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ltilton_gw

What new crops did you try in 2014? Will you plant them again?

ltilton
9 years ago

Mei Qing Choi - A+

Rapid growing small bok choi. I got spring and fall crops of this. It's said to be the most heat resistant, but we had no real heat this year, so I couldn't test that. Just starting to pick the fall crop now. It suffered some pest damage early in the fall, even under row cover, so I had to spray, but it bounced back. This will definitely be in my garden every year from now on.

Lacinato kale - A

I like the upstanding growth habit of this. Although one plant did flop over, it returned to upright growth. Easy to harvest the new tender leaves. It grew through the summer with no problems, although next year I think I'll grow it just for fall, as I didn't use it in summer.

Fortex pole bean - C-

It's probably just me. For some reason, I can't grow pole beans. These were stunted, while 10 feet away, the bush beans were flourishing. The beans I did harvest were fine, but I see no reason to try these again.

Moskvich tomato - F-

Supposed to be an early tomato, something along the lines of 4th of July. Stunted, runted plant never produced a single ripe fruit and I pulled it in sheer disgust.

Comments (48)

  • Peter1142
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    All of the crops I planted were new... my first year gardening. Here's some results:

    Tomatoes:

    Marglobe: A-: Produced fast and hard as expected, nice tasting decent medium size. Yield wasn't bad for a determinate, I think. But only one flush of tomatoes. Will plant again.

    El Fresco Hybrid Spanish Tomatoes: B-: Grew much bigger, but got less yield than the Marglobe as by the time it is getting into gear, it is nearly Fall. I did start them late. But nice that they came in as the Marglobe was ending. Will not plant again, try an indeterminate that isn't a mystery hybrid, maybe a nice beafsteak.

    Tami G Grape: A+: Considering the not so sunny spot in the garden they got, yield and taste were excellent, will definitely plant again.

    Super Sweet 100: B+: Yield was not nearly that of the Tami G, I liked the Tami G taste better. Nice to have variety though. Maybe plant again.

    Napa Grape Tomato: D: Did not grow well indoors and barely survived transplanting. Still haven't gotten a red tomato from this guy. Definitely won't grow next year.

    Bush Table Queen Acorn Squash: B+: Ripened very fast, compact bush plants. Not sweet or large but very tasty. Will plant again, or maybe try the vining type if I have the space.

    Waltham Butternut: C: Takes forever to mature. Only now getting a couple ripe fruit. Fruit not fully ripened is tasteless. Will probably plant something else next year, though the SVB and PM resistance was nice.

    Small Sugar Pumpkins: B+: Got 4 pumpkins per plant... more than plenty. Haven't really cooked any yet. Succumbed a little early to PM.

    I can post all my other stuff, if people are interested... I planted tons.

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sure, information from other gardeners is always useful. That's one thing this forum is for.

  • springtogarden
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Grew some new things to me. Some great, some losers.

    Tomatoes:
    Green Zebra: unproductive and very slow. Was the biggest and healthiest plant when I planted it in there but it did almost the worst. Very disappointing. D

    Rosso Sicilian: Terrible, mediocre taste even for sauces. Uneven ripening. A weird tomato. F-

    Cherokee Purple: Grew very well, nice big tomatoes, excellent flavor. A+

    Black Cherry: Lovely flavor, huge plant and many tomatoes. A-

    Peppers:

    Nardellos: yummy flavor! Slow growth but had a weird summer. A-

    Cubanelle: Loved the flavor. Nice-sized peppers. Will grow again. A+

    Cucumbers:
    Speedway: Bad production. Got these as seedlings. Not impressed. C

    Basil:
    Purple basil: Loved this one! Grew well and tasted delicious. Will grow again. A+

    Squash: Haven't tasted most of my squash. Still curing.

    Spaghetti squash: (New to me) Prolific and easy to maintain. Nice flavor. A

    Waltham Butternut: Great plant, nice amount of squash. Takes a long time to grow. May be too long for my growing season. B+

    Winter Luxury: Very unproductive. Takes 6 weeks for one small pumpkin. Waiting to see if the taste will change my mind.

    Baby Blue Hubbard: Slow as well. But to be fair, slowed way down due to slow summer start and started to wilt. Will try this and WL again to double check production.

  • laceyvail 6A, WV
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Best new crop was an Asian green called Mizpoona, which I sowed as a spring crop--lasted way longer than tatsoi or the other Asian green I sowed, which I can't remember off the top of my head. Mizpoona was terrific in spring salads.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Let's see this year I tried new peas, a tomato, a number of peppers, a couple of squash, and a field pea that were all new to me.

    Peas were Premium (shelling) from Johnny's. Excellent yield on short plants and they seemed fast enough for our uncertain springs where it can get suddenly hotter than peas like. Also tried Amish Snap peas. They were good, but slower than I expected, but then again they were the ones a mole tunnelled under so maybe they didn't get a fair shake this year. I also tried Sugar Sprint (snap). They performed as advertised, and had the mostly stringlessness I was looking for. I will probably plant all of these again next spring.

