What are you growing--2014

I didn't see a post for this year so I'm putting this up--if I missed it, please merge!

Does anyone know where you can buy small (individual) quantities of seed potatoes? I'm looking for the smaller varieties--fingerlings, purple majesty, etc.--and would prefer to have a few different types versus buying whole bags of 1 or 2 varieties which then don't all get used. I got mine at the Peterson Garden Sale last year--they were selling them individually-but they didn't sell them this year so I'm on the hunt.

Alternatively, I would be happy to share a few bags if others are interested in the same. For anyone who does the garden thing but hasn't grown potatoes, they are great in containers--I use bags that you can purchase on line for about $14 for sets of 2 and they are easy to grow and quite prolific. I've found that the smaller potatoes do better (no great shock) in the bags than the larger ones but have also done very well with Yukon Golds. The taste is fantastic--nothing like a fresh potato--and they store really well too. I used the last of my purple fingerlings in April.

If anyone has info or wants to share some bags, just let me know--thanks!

Already planted from seed and sprouting:
* Snap peas
* Bibb Lettuce
* Kai Lan/Gai Lan (snagged the last packet from Pesche's in Des Plaines)
Already planted from purchased seedling (joining a portable planter with chives, thyme and a few scrawny basil seedlings, and garden-planted chives and *ahem* naturalizing oregano)
* Sage (a 5-year-old plant succumbed to last winter)
* Rosemary
To be planted from seed
* Basil
* Lacinato (Dinosaur) Kale
* Possibly some delicata squash, but the seeds are two years old
To be planted from purchased seedlings
4 pots of various tomatoes (two early varietals, two late)
1 pot bell pepper
2 pots Jalapeno
1 pot Ghost Chile
1 3-seedling flat of tomatillos

I already planted an assload of herbs to supplement the stuff that made it through winter (added several varieties of basil, thyme, lots of rosemary, oregano, dill, cilantro, a couple of mints) and then I stopped in at Home Depot over the weekend. They were selling seedlings in 3" pots for $2, so I snagged several different tomato varieties, a few different hot peppers, sage, Thai basil, and a fernleaf dill. We have a patch of dirt at the side of the kitchen that's herbs-only. The tomatoes and peppers went into my rolling containers.

My planting list is kind of ridiculous but I have a big space. This is my 13th year of container gardening on my deck and it's definitely a passion. So here goes--everything is planted with a few exceptions--I also noted what came from seed v. starts:

Herbs
Red-Green Shiso (seed)
Cumin (seed)
Sorrel (seed)
Basil (Purple, Genovese, Sweet, Cinnamon, Thai (still need to pick up), Lemon)
Lemon Verbena
Greek Oregano
Thyme (3 types)
Cilantro
Tarragon
Dill (2 varieties--1 seed)
Purple Sage
Italian Parsley (still need to pick up--forgot it!)
Rosemary
Mint (Peppermint, Spearmint, Kentucky Colonel, Variegated)

Veggies/Fruits
Strawberries (3 kinds)
Peas—2 kinds (seed)
Sugar snap peas (seed)
Radishes (French Breakfast, Watermelon Radishes, Easter Egg and Icicle) (seed)
Fennel (2 kinds) (seed)
Carrots (White, Scarlett Carrots, Mix) (seed)
Okra (seed)
Beans (Cranberry, Asparagus long, Orient Wonder Long, Yellow Wax, Dwarf French Green) (seed)
Rosa Bianco Eggplant (still waiting to get the seedling from Gesthemane or elsewhere)
Eggplant (PingTung, Shoyu, Listada de Gandia)
Lettuce (Continental Blend, French Blend, Frisee, Corn Salad, Romaine (3 types), Red Leave, Buttercrunch, Speckled Bibb) (all seed)
Arugula (2 kinds) (seed)
Chard (Bright Lights, Golden) (seed)
Kale (Russian Winter, Lacinato) (seed)
Potatoes (a few misc. planted, still trying to get more)
Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry
Onions (Red, Candy)
Garlic and regular chives
Celery
Cukes (Pickle, Bush Pickle, Persian) (some seed, some starts)
Summer Squash (seed)
Trombetta D'Albergo Squash (seed)
Zucchini (Tondo de Piacenza, Tondo de Toscano, Striato D'Italia, Grey, Regular?) (seed)
Tomatillo (Purple, Tomayo)
Hot Peppers (Lemon Drop, Habanero, Tabasco, Jalapeno, Beaver Dam, Cayenne blend, Purple Cayenne, Shishito (yay!!!), Ancho, Fish, Thai, Chiltepin)
Tomatoes (Rosso Siciliano, Cherry Cascade, Yellow Pear, Indigo Rose, Sun Gold, Brandywine, Black Sea Man, Aunt Ruby's German Green--2 more TBD)

Looking forward to actually being able to post pics this year!!

Tomatoes (5 or 6 kinds)
Shishito pepper
8 ball zucchini squash
snap peas

a bunch of salad greens (been eating them this week)

boudreaulicious wrote:Looking forward to actually being able to post pics this year!!

I'd love to see pictures even at this point--it seems that you must have a huge deck with an elaborate set-up. I'm hoping to steal ideas!

boudreaulicious wrote:I didn't see a post for this year so I'm putting this up--if I missed it, please merge!

