chart showing some of the nutritional values for veggies. http://www.fatfreekitchen.com/nutrition/food-nutrition.html

There are differences in nutritional content of the veggies. I've seen Bok Choi on some of the super foods lists. It's also easy to grow but not very tolerant of frost.

Spinach is also easy to grow. We plant Space and Tyee both of which are winter perinnials.

If you still have room in your garden, try brussel sprouts..they take up very little room and are very tasty

Hi, Everyone! Just wanted to let you know what I planted and to ask a question or two.... I am growing Baby Choi, Pak Choi and Chinese Cabbage (all grown from Burpee seeds indoors). They are doing very well outside. A question - They have long stalks with yellow flowers on them - should I cut the stalk off? There are no heads forming yet, but I have a ton of leaves - can I cut off the leaves and eat them now, or will doing so hinder the formation of a head?

Not growing are the following Burpee seeds (which all were directly sowed): Beans - French Filet Stringless, Fresh Filet (what's the difference?), and Tenderbush. Also not growing: Carrot - Short 'N Sweet, Chinese Celery (had no idea what this was - impulse buy - but have googled it), Four Seasons lettuce, Little Caesar lettuce, none of the mesclun, Evergreen Long White Bunching Onions, both Baby's Leaf and Bloomsdale spinach and lastly, Rhubarb Swiss Chard. I did something major league wrong, but it doesn't matter now. I'll figure it out before next year. Maybe my cats, or the squirrels or birds got into the garden.... I do know that I'll plan on growing some of these veggies indoors next year.

I know I'm whining, but I am so disappointed. I don't care right now about the stuff that DIDN'T grow this year, I'll figure that out later. But if someone can answer my question about the cabbages, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you again for all of your help and suggestions.

Donna

Well, I found out that what I thought was "doing very well" (my cabbage), is BOLTING. I had no idea what the flowers meant until I read up on it. I grow 90% tomatoes where flowers were considered "good." So, my cabbage is shot. This means that nothing that I grew this year (except my maters) turned out right. I didn't even know what bolting meant.

On a brighter note, I have a walnut-sized mater on my Stupice. Yes, a bit early on a smallish plant, but I'm going to let it ripen.

Thank you all!

This message was edited Jun 12, 2011 7:23 PM

We all learn as we go. Depending on when you planted the warm weather crops (beans) it may have been too cold for the warm weather crops for the seeds to sprout. The seeds tend to not do anything except rot if the weather is too cold. You can do a germination test to see if it was a problem with the germination rate on the seeds. Put a few seeds in a damp, folded paper towel. Put that into a plastic bag and in an area that is warm. See if you have seeds sprouting in the next week.

We also had some late four footed animal issues this year and had to go buy a couple of veggie plants (basil and melons) at a local nursery.

We had seeds pods from a radish plant that was allowed to bolt. I'm not sure if the seeds would be edible on what you have bolting but you might do a search and see what you can find out.

Planting season is not over for us yet. We are in a further north zone but I'm assuming that the same holds true for your zone. See page three of this planting schedule for zone 5. http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/library/hort2/mf315.pdf

Right! we learn as we go. Back in the 70's I grew 'Sunchokes', an Indian tuberous sunflower. The tubers are very tasty and good raw. But lately I have trouble finding a source - you have to plant the tubers. They multiply quite well.
At 80 I finally bought a house so now I can garden again, so I am sort of a beginner, too, even tho a 3rd generation natural gardener. Last year things grew well in spite of the terrible clay soil on my lot. This year I also had trouble sprouting beans and the volunteer tomatoes were 4-6 wks late showing even with the wet spring. Don't give up on the veggies you want, you'll learn in time. Growing plants is a great hobby - have fun - and pray when you need rain === old timer/Bible believer
PS : Don't believe the dumb "global warming propaganda"!

This message was edited Jun 18, 2011 1:55 AM