    Tomato was Hungarian-Italian Paste. I was very pleased with this one. It is a determinate heirloom, which is neat, so many deterrminates seem to be F1s, but I could save seed from this type. The flavor is exactly what I was looking for when cooked down, nice, balanced tomato flavor. Yield was great, but then again we had an amazing year for fruit set on tomatoes. Most interesting to me, was when this was pressed into juice and pulp for cooking down into sauce it had a grainy quality to the pulp and not very much juice... In short all of the qualities I was led to expect a paste tomato to have but had never before found in the others I tried. This one is a keeper for me.

    Peppers I tried were Beaver Dam, Jimmy Nardello, and Aji Omnicolor. They were all quite good. Beaver Dam is hot when raw, similar to jalapeno, but the heat cooks right out if you use it stuffed or otherwise cooked. Jimmy Nardello were excellent especially fried in olive oil with a little salt. Reminded me of some shishitos we had in a restaurant back in May. And Aji Omnicolor is very prolific and beautiful. It has a flavor similar to, but distinctly different from the Aji Pineapples I always grow for making hot sauce. They make a great vinegared sliced pepper and make my hot sauce even better. All three peppers are ones I will likely plant again.

    The squash were both moschatas, Musque de Provence and Waltham Butternut. The butternuts did quite well, with two squash per plant and came to maturity much faster than the listed 100 days. Musque de Provence only had one squash per plant, but since the average weight of the fruit was 20 lbs, I don't think I would have known what to do if they had set 2 per vine! These are curing now, but the immature fruit I've started eating are quite good too. Most important was that all vines survived to maturity thanks to good SVB resistance! I wish I could find a squash with good flavor like MdP (I plante it this year because I liked the ones I bought at Farmers Market so much) but with drier texture. But I will certainly grow these again.

    And finally, the field pea was Zipper Cream. I love it, mild flavor, great yield. I'll be planting these next year too.

    So, I liked everything new that I tried. I think that means I'm getting better at knowing the characteristics I'm looking for in my different vegetables. Which is good, because you know how they make every different type sound amazing in those seed catalogs in midwinter!

  • writtenonwater
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Sungold (orange cherry tomato)
    Score: A

    Sweetest tomato I've ever grown (I grew over 10 varieties this year), and good producer too! Whenever I'd bring an assortment of tomatoes to a social gathering, this one would always be the most popular.

  • lilyd74 (5b sw MI)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Summer Sun Sun Dried Tomato - I can't find reference anywhere else on the net to this variety, but I loved it. A paste type, small plant that set a huge crop of perfectly sized, thick walled, not too seedy tomatoes early in the season. I had more tomato visible than plant. This determinate plant produced better for me this cool summer than did the indeterminate Mortgage Lifter. I will be searching for it next year.

    All Blue potatoes - extremely poor yield, barely more than what I planted in seed tubers. I doubt I will try again.

    Joseph's Coat Amaranth - I wanted a shorter, pretty amaranth that I could grow in the front yard. Next year I will go with Love Lies Bleeding instead, as I was very disappointed with leaf yield and comparative taste to other amaranths.

    Maize Japonica - grew it for ornamental purposes, and it was indeed a very pretty corn plant. I have saved the kernels for cornmeal later but haven't tried them yet for taste. Yields were very high, an average of 3+ full size ears per stalk - one stalk had five huge ears. Planted them in an old strawberry field with no new added fertilizer, so I was impressed. Don't know if I will plant again or not, it depends on the taste of the cornmeal.

  • nancyjane_gardener
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It's hard to say. I usually try different tomatoes each year, but have an early girl, sungold and cheroke purple every year.
    last year my CPs were a pound each! This year....golf ball sized! EG were OK and we only got gallons of SGs as opposed to multiple gallons.
    All of the others were pretty puny. I'm not going to dis them, cause I think it was the year, rather than the type.
    In fact the whole garden was rather mediocre. I'm not sure if it was going to Hawaii late May/early June when the watering may have been iffy, the drought or what!?!? I still got enough produce for the 2 of us, just not a lot of freezing or sauce. Nancy

  • Anne Wolfley
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    - Louisiana Purple Pod snap bean: Excellent yield, great flavor. I grow green beans to can them, so prolific growth is a huge plus.

    - Sweet Chocolate bell pepper: Very yummy. Yield had been so-so but they are in an area without enough sun to maximize their potential.

    - Padron and Shishito peppers: Both had excellent yield and good flavor but I kind of got bored with frying them and they're really small so they're kind of useless otherwise (seeding them is a huge pain). Won't grow again for that reason.

    - Druzba tomato: Flavor was pretty good, yield was so-so. I tried them because they are a disease resistant heirloom, and they certainly fared better than most other heirlooms (with all of the rain). But they died earlier than I was hoping. My tried and true Eva Purple Ball are still going strong, and they taste better. Will not grow Druzba again. Will try Marglobe next.

