What was your favorite new thing you planted this year?

Paul Sofranko wrote:Rudbeckia and borage. I know, not impressive, but I have wanted for years to simply grow basic flowers from seed. Finally, my black-eyed-susan seeds took root and flowered here and there.

The borage was planted last year and it self sowed for this year. Interestingly, nowhere near where last years' was.

I had the same thing happen with my borage too! The seeds are so heavy I was surprised when, this year, I had them pop up on the other side of my yard around a corner of my house. Very curious to know how they got there.

May Lotito wrote:I tried two new slicing tomatoes this year, purple Cherokee and rainbow. Purple Cherokee didn't turn out as great as expected. The shoulder cracked easily, leading to fruit fly infestations and rotting. Also it is too watery inside. I like the heirloom rainbow better: firm, big and more meaty. But it is orange!  An orange tomato and egg stir fry just doesn't look as appetizing. I will keep it for sandwiches next year but I still need to find a red tomato variety.

lol!!! oh how i can relate! i made a pasta sauce from our over abudance of yellow cherry pear tomatoes. It was delicious, however, my eye to brains was screaming mac-n-cheese everytime I took a bite! It was not maccy nor cheesey hehehehe

The same goes for the Berkeley tie dye tomatoes we are growing. It makes some tasty salsa, but kinda looks like barf... didn't get enough of them to grow this year to make the same kind of salsa.

Jenny Wright wrote:

Paul Sofranko wrote:Rudbeckia and borage. I know, not impressive, but I have wanted for years to simply grow basic flowers from seed. Finally, my black-eyed-susan seeds took root and flowered here and there.

The borage was planted last year and it self sowed for this year. Interestingly, nowhere near where last years' was.

I had the same thing happen with my borage too! The seeds are so heavy I was surprised when, this year, I had them pop up on the other side of my yard around a corner of my house. Very curious to know how they got there.

Garden fairies

First successes in Vegas...it's so dang different from planting in the high desert. TBH, I went a little seed crazy this year , but I guess that's part of the learning process.  

Basils = Holy, purple and Genovese..WOW, what a treat these have been!  I'm brewing a tincture from my first harvest of Holy basil and can't count how many times I've made pesto this summer and fall...these babies absolutely LIVED for this summer's heat and are still going strong in the mellow temps we're enjoying right now.  I planted yarrow with them b/c it's said to increase the essential oils in herbs and was not disappointed.  Honorable mention to lemon basil that just refused to live...there's always next year.  

Cowpeas, got these from NativeSeeds and they grew gorgeous and could have been more productive if I had realized they needed wind protection...frownie face.  They were so wind-burnt and tattered, I pulled 'em up hoping to harvest the pods drying on the plant.  About 1/2 c seeds.

This one doesn't probably doesn't count, but I have a mutant zucchini that volunteered in my raised bed.  It's probably from the compost I'd layered in initially. I cross-pollinated it with sugar pie b/c I needed a male and that's all the sugar pie has been good for this season... So now, there's this acorn-squash shaped zucchini beast growing...look forward to sharing what it tastes like.  

Fall has been pretty productive so far with chard, radishes, several varieties of kale and lettuces.  Not sure about the onions I sowed, but again, there's always next season.  Happy harvests err'body.

Greek Roasting Peppers... omg so tasty.

Watermelon! And they were the best I’ve ever eaten!

sweet potatoes, usual dark red kidney beans.  Tomatoes did not do to well (my fault?, inconsistent watering?).  Plan to garden more.

I was very excited to have sourced some To-Le-Ak potatoes, which is one of the first potatoes to have been introduced to the Washington coast by Spanish explorers (the other, better known, one is Ozette). It was very hard to find but after years of searching finally got my hands on some.

C Lundquist wrote:I was very excited to have sourced some To-Le-Ak potatoes, which is one of the first potatoes to have been introduced to the Washington coast by Spanish explorers (the other, better known, one is Ozette). It was very hard to find but after years of searching finally got my hands on some.

That sounds interesting. What qualities do they have that make them different from standard varieties?
How did they grow and how did they taste?

