Are you growing a new vegetable this year?

I love this time of year, sitting inside drinking a nice cup of hot chocolate, and searching through seed catalogs and online for new vegetable varieties to plant this spring!

I'm going to try growing the asparagus bean (also Chinese long bean, yardlong bean, and snake bean) this year.

It is supposed to thrive in our hot, humid climate. I like traditional green beans and hope this will be an even better adapted plant similar to a green bean, that will grow really easily and produce a lot of beans this year!

Do you have a new vegetable you are trying to grow this year? If you are just getting started growing vegetables, it could be something simple like a cucumber, and you could explain why you are looking forward to it!

Are you trying a new variety or landrace of a vegetable you've grown before but are looking to add some new genetics to your vegetables to either make them stronger or to maximize a beneficial trait?

This year I am trying 3 new peppers.

-Shishito
-Ajvarski
-Corbaci

I got the inspiration for these from a woman on the National Gardening Association website after she posted her peppers (and recipes) this past year.

Jim Guinn wrote:This year I am trying 3 new peppers.

-Shishito
-Ajvarski
-Corbaci

I got the inspiration for these from a woman on the National Gardening Association website after she posted her peppers (and recipes) this past year.

Awesome!

I'm growing cayenne peppers for seasoning and maybe to make some pepper vinegar and pepper jelly.

Was there a specific dish those peppers are used in?

I will be growing these varieties from Joseph Lofthouse, all new to me:

Harmony Grain Maiz
Lofthouse Landrace Tepary Bean
Wildling Interspecies Clan Tomato
Papaver Breadseed
Lofthouse Landrace Carrot
Small-fruited moschatas

Tyler Ludens wrote:I will be growing these varieties from Joseph Lofthouse, all new to me:

Harmony Grain Maiz
Lofthouse Landrace Tepary Bean
Wildling Interspecies Clan Tomato
Papaver Breadseed
Lofthouse Landrace Carrot
Small-fruited moschatas

Awesome list, looks exciting!

I am going to try growing Salsify and Leeks for the first time. Hope to get a couple packets of each to start a grex.

I ordered another short season rice for my rice project. Supposedly an upland strain from Sherk Seeds.

I am going to try growing Solanum arcanum and Solanum chilense wild tomato species. I may also plant some Solanum cheesemanii and Solanum galapagense also wild tomato species to add to those varieties and species I currently grow. Also got a packet of a late blight resistant tomato F1 to cross into tomato grexes and to dehybridize. Going to grow Fairy Hollow and some other new selections from Joseph. Andrew sent me a bunch of tomatoes. Will grow out as many as possible. May save one reputably difficult tomato species for next year.

Going to try growing a cool looking moschata squash land race from native seed search called Rancho marques to cross with my Lofthouse moshata. Another new moshata squash a hybrid with a pretty green and yellow rather agrosperma like color pattern from territorial seed. Will add it to the grex.  

Two or three new parsnips including Kraal to turn my semi feral parsnips into a grex.

Perhaps another turnip or two to turn my turnips into a grex

Got some gaspe flint corn.

Some more pea varieties for the pea grex

White seeded poppy seeds

Welsh onion which is a progenitor of walking onions. Will plant next to Lofthouse onion to see if can recreate walking onions.

Black Spanish radish for my radish grex

Pima club wheat

Several packets I just haven't gotten planted yet:

Neandercorn and orange flint corn from Joseph. Will probably just start a flint corn grex by doing packet to row planting.

Tartar buckwheat 2 packets I need to keep separate

Several beans including a grex from Carol Deppe and Josephs.

Lofthouse landrace zucchini which I plan to cross with Mandan pepo squash for a new grex.

Probably will find a few others and buy a few more. Have my eye on another leek for my future leek grex called Blu de Solaise that my local seed coop only sells on their seed racks.

Wow, awesome list William!

I'm going to try buckwheat for the first time this year. I've heard it grows fast and is a good dynamic accumulator, is a good cover crop, and has tasty seeds too!

I will be planting about five potatoes  from Oikos. Their parents were grown from seed. They are unnamed and each is probably a different variety. They were selected for winter hardiness to be perennial.

I just ordered Skirret and Tartar Bread Plant, Crambe tartaria from Cultivarables.