    - Napoletano basil: Really great flavor, but disappointing yield. A lot of the leaves turned yellow, and the stalks turned dark brown (almost moldy). Very strange because I have never had a problem growing basil before. I won't grow them again.

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    It certainly has been a weird growing year!

  • soilent_green
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The only variety new to me that I was able to grow out somewhat successfully was Arikara White, an old OP 8-row flour corn variety I acquired from a friend. Harvested a decent amount of nice ears for using as seed stock next year, but I will not get to be as selective with the seed as I would have preferred. I was quite pleased with what I got considering at one point last June the 6 inch tall corn plants were under 10 inches of water for a couple of days.

    It was an absolutely miserable gardening season here, the worst I have experienced in my 30 plus years of gardening. I am glad the season is almost over, good riddance as far as I am concerned. I want to finish harvesting, get the gardens cleaned up, get the garlic planted in late October, dig and process the horseradish early November, and then completely forget about gardening for a couple of months.

    -Tom

  • sweetquietplace
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Skykomish tomato...blight-resistant, yellow-gold with pink-red blush. One of Tom Wagner's creations.

    Magic Myrna...really yummy potato available from Alaskan growers.

    Alma Whitaker pole beans. Simply wonderful!

    All three on my next year's "for sure" list.

  • Peter1142
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm going to have to revise the El Fresco tomatoes... they are absolutely delicious. I made an Okra dish and the Okra fell to the side of the juicy sweet tomatoes. I may just plant these again. Of course, I have little to compare them to...

    Other things I planted:

    Home Depot Norland Red Early Season Potatoes - Came nice and early, but yields were mediocre. Will try a different variety next year if I can find something that isn't too expensive.

    Home Depot Mid-Late Season Red Onion Set (80) - These made terribly sized bulbs. Definitely will not plant again, want to try growing from seed for bigger bulbs.

    Sweet Peppers:
    Bonnie's Cubanelle
    Bonnie's Orange Bell
    Bonnie's Red Bell

    These all did terrible. Will see other options next year. But probably the fault of the weather and garden conditions (pests/soil).

    Hot Peppers:
    Bonnie's Hot Banana
    Bonnie's Jalapeno

    The Jalapeno's did OK and I will definitely grow these again, but the Hot Banana did meh, though I did get a few of them. Really bad pepper year first year. Only the Jalapenos did ok.

    Carrots:
    Burpee A#1 Hybrid
    Burpee Nantes Champion

    Both of these did OK but nothing spectacular size-wise and will look at other options next year.

    Romaine Lettuce Little Gem - Took all Summer from early spring to make anything worth harvesting, will not plant again.

    Burpee Bibb - These did great, will definitely plant again.

    Burpee French Filet Bush - Produced very well, all summer long the beans kept coming off of small bush plants, will grow again next year.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I tried quite a few new vegetables this year.

    Maxibel Bush Beans - A- Very good flavor and tenderness. Pretty good yield. A little vines, think I would try them on a trellis next time.

    Golden Gate Pole Bean B- I guess they were okay. Tender enough if you didn't wait too long to pick them. But they stay a little green until bigger. Very flat and long like an Italian bean. Production was just okay. I'm trying a different wax bean next year.

    Ministro Cucumber A+ Wow. What a ton of cucumbers on healthy vigorous vines. Climbed to the top of a 7ft trellis. We had so many we were sick of them. Gave a lot away. Just pulled them out last weekend.

    Costata Romanesca Squash C+ Everyone enjoyed eating them well enough. Not like the usual summer squash we've grown before. Much larger. They had a bad case of Powdery Mildew by the time they were done. And the leaves and stems are prickly making them difficult to work around. Hope to try something else next year.

    Jericho Romaine Lettuce - A This was another winner in the garden this year. From Israel, claims to hold up in the heat and it sure did. Started them late and we were still eating them in July. Tall tender heads.

    Prize Choy Bok Choy - B+ Easy to grow, not quite as large, or as dark green on the top or as wide at the bottom of each stem as I would have liked, but very good. I may look to try another one next time, but I'd grow this one again.

    Arcadia Broccoli B Supposed to stand up to the heat. We started this late and it grew through the summer and didn't produce a head until the heat broke. I'd grow it again, but also looking for another. I want to try Packman next year.

    Gonzales Cabbage - A+ This was another winner. These are small soft ball size cabbages. They look so small and you can fit a lot of them in a bed. When we harvested them, one cabbage was enough for one meal for two or three people. No leftovers which I like. Definitely growing these again.

    Fourth of July Tomato A This was a surprise. I didn't realize these were supposed to be small. The first couple of tomatoes didn't taste all that flavorful, and they were not ripe by Fourth of July, but they were our first tomato to ripen and they were ripe in July and we've had a steady supply of them since and still going. After the first few, the tomatoes did become much more flavorful. None of the other tomatoes did well this year, so this was a life saver. These were about 3x the size of a cherry tomato.

