Comments on: gardening anxiety

By: Maggie

Maggie — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:31:48 +0000

Thank you all for your suggestions! I had a bunch of plant gift certificates so I’m sure I totally overordered but I’m excited anyway. I’m most excited about the heirloom plum tree and apple trees (I had wanted to try cherries but they were sold out). We are also planning to get raspberry plants and hopefully a couple of blueberry bushes (they’re kinda expensive).

I ordered a ridiculous amount of vegetable seeds; I just hope I can get a few of each variety growing strong. My big goal this year will be to grow a ton of snowpeas since they are one of my absolute favorites. And I want to plant garlic in the fall. Yum, I think I need a snack just thinking about it.

By: Jessika

Jessika — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:30:09 +0000

Maggie- I love your blog! Found you through Grist and am so happy we live in the same town!
I always get carried away when planning our garden! Last year, we made a list of the vegetables and fruits that we actually eat the most of and figured out which ones we could grow.
For our growing season, we had the most (easiest) success with baby spinach (we eat tons of it and never get bored with spinach salads), broccoli, peppers (green and red), carrots and yukon gold potatoes. For fruit, strawberries (organic ones are sooo expensive). My next project is to get a couple of blueberry bushes. Blueberries are so hard to come by at the farmers’ market.

By: cinco

cinco — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:38:07 +0000

Hmm. I’d go for tomatoes and asparagus above all–both of those taste far better from the garden than from the store. A constant supply of lettuce and peppers is good, and I seem to remember that green beans and peas are easy enough to grow. It’s not a fruit or a vegetable, but I loved our patch of dill as a kid–the smell is fantastic and it tastes good in so many things (fish, potatoes, biscuits…). As for fruit, we never had much success. Strawberries are my favorite but weeding and picking them is a chore; blueberries are tasty but I don’t know how easy they are. This concludes my morning ramble on the subject of gardening. I had Ideas last year about a small potted herb garden, but this year I haven’t even got a window box–ah well.

By: susie

susie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:46:44 +0000

Based on ease of care, blueberries and cherries are the fruits of choice! Peaches might be nice but they’re harder to grow; apples and pears are pretty readily available anyway and are difficult to maintain, particularly organically. For veggies, it’s hard to say - tomatoes are easy and good, likewise green beans and cucumbers - although some years they’re more prolific than others…

By: Amy

Amy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:43:06 +0000

ha, I feel the same way! I’ve been perusing the seed catalog lately…

Veggies: fava beans, salad mix (lots of lettuces!), zucchini, eggplant and leeks.
Fruits: …tomatoes and little gherkin cucumbers. And maybe a melon.

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:34:35 +0000

Hmm good question! My favorite fruits (that are at least growable here) are plums, pears and peaches. Strawberries, mellons, cherries, autumn olives and Niagara grapes are amazing too. For veggies, I’d always recommend the cheap storables like potatoes, onions, garlic, and shallots. They are pretty easy to manage, and aren’t worth paying for from farmers’ markets. Save your money for the tasty things that are much harder to maintain, like broccolli. And whether you consider tomatoes a fruit or veggie, the big juicy heirloom varieties grow fast and are delicious to eat like fruit. Which reminds me of sweet pepper which you can just eat like fruit too. So many good thing to grow!

By: Penney

Penney — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:17:28 +0000

I’m considering a blueberry and raspberry bush. But I don’t think you start those from seeds. The small bushes are already appearing at our lawn and garden stores. I LOVESpring!