I want to try some peppers again. I have not grown them since I moved to my current location a couple years ago. Once my new garden is built (should be done by the end of February) I think peppers should do well. Lots of morning sun (very early sun) through mid-afternoon but shade in the late afternoon through the evening. So full sun but a break from the most intense heat starting around 4:30 or 5pm in the summer.

Going to try bell peppers and jalapeño peppers. My wife and I cook with both a fair bit so it would be great to have our own

I've got a new type of corn to try- glass gem. I've done painted mountain before so this shouldn't be massively different.

I've got a kind of 'storage tomato', 'de colgar' which apparently can be stored until January, so that will be interesting. Also 'Amish paste vine tomato' for trying to make my own tomato sauce (with garlic and chilli in, obviously).

I've bought way more seeds than I have space for!

The new annuals for this year will be chinese cabbage and celtuce, Of last years three trials only watermelon will make it into this years and only if I have enough spare greenhouse space.

I am moving! (signed yesterday) so I'm sure there will be some new perennials. I've seen a hazelnut so far but it's winter there may be other things lurking.

Seed order from the past 2 days. Most are different varieties of things already in my gardening/seed repertoire but some are entirely new to me. Grains in particular. Also going to try some sort of freaky squash. Something huge or unusual. Have no seeds for that yet. Considering these https://www.rareseeds.com/kikinda-competition-strain-edible-gourd/ because they will look cool growing up trees with Seminole pumpkins & luffas. Also expecting some unusual seeds from another permies person. We did a seed swap. Some are via Joseph I think. It's going to be wild & wacky gardens this year!!!

Steve, try the buckwheat. Grows good here on the other side of the mountains. Very easy. Bees & chickens love it. Excellent for the soil. Makes great pancakes too.


Cherokee Long Ear Small Popcorn
Cherokee White Flour, Original Flour Corn
Top Hat "Sugary Enhanced" Sweet Corn
Aunt Mary's Sweet Corn
Egyptian Walking Onion (Tree Onion)
Hill Country Heirloom Red Okra
Purple Dragon Carrots
Sweet Lorane Fava Bean
Grandma Nellie's Yellow Mushroom Bean Pole Snap Bean
Cherokee Cornfield Pole Snap Bean
Calypso (Orca, Yin-Yang) Bush Dry Bean
Guard-N Legume Inoculant
Ice Cream (Green Machine) Muskmelon
Austrian Winter Peas
Red Russian Kale
Hulless Oats
Blue Lake Bush (Blue Lake 274) Bush Snap Bean
Rice, Charleston Gold
Amaranth, Plainsman
Amaranth, Golden
Hopi Dye Sunflower
Chicory, Catalogna
Ornamental Gourds, Large Mixed Ornamental Gourds
Tennessee Red Cob Dent Corn
Signet Marigold, Lemon Gem
French Marigold, Naughty Marietta
Strawberry Watermelon
Nancy Watermelon
Crimson Sweet, Virginia Select Watermelon
Blacktail Mountain Watermelon
Purple Tomatillo
Mountaineer Delight (West Virginia '17B) Tomato
North Georgia Candy Roaster Winter Squash
Daikon, Miyashige White Fall Radish
White Acre Southern Pea (Cowpea)
Sweet potatoes White Hayman + Diane + Hernandez + Bunch Porto Ricans

Ken W Wilson wrote:I will be planting about five potatoes  from Oikos. Their parents were grown from seed. They are unnamed and each is probably a different variety. They were selected for winter hardiness to be perennial.

That's an awesome trait for potatoes!

I just ordered Skirret and Tartar Bread Plant, Crambe tartaria from Cultivarables.

I had to look these up as I hadn't heard of them before. Skirret is a perennial root crop and Tartar bread plant a perennial with edible leaves and roots right?

It was neat reading about the history of Skirret and how it has been forgotten and "rediscovered" throughout history.

Daron Williams wrote:I want to try some peppers again. I have not grown them since I moved to my current location a couple years ago. Once my new garden is built (should be done by the end of February) I think peppers should do well. Lots of morning sun (very early sun) through mid-afternoon but shade in the late afternoon through the evening. So full sun but a break from the most intense heat starting around 4:30 or 5pm in the summer.