    Trionfo de Violette Purple Pole Beans - B+ They did well. Produced a fair amount. Beans are very easy to pick and come off with a gentle pull. Turn green when cooked. The foliage has a purple cast to it. Would like to try it one more year to be sure I like it enough.

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    prairiemoon- How close together can you grow the Gonzales cabbage? I've seen it in seed catalogs and have been wanting to try it but was unsure exactly how big the plants get and how closely I could pack them into a bed. (I don't grow regular sized cabbages because I can buy them very cheap and it would be a waste of space for me to grow.)

    Rodney

  • Anne Wolfley
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    prairiemoon - you reminded me of the costata romanesca. Almost forgot about them because I ripped them out early. I agree with your assessment and would add that they took up way much more space than I had expected.

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been growing the costata romanesca for a couple of year now. I think they stand up a little better to the SVB.

  • little_minnie
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New crop: Red Noodle beans. I loved them. Hard sale at market.

    New varieties that stood out:
    Little Leaf Cucumber
    Moon and Stars yellow watermelon
    Green Magic broccoli
    everbearing strawberries Albion and Seascape were way better than AC Wendy

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Rodney, I'm pretty sure I only allowed 10-12 inches between the Gonzales Cabbages. I had a 4ft wide bed with three across and room to spare for Nasturtiums along the sides.

    Anne, yes, they were bigger plants and bigger fruits than I normally would expect from summer squash.

  • elisa_z5
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New this year:
    Maruba Santoh. An Asian green, was supposed to grow fast (it did) and withstand cold (it didn't). Plus, I didn't like the flavor. So definitely never again.

    Verona Tomatoes: Replaced San Marzano with them this year, and the Verona actually ripened early. When I read on a thread here that San Marzanos were hardly ripening this cold summer, I was really glad I'd done the replacement. Flavor better than the SM's. Will definitely keep doing the Veronas.

    Floriani Red Flint corn. Haven't harvested yet, but because I planted it I skipped the sweet corn for fear of cross pollination even if I waited the right number of weeks between plantings. So we're missing sweet corn this year. Will probably skip the Red Flint next year and go back to sweet.

    Peter1142 -- be patient with the Butternut and you may well like it better. Harvest when it's tan, cure in the sun for a couple weeks, and then wait at least two months with it stored at around 55 degrees before you eat it. Then it will be sweeeeet.

    Sunnibel -- I love MdeP pumpkin! It has become a staple winter food for us. My recipes: Curried pumpkin soup, vegetarian ground nut stew, pumpkin bread, or just sauteed with herbs.
    How do you use it? (Always looking for new MdeP recipes, since you get so many pounds of pumpkin out of them!)

    This post was edited by elisa_Z5 on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 14:43

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    prairiemoon- Thanks for the info about the cabbage. I may try them next year.

    Back on topic:

    -Piros pepper: Tasted good but didn't produce as well as I had hoped. Will try them again next year.

    -Jade bush beans: Good taste, poor production. Don't know what the problem was as everyone else seems to get large yields. I'll plant them again next year and see what happens.

    -Sugar Daddy and Cascadia snap peas: Putting these together since they both performed about the same. Fairly low production and they weren't very sweet. (I was having some issues with legumes this year apparently.) I'll give them another chance next year.

    -Purple Artichokes: Complete waste of space. I had thought I sufficiently vernalized the seedlings but obviously not since I never got a 'choke. I won't start new seedlings next year but I will try to overwinter the plants I currently have. Do not see myself planting these ever again unless I have a MUCH larger vegetable garden.

    -Cardoons: They're growing well but I have yet to taste them. As with the artichokes, I won't plant again unless I have a bigger garden.

    -Horseradish: I honestly don't expect much as I've got it growing in a large container. I just wanted to grow it for fun and will continue to do so.

    -Qindao 65 chinese cabbage: Planted the seeds way too late and don't expect them to head up before it frosts/freezes. Will definitely plant again next year.

    Rodney

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Elisa- they are tasty, aren't they? They do tend to be wet-fleshed when cured, so I tend to make bisque out of them. I just roast the pieces and freeze the ones I don't want to eat right away of each squash, each squash does provide for about 4 meals. I also have made sort of a patty out of it, in an attempt to cook the water out of it. Fill the pan with pre-roasted pulp, and let it cook until the bottom is browning, then scrape it up like scrambled eggs and pat it down again, and brown the bottom again, and again, and again until you get bored. You end up with something like a puree but with lots of caramelized bits in it. Usually I season that with a little garlic and butter. I did pan sautee slices of a newly picked fruit to see how sweet it was without curing. Liked the sweetness just fine and the flesh was much drier, and it had it's characteristic flavor already.

    Rodney- move a cardoon to a central spot in a flowerbed. They are spectacular ornamentals even if you never eat them.

  • theforgottenone1013 (SE MI zone 5b/6a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sunnibel- Cardoons do have interesting foliage (haven't seen them in flower yet, maybe next year if they overwinter) and planting them as an ornamental is something I've thought about but I'm not much of a flower gardener and they'd look out of place in the couple flower beds I do have. Perhaps they'd look good along my fence line....

