Foo - Gardeners: Let's discuss our gardening plans for 2011...

Like the title says- Are you growing a garden this year? What are you planning to plant?

I'm quite excited because after years of formal and informal horticultural education and working in the industry, this is the first year that I'll actually be able to have a proper vegetable garden of my own. Mrs. HandsomeRyan and I just moved to a nice old house out in the country and I'm about to have a 15'x36' plot plowed for the vegetable garden.

I don't have full list of what we'll grow but my wife wants to do some canning so a lot of this years garden is focused on things that are easy (and that we'll eat) after canning. We'll probably go heavy on green beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, and peppers. We're also looking forward to some different types of squash, eggplant, and cucumbers that you don't see in the produce section of your local grocery store. Mostly heirlooms and exotic varieties with different colors or shapes and ideally better flavor. Mrs. HR helped me spend a while last night making seed tape with carrot and radish seeds so we'll avoid the trouble of oversowing and thinning these crops.

If the money and ambition holds out I'm also hoping to build some planter boxes for an herb garden on the porch which is much closer to the kitchen that the veggie garden will be.

Other highlights of the new-to-us house include a 50 year old blueberry bush, some well established (concord?) grape vines, an established asparagus patch, and a few gooseberries out behind my workshop. I'm hoping to plant more grapes, and maybe a couple hop vines if I can source them locally.

What are you doing in the garden this year?

Probably more tomatoes. Maybe a squash of some sort. We had very good luck with the zucchini in '09.
As for the herbs, the parsley won't die and I won't let the rosemary die. We might plant some more basil or mint.
We have potatoes still coming up from '09, but they tasted like crap last year, so I will probably chuck them.
And the orange tree is finally producing edible oranges, we've had 2 in the last month or so.

My yard is mainly cement so I do a lot of container gardening. I have Eureka and Meyer lemon trees, a dwarf Golden Delicious apple tree and a lime tree.

Herbs: catnip, mint, flat leaf parsley, oregano, rosemary. When it warms up I'll add basil and cilantro.

Veggies: I had two tomato plants last year, I'll probably have another two plants this year. I might also try onions.

Okra, and more okra

I've done containers on the patio in the past but this year I'm planning on doing a vegetable garden as well for the first time at this house (been here 4 years). Planning on planting peas, tomatos, zuchini, summer (and/or some other) squash, basil, and maybe poblano peppers. Looking forward to it.

Since I don't know if I'll be in the current house or a new one, I have no plans yet :(

tomatos: 4 Roma, 2 Cherokee Purple, 2 Brandywine, 1 or 2 BigBoy or similar
Cucumbers: 8-10 Asian jade
Okra 1-2 plants (that is enough!)
Basil, Thai Basil, Cilantro, Salad Bowl lettuce, Tarragon, Chives, Oregano--we have perrenial Rosemary, lavender, and mint
One or two strains of Mushmelons (Canteloupe)
Straightneck yellow squash.

NO Peppers this year (we have tried and failed for 7 years straight!) so something else in that raised bed.

I have a little better than an acre broken up right now.
I haven't sat down with my mother and drawn out a proper plan of the garden yet.
She is a fantastic resource for growing things. She used to own a nursery and has her degree in horticulture.

Various tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, silver queen corn, a string bean, snap bean, and black beans are all givens.
Maybe eggplant this year (that's aubergine, coasting). Maybe some kinds of japanese beans like adzuki.
And I'll have enough room this year for a mellon patch.
Defiantly going to expand the blue berries. I have enough runners from the established ones to transplant a 50 foot hedge.

I have a little better than an acre broken up right now.
I haven't sat down with my mother and drawn out a proper plan of the garden yet.
She is a fantastic resource for growing things. She used to own a nursery and has her degree in horticulture.