Jenny Wright wrote:

C Lundquist wrote:I was very excited to have sourced some To-Le-Ak potatoes, which is one of the first potatoes to have been introduced to the Washington coast by Spanish explorers (the other, better known, one is Ozette). It was very hard to find but after years of searching finally got my hands on some.

That sounds interesting. What qualities do they have that make them different from standard varieties?
How did they grow and how did they taste?

Both Ozette and To-Le-Ak are fingerling potatoes, late varieties. Ozette is white, and your typical waxy fingerling. To-Le-Ak is deep purple all the way through and floury. Genetically they are distinct from European varieties. They were brought up the west coast of the Americas by the Spanish, directly from Peru to Washington, and selected by local tribes (Ozette by the Makah and To-Le-Ak by the Quileute).

C Lundquist wrote:

Jenny Wright wrote:

C Lundquist wrote:I was very excited to have sourced some To-Le-Ak potatoes, which is one of the first potatoes to have been introduced to the Washington coast by Spanish explorers (the other, better known, one is Ozette). It was very hard to find but after years of searching finally got my hands on some.

That sounds interesting. What qualities do they have that make them different from standard varieties?
How did they grow and how did they taste?

Both Ozette and To-Le-Ak are fingerling potatoes, late varieties. Ozette is white, and your typical waxy fingerling. To-Le-Ak is deep purple all the way through and floury. Genetically they are distinct from European varieties. They were brought up the west coast of the Americas by the Spanish, directly from Peru to Washington, and selected by local tribes (Ozette by the Makah and To-Le-Ak by the Quileute).

Oooh, cool! Where did you end up finding them?

Jenny Wright wrote:

C Lundquist wrote:

Jenny Wright wrote:

C Lundquist wrote:I was very excited to have sourced some To-Le-Ak potatoes, which is one of the first potatoes to have been introduced to the Washington coast by Spanish explorers (the other, better known, one is Ozette). It was very hard to find but after years of searching finally got my hands on some.

That sounds interesting. What qualities do they have that make them different from standard varieties?
How did they grow and how did they taste?

Both Ozette and To-Le-Ak are fingerling potatoes, late varieties. Ozette is white, and your typical waxy fingerling. To-Le-Ak is deep purple all the way through and floury. Genetically they are distinct from European varieties. They were brought up the west coast of the Americas by the Spanish, directly from Peru to Washington, and selected by local tribes (Ozette by the Makah and To-Le-Ak by the Quileute).

Oooh, cool! Where did you end up finding them?

Cultivariable, though he's not selling tubers for at least a year due to a blight infestation. https://www.cultivariable.com/

Probably my biggest experiment was with Painted Mountain corn. Yes, I live in Montana and Painted Mountain was developed here but still, every part of this state is not the same habitat by a long shot. I planted four raised beds and an in-ground bed. The first raised bed was around June 10 and the successive three a few days apart. The in ground bed was planted July 1. I wanted to see if the advertised short season variety really would ripen before frost. I planted the seeds at 9 inch (around 25 cm) apart and rows about three feet apart ( 1m).  In the raised beds I tried planting zucchini in the large space between the corn rows. Alas. this past summer saw temperatures daily in the mid 90s ( around 35 to 38 C) and unreal smoke making the Helena valley more like a snow globe with smoke as a substitute for the snow. Brutal growing conditions. To top it off, a doe mule deer took off(10cm). The zucchini got jack hammered and never really did much after that. So by late June-early July I’ve got stubs from my experiments. The doe moved on by midJuly and the corn took off like a rocket. Everything matured by late August to early Sept. Most every stalk had a cob and what colors! The in-ground bed was a bit more hit and miss in terms of mature cobs. The stalks were about 2 m tall but some didn’t produce. Still a successful experiment IMHO. We only had a bit less than 1 inch(25mm) of rain from June 1 to the end of Sept.  All the rain came over a four day span in mid Aug and I didn’t irrigate after that until harvest. I let the cobs dry on the stalk and picked them mid October. yes, I had to irrigate before then@but that is standard here in the dry west. Still. the corn plants were quite resilient despite the drought, heat and deer pressure. I  plan to use this year’s production to increase the number of plants and have enough to give our chickens a daily ration.