    Rodney

  • elisa_z5
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    sunnibel, thanks for the roasting and pan frying idea! Will definitely try it. It carmelizes really well, doesn't it? We found that with pan sauteeing slices.

    Also, I had to look up the word "bisque" and see that I should be trying other recipes besides just the curry one :)

  • Persimmons
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Scarlet Runner Bean - B: Attracted hummingbirds, very tasty beans, not really productive in the manner I grew them.

    Mortgage Lifter Tomato - B: Plant was very heavy and hard to train because of the massive fruits. Despite this, tomatoes are great raw or cooked, are equally meaty and juicy, and ripen to a bright pink-red.

    Arikara Yellow Bean - A+: Bush bean plants that tolerated some heat and produced many delicious beans. The green bean pods are flatter than usual, but I prefer the bean dried/shelled. 6-8 beans per pod on the bigger, more typical pods.

    Moruga Scorpion Pepper - A: Although it's getting late in the season and the peppers are still not ripe (we're talking 1-2 weeks before the first frost and not a single ripe pepper), there are at least 50 peppers on this single plant. It seems to enjoy the southeastern MA summer temps and humidity.

    Borage - A+: After only one season, borage reliably seeded itself. The bees absolutely love this flower, which is still blooming despite the cooler nighttime temps. Some seeds have germinated and are trying a go at "fall season" growth. Until next year, when there's borage growing every and anywhere in my yard...

    Goji Berry/Wolf Berry - B-: Although the plant rooted well and has been productive all summer long, the berries have an odd aftertaste that I'm not sure I'm fond of yet. Whether or not I like the taste, the plant's attractive raspberry-like habit, bright purple flowers, and bright scarlet berries make it an attractive perennial, year round.

    New Zealand Spinach - C: I still haven't eaten a leaf from my NZ Spinach plants, which were supposed to thrive in the heat. They just weren't productive in the manner I grew them. I wasted all of my seeds trying to germinate the plant. Oh well.

    Zinnia - A+: I still can't believe that my zinnias are blooming, and I've cut them down at least 5 times this season. I knew they were easy to grow, but now I wonder why I didn't grow MORE?

    Cosmos - B-: I had never heard of Cosmos before last year. I didn't read the many warning that Cosmos might prefer poor soil conditions. I went ahead and planted the cosmos in the veggie garden's soil. The stalks are taller than me (6' 2") and have only just begun blooming (over 90 days since germination). I'm unsure if the flowers were worth the suspense.

    Bee's Friend - C+: This flower attracted my puppy more than it did the bees. In fact, I had Bee's Friend gloriously blooming in a patch next to where a catmint was also blooming, and the bee's wanted absolutely nothing to do with their "friend". I will give bee's friend another shot, but if it doesn't live up to it's name next season, it's out.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago


    Persimmons, that’s so interesting. We saw one hummingbird, one day, which we rarely see in our yard. In 30 years I’ve seen one exactly 3x. This year, we saw the hummer around the pole string bean plants, but there weren’t a lot of flowers at that point and they were off in a flash. Is there a difference between regular pole string beans and Scarlet Runner Beans, that attract hummers? The beans taste the same as regular string beans? Why were they not productive?

    I used to always include cosmos in my sunny perennial bed that was on the wild side. I’ve tamed it down considerably and stopped growing cosmos, for about 6 years, for that reason. Then, last year, on impulse, I bought a six pack of cosmos locally to add to the perennial bed again, but I discovered they were a shorter bushier version. Probably about 3ft and they stand up on their own and have a lot of bushy foliage. They reseeded and came back on their own this year and were even better than last year. We had quite a bit for cutting for vases. Strangely, one patch that was in more shade bloomed more than the patch that was in full sun. At least that is the only difference I’ve been able to notice. One patch is just starting to bloom, very late. I’m happy to have them reseed for me and am allowing them to go to seed now.

    Marjoram was amazing this year. I’ve grown it for awhile, but I usually cut it back after it flowers. This year I didn’t get around to doing that and I’ve noticed that the plant keeps pushing out new flowers over a very long period of time. Still doing it. Bees of all kinds, wasps, all over it for weeks and weeks. Also makes a nice addition to a vase. Only problem is it flops open in the center. Next year, I will give it some support and will divide my plant to have more for the pollinators. It outlasted nepeta and agastache for pollinator visits. Nepeta was covered with Bumble Bees this year, every time I passed it as long as it was in flower which was most of the time.

  • Persimmons
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The seed for the Scarlet Runner Bean that I grow came from a bean pod of the Chestnut Hill community garden. Someone had them growing on the "lane-side" of the garden plot so I helped myself to the seed. I assume it's a scarlet runner bean because the flowers are intensely scarlet colored, and the bean itself dries to a black, purple splotched pattern. Initially, they were planted in a bed adjacent to my front door, where I tied strings for them to climb around a lamppost and other fixtures. Now, the vines are climbing on themselves. It's rather messy, has poor air circulation, but looks promising. I'm sure if I had a tall enough planar structure (I'm talking, 8" tall by X" wide) these beans would be pollinated much better by the hummingbirds and bees that they attract. Despite my strings tied to guide the bean's vines, they grow vertically. One vine has reached my roof, and I'm going to have to clip it back before it becomes more sentient.

