What new varieties/species are you trying or focusing on this year?

I'm adding fruit trees (hoping for asian pears and pawpaw especially) and more herbs (tarragon, pineapple sage, and chamomile). How about you?

Found this in my yard last summer:

Wonderful picture!

I've planted 2 pawpaws previously after ordering from semi-specialty nurseries.  One has died and one is struggling.  A couple of weeks ago I was super surprised to find pawpaws at a very normal garden center here in N Germany, both from Peterson Paw Paws in WV.  They actually had several varieties, and I picked up (IIRC) a Shenandoah and a Susquehanna, after quickly checking them out on my phone.  They look pretty healthy so far!

I also picked up a mirabelle plum, and planted it next to my non-producing plums that I pruned back hard last year.  If it doesn't encourage them, it may let them know that they can be replaced.  (Ominous music plays...)

The rabbits managed to kill my mint plants, safely in their planter.  I... didn't know you could kill mint.  But it gave me an excuse to pick up some chocolate mint from the farmer's market.  It seems to be doing ok so far.

I have a bunch of chili and tomato plants ready to go out this week - I think the Joe's Long sounds most interesting.

I've started leeks and lima beans, I haven't tried to grow either of those before!   I may have to restart the leeks, I probably transplanted them too soon.  Lima beans broke the ground yesterday though, so that was exciting!

I'm really focused on watermelon & winter squash this year.  I have many other things planted as well, but those are what I'm mostly hoping for success with.  Last year squash bugs crushed my watermelons to the point that I didn't even get a harvest, and this year I've added Maxima & Moschata squashes.  I'm either going to overwhelm the squash bugs with so much food that they can't kill my plants before I get a harvest, or feed them so much that they'll reproduce to the point of killing everything.  Time will tell...

Cy Cobb wrote:I'm really focused on watermelon & winter squash this year.  I have many other things planted as well, but those are what I'm mostly hoping for success with.  Last year squash bugs crushed my watermelons to the point that I didn't even get a harvest, and this year I've added Maxima & Moschata squashes.  I'm either going to overwhelm the squash bugs with so much food that they can't kill my plants before I get a harvest, or feed them so much that they'll reproduce to the point of killing everything.  Time will tell...

Have you tried planting herbs or alliums that help mask the squash smell?

I did plant a perimeter of onions this year, so we'll see how that works.

I grew a naked seeded pumpkin last year that did fairly well, so I saved lots of seeds.  I'd like to have a naked squash seed that can handle cool, wet soil, and not just rot. I have a new squash bed, deep with wood chips and wine cap spawn, that will hold fifteen well-spaced plants. I planted the bed early with my naked seeds, hoping that most of them would rot in the cold rainy weather, and a few superstars would emerge. Well, they hadn't been in there long before a heatwave was forecast and pretty soon it was 30° and now the seeds are all coming up happily 🙄  That's not something that's usually so easy for me this time of year. The ground is usually either bone dry or cold and wet, not moist and warm, which the seeds love!

I also started a bunch of the naked seeds in pots, in case none of the ones in the garden grew, so I guess I'll be good for pumpkin seeds this year!

I found some prunings from a mystery current or similar plant at the organic recycling place last year and brought some home to root. I've got five vigorously growing in the pots I put them in, so hopefully they do well in whatever forever home I find for them. The gophers here don't want me to have fruit, so these will (hopefully) be the first things that survive. Then I just need to battle the birds and chipmunks 😁

One of the elephant garlics i left in the ground over winter didn't get eaten by gophers! Our season isn't long enough to get multiple cloves, so I left a bunch to overwinter and hopefully get full size this year. We'll see if the lone survivor makes it till fall.

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

The rabbits managed to kill my mint plants, safely in their planter.  I... didn't know you could kill mint.

I had two huge planters full of mint that died off this winter. They'd survived two winters already, so I thought they were fine. I didn't think you could kill mint, either!

Jan White wrote:

Morfydd St. Clair wrote:

The rabbits managed to kill my mint plants, safely in their planter.  I... didn't know you could kill mint.

I had two huge planters full of mint that died off this winter. They'd survived two winters already, so I thought they were fine. I didn't think you could kill mint, either!

I killed some chocolate mint with a combination of grass, shade, and drought. I acquired a new transplant and put it by the house, which is bordered in a gravel slope, on the shady side, hoping the roof will irrigate it and that it will keep the rodents away from the door, and that it will keep down the grass.

This season we have construction in the garden so I'm focusing on saving perennials, and working with what volunteers, mostly. I'm growing out a bunch of catnip and lemon-lime balm volunteers.

We also grew naked seed pumpkins last year and they were so prolific and early, but they went all to mush in storage, so we're trying a few different winter squashes. I'm still on the hunt for a really robust rugosa rose, and planted some from McKay nursery, so we'll see how they do. Our hunza apricot died from the cold, -30 this year, which is funny because I thought it was zone 4, and the zone 5 Prunus mume survived.

I counted the number of new plants I am growing this year, I got 40! Among them I am really interested in growing citrus. I bought a discounted key lime and loved it. It's doing well with lots of new growth and blooms in the pot. Encouraged, I went on and started growing yuzu from seeds. They sprouted after 2.5 months! Now I am trying to grow a few cold hardy orange rootstocks from seeds too and graft other citrus to them.

