Planning for the garden...

Paschale · February 16, 2005, 11:15:07 PM

It seems like growing season's far away, but I'm already starting to think about the vegetable garden. 8) I'm thinking of trying to grow a lot of heirloom vegetables this year. I just saw on TV about yellow and purple carrots, which apparently were the original carrots. The orange ones were developed by the Dutch in the 17th century, apparently because they were filled with some sort of patriotic fervor, because there king was a part of the House of Orange...go figure. Anyway, I'm thinking of growing some purple and yellow carrots this year--anyone ever try some of these before? Plus, I'm hoping to grow several varieties of heirloom tomatoes, and I think I'll buy seeds soon. I've heard there are tons of varieties of heirloom potatoes as well. The word I hear about heirloom vegetables is that the flavor is usually much better--they're not widely available, because the don't have much shelf life. The ones we get in the store last a long time, but the flavor suffers. I can definitely say that's the case with the heirloom tomatoes I've tried--the taste is usually much better. I think it'd be great to have a garden completely filled with heirloom vegetables, and I hope to get a start this summer.

What are your garden plans? Anyone having some wishful thinking like me? Can't wait for Spring!!!

Buzz-sawyer · February 16, 2005, 11:25:24 PM

My plans are the same as yours...I think we talked about hierlooms at the Pig roast....

With main point being the eatin of em 8) 8)

DanG · February 16, 2005, 11:31:22 PM

Planning? ??? How about PLANTING!? I'm 2 days late getting my taters in the ground. Got my onion plants yesterday and getting tater eyes tomorrow. ;D

J_T · February 16, 2005, 11:37:15 PM

Yep wife's tomato plants are about three in. tall already 8) Do a search for hierloom seeds they got some good sights. We still got a year's supply of things frose and canned :

DanG don't let them taters see you you might scare them :D :D

chet · February 16, 2005, 11:46:18 PM

DanG it. :(
If it was 70 degrees warmer, I had 3 feet less snow, and 2 foot less of frost, I'd be ready to plant too. :'(

J_T · February 17, 2005, 12:01:27 AM

If it were 70 degrees colder three foot of snow and two in of frost I'd go help DanG till he ran me off :D :D

DanG · February 17, 2005, 12:26:33 AM

Ya may be on ta something there, Jim. Taters got eyes, but they keeps they head in the ground where they can't see me. Taters are sorta dumb, anyway. ??? 'Maters, on the other hand, are smarter. They keeps they head up where they can see, and the sight of me seems to scare the dickens out of'em. :-\

Roxie · February 17, 2005, 05:26:22 AM

It got up to 58 degrees here yesterday, the snow is a thing of the past, and I've got such a bad case of spring fever!

I've been giving a lot of thought to the seed catalog. I put in vegetables, but I love to grow flowers. Those Heirloom varieties sound really interesting. Purple carrots would be pretty in cole slaw! ;)

Norm · February 17, 2005, 07:22:54 AM

Boy I know what you mean about spring fever Roxie, I was looking through the seed catalogs and got it bad. Most of our frost is out of the ground but planting time is still a couple of months off. My latest passion is trying new varieties of potatoes, we buy from a gentleman out of Colorado that stocks every kind you can think of and a couple you've never heard of before. Our main variety is yukon gold but some of the old fashioned fingerlings are rea tasty. Winter squash is another one you can get some old varieties too or if your adventurous keep some seeds from last years crop and see what the crossed ones come out like. We had good luck last year and are still eating squash and potatoes from the garden last year.

Tom · February 17, 2005, 11:55:32 AM

Okra, bell pepper, jalapena, banna pepper, egg plant, some better boy tomatoes, some sweet 100's, yellow crook neck squash, maybe watermelon and fresh box of 12 gauge shells.