    Do Cosmos reseed easily? I was considering cutting the stalks down for decoration (considering their size) but I'm wondering if a winter sowing would initiate growth earlier, and stronger, growth in the Spring?

    off topic:
    It's funny that you mention the massive amounts of wasps you're seeing; I remember trading plants with you and know we're in the same region. I was stung for the first time in my garden by a rather large wasp grazing my sunflowers. It turns out that Umass extension released wasps in Seekonk to control Winter Moths. They are fans of so many types of flowers!

  • Persimmons
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Re: the taste of the bean pods. They are thick and large because of the size of the bean itself. The skin is soft and fuzzy like a peach, and is sage green colored. The pods are funny shapes when they're first forming, but as the beans fill the pods their shape becomes more obvious to recognize. It tastes sweet and floral, and is especially juicy for a raw vegetable. I wouldn't think something so wild could taste so delicate. But the bean itself is what I can't tell you about. This year I planned to grow enough dry, cook, bake, etc, but they just didn't work out so well. I've got about 6 pods saved which I won't eat and will plant out next year.

    I think the way the flowers emerge from the foliage has a lot to do with why my growing method (single pole) didn't work after all..

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:111400}}

  • nattydoll
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    First time grower for all of these:

    Tomatoes: Matt's Wild Cherry: B+
    Fruit grew quickly, but took *ages* to ripen, and they didn't do it all at once. So far, it hardly grew a second yield. However, I put these in an upside down container with only about 1.5- 2 gallons of soil. I'll blame it partly on the container. Also, when ripe, these taste *wonderful*! They hardly make it to the kitchen for me to rinse them off =)

    Basil: B+
    In the same container as the Matt's Wild Cherry. It tasted great and grew very fast, producing tons of leaves, tasting and smelling great. However, these started to go bitter very quickly, even though this summer wasn't even that hot. I made some cuttings to transplant, but they didn't improve much and grew very slowly. Also, some stalks were extremely prolific, while some stayed short. What's up with that?

    Tomatoes: Large Red Cherry: C
    Growing in a 5 gallon container, the plant grew very fast and began to produce dozens of tomatoes quickly - maybe 30 of them before they even started to turn red. They are still taking a long time to ripen. Many of them have been on there over a month, and are still light green. They get like 8 hours of sun, deep watering, fertilizer, sometimes compost tea, and only one or two will ripen at a time. Frustrating! Also, these taste very "raw" and "earthy" at first. They LOOK ripe and feel slightly soft, but I have to let them get "extra ripe" to taste good.

    I got impatient and made a salsa verde with some of these, and it came out great!

    Eggplant: Rosa Bianca: ???
    The plant has grown to a decent size, gets lots of sun and I water when the soil seems dry. It puts out fruit often - sometimes with pretty flowers - but before it grows to an edible size, the fruit gets eaten by animals! I was soooo looking forward to eating even one of these! =(

    Bell Peppers: Mixed colors of Heirlooms: A
    So far, so good! Very slow germination, and slow to get true leaves, but once I put it outside, slow to really kick off. 1 out of 3 seedlings did well, but it is in a container growing quite big now. It has a pepper the size of a kiwi on it, that was only noticeable in the last week or two. Little blooms on it every day, so I'm hoping it will be productive =)

    Bush beans: B-
    These grow into a bush quickly, but I've had varying success with different seeds from the same pack. Planted my first two in a protected box in full sun, and some against a wall with 4-5 hours of sun. The ones in the box grew large, quick, tasty beans, but not much, and slow to grow the second yield.

    I have planted them in diff locations with varying amounts of sun, and they grow leaves quickly, but the beans have looked either small and shriveled, or light yellow and overly plump, with hardly any yield! I credit it to the weather, because the first crop was so good! Still fun to watch these things grow, like little trees.

    Leaf Lettuce: French salad mix: B
    The seedlings grow super fast inside, hard to germinate outside. Once germinated, in good conditions, it grows fast, and you can even eat the seedlings! They taste better and heartier than what's at the supermarket. I'd give an A if they were easier to grow outside and easier to transplant.

    This post was edited by nattydoll on Sun, Sep 21, 14 at 17:26

  • pnbrown
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We see hummers very often here. Maybe it's a regional/climate thing? One came within a foot of me the other day, thought it was going to perch on me.

    new this year:

    Hyacinth bean. Very pleasing, absolutely gorgeous plant.

    An edible gourd, Serpente di Sicilia. Ended up being quite productive, but it was a bit tough getting them going, poor and slow germination, and slow growing at first. May have been due to colder than normal summer. Nevertheless quite pleasing, unusual white flowers, and snake-like fruits.