I’m growing watermelon and 2 variety of pumpkin. One is Cinderella and can’t remember the other but it’s a small white and green one. They doing pretty well so far. Oh and I started grapes and raspberries. 3 raspberries didn’t sprout though unfortunately.

Not food but I also put a bed of cannas and elephant ears. Think that’s all the new stuff

This is the first year I've focused on adding flowers to the garden. Started with Asiatic Lily, Tree Lily, Hardy Gladiolus, a few roses, Peonies, Crocosmia, and annual Zinnias. I have only ever grown Marigolds and Poppies before as far as flowers go.

(Sunflowers don't count)

New grains this year - Qinoa and Millet.

All are doing very well so far. We have lots of Lambsquarters here so I have high expectations for the Quinoa.

I age, and don't want to put labor into growing annuals. Therefore, I plant tree and shrubbery seeds. Things like plums, currents, pecans, pistachio, mulberry, apricot.

I've got three sea kale plants from wild seed I gathered two years ago.  I've planted them with my asparagus in the hope they will get on well as they are both seaside plants.  Following that train of thought (and I've only just thought this as I was typing) I found a bunch of self-seeded chard seedlings last night so I might move them over as well on the basis that they've probably got distant sea beet ancestors!

After reading the book The Whole Okra, I've been inspired to try some new-to-me varieties, including burgundy red and an orange type.

This is my first year growing comfrey from seed, horseradish, and fava beans. Ants, hail, and an unknown pest have nearly destroyed the fava beans, but the other two look good.

I really want to try a pawpaw fruit! I have two trees that look good, but neither have produced fruit so far.

Nikki, are your paw paws two different types? I understand that they are "self-incompatible".

It's the year of weird/alternative squashes for me:
https://permies.com/t/209829/Squash-Selection-Avoid-Common-Issues

Also started a native shrub bed, filled in some other beds with native grasses, and started a ton of native flowers from seed.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I age, and don't want to put labor into growing annuals. Therefore, I plant tree and shrubbery seeds. Things like plums, currents, pecans, pistachio, mulberry, apricot.

Have you considered some self-seeding annuals? Prep an area and seed once, that's almost like putting in a perennial... Here in 5b/6a I even get tomatillo volunteers every year, since I let the insect-nibbled ones compost in place.

Tammi Day wrote:Nikki, are your paw paws two different types? I understand that they are "self-incompatible".

I'm not sure. They were given to me as a pair, and I assumed the giver knew what they were doing. But maybe not.

I'm  growing (New-to-me) 'Stereo'https://permies.com/t/208103/fava-bean-cultivar-Stereo edible-podded fava bean and 'Aeron's Purple Star' Runner Bean, as well as two sorghum varieties, 'Texicoa' and 'Gaolian Voskovidnyj' . Also two cvs of Lima Beans and New Zealand Spinach.

Brian
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I have been growing Zinnias, cosmos, hollyhocks and poppies either inside or in milk jugs outside. I am very new to perennial flowers and am trying to get more so I don't have to rely on only annual flowers every year.

As far as vegetables, I planted two squash plants inside and need to get them planted soon. Also, I bought two flats of celery plants and have planted some of them outside. The other things I have tried before, although I feel pretty new at everything but tomatoes, peppers and potatoes.

My wife has requested we grow onions and garlic.
I've planted onion starts , and also a bunch sprouted onions, almost 30 pounds of them.
I plan on doing lots more starts over at the yarden, and I'm hoping their nature will mean they remain unmolested by pest.

Garlic, I've waited too long to do.
I will prep beds for this fall.
Sweet peppers are a relatively expensive food we would eat more of if we could,  so I'm putting beds in the front, where there is lots of sun.
I've never had luck growing them before, but this time I plan on using irrigation.

Pumpkins are also going in at the yarden.
I bought a bunch of marked diwn pumpkins last fall, ate a lot of good butter roasted squash and saved a bunch of seeds.
They can grow from a compost pit and spread out all over the place.
I've grown winter squash over there before,  and it went unmolested.
Last year they grew in our backyard from chicken compost on their own and did well.
We ate some of butternut squash before they matured, they were very nice.
Overall I'm hoping that even if they get attacked by pests, they will add to the general fecundity at the yarden.

I also am putting in some burdock and hardy yams, not as food I want to eat right now, but to establish an emergency food bank.

While harvesting a bunch of Jerusalem artichokes  I found some that had sprouted under bags of mulch.
They were blanched white.
I tried a bite only a little bit because there were some slugs nearby and I am seriously skittish about invertebrates and especially about parasites they might carry.
Not a reasonable fear just a real one.
The point is though that the food value of sprouted blanched Jerusalem art jokes is in not needing to cook them for a long time to avoid indigestion.
So I hope that set up a tote or something like that with clean sand and just let them sprout, then  come by occasionally and harvest.

Pigeon peas:)

This year, I'm really working on a variety of different plants. From unique succulents to rare herbs - I'm all about exploring the best of the plant world and finding out what works best for me.

Kimberly Agnese wrote:Pigeon peas:)

That's fantastic! I looked into those, but I don't think they will grow here...😕