Sounds like a great garden spot!

Going to try bell peppers and jalapeño peppers. My wife and I cook with both a fair bit so it would be great to have our own

I think I might get some bell peppers too, we love using them in spaghetti and grilling them. I may just have to plant them far away from the cayanne peppers so I don't get a hot surprise biting into a bell pepper next year if I save the seed!

Charli Wilson wrote:I've got a new type of corn to try- glass gem. I've done painted mountain before so this shouldn't be massively different.

I love the colors, different color corn is so beautiful to me!

I've got a kind of 'storage tomato', 'de colgar' which apparently can be stored until January, so that will be interesting. Also 'Amish paste vine tomato' for trying to make my own tomato sauce (with garlic and chilli in, obviously).

Wow, that's one long storing tomato, that's awesome!

I've bought way more seeds than I have space for!

I think I may have done the same thing, there's just always so many good choices!

I'd like to grow cardoon (a perennial), and maybe grain amaranth. I'd like to scale up corn for cornmeal

Skandi Rogers wrote:The new annuals for this year will be chinese cabbage and celtuce, Of last years three trials only watermelon will make it into this years and only if I have enough spare greenhouse space.

Celtuse is interesting to me, like lettuce with a really thick stalk that is also edible. Watermelons are the same for me, they only get planted if I have any leftover space!

I am moving! (signed yesterday) so I'm sure there will be some new perennials. I've seen a hazelnut so far but it's winter there may be other things lurking.

Congratulations on your new place, that's exciting!

Mike Barkley wrote:Seed order from the past 2 days. Most are different varieties of things already in my gardening/seed repertoire but some are entirely new to me. Grains in particular.

Great list Mike! I'm trying grains for the first time this year too, should be interesting!

Also going to try some sort of freaky squash. Something huge or unusual. Have no seeds for that yet. Considering these https://www.rareseeds.com/kikinda-competition-strain-edible-gourd/ because they will look cool growing up trees with Seminole pumpkins & luffas. Also expecting some unusual seeds from another permies person. We did a seed swap. Some are via Joseph I think. It's going to be wild & wacky gardens this year!!!

That is one wild and huge squash, so cool!

Steve, try the buckwheat. Grows good here on the other side of the mountains. Very easy. Bees & chickens love it. Excellent for the soil. Makes great pancakes too.

That's great to hear, I'm excited to give it a try, I love how it has so many good uses!

James Landreth wrote:I'd like to grow cardoon (a perennial), and maybe grain amaranth. I'd like to scale up corn for cornmeal

Cardoon is a type of thistle with an edible stem right?

I'd like to grow amaranth too in the future!

That's exactly what it is. It's closely related to artichoke I believe, and if allowed to go to flower it's good for bees. It just seems really cool

James Landreth wrote:That's exactly what it is. It's closely related to artichoke I believe, and if allowed to go to flower it's good for bees. It just seems really cool

Very neat!

We grow the yard long beans every year on a cattle panel trellis.  THey grow well in the hot humid areas but aphids can be a problem.  
I will try Orach this year (Mountain Spinach) just because it sounded neat and it is a 6 foot tall spinach plant.

Dennis Bangham wrote:We grow the yard long beans every year on a cattle panel trellis.  THey grow well in the hot humid areas but aphids can be a problem.  
I will try Orach this year (Mountain Spinach) just because it sounded neat and it is a 6 foot tall spinach plant.

Orach does sound neat!

I've been eating a lot of greens all winter from the attached solar greenhouse that heats my house, but didn't have many greens in summer (except garden weeds, and I've just moved to a new place and starting a new garden in bare desert so there won't be so many of those). So this year I've got seeds of and going to try out orach, Malabar spinach, and New Zealand spinach.

I already started a couple of good king henry plants last year and they are currently reseeding in the greenhouse. I haven't tasted it yet.

Last year or the year before I tried out "French" and red-veined sorrel (I'd never eaten sorrel that I knew of, except a local wild green) but it turned out I really didn't like the taste. I have other ways to get a nice sourness in food. So I've abandoned the plants -- I hope they don't go rampant on the people who now have that garden.