    Litchi tomato, won't bother with it again. Same for husk tomato.

  • green_go (Canada, Ontario, z 5a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I grew melons for the first time this year.
    Not bad for the first time in our short season. I will definitely do it again next year. My biggest problem with melons were raccoons that discovered the new treat and gorged on them every night. Need to figure out how to protect my melons from wild beasts.

    Also, the rat-tailed radish was a new crop. Got a lot of "rat tails", but got bored with them quickly when the main crop of cucumbers and tomatoes began. But I will still grow a few plant every year for salads.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Persimmons, I could have sworn I posted a reply to you, within a day or two of your posts, but I must be going crazy because it’s not here. :-)

    My Cosmos reseed just about every year. I think it does depend on if you have enough bare ground in your beds. Some years, when I have over done it on the mulch, I’ve hardly had any. I have winter sown them before, I but I don’t remember if they were any earlier than what reseeds. It would be an interesting experiment.

    Have we traded plants? :-)

    I haven’t seen a lot of wasps lately, but when there were a lot of tiny caterpillars on the brassicas, they were everywhere. Now I’m seeing mostly bumble bees right now. All over the sedums and one Clethra ‘Sherry Sue’ that is in bloom right now. I hope the wasps that control Winter Moths find me! :-)

    Thanks for the detailed description of your experiences with the Scarlet Runner Bean. I am definitely going to try those next year. I have a 7ft x 7ft trellis I can grow them on.

    Thanks for the link, too and sorry it took so long for me to get back to you.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I read some of the reviews, and well I grew Fortex pole beans 4 plants, got over 50 pounds of beans, these things are amazing!
    I also grew Russo Sicilian tomatoes and thought they were excellent! The plant just pumps out fruit like crazy! A very nice tomato IMHO! Both above are still producing at this late date! Harvesting daily.
    I also grew Purple King pole bean. Here's a 2 day harvest of Purple King and Fortex
    {{gwi:48147}}

    Yields have been amazing on these beans, and of the Russo tomatoes too. All three are keepers!
    Here's what the Russo's look like. To call them weird? I'm confused, they look beautiful to me.
    {{gwi:111402}}

  • jonfrum
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Burpee's Delicata squash. Great harvest - at least two fruit per vine, many three. I'm not big on winter squash, but I find I like the taste of the Delicata flesh. Just as I ran out of zucchini, I harvested the Delicata, and I'll be lucky to eat them all before they start going soft. I'll definitely grow Delicata again next year, but I might substitute a bed of spaghetti squash for variety.

  • alisande
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I received a free packet of "Lemon" summer squash. Very prolific, and rather charming, as they look like bright yellow lemons. I don't think I'll grow them again though. If picked no bigger than a lemon, they taste very much like golden crookneck squash, which I love. If they get even slightly larger, they taste like straightneck squash, which I don't like as well. I'd rather grow more crooknecks.

    This was my first time growing several varieties of winter squash: Red Kuri, Sweet Dumpling, and Waltham Butternut. I haven't eaten any of them yet, but if they taste as good as they look, I'll be growing them again. The Walthams were supposed to be Rogosa Violina Gioia Butternut, but there was a mix-up at the seed supplier.

    Buttercup has always been my favorite, and they look good too.

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Drew that looks like a nice batch of beans! And that was a lot of beans from four plants! And I agree, beautiful tomatoes.

    We had a ‘volunteer’ squash come up in the garden this year, which I was waiting to talk about until after we tasted it. Wow! Very surprised that they all tasted as you would expect a Spaghetti Squash to taste. That was a nice bonus, three squashes from one plant. I don’t normally grow Spaghetti Squash, but we will plant them next year.

    So far, I’m only a fan of Butternut and Spaghetti Squash. Haven’t tried Red Kuri, which is a beautiful squash, or Sweet Dumpling or Buttercup. Haven’t enjoyed Delicata or Acorn. I think I would like to try that Red Kuri just for the prettiness of the squash…lol.

    Alisande -- what does the Red Kuri, Sweet Dumpling and Buttercup taste like?

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Drew that looks like a nice batch of beans! And that was a lot of beans from four plants!

    Well also 4 of Purple King, so 8 plants. That is a 2 day harvest, what I picked in 2 days, and was typical of yields. Both are still producing today, yield is down, they are at last slowing down.
    Often in the instructions for beans it says to plant batches weekly for a staggered harvest, but these things just keep producing since they started. A few weeks of break during the dog days of summer. So not sure you really need to do that?

  • prairiemoon2 z6b MA
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for that added information, Drew. I have a small vegetable garden, so it's always nice to know if you need to stagger.

    I used Trionfo de Violette which is a purple bean and tried a bush bean, Maxibel which was very good. I can't really compare yields though because I don't have full sun, so I would expect mine would be off.

    Nice to have another variety to try. :-)

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I always thought those staggered plantings were meant for bush beans. Altho the bush beans I plant keep having sucessive flushes throughout the season.