Minnesota_boy · February 17, 2005, 12:42:55 PM

Tom,
It doesn't work that way! It won't matter how many 12 guage shells you plant, you can't grow a shotgun. ;D

tnlogger · February 17, 2005, 01:13:27 PM

;D just thinking about this is making my mouth water. we have three more months untill maters and squash are ready can't stand it no mo :D
going to get a rc cola and a moon pie too hold me for a while .
gene

farmerdoug · February 17, 2005, 01:56:14 PM

I will be starting the first round of tomato plants for transplaning into the greenhouses tomorrow for early sales at markets. We raise 20 acres of vegetables in th field plus tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouss along with tree and small fruits for roadside and farmers markets.
Planning was done before Christmas and seeds are ordered and half are here already. We order over 200 lbs of seeds a year. We also raise annual and perennial flowers which some are started already. I love farming and raising your own food.

Pas, heirloom vegetables are great but just remember the newer garden varieties have breed in disease resistance that makes life easier. The taste and quality of newer varieties can be just as good but it is when they are picked and freshness that says it all. The shipped in suff is picked green to last from picking , to packaging, to shipping, to the store, to your refegerator which can be a long time. Local is best as always.

Keep planting and sawing.

Bro. Noble · February 17, 2005, 02:03:26 PM

Wasn't long ago that all the country folks grew about everything they ate. Seems like the young people now have almost no interest in that sort of thing and that bothers me. My kids helped in the garden some but not always with much pleasure. One year was different, I let them look at the seed catalogues and help pick out what to plant. We had red, white, and blue potatoes, those cucumbers and green beans that grow about a yard long, all kinds of crazy looking ,gourds, and of course melons of every description. We all had a great time and the kids couldn't wait till someone came to visit so they could show off their garden.

I've still got the little steel wheeled tractor I made them to work in the garden. Waiting for grandkids to come along and help me fix it up. I wouldn't mind planting another one of those crazy gardens if I had the right kind of help ;D

crtreedude · February 17, 2005, 03:04:08 PM

We are about to prepare the soil for the garden - in gardens, I know no excess - I take after my father in this. Growing up, we had an 1 1/2 acre garden - 144 tomato plants. You see, my father started off a vegetable farmer, with 300 acres, so 1 1/2 acres looked to him like it was hardly worth doing. :D

So, we are going to have 1 1/2 acres of garden. I can't wait. We have had pretty much steady rain for a while, so it is starting to dry out very nicely now - I am told it is time to turn the soil for the new garden. It will be down near the river.

I will have full time help taking care of it - I remember that 1 1/2 acre garden! I just want to direct . ;)

Patty · February 17, 2005, 03:15:09 PM

I absolutely love to garden. My kids were like Noble's in that they were less than excited about pulling weeds. :

Now they are moved away, and the gardening is up to me and Norm. We plant lots of potatoes, tomatoes, sweet corn, winter squash, onions....and on and on. My friend plants flower gardens. So this year she is planting flowers at my house if I plant vegetables at her house. :D Works for me!

Murf · February 17, 2005, 03:51:39 PM

DanG, ya' just have ta' learn them 'maters some respect for the ol' master, that's all. >:(

Give a big heepin' helpin' of well rotted manure right off the start, after that they'll look at you in a whole new light. ;D

Heck, even I'd look good to 'em after that....... :D

I had pretty good luck with veggies up here, no luck at all with chickens though, 3 different batches of chicks, 100 in total, and not one of 'em amounted ta' nuthin!!!

I still don't know if I planted 'em too deep, or too close together........

chet · February 18, 2005, 09:31:19 PM

Our kids were always less than enthusiastic about gardening also. But, one of the first things they all did when they got out on their own, was plant a garden. ;D I wonder what the grandkids are gonna think about helpin' when they git older. :D :D

SwampDonkey · February 19, 2005, 07:11:34 AM

I like to garden also. My garden is roughly 40 by 40 feet. Alot of stuff I grow I'll never be able to eat, too much stuff fer one feller to consume. :D

I've been having trouble the last couple years getting parsnip to germinate. I hate the store bought parsnip cause it's harvested in fall and has a dull taste. Good parsnip has to over winter and be dug in the spring. Rutabego has to have a hard frost before it's got any taste also. I agree on the taste of the tomatoes, that store bought stuff has no taste compared to the garden grown ones. I like beefsteak, Scotian, or big boy. Another variety we can't get any longer was Siberian. Nothing like a plate of sliced tomato with sugar and some sliced cukes with salt and pepper. My raspeberry patch last year was a tremendous success, I could barely keep up with the ripening. That little batch 30 x 5 feet produced 3 quarts a ripe fruit a day for 3 weeks straight. MMMMmmm I'm hankering for some right now. :D