Paul Sofranko wrote:
Rudbeckia and borage. I know, not impressive, but I have wanted for years to simply grow basic flowers from seed. Finally, my black-eyed-susan seeds took root and flowered here and there.

The borage was planted last year and it self sowed for this year. Interestingly, nowhere near where last years' was.

Gee Paul,

I'm impressed. In fact, I'm really interested....You planted borage? Why? How did it grow? Sun or shade? What were you hoping for? How far away did it self seed? Are you glad you planted it? Inquiring minds want to know....MORE!

This has been a crazy year! The weather is changing! All my birds, or most of them have flown the coop! They're just gone! Many dozens of different species! It is kind of lonely in my garden now. I miss their voices and before I seldom paid them any attention unless they were eating my crops! (But for just a few days every December a bird migrates through that sounds just like R2-D2! Star Wars! No kidding! That's where they got that sound from!!)  I have lots of new bugs that I have never seen before. After 11 years I was just starting to get the hang of gardening and everything seems to be changing... rapidly!!!

All the new bugs really have me worried because they can be brutal to my vegies. So I have been researching all the plants that repel bugs and I am planning to fill my garden with them next summer.... just in case. It can't hurt.

And borage sounds like a real winner. It's a member of the comfrey family (good stuff) and can be used medicinally with care. It's drought tolerant and is supposed to repel lots of different bugs including cabbage worms. It's supposed to release potassium and calcium into the soil as it decomposes even when just used as a mulch. Supposedly. That's a big plus!  It will flower from spring to fall if you deadhead it. It attracts bees and pollinators. And the leaves are supposed to taste similar to cucumbers and the pretty blue flowers taste like honey. People like to freeze the flowers in ice cube trays and add them to their iced drinks all summer. Pretty ice cubes. I hope you read this message and tell us more. Happy gardening everyone.

Debbie

- Salad burnet: Only 1 of 3 seedlings survived the spring slug attack, but it’s now thriving. Very nice to have another tasty, hardy perennial leafy green, and it looks pretty too.

- Strawflowers: I had no idea they would be so productive! They have bloomed non stop from late spring until now (no hard freeze here yet), and of course drying them is a bonus.

- Sugar Rush Peach peppers: Very productive, pretty and made a great tasting fermented hot sauce.

Debbie Ann wrote: But for just a few days every December a bird migrates through that sounds just like R2-D2! Star Wars! ...

And borage sounds like a real winner. It's a member of the comfrey family (good stuff) and can be used medicinally with care. It's drought tolerant and is supposed to repel lots of different bugs including cabbage worms. It's supposed to release potassium and calcium into the soil as it decomposes even when just used as a mulch. Supposedly. That's a big plus!  It will flower from spring to fall if you deadhead it. It attracts bees and pollinators. And the leaves are supposed to taste similar to cucumbers and the pretty blue flowers taste like honey. People like to freeze the flowers in ice cube trays and add them to their iced drinks all summer. Pretty ice cubes. I hope you read this message and tell us more. Happy gardening everyone.

Debbie

I think your R2-D2 bird is probably a grackle. They are some funny sounding birds.

I really love the borage that grows in my garden. I planted it several years ago and since then I usually get a few random plants popping up here and there. Some things I've noticed- They are very sturdy and robust plants unless you transplant them. They really throw a fit if they are transplanted or moved. The leaves are fuzzy so not really palatable to me. The fuzziness of the leaves can be irritating when you brush against it. It makes me itchy but a friend of mine her skin gets welts.The kids like eating the flowers occasionally. But their gold medal goes to attracting pollinators and the fact that it blooms non stop from spring to fall- not quite the first flower of the season but definitely one of the very last.

I have a long list:

1. Rapini
Robust enough to survive slugs in early spring. Heat tolerant. Produce lots of seeds and reseed easily.

2. Flowering kale
I saw them used frequently in Japanese gardens before but didn't know the plants were edible. I just picked a few young leaves and they were so tender and yummy.