    Pole beans are supposed to keep producing, but I've never managed to get them to produce well at all.

  • girlbug2
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Indigo Berries tomato -- no, never again! Average tasting, on the acidic side. Not worth the hype, especially as they actually turn a brownish red when ripe, no hint of "indigo" left.

    Orange California Wonder bell pepper-- Absolutely! Delicious, productive, and hardy.

    NeonLights swiss chard -- very good, gorgeous chard. Yes, I would grow it again next spring.

    Golden Star hybrid bell pepper -- Pretty good yellow sweet peppers, nice blocky stuffing shape. I'd grow them again.

    Orange Tendersweet watermelon -- should be ripe soon, so I will update this later. So far it's been easy to grow and disease resistant, although not very productive (two per vine...is that normal production for a watermelon?).

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I left out the Poblano peppers. They got off to a slow start and took a long time to produce. Frost warning tonite, and I never got a single red ripe pepper.

    It was a short, cold summer, but I'm thinking this isn't the right climate for these.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Pole beans are supposed to keep producing, but I've never managed to get them to produce well at all.

    I had one cultivar that didn't produce, maybe try some others? I have had numerous failures too, part of finding out what works. On Poblano peppers which take about 90 days, maybe try a hybrid? Like this one

    Here is a link that might be useful: Caballero Hybrid

  • ltilton
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestion. Definitely going to try something new. The peppers I grew were Johnny's Ancho 211 F1, alleged to mature in 68 days. They barely started to fruit in that time.

    I really do prefer my peppers ripe, not green. My bell peppers managed to put out some red ones before the end of the season. The Anchos outproduced them in number but never got near ripening, and the flavor of the green ones was pretty harsh.

  • drew51 SE MI Z5b/6a
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm in 5b/6a, so a little warmer. All my peppers ripened. What really made the difference was buying a cheap cold frame. It increased temps outside by 20 degrees. So when it was 40 degrees I could put pepper plants out as it was 60 degrees in the cold frame. I brought them in at night. I did this for about 3 weeks, what a pain, but what a harvest!! By the end of three weeks they barely fit, and it was still kinda cool outside. i think they were slightly stunted when taken out, but were pretty much hardened off.
    I used a fan inside, so they were ready for wind etc.
    My tomatoes were in there too. My first tomato was around June 28th. Still have some as a matter of fact.
    When it got to be 60 outside I had to vent the frame as it was 80-90 degrees inside. The peppers grew like mad in it!
    When planted out they were over 12 inches tall, all had flowers.

    here's a photo of them in the cold frame
    {{gwi:111403}}

  • blueswimmer68
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    New this year:

    Baltimore Fish Peppers- Took forever to germinate and get growing but the variegated leaves are gorgeous and the small peppers are quite hot and delicious. A+ (especially because I'm from Baltimore!)

    Baxter's Early Bush- These produced well- large, tough-skinned cherry tomatoes that looked great and tasted like super market tomatoes. I won't waste the space next year but just do all Sweet 100s (my dogs' favorite treat) and SunGolds.

    MoonCake Edamame from Southern Exposure- Grew like crazy and produced tons of delicious pods. A winner for us.

    A bag of cheap shallots on the clearance rack at Lowes for 2 bucks-Picasso and Yellow Moon: These produced a ton of tasty shallots. Not as delicious as French Red but the yield for the price was excellent.

  • dyeajohn
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This summer was very wet and cool for us in Southeast Alaska, so I had very poor success with a number of vegetables which did very well the previous summer. This season I grew several varieties of chicories, just to see how they would grow, and if I would like eating them. They grew very well, with none of the problems I have with slugs and root maggots in my brassicas. I just harvested and cooked a head of Pan di Zucchero, using a recipe for sautéed chicory which I found on Epicurious.com. It was a bit bitter, so we added a bit of sugar to the chicory and that did the trick. I'll grow this again next year.

  • jctsai8b
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Purple skin purple-fleshed sweet potatoes, tastes may be not so good as white skin purple-fleshed ones( Okinawan sweet potatoes), will grow again 2015.

    http://www.stokesfoods.com/nutrition.htm

    Anthocyanin content in the Stokes Purple is 4 times greater than in Okinawan sweet potatoes.(Truong, 2009).(Truong, 2009)

  • Zeak Rice
    8 years ago

    Squash - This was my first year to grow Yokohama, Chirimen, Kikuza, Anna Swartz, Pink Jumbo Banana, Hessel's Sugarloaf, Australian Butter, Jarrahdale, Honeyboat Delicata, Thelma Sander's Sweet Potato, Shishigatani, & Rugosa Butternut. Squash is my fave veg so I had fun. These were all fun but none were better than, for my taste, my Fave - Kabocha. They all were good in their own way and in diff't dishes, pies, soups, etc. I also grew Homestead Sweetmeat, Blue Kuri, Waltham Butternut [For my wife], Golden Pippin and Winter Luxury. Going to try all new ones this year, BUT will remember the better ones from 2014 for the future.


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