I was hoping to put it out on the front porch during the day this weekend. I now have baby coffee plants keeping it company. Don't ask - it was an impulse buy at Garden Expo!
Edibles - '09
Ooh - will it be fragrant?
Was that for me?
Yes. The coffee.
Cool you're a herbie too DonnieB ^_^ I am always adding new herbs to my garden and I dry/freeze everything. I believe in measuring herbs by the 'handful' when I cook so I use alot of them. I have to move my lovage tree this summer. I hope he survives as he has a big tap root :O I have to beat back quite a few of my perennial herbs this year. My dear friend Birdies the Bulbous Queen who always takes all my extra thyme in the spring (for deer) has moved so I have to find new homes for that. Are you trying any new herbs this year?
Co-op for stacking pots.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/969353/
I have one of those..not a 6 tiered one but a 3 tiered. I got one for me and one for a friends birthday.
Worth it? Is a plant condo a good idea in this housing market?
Honestly, I didn't really love it Victor...it was OK. I'll try again this year and if I don't like it I get rid of it!!
Allison - how interesting that you are doing rhubarb from seed! I planted 3 or 4 plants last year just outside the corner of my veg. garden........can't wait to be able to harvest some. Are seeds difficult?
Dahlia - I'm not sure what herbs I'll plant this year. I'll have to wait to see how things survived the cold winter. I ripped out all of my oregano last year because it had gotten out of control and had taken over the whole Friendship Garden. I'm sure I'll be pulling out some rogue strands for years! Hopefully, the thyme will be ok and, of course, the chives should be just fine. I'll buy more rosemary, parsley, dill and basil at the very least. I also do Italian parsley every year as well as fennel for cooking fish. I make vinegars with chive blooms and rosemary and garlic. I, too, measure by the handful. LOL What do you do with lovage? I've never grown or used that. It must be tasty if you grow it? Here in Fla. I only have dill, basil, rosemary and chives......just enough to use fresh. For Easter dinner, I'll make rosemary roasted potatoes, and I make various salad dressings with fresh dill and chives. Creamed tomato dill soup is also yummy. (I use fat-free half and half and fat-free milk mixed for that).
it's my first time trying rhubarb .... but the seeds germinated pretty quickly... if they grow on nicely .. that will be it's own story... if we end up meeting up at one of the RU's... and if they make it... I will hang on to one if you want.. of course I started too many
DonnieB lovage tastes and smells like celery so I use it salads, soups etc.
Allison - I'd love one of your extras if you end up having any! And, I certainly hope to see you again at one of the RUs.
Dahlia - thanks for clarifying that for me. I've grown celery several times, but it never tastes right to me. Is lovage easier to grow in terms of harvesting a good, edible crop? Sounds like it is for you.
Lovage is very easy to grow. A plant can get up to 6 feet tall so one plant is plenty for us.
Rhubarb is up at my place. These roots are 3 years old I think. I found out I looooove rhubarb. I want to buy a couple more roots so I can have plenty in the future.
my mil makes a great rhubarb/strawberry pie - she bought some rhubarb last year for $10 lb. crazy - we have two huge plants and she can take as much as she likes - as long as i either get a pie or $10:)
ooooo, yum I LOVE rhubarb strawberry pie.
my neighbor Barbara makes that for me Jen... hence the reason I want to grow it... I still have some frozen packed from her plants last year... still not brave enough to try and use it... don't want to waste it
ok if they live... one for Louise... and one for Memory
Yippee!! Thanks! We LOVE strawberry rhubarb pie too! My friend in NH gave me a couple of great rhubarb recipes that I have up there. I haven't put them on my computer yet. I made one for a July family gathering we had at the farm last summer, and some of the guys had thirds!!! There was none left! I'll try to remember to post it for you when the rhubarb gets ready up there.
I made rhubarb punch from the well sweep cookbook... it was good
Johnny's is sold out of rhubarb. Anyone other reliable suppliers around? Or is it too late?
Edit: Nourse Farms in South Deerfield, MA has Macdonald and Tilden but limits orders to 3 plants of each. I ordered 3 MacDonald's.
This message was edited Apr 5, 2009 3:11 AM
david check some local nurseries - someone is bound to have some
Am planting broccoli raab for the 1st time---I don't plant real broccoli because of the green worms---can't get them out of the head even with salted water! Also have started tomato 'Delicious"--a freebie. Will get all my heritage tomatoes from WFF next month. Also planting several varities of cukes, including a white one, yellow squash & Zucchini, 2 types of green beans, mixed beets, mixed cabbages, 2 types of carrots, sweet peppers, basil, dill, lettuce & whatever catches my eye at the nursery.
Cool - I love BR.
Its easy to grow. I like broccoli sprouts too. Great in egg foo young.
New vegetables for me this year are brussel sprouts: Oliver, a early maturing cultivar and Diablo which takes 110 days. Seen them on the stalks a few times and they are such wierd looking things I wanted to see how they look in the garden.