3. Swamp milkweed
This milkweed is supposed to be native but I never find any nearby. So I bought the seeds online, transplanted seedings in May and they are already flowering now in late July!

4.  Black beauty tomato
Very heat tolerant and robust. Beautiful plant with good flavor. The single plant is already 4ft wide and 5ft tall. It's going to be a monster by the end of the season.

Hi all, here we are again.
The purple tree kale grew and continue to live, and we like it a lot.  Okinawa, and longevity spinach didn't survive the winter, lucky I started cuttings and kept them in the house, so I replanted them.  Fall planting and afternoon shade did the trick and I finally got an artichoke to survive, and thrive.  The swiss Chard just kept growing until a gopher took it out one by one.  Sad face.  After years of failure I managed to get a common comfrey crown to grow and stay alive, I think close to a year now.  It big and beautiful.
It's been a strange year for me.  The garden hasn't been productive like last year.  I'm still trying new things.  I started Carolina reaper pepper requested by my son. It germinated and grew beautifully until I took it outside where it seems to not do anything.  I recently started okra for the first time, looking forward to that. I tried romanesco zucchini. It's produced very well, taste like zucchini.  I started comfrey from seed. 2 survived, and one is doing very well. I have butternut squash I'm growing for the first time. Seems to be doing well.  We still have a lot of summer weather left, so I'm hoping my tomatoes, peppers, melons and cucumber kick into gear.  
I hope you all are having better luck than me this year. Keep trying new things, and happy growing.

Edward Norton wrote:I had a packet of free seeds - Melothria Scabra or Mexican Cucumber - technically not a cucumber.

They’ve grown all over the banister on the stairs to our back door. It’s provided a great screen to block out some sun. The fruit are grape sized and delicious straight of the vine. I’ll pickle a bunch next week, Japanese style.  

I would never have known about them let alone plant them. A great discovery.

This was the new hit in my garden this year. Will grow onto everything, unstoppable plant and productive.

I tried dozens of new plants this year and they are all wonderful. I am especially happy to see the colorful coneflowers from Baker creek's paradiso mix. Some of them haven't flowered in the first year so I have more to look forward to next year!

I grew Roselle Hibiscus here in Tennessee! Use it for tea. This, along with Stevia, does well.

Absolutely ground cherries! They have a very destinct pineapple flavor that is buttery and so good.  The fruit is quite small--about the size of a fingernail varying from pinky to thumb.  I am hoping they reseed.  They finally all gave up after a particularly cold and persistant week reaching down into the 20's at night.  All of the little packages were on the ground, but when I opened a few they were still way too green to eat.

The other surprise was garlic scapes.  I'd grown garlic mainly as a way to deter pests in the garden, with no intention of really harvesting, but then I started to can, and it seemed like most recipes called for a clove of garlic, so I planted some in my vegetable garden where I could more easily keep and eye out and harvest without damaging nearby roots.  This past summer, I snapped off the scapes and sauteed them up...that was enough reason to grow garlic just for them.  I like garlic, but I'm not one of those who love it.  The scapes are mild and I soon found myself wishing I had more than just one meal's worth!

One of my American persimmons (Valeen Beauty) fruited for the first this year.  Because I don't have any wild ones, all of my trees are females and are seedless.  This variety is quite large for an American.  Every day its been giving me two to four fruit with many more to come.  It has been delicious and I'm assuming that it will produce much more in years to come.  I love the fact that the fruit is so late in the season and as the tree is losing its leaves, the orange fruit, because of its size and color, really do add a lovely element to the garden.  This variety is blemish-free.  We've had quite a stretch of cold nights, but some of the fruit still has some astringency if not allowed to get squishy soft and bright in color--almost translucent vs. a flat dull look.

The Gerardi Mulberries out back were amazing.  They didn't produce as many as I'd hoped, maybe ten a day would be ripe...of course, I'm sure birds and squirrels got their fair share, cutting into my allotment. They were so sweet that my plan is to air layer them next year and grow a few more bushes so that maybe I'll have enough to freeze.  They are much better behaved than most other mulberries, in that they stay fairly small: 6-10' tall and wide.