Does anyone know where you can buy small (individual) quantities of seed potatoes? I'm looking for the smaller varieties--fingerlings, purple majesty, etc.--and would prefer to have a few different types versus buying whole bags of 1 or 2 varieties which then don't all get used. I got mine at the Peterson Garden Sale last year--they were selling them individually-but they didn't sell them this year so I'm on the hunt.

I don't know a thing about seed potatoes but I did see some at the Farmers Market Garden Center at 4110 North Elston. I just called them and they said they carry Norland and Superior. Hope that helps.

With the plot that i obtained through the Peterson Garden Project, my friend and I will be growing fennel, cucumbers, big boy tomatoes, sweet peppers, habaneros, basil, mint. There may be more, but i can't remember now. I seem to be a baby compared to the rest of you, but it's a start.

Peas were doing OK till I went out yesterday and just found stubs

Have about 100 tomato plants I started inside, luckily I have a large family who also plants. Brandywine, Black Krim, Illinois Beauty, Roma, and 10 fingers of naples.

Also started some peppers. Spanish Mammoth, of 36 seeds started, only 6 sprouted. Will use them all

Also have planted some Beets and have some kind of purple carrots from both from seed.
it finally feels like spring is here.....

Who got to the peas?

We decided to try ours in hanging baskets on the porch due to the recent arrival of an apparent cousin of Buggsy B.

Our four varieties of tomatoes, tomatillos and peppers are all doing well from seed but will likely remain inside for another week.
Arugula is just about ready for picking. Okra is going in as seed, probably this weekend. Strawberries are ready to be transplanted but must also live on the porch due to Bug's Bro. And I just remembered Thai long beans probably should go in this weekend.

More????

I would guess a rabbit as I see quite a few of them in the neighborhood. It came as quite a surprise to me that they were all chewed down to the ground. There were probably 35 of them all about 4 inches tall. I did not even have a chance to thin them out, got the job done for me. That is the first time I lost a whole crop like that

Here you go--things are progressing nicely!

A few more pics...

A few more...

last few...

Jen-

You left some of the chairs empty of pots.

That's awesome. Makes my three or four plants look pathetic.

Couch is the next to go (over the balcony)!

boudreaulicious wrote:last few...

Can I ask how many generations you are removed from a farm?? You have it in your genes, I'm thinking your grandparents farmed.

You probably have more plants in your gardens than we do, it's just a different style of land ownwership.

Nice setup, and if you are feeding yourself, good on you. You are proving anybody can do it, if they just take a little (OK, a lot of) initiative. Nice job!!

Tim

Rhubarb and strawberries, that's it. Not much of a gardener.

Freezer Pig wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:last few...

Can I ask how many generations you are removed from a farm?? You have it in your genes, I'm thinking your grandparents farmed.

You probably have more plants in your gardens than we do, it's just a different style of land ownwership.

Nice setup, and if you are feeding yourself, good on you. You are proving anybody can do it, if they just take a little (OK, a lot of) initiative. Nice job!!

Tim

LOLOLOL---love it! Nope, the height of "land development" in my family was a few blocks of homes that my grandfather developed in Coral Gables, Florida back in the 40s and 50s!!!!! Any farmers in my clan would have to go way back to before the great GPs I'm thinking. But worth a few questions to find out!

I've been at this container gardening thing since the summer of 2002 and it is most definitely my therapy. From about mid July to end of October, I buy very little produce--just make use of what I have available and it's always more than I can use (to the delight of all of my friends who get lots of gift bags and dinner invites ) I also learned to can (thanks Cathy2) and pickle and haven't bought a jar of salsa in years. I do hope to have an inground mini farm someday when and if I ever get to retire.

So inspirational Jen. You've motivated me! I was ready to give up on any edibles after my tomato disaster. Thanks for sharing your ideas and photos. Love the dogs tending your fields!

A few updates...

More updates...

Last few for now...

Lots going on in the garden already--so far, it's been near-perfect weather for container gardening and we're starting to reap the rewards. I did have a brief infestation of white flies/aphids--but they seem to be gone and didn't do any damage that I can detect. I also had 2 eggplants with something munching on the leaves but, again, it seems to have stopped, the plants are growing new leaves and getting bigger so we seem to have outlasted whatever it was. I planted lots of marigolds and nasturtium, as well as let some ladybugs loose a few weeks ago and maybe that helped or the weather took care of it or...who knows? Doesn't really matter--I've been feasting on radishes on brown bread with butter at breakfast every day and tons of lettuces, spinach, mustard greens, arugula and herbs for salads, etc. I even enjoyed my first Sungold tomato this morning.

Here are some new pics.

A few more...

And a few more...

Last of them...

French Breakfast (and a few others) for breakfast!

Did you start some of your plantings inside?? You are further ahead on your tomatoes and some of your herbs, than we are, growing things in the dirt. We may have to look at containers for a few veggies next year.

Tim

I gave up on growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplant from seed a few years ago--about the same time I found a fantastic nursery that stocks a lot of unusual varieties and sold everything 3/$10 (small stuff like herbs and celery 4pks are $1.25 each) which is a good price around here. So all of those, along with the ground cherry, the tomatillos, some of the herbs, the celery and a couple of cukes were from there or my community garden's plant sale. All the others are from seed.

So the containers aren't doing anything miraculous, though they will keep things safe from the chickens!!