Trying out new plants is part of what makes gardening fun every year. I now realise that things that adults were growing when we were kids, and we think of as "traditional" crops, may well have been novel and fun for those adults at that time.

I planted brussels sprouts.

The other day, I thinned them out (having planted 3 seeds in every pot) and I ate the thinned seedlings:  brussels sprouts sprouts.

I thought that was clever, even as I sat by the cold frame snacking on them.

Steve Thorn wrote:Wow, awesome list William!

I'm going to try buckwheat for the first time this year. I've heard it grows fast and is a good dynamic accumulator, is a good cover crop, and has tasty seeds too!

Somme find Buckwhat a problem if allowed to seed. You may want to seed it where you can cut/clip all the way around it?

Steve, asparagus beans are awesome (I grew red last year, this year the green are going), they tend to be a bit slower to launch than other beans and to deal with bug issues (i have beetles) I plant some bean I don't care too much about (got a lot of burgundy bush seeds) as a decoy. But once they start they really run, so keep on top of them!!

I am rolling with warming weather and planted some hot weather things that never worked out for me before: luffa, horned cucumber (Cucumis anguria), bell peppers. So far so good. Also had great cukes, spag squash, and tomatoes early in the season (it is just past high summer now, but we are getting lots of rain and mold is a problem). Am trying for round 2 of spaghetti squash, we'll see if it works.

I also have a cardoon that is growing well; my artichokes choked so I wasn't expecting much. We shall see!

Updating my post above:

Rebecca Norman wrote:... this year I've got seeds of and going to try out orach, Malabar spinach, and New Zealand spinach. I already started a couple of good king henry plants last year and they are currently reseeding in the greenhouse. I haven't tasted it yet.

Ah well, those weren't very successful experiments:
Good King Henry: Turns out I didn't like it much, and am trying to get rid of it though it did shed seeds around.
Malabar Spinach: Very nice as a salad plant (I didn't try cooking it) but our summer wasn't hot enough for it to thrive, so one plant survived and got to 8 inches tall. I'll grow it again, but add protection and hot microclimate.
New Zealand Spinach: Thrived, sprawled, and has continued growing unperturbed when there were light frosts and then the greenhouse was put on over it. But it turns out I really disliked it. I tried it only cooked, because I saw online some people really disliked something in it fresh. But even cooked, it has some kind of unpleasant metallic taste, or something off, to me. I'm the one in the house who loves greens of many types, but now I know I don't care for sorrel, good king Henry, or NZ spinach. Phooey! My housemates like it so I guess I'll serve it to them and guests this winter when there aren't other greens around, and then phase it out.
Orach: Yeah, I'll plant it again. I found the leaves a bit sturdy in a good way, and a bit salty in a not great way, but nice in salad. I didn't try it cooked. I'll get seeds for the bright red or purple ones, because those ones in the mix I grew seemed most interesting in salad. Since I usually have a shortage of salad greens in July-August, that'll help.

So my greenhouse green leafies for the winter are back to my old friends: two kinds of kale, parsley, spinach, various lettuce, arugula (rocket), claytonia; and leaf radishes and a new red mustard that I haven't tried before. Maybe I'll still seed some others. It's nice how different things produce at different times over the course of the winter.

I feel the same about NZ spinach, Rebecca.... I love my greens, but NZ spinach has a certain "hairiness in the mouth" to it that I just can't take. I assume it's oxalic acid content, since I feel the same about other high-oxalic leaves, but even cooked, to me NZ spinach is too itchy.

May as well update my experiments too since I'm here:
-2 rounds of spaghetti squash did not work. Here it is an early crop and then it is done. for good.
-luffa were INSANE. I had always assumed we were not hot enough for luffa and man, was I mistaken. I got a few years worth of luffa (to use washing dishes) and saved seeds. I didn`t get to eat any, perhaps I will have to try that with a volunteer plant or two this year.
-cardoon was a big waste of space for what turned out to be one good meal (in the meantime the rabbits enjoyed the odd branch here and there). But it was not worth the square meter it took up.
-bell peppers didn't work, I might have gotten 2. Horned cucumbers also, the vine just decided to give up the ghost.