Near the Gerardi, I have two Carmine goumis that produced prolifically for the first time. It was a learning curve to figure out when they were ripe. If picked too early, they can have a bit of an astringency.  They have to be kind of translucent and a deep, almost maroon color.  I went out daily and harvested my breakfast between the goumis and the mulberries.  I'd do this after harvesting the blueberries for freezing.  I had to be out there by 6 or 6:30 am to beat the birds, and I discovered that it was an incredibly peaceful time; there was no machinery running yet, there was coolness to the air, but the sun was up and giving warmth and the bugs were still sleeping.  I'd often go out and pick in my nightie--I have arborvitea along the fenceline which provides total privacy!  I also got a small number of thornless bush raspberries (Bushel and Berry "Raspberry Shortcake' that were full sized and delicious. The plants sent out numerous runners, and I plan to divide and make order of them next spring.

My North Star pie cherry produced a number of fruit this summer, so that was exciting.  A catbird sat in the peach tree scolding me every time I went out to pick those that had ripened.  Finally, I tossed the ones that had been pecked out onto the lawn and the bird gleefully hopped down to gobble the fruit. The bush cherries also produced gallons of fruit, most of it going to waste.  It is very similar in flavor to the above pie cherry, but it is somewhat smaller--not by much, though.  Every branch on every bush (10) was just encircled by ruby fruit.  Unfortunately, it gave me bad diarrhea every time I had them in any quantity above 1/2 a cup...I think I'll probably just stick to the North Star variety!


It's been really fun to have new fruits "come online" each year.  The che fruited and held its fruit, but didn't have a long enough window to ripen before it started getting cold--maybe next year.  The medlars produced some last year, but I never got to really get a sense of what they tasted like. The tree out back had very small fruit and it was so loaded with seeds that I don't know what it really tastes like; the one in the front was being overtaken by asparagus fronds that I've decided I will cut down next year after the spears are harvested.  I will be getting new crowns to put elsewhere--I tried to dig some out, and after a few hours of struggling to remove just two clumps (I have 50 six year old clumps) I decided to just get new crowns and meanwhile harvest what I have next spring and then cut it down where it is shading out those things to the north of them.  After the two years of wait time, I can just cut them all and not have to wrestle with them out front.

Hi, I tried chinese pink celery this year- started inside fromseede and planted out after last frost. Grew well but did not form a tight bundle like store celery. Has a very strong taste to stems and the leaves have a harsh undertone. I have dried most of it and will try to use some as a seasoning but not grow again. I use celery mostly for the raw crunch in salads and sandwiches so it was a dispointing but pretty plant.

Growing tomatoes again after a long break! The taste of a real fresh tomato just can't be compared to shop bought. They didn't do brilliantly - I hadn't realised quite how bad my soil there was - but hopefully I'll do much better next year now I know that.
What did do surprisingly well was the buckwheat, which I sowed in the polytunnel as a soil improver. I hoping to be able to process the seeds and get an edible harvest from them! I was hoping to get more sunflower flowers, but at least one has set seeds so I'll resow those next year and hpe for more. Calendula were pretty and colourful in the tunnel too, and Dahlia grown from seed were surprisingly vigorous. They're an experimental edible tuber for me, but so pretty!

Dahlia grown from seed in first year

Still waiting for my bare root chestnuts, hazelnuts, and currants order to show up for planting but I'll say the hazelnuts as they will hopefully survive and bear nuts sooner, and will be the first nut-bearing plant I've grown. I might not ever see any of those nuts as I live in a "tree city USA" spot that has gotten the award 41 years now, and there are squirrels everywhere. We even have albino and nearly black squirrels here too, seen one of each in the last week walking around. I'm not sure I could bother with netting shrubs to try and save some nuts, hopefully I can get some!

Hey all - now that we are getting into autumn and wrapping up harvest (apologies to any of the Southern Hemisphere Permies who are just kicking in to spring)... maybe this is a good time to revive this thread, and see what we grew that was new / inspiring / successful, or just plain fun??