Giving up on small fruited early tomatoes and planting mainly beefsteaks: Neves Azorean, Brandywine Sudduth's Strain, Giant Belgium, Andrew Rahart's Giant Red, Coustralee and Aker's West Virginia.
Also putting in Rutgers and Momotaro. Rutgers did great in Florida--produced for over two months-- but when I came to CT I made a mistake and bought the determinate variety. Two weeks of tomatoes and they were done. Trying the indeterminate this time.
Brussel sprouts easy, David?
I'll let you know this fall, Victor!
David - do you have an Agway near you? They usually carry rhubarb plants this time of year from what I recall when we lived in CT. Hope you find some! I want to try some of the small cherry tomatoes that work well flowing over the side of a hanging basket. My DS would like to have some hanging on the sunny side of his carport. I got him started with a small veggie garden of a couple tomato plants, some peppers and cukes. He really enjoyed growing his own.
Victor - brussel sprouts are very easy. I laugh whenever I think of the first time I planted them. I couldn't figure out where the "sprouts" were supposed to show up. I caught on when they started popping out from the main stalk. I love them!
Donniebrook...we have a great Agway in Colchester. I posted a thread on the deals here:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/971503/
$10.99 for a compressed 3.8 cu ft bale of potting mix! This Agway doesn't carry many plants and no rhubarb tho. Its animal and pet supplies and heavy on fertilizers, peat moss, lime etc....
Nourse Farms in MA had rhubarb so I ordered some from there.
When do you plant your brussel sprouts? I see they like cooler weather . I'm thinking early June...maybe again at the end of the month? In theory our first frost is the last week in Sept but in reality the last few years its been the mid to end of Oct....do they make it past the first frost?
Often the big box stores carry rhubard. I think I'd like to get some McDonalds - I don't know what I have - I just like it stewed for my lunch. I'm going to move some tulips and lillies and give that part of the bed over to rhubarb. My 160 pounds of composted garden manure arrive on Saturday! Where to start - so many places that need good stuff. . . Pruned my peach - hope I did it right - and brought the cut offs into the office to force. I could see the damage from the peach leaf curl - it just burnt off the ends of the branches. I just can't get a window of dry weather to spray. Drat.
David - I plant my brussel sprouts early in May, soon after we arrive back at the farm. I plant my broccoli in early May as well, along with snow peas and any other cool weather crops I intend to plant. Other veggies get planted around Memorial Day where I am in SW NH.
Thanks! I best get to work now then. I'll start some brussel sprouts inside tonight. Thought they had to got out after the last frost date.
I grew brussels sprouts one year for my brother---I don't like them---but they took up a lot of room, & matured late---
This year's (over)ambitious plan:
Beans: Stringless Green Pod, Triumphe de Farcy, Asparagus Yardlong.
Beets: Chioggia and Bull's Blood.
Broccoli: Bonanza Hybrid
Chinese Cabbage: Toy Choi Hybrid
Cabbage: Earliana
Carrot: Danvers Half-Long
Corn Salad: Big Seeded -- never tried mache/corn salad before so looking forward to it.
Eggplant: Purple Rain Hybrid -- just a few plants since my husband doesn't eat it.
Lettuce, loose leaf: Black-Seeded Simpson
Lettuce, romaine: Little Caesar
Raddichio: Red Surprise
Arugula: Roquette
Kolhrabi: Sweet Vienna
Parsnip: All American
Pea: Mammoth Melting Sugar -- I've never had much luck with peas, but trying again...
Pepper: Chinese Giant
Spinach: Bloomsdale Long Standing
Swiss Chard: Bright Lights -- gotta have swiss chard!
Squash, Acorn: Acorn Table Queen
Tomato: Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, and Giant Pink Belgium
Other edibles: putting in blueberries, cranberries, aronia, beach plum, grapes, strawberries. Only the strawberries will be ready this year of course. We also have an old apple tree that produced a bumper crop last year.
Edited to add raspberries, which we have a large patch of.
Editing again to add the rhubarb, which was planted by the former owner, as were the raspberries.
This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 5:25 PM
This message was edited Apr 6, 2009 5:31 PM
Wow - nice list! Good luck.
I don't think I have ever eaten chard... guess I will have to try that
I love Swiss chard.
Hope they turn out well for you, David!
Galles - what a great list! I agree on the Bright Lights Swiss Chard.....in addition to tasting great and being very healthy, it is such a pretty, colorful plant. As to the bad luck with peas.....have you tried snow peas? I find them very easy and very productive if you plant them while its still cool. They do need to climb on something. I plant them right next to my garden fence. We once had a wonderful golden retriever who loved nothing more than harvesting the peas for his own pleasure. LOL
Yes, Allison, try some swiss chard.
my parents never had any fancy veggies when we were growing up.. just normal stuff... my mom is not too daring with food... she eats what she knows and likes.. my dad will try anything