Happy Gardening

Paschale · February 19, 2005, 04:59:20 PM

Farmerdoug, good point about the diseases. I had some trouble last year, and I think it was due to being a little overzealous in wanting to get as many heirloom tomatoe plants in my garden as I could. I bought a "Lemon Boy" at a local nursery--it's a yellow heirloom. But it was a bit like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, if you know what I mean, and remained the runt of the garden... Unfortunately, I think it spread some disease to the rest of the heirlooms in the garden. Apparently, once certain kinds of disease are in the soil, the only way to get rid of it is to "solarize" the soil, which means essentially no garden for one summer. :

I'm going to be optimistic, though, and hope it was more of a one time thing, and make sure I only plant healthy plants this year, and use some organic stuff I found online that's supposedly beefs up the tomatoes immunity. I'm going to plant more standard varieties that are disease resistant though this year, to make sure I get a decent harvest. My favorite heirloom varieties are Brandywine, Amish Paste (for sauces), Mr. Stripey (an orange/red/yellow marbled tomatoe that's delicious, and looks terrific on the plate), and Purple Beauty, which is a purplish/green/red tomatoe that's DanG tasty. Oh, and as far as cherry tomatoes go, try Matt's Wild Cherry--a guy named Matt found it in the wild in Mexico, and it's GREAT: juicy, sweet and meaty. The nice thing about that one is that it keeps coming back, year after year. From what I understand, Brandywine's the most popular and widely available heirloom out there, so if you stumble on it, it's worth trying. Many sources claim it's the best tasting slicing/sandwich tomatoe out there, for good reason! 8)

farmerdoug · February 19, 2005, 06:43:20 PM

Paschale, I have bad luck with yellow tomatoes. We have had late blight almost very year. I have to spray for it very ten days when the conditions are right for it so having to fight any other problems is not worth it. We plant Big Beef and Ultra Boy. We plant around 2000 plants a year. You should rotate the location you plant them yearly. I do try the heirlooms in the yard though. I do like Mr. Stripey. I like any truely vine ripened tomatoes fresh out of the garden. I do not eat many tomatoes from the store so I binge in the summer.

Roxie · February 19, 2005, 07:50:46 PM

An Amish friend of mine grows the Brandywine tomatoes and I can tell you that a better tasting tomato can't be found! I finally got him to share some of his secrets with me this past fall, and he plants dill around the tomatoes to keep out pests. He also 'sugars' the plants when they are ten inches tall. He uses a cup of sugar to a gallon of water and just waters them in. I'm going to try to grow some this season and of course, I'll have my Better Boys standing ready in case of crop failure. :D

Tom_Averwater · February 20, 2005, 06:16:43 PM

FarmerDoug, Do you grow any watermelons or cantalopes up there in Mich.? If so what variety do you plant ? I planted a 1/4 acre of crimson sweet last year and they did pretty good. Thought I might try some seedless this year. Tom_A

thecfarm · February 20, 2005, 06:45:32 PM

Swampdonkey Totally tomates has that Siberian tomato that you are looking for. www.totallytomato.com In the paper catalog it's on page 38-#00651 Goodluck. We are about to start our grrenhouse up,or the wife is.I'm just the builder as I say.We sell garden produce too.Still have a ways to go.Maybe mid-May.

farmerdoug · February 20, 2005, 07:31:13 PM

Tom_A,

Yes we do plant both. The watermelons we plant are Crimson Sweet, Yellow Doll, Allsweet, and a seedles called RWM8073. The cantaloupes are Superstar, Fastbreak, and Iroquois. We planted 2 acres last year. But with the cold summer here in Michigan the watermelon produced poorly. The cantaloupes did great though. If you can grow Crimson Sweet you should have no problem with the seedless variety but remember to plant a seeded variety pollinate you seedless ones.

thecfarm, Glad to meet another market farmer. We get an early start using greenhouses. It gets the early business.

Glad to help if I can. I am looking at mills and will need help with that I am sure.