Anyone here have one or more vegetable gardens? What are your favorite crops and varieties? We are limited as to what will grow outside here, even in the Summer. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and all the root crops grow well here, but tomatoes are questionable outside. Peppers, eggplants and such don't grow here outside at all. Peas and beans do okay with the right varieties. We have large outdoor gardens, however, that we defend from the moose all Summer. We have celery, onions, leeks, peppers and tomatoes started so far. The cole/crucifers will be next, then squash, pumpkins and melons will be the last ones to start sometime around early May.
I'm planting less this year. I'm not able to do as much as I'd like, but still want to have a garden. I weeded the asparagus bed Saturday, planted potatoes yesterday and will plant beets today. Everything else will have to wait for warmer weather.
Warmer weather indeed....... that is the story here as well, @Sheldon Scott ! We had those few absolutely lovely days towards the end of February and the weather was almost up to 80 here. Since then, we have had not much else except cold, rain, and even some snow. In fact, Bobby said it was trying to snow here in Alabama when he let Chipper out this morning at around 5ish. As for growing a large garden, we do not do that anymore either. One reason is that there is literally no place to grow a large garden. The whole property is surrounded by trees (huge trees !) on every side, and more of them in the yard. The overhead view of our property dies not even show the house or driveway, it just looks like a large stand of trees, at least all summer long. And of course, there is the roots of all of those trees; so you can’t even dig anywhere, let alone rototill. What we have been doing is mostly container gardening, and trying to set the container out where it get as much sunshine as possible. I am starting everything that we are going to grow inside, in the aerogarden, and then will move it outside once it is warm enough. I am also trying out passive hydroponics, using the Kratky method, and am looking forward to seeing how well this does and if I can move the plants outside once it warms up.
I would love to have a large garden each year. However, we're restricted to growing above ground because our house and yard sits on coal ash. I do have a small garden space that I have built up with lumber and filled in with compost and soil, and I also use lawn bags for potatoes and other containers. Gardening is, I think, a little trickier in Maine than in some places because our growing season is neither long or dependable. Right now, my garden area is under about three feet of snow and we're supposed to get another large storm tomorrow. Our snow won't melt away until at least the latter part of April, and sometimes into May. On the other end, we sometimes get our first frost in September. So we just kind of play around with our garden, to see what we can get to grow, and how well we can get it to grow. We usually grow onions and potatoes, although I didn't do the potatoes last year.
Sounds like your growing season is similar to ours, although we can grow things in the ground. The growing season here is about 90 days, but many crops, like sweet corn, cannot make it here even though the claimed time to maturity is less than 90 days. We gardened in raised beds here for more than a decade, but found we have fewer slugs if we garden in the ground. I would think a salad garden would be good idea anywhere.
Our place was heavily forested when we moved here in 1992, but 22 years of raising goats killed a lot of tree and allowed me to clear the land. I never wanted to cut down a live tree, but dead trees didn't bother me and provided a lot of firewood over the years. We have "light shelves" set up in our heated garage, and an attached greenhouse where we start much of our stuff. We sell bedding plants in the Spring and perennials in the Fall; that pays all our expenses and allows a little profit as well.
I picked the first few spears of asparagus yesterday. The beets and one potato are up and growing. I bought six tomato plants and one jalapeno plant yesterday but won't plant them yet.
Maybe you should contact Elliot Coleman. He lives somewhere in Maine and is an expert in cold-climate gardening. http://fourseasonfarm.com/
I pretty much know what I can do and what I can't do, as I grew up in a similar climate in the UP of Michigan. Harborside is about 120 south of me, but with a whole different landscape. I wouldn't mind living there but doubt I could afford the land prices.
I have planted some lemon seeds. A friend, planted some in a pot for window sill. So ,decided I would try it also. Very nice looking little plant while growing
My youngest daughter is busy growing another baby so we have put off starting a nice garden in her back yard and once again my Honey and I just bought one tomato plant and our former landlord and next door neighbor surprised us with a bell pepper plant last week. Now we are just hoping the birds won't eat our tomatoes like they did last year. I am going to buy some netting to put over the plant hoping that will keep the birds away. There are four baby tomatoes on our plant right now. .
That's great, Sheldon. We still cannot get into the garden, but my wife made it to the big greenhouse yesterday for the first time since Fall. The snow has been too deep, but it is melting rapidly now. We will have to wait until the ground dries enough to till and plant, but I have a lot of plants started inside....
How nice Sheldon. Fresh cooked purple hull peas are delicious! We don't have the kind of yardage to plant those but if we lived near y'all I sure would see if you would sell us some.