This year, my new things....
-Red japonica corn. Old seeds that needed used up. I planted it in good soil and they are all stopping at knee-high. The plants are pretty but, like, seriously? I soaked and planted some Country Gentleman and some mystery Big Ag hybrid I picked up last year just to have something in the ground but I'm not optimistic.
-some mystery "asian eggplant" that a friend gave me. I hope it's long. The seeds started well, but as soon as I put them in the garden we've gone into a cold snap. Hope to get some good eggplant despite pest pressure (I hope to cover them with netting against these weird sucking beetles we have that go for tomatoes, I caught them on my bitter eggplants this week so I will need to keep an eye on them).
-lovage, as detailed elsewhere
-long Japanese cucumbers grown under cover in the carport in containers (tomatoes are doing so well in containers in the carport I figured I'd give it a try)
-Rosella, again. Last year I started too late and it died before it hit waist height. This year I managed to get one seed started but it is taking FOREVER to move along.
-Yellow celery. The ongoing struggle. Take forever to start from seed and they are super fragile. Got half a dozen seeds started and we`ll see if they live.

William Schlegel wrote:I am going to try growing Salsify and Leeks for the first time. Hope to get a couple packets of each to start a grex.

I ordered another short season rice for my rice project. Supposedly an upland strain from Sherk Seeds.

I am going to try growing Solanum arcanum and Solanum chilense wild tomato species. I may also plant some Solanum cheesemanii and Solanum galapagense also wild tomato species to add to those varieties and species I currently grow. Also got a packet of a late blight resistant tomato F1 to cross into tomato grexes and to dehybridize. Going to grow Fairy Hollow and some other new selections from Joseph. Andrew sent me a bunch of tomatoes. Will grow out as many as possible. May save one reputably difficult tomato species for next year.

Going to try growing a cool looking moschata squash land race from native seed search called Rancho marques to cross with my Lofthouse moshata. Another new moshata squash a hybrid with a pretty green and yellow rather agrosperma like color pattern from territorial seed. Will add it to the grex.  

Two or three new parsnips including Kraal to turn my semi feral parsnips into a grex.

Perhaps another turnip or two to turn my turnips into a grex

Got some gaspe flint corn.

Some more pea varieties for the pea grex

White seeded poppy seeds

Welsh onion which is a progenitor of walking onions. Will plant next to Lofthouse onion to see if can recreate walking onions.

Black Spanish radish for my radish grex

Pima club wheat

Several packets I just haven't gotten planted yet:

Neandercorn and orange flint corn from Joseph. Will probably just start a flint corn grex by doing packet to row planting.

Tartar buckwheat 2 packets I need to keep separate

Several beans including a grex from Carol Deppe and Josephs.

Lofthouse landrace zucchini which I plan to cross with Mandan pepo squash for a new grex.

Probably will find a few others and buy a few more. Have my eye on another leek for my future leek grex called Blu de Solaise that my local seed coop only sells on their seed racks.

My eyes were a bit bigger than my head on these. I finally planted the short lived allium seeds at the end of the season and the packet of salsify. A lot of the others still await planting in 2020.

The Solanum arcanum gave me back seed. Solanum chilense did not. Most other new tomatoes I saved some fresh seed for including galapagense and cheesemanii.

Rancho Marques squash didn't set fruit but may have contributed some pollen. May be my latitude might have been too far from a soaker hose. Did get seeds back from a F2 with a similar Thai squash a friend sent.

Would like to grow another variety of salsify next year and Tetsukabuto squash.

Would also like to grow all the seeds on this list I didn't manage to get planted in 2019.

Also have already planted bulbs for five species of Camassia for 2020.

Such a great list of varieties here! Inspiring!

We want to attempt corn again. We reside in zone 6b and most of our seeds were from my out west collection. So imagine that, desert corn varieties don't grow well in the southern Appalachians. Who knew?? haha.

Found this interesting website https://www.appalachianheirloomplantfarm.com/seed.html

Not a huge variety list, but def some interesting ones.

Like to grow ambrosia corn, heard it's sweet and does well in our climate. Now to find some seeds.

Do mushrooms count?  I am growing wine caps.  I am thinking about trying oyster mushrooms.

