Ok ladies I am now in my 4th year of really gardening. I plant potatos, lettuce, spinach, tomatos, peppers (green, red and hot), pumpkins, cucumbers, strawberries, rasberries, oh and peas (lot of peas).
This year I am trying my lettuce/spinach, tomatos and peppers in straw bales as we have really sandy soil and I hate the sand that will not come off my lettuce.
So I am wondering what suggestions you have for adding something new and fun to my garden. I was thinking about broccoli? But my kids prefer cauliflower? Maybe some squash?
I should mention I live in Minnesota, have sandy soil, though we have compost and cow patties mixed in :0), and winter chicken coop droppings so it’s not a totally wash out any more.
What do you like to grow? Thanks for the suggestions Misty
You could always have fun and plant different varieties of the plants you already grow. This year I planted puple podded beans for the fun color. There are all different colors for potatoes, carrots, lettuce. I didn’t see you list any herbs. They are easy to grow and so good fresh from the garden. If you have the room plant both broccoli and cauliflower. Mabey the kids will eat more broccoli after growing it in the garden.
Just make sure you will eat what you grow otherwise its not worth it (except for flowers).
Green beans are really easy to grow. They are really yummy, too. We always grow a ton of green beans and eat them raw, steamed and can them for winter eating, too. Carrots are good, too. Plant a couple of zucchini and yellow squash and you’ll probably have more than you know what to do with. Do you use eggplant? Bok choy is great added into stir fry’s and such. Does your family eat beets? They seem to grow really easily, too. Cucumbers. There are many different varietis of cucumbers, too . . . pickling, lemon, several longer versions, etc. Onions. I, agreee with Ruth, try some herbs. You can dry them to store for the winter. My MIL also just froze her basil leaves this last year ’cause she didn’t have time to dry them. She pulls them out and makes pesto with them and it seems just fine.
See if you can get something for your area that would tell you what grows best and then pick a couple of new things from the list. I can’t wait to get ours started. One more move in a couple of weeks and then we need to get our raised beds made and all the little plants growing!! Happy Gardening!!
Well, I’m in TX so I’m sure it’s very different. Though, we have really sandy soil where I am as well. Lettuce is so easy to grow but like you I feel like I can never get it clean, always biting into grit.
This is only my 2 year gardening but I’m hooked. I love it! Last year and this year, I’ve planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, black-eyed peas, green beans, eggplant, okra, and carrots. This year I added in butternut squash and cantaloupe. They are both doing so well though they are HUGE. We have to step over them because they are over in the aisles now. I also added in herbs this year. I’ve got dill, basil, rosemary, and cilantro growing.
Try watermelon and cantaloupe, carrots, green beans (I prefer Blue Lake bush), cucumbers, squash. You can let the cucumber, pole beans and cantaloupe grow up a fence (you will need to support the weight of a cantaloupe with some mesh or old mylons or something) to give you more fruit and veggies, plus more efficent use of the ground – you can plant more things if you go up as much as possible. Another bonus: it is easier to pick. lol
We have sandy soil and live in MI for climate. We have lots of shade so it can be difficult for our garden. We use horse and chicken manure for our soil. My son just planted Blue lake bush beans a few days ago. We like the yellow and purple beans. We have Jerusalem artichokes too. We have some asparagus but that takes a few years to get going.Plus many of the things that have already been mentioned. We don’t have enough sun for corn but fresh corn on the cob is the best tasting.
We like to can our beans for winter too. They aren’t nearly as good as fresh but are fine.
Enjoy your garden!
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