My new planting for this year was yacon - I started with a few rhizomes and the plants loved the summer sun.  I learned that after harvesting, the tubers have to cure in the sun to toughen the skin and sweeten the flesh.  Anyone else growing yacon this year?
there were some  great heirloom seed options here
and will try to germinate some of the seeds

Or something else  new to you?

Amy Riley wrote:I grew Roselle Hibiscus here in Tennessee! Use it for tea. This, along with Stevia, does well.

So am I, they grow very well here in Southern California too. I also use some of the calyx for tea and I roast the seeds to add to my coffee, or add unroasted seeds to soups and stews. They taste and feel similar to lentils when added to soups and stews.
So far I have harvested over 16 pounds, and we have more coming. I planted 7 this year, which might be a little much. I am going to use some of the fresh calyx for juice, jam or a fruit sauce. I am so happy I planted them though, and will do it again. Happy gardening.

Not this year, but last year, this hybrid red and yellow watermelons I grew.  Unfortunatly, they did not do well this year.

.

I planted 3 climbing spinach seeds 1 was a green & the other 2 were the red variety... the green out performed both the reds combined... i planted the seeds in the middle of 12' cattle panels and the green took over it's entire panel and spread onto the red panels 5 feet away in both directions... i love these things(ate the leaves straight off the vines) put them in my instapot vines and all and they cook up exactly like spinach(made sure i had no seed as i don't know it the black seed are edible)

Gary are you talking about Malabar spinach?

Goji. They didn't fruit, this year, but they were only a couple inches tall, with a tiny root system, and half dead, by the time they made it to me, in the mail, this past spring, and I really didn't think they would make it. One didn't, the other three are each boasting trailing branches about 3ft long, and I'll be surprised if they don't fruit, next year.

I actively stopped myself from trying too many new things this year, with the idea that that would give me more time to care for the things already planted, and it did... somewhat. Not enough to be really worth it, though, so next year is back to wild experimentation

I did grow quinoa for the first time this year, though, and even though they didn't get all the way to seed (as far as I know - I haven't been on the land for more than a month now, and they were flowering when we left) they did well enough to be decidedly promising, especially considering that they were growing in a very bad spot. I've ordered seeds for a few more varieties, and will sow them in better soil next year.

And they make great sour pickles

Maypop

Ughh! I tried to plant maypop seeds along the south side of a large arbor but they never took.  I was so disappointed.  Maybe I need to start with a plant rather than seeds.  I planted shisandra on the north side and it has survived, although after two years it's still just leaves....

Barbara Simoes wrote:Ughh! I tried to plant maypop seeds along the south side of a large arbor but they never took.  I was so disappointed.  Maybe I need to start with a plant rather than seeds.  I planted shisandra on the north side and it has survived, although after two years it's still just leaves....

Hi Barbara,

Sources seem to differ as to whether or not the seeds require cold stratification. I did keep them in the fridge for a couple months and then started them inside. Sources do seem to agree that germination can take anywhere from 1 to 12 months. Maybe you will find some surprises popping up in the spring!

They are self-infertile so if you want fruit get at least two that are not the same clone.

Good luck!

This was the second year....!  I think I remember scarifying the seeds; I'm not sure if they were the ones that I'd had in the fridge.  I may try again with seeds from a more reputable source.  Thanks for the advice.  Do you find that they pop up all over the place, or are they pretty contained?

Barbara Simoes wrote:This was the second year....!  I think I remember scarifying the seeds; I'm not sure if they were the ones that I'd had in the fridge.  I may try again with seeds from a more reputable source.  Thanks for the advice.  Do you find that they pop up all over the place, or are they pretty contained?

This was the first year. I'm pushing the outer limits of their zone so we shall see if they make it through winter and come back. I was lucky to get 7 plants. Two even made one fruit each. They didn't fully ripen but they were loaded with seeds that I am drying now and will try to germinate this spring. No idea if they were ripe enough or not at this point. The seeds seem fully formed but white/cream colored instead of black. 🤞