Various tomatoes, peppers, okra, squash, silver queen corn, a string bean, snap bean, and black beans are all givens.
Maybe eggplant this year (that's aubergine, coasting). Maybe some kinds of japanese beans like adzuki.
And I'll have enough room this year for a mellon patch.
Defiantly going to expand the blue berries. I have enough runners from the established ones to transplant a 50 foot hedge.

I may hunt your place down next year and show up with a bucket :innocent:

My patch will have the usual mix of tomatoes, Yellow Boys, Hillbillys, Roma, Grape and Beefsteaks. Also, bell peppers, summer squash and zucchini. I'm also thinking of tilling up a little more land and tossing in some blue lake beans.

Hops. I already have 2 good plants going, planning on another 5 or 6. Sucks that it will take a few years to see any real yields from the new plants.

And beanies (as my wife says). They grow like wildfire here.

I've currently got tomatoes, caspicum, strawberries, corn, cabbages and lettuce on the grow. I currently have the following herbs going: mint, spearmint, thyme, majoram, oragano, sage, camomile. The rocket and corriander have gone to seed and are now in the compost heap.

The blueberry bush, cape gooseberries and passionfruit vine hopefully will flower and fruit next year. I'm planning on adding some berry canes.

I'm currently in the process of trying to kill plants not plant them. I have convolvulus and potato-vine to kill.

I'm planning on replacing the grapefruit tree with a lemon and maybe also a lime. I am planning to plant carrots, kohlrabi and some other winter brassicas. I will also be planting broad beans. I would like to add rosemary, parsley, more rocket, basil to the herb gardens. Maybe plant some more celeriac and silver-beet (swiss chard).

Since I don't know if I'll be in the current house or a new one, I have no plans yet :(

If you do containers you can take them with you.

A bunch more sweet potatoes. Grew a few last year and they were delicious.
Otherwise, tomatoes, green beans, zukes, some greens, cilantro and basil. Turnips, maybe okra. I don't like to get the garden too big.
Oh yea, some peppers - green, poblano, jalapeno.
Here's an old pic:

Here is a list of a few of the items we have planned for the garden (more to come but this is a start):

In random order...
Squash- Baby Round Zucchini
Okra- Clemson Spineless
Squash- Delicata Honey Boat
Tomatillo- Mexican Husk (traditional green) [salsa]
Tomatillo- Pineapple (yellow) [salsa]
Pepper- Serrano Tampiqueño (hot chile) [salsa, vinegar]
Cantaloupe- Imperial 45
Cucumber- Lemon
Pepper- Tabasco (hot chile) [hot sauce]
Tomato- San Marzano (paste type) [canning]
Pepper- California Wonder (sweet bell)
Eggplant- Black Beauty
Bean- Blue Lake FM1 (pole type) [canning]
Bean- Tendergreen Improved (bush type) [canning]
Tomato- Jelly Bean Red and Jelly Bean Yellow
Tomato- Aunt Ruby's German Green [fried green tomatoes]
Sunflower- Autumn Beauty
Carrot- Solar Yellow
Carrot- Atomic Red
Carrot- Cosmic Purple
Carrot- Lunar White
Sunflower- Mammoth Grey Stripe
Pepper- Sweet Cherry Red (sweet pepper)

Kale, broccoli, potatoes, onion, strawberries, lettuce, rosemary, artichoke and beets.

One of my plans is to grow grapes on trellises. :)

I may hunt your place down next year and show up with a bucket :innocent:

Absolutely.

plan to finish the automated irrigation system a bunch of started at our kids' school last year.

whatever I end up planting, my main focus will be to KEEP the *&%$#?*&^% (*&%$#?@*&^%) DEER out of it!!!!! (my local deer had an truely excellently balanced diet last year - plenty of hearty vegies & corn!)

My main gardening goal for this year is to once again grow our tomato plants high enough that they grow overtop our 6 foot good-neighbor fence and hang over onto our neighbors side (sans tomatos of course). He gets all red when he sees vines growing on his side :p