Are you starting on your gardening journey this year? Maybe branching out to some new-to-you plants? Trying out a new style of gardening?
Share your questions! Share your plans! How can we help you grow something wonderful? What do you wish you knew more about?
And remember, if you don’t need this thread then this thread needs you!
Starting a new garden after moving from an apartment to a house last fall. Planning to do two 8’x4’ raised beds with some scrap wood and put a squash tunnel between them. I’ve started 32 onion seedlings indoors and will be starting the brassicas this weekend!
Also thinking about getting apple trees - any suggestions for good varieties to grow in zone 6b (New England)? It’s tempting to get a honey crisp but I hear they’re pretty hard to grow.
Hey congrats! Here’s hoping your thriftiness with the scrap wood has enabled you to do even more with the space.
I haven’t had issues with getting our honey crisp to grow, but for a few years now it’s been the cultivar to which the Japanese beetles seem most attracted where we are in Maine. Our neighbor has I think 8 varieties and his experience has been very similar. It’s worth noting that last year our Wolf River apple had maybe a dozen leaves attacked by the beetles. The folks at FedCo have a really good selection for New England. The website doesn’t go into quite as much detail as their apple catalogue does but it’s still got plenty of commentary about how they perform.
Someone else recommended fedco to me and I’ll definitely be ordering from them, I love everything they’ve got going on.
I’ve read elsewhere too that honey crisps seem more prone to diseases and pests. What other varieties do you have?
I, too, am a huge fan of theirs (organizationally, selection-wise, and acknowledgements wise). We currently just have the Wolf River and the Honeycrisp, but our next door neighbor also has a granny smith, Ashmead’s Kernel, Pippin, Cox, and something else. I spent last season collecting the fallen crabs from our three old crabs and will hopefully have some rootstocks to practice my grafting on and build our collection this year and next. The past few years most of my garden fund has been spent on more readily multiplied plants (full disclosure: I sell plants) instead of cultivar trees.
Balcony gardener here. Had a death in the family so my garden was neglected unfortunately, but it’s bouncing back (as am I). My cabbages aren’t as big as they were last year, likely because I used slightly smaller pots and let them wilt too often, but wife should be able to turn them into kraut for sausage dogs. We did that last year and ended up with a pretty decent jar-full, which was pretty cool.
This year I over-wintered my peppers for the first time, and they’re starting to bounce back so I’ll probably transfer them to larger pots soon. I’m already looking forward to watching them come in :) they’re my favorite plants to grow. I have shishito peppers, snack peppers, cayenne, jalapeno, and dragon roll peppers. I like my peps!
Mint is looking okay, it’s coming back after being neglected, but it’s basically a weed so I’m not really worried. I’ll have to buy more basil starters, I didn’t prune it well and it didn’t survive being over-wintered.
This is all on top of the usual annuals and ivy and ferns and such. It’s basically impossible for me to go to the grocery store without bringing home whatever discount plant I find, lol. I don’t have too much room to work with, but I’m doing some vertical gardening as well by mounting shelves to put smaller pots on. It looks good from the street too. I get compliments when I’m out there, and it always makes my day :D
I’m sorry for your loss, and truly hope that getting back into your garden supports your healing.
It’s basically impossible for me to go to the grocery store without bringing home whatever discount plant I find, lol
My wife and I made a deal that I have to bring the dog when I go anywhere that sells plants, just so I can’t carry as many to the register. Usually I respect the spirit of the deal but sometimes it’s too much and I use a cart 🤫
Thank you Lally, I really do appreciate that. It has helped me heal greatly. As odd as this sounds, I feel lucky that it occurred during the end of winter. So as the world begins to show a return to life and color, my own little world is doing the same :) I actually have some plants of hers that I’m tending to now. So many snake plants to propagate!
My wife and I made a deal that I have to bring the dog when I go anywhere that sells plants, just so I can’t carry as many to the register.
Now I’m just imagining a dog in a cart covered in grocery store ferns 😄 but that’s a great compromise!
💕 after my grandmother passed away a few years ago several of the cousins and I all took cuttings from a number of the plants she had grown around her house, and now every spring she’s still making my world more beautiful. I’m overjoyed that your loved one will do the same for you.
I received a small (6-ish spaces) hydroponics kit two Christmases ago, and grew a few strawberry plants in it last year following the instructions that came with it. We never really got any strawberries off of them, but the plants themselves did wonderfully until the cats got to them.
This year I’d like to try something more “useful”, like fresh herbs or micro greens (both of which are rather expensive to buy where I live). Does anybody have tips for how to start these, and places (in the US or that ship to it) that might carry seeds for the micro greens? I’m also concerned about running out of the “fertilizer” that came with the kit.
I’ve got about three months before thinking of planting
I’m getting back into gardening after a 15 year hiatus. Zone 6b. I started 3 raised beds in the fall. Sowed 2 with winter rye and covered one with leaves. I’m going to work some soil conditioner in that one and start some lettuce, kale, radishes, carrots, and turnips soon. My mini soil blocker arrived today, so I’ll start peppers indoors soon. I’ll plant those and tomatoes in the other 2 beds - trying to do no till from here on out.
If I have room, I’ll put in some zucchini and winter squash and a melon.
I’m also trying my hand at doing some containers with dwarf peas and herbs.
Finally, I’ve never really done flowers, but I’m having a go at nasturtiums, calendula, marigolds, and sunflowers.
I really need to get some fencing up because we have a lot of deer!
Welcome back to it! If you’re not familiar with Farmer Jesse yet I’d highly recommend the No-Till Growers podcast or youtube channel depending on your preference. And flowers are great mixed in with the vegetables! It might be worth adding in some small flowered plants you enjoy, like Allysum or just about anything from Apiaceae, for parasitic wasps to feed on while defending your garden.