Eric

I have a test bed that I try new veggies in every year. Those that do well or better than my regular ones get added to the cash crop fields. This winter I am trying some heirloom purple top rutabaga's, and some sugar snap peas (3 different types of peas) and will see which perform best here in South Mississippi (zone 8b). I am also going to test out some new types this spring also. my list includes an heirloom burgundy okra ( I want some color added to my normal heirloom Clemson spineless okra ) and some new to me heirloom tomatoes. Some I've been looking at is "amish paste tomato", "Oregon Spring" (an early determinate type 60 days that can handle some cold) (this one really interests me, as I really would like to transplant some tomatoes early and get a quick harvest from a determinate type and then plant an indeterminate type when soil and temps are higher). I am also growing elephant garlic for seed this year so next year I can have a large crop. I'm also growing some Texas Sweet onions for seed too. I use all my veggies in things I make but also sell things like marinara sauce and Cajun dishes (gumbo etc)... My family is Italian and my mother was born in LA so I have been watching or making these dishes since early 70's...

Ooh, this is fun! I’m in a new-to-me climate (and I’m new to permaculture) so I’m trying all kinds of things I’ve never grown before.

-extra precoce a grano violetto (Fava bean)
-cardoon
-dwarf moringa (this is obviously a tree, but I think it counts as a veg too)
-scarlet runner bean
-chayote (planting some from the grocery store)
-jicama
-leaf amaranth
-orache
-New Zealand spinach
-tropical lettuce
-katuk
-italiko Rosso dandelion
-yod fah (Chinese kale)

Plus some I’ve forgotten. Edited to add: also hoping to order some cuttings soon for longevity spinach and Chaya. And lots more in a few months, when the season changes! My family is going to have to adjust to what grows here, rather than what they are used to. 😊

Bumping this back up for the 2020 growing season...

This year I wanted to minimize waste by keeping it small, but at the same time I wanted to try several varieties in hopes of seeing what does best here, and establishing the right genetics in my seed bank. So, for now I've just down 6-8 of each variety of tomato, pepper, eggplant, etc. of the transplants, and will do the same when I start direct seeding the other stuff.
Also ordered some stuff from Baker Creek a few days ago, including walking stick & thousandhead kales, scarlet runner beans, dwarf tamarillo, vine peach, ground cherry, and a few others. Also perpetual spinach, which may be the same thing as Malabar spinach (?). If it is, I already have red Malabar, but I don't mind trying the green.
I bought an Issai hardy kiwi a few weeks ago that will be planted in the forest garden.
I'd like to add more perennials, but for now I have my hands full and, if half of the stuff I've started lives to produce, I'll have plenty of produce to eat and/or preserve.

Tryng so far, two new plants: yacon tuber and a perrenial thicket bean. The yacon sounds as if it will be a little more frost sensitive than my sunchokes so I'll do a greenhouse and outdoor test. The thicket beans I hope do well in a designated location/trellis.

Sort of went a little crazy this year. I bought Kogigu Squash, Old Time Tennessee Melon, Clay County Yellow Meat Watermelon, Malaysian Eggplant and Snake of Mugla Eggplant.  To be more in line I bought Supice and Cherokee Purple Tomato, which is also new to me.

Every year I think I run out of new stuff to grow. It never happens.

New stuff for 2020:
Goumi berry /gooseberry. 2 varieties
Nanking cherry
Hardy kiwi
Grapes ( several varieties)
Pomegranate

I just bought a few bulk orders of on cheap on-sale overstock seeds from Johnny's Select Seeds, which I'll separate into separate packs and freeze enough for the next seven or eight years (I'm actually folding and gluing homemade seed packets as we speak =P, which will then be vacuum sealed).

Most of them were just stuff I normally use (Butternut squash, Black Krim tomatoes), but there were a few new tomato varieties I'm trying: [Blush, Moskvich, Speckled Roman]

The only new vegetable entirely I'm doing this year is Tomatillo, to make Salsa Verde.

I'm also thinking of trying Winecap mushrooms - I've never done mushrooms before, but I think I'll dip my toes this year. At $10-$12 for spores, it's a cheap investment for experimenting.

I might also grow huckleberries (an annual), if my budget permits; I also don't have much space for starting seeds indoors, and usually it's clogged full of tomatoes and peppers.