It's about that time to start planning. What are you doing in your garden this year?

I'm venturing into raised bed gardening for the first, and thought it a good idea to start a thread for everyone to provide details of what they're planting this year, and updates to their garden. I've constructed a 5' x 10' bed, and am trying to determine what all I would like to grow in that space.

Where does everyone purchase their seeds - local nursery or an online store? How do you choose out of so many different varieties? It can be overwhelming looking through some of these seed catalogs. Do y'all start seeds indoors, or just wait and sow directly into the garden when temps are right?

In.

I tried SeedsNow.com because I didn't want to drive to 18 different nurseries looking for veggie and pepper seeds and end up with nothing.

I'm Zone 9a and bought:
Asparagus
2x Basil
Lavender
Sage
Rosemary
Mint
3x Peppers (Scotch Bonnet, Poblano, Jalapenos) and I really want to find some shi****o seeds...so I may just buy some actual peppers from HEB, then bury them.
Watermelon because why not.
Small Pumpkins
Sugar Snap Peas
Parsley
Onions, Regular and Pearl
Lettuce
Eggplant (Striped and Casper White)
Cabbage

All that for $33 and change.
EDIT: shi-shi-to peppers. Because the middle of that word is a bad word...

Just lettuces, spinach, and onions for now. The rest is in a cover crop of elbon rye, tillage radish, dicon radish, and forage turnips for a cover crop. I've "grazed" it twice, will hit it one more time before nuking it with roundup and D.

Can't start anything for a good 2 months. In East Tennessee. Last frost date is April 15.

I plan to order from rareseeds.com. It is for heirloom seeds.

Our soil sucks. It is very shaley. I'm going to add some soil amendments in the next month to improve the soil. I'm also not going to do any raised rows except for possibly tomatoes and corn.

Hoping to extend the garden out to about 1/8 of an acre from the current 12 to 1500 square ft.

You should be able to get shi****o seeds from Baker Creek. www.rareseeds.com

If you're in Fort Worth I could give you a few as well.

I get seeds from rare seeds.com every year, and have extras from last year. I'll mail you some of what I've got from last year if you want. Just PM me.

Having not ordered seeds from other sources I can't say how common it is but I have had some QC issues with the seeds I've received a couple times. I had some orange okra with a 10% germination rate. They refunded me for that. I also had a variety pack of "lightning" hot peppers that only one plant had a pepper that was represented on the package. The others were a red habanero and some yellow scorpion pepper looking fruit.

Streetfighter 02 said:

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Having not ordered seeds from other sources I can't say how common it is but I have had some QC issues with the seeds I've received a couple times. I had some orange okra with a 10% germination rate. They refunded me for that. I also had a variety pack of "lightning" hot peppers that only one plant had a pepper that was represented on the package. The others were a red habanero and some yellow scorpion pepper looking fruit.

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Never mind, I see you said above you've ordered from rare seeds.

Anyone ever heard of Seeds for the South? Out of South Carolina, and supposedly sell varieties that are good for zones 7-9.

Streetfighter 02 said:

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Having not ordered seeds from other sources I can't say how common it is but I have had some QC issues with the seeds I've received a couple times. I had some orange okra with a 10% germination rate. They refunded me for that. I also had a variety pack of "lightning" hot peppers that only one plant had a pepper that was represented on the package. The others were a red habanero and some yellow scorpion pepper looking fruit.

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I order every year from Baker Creek (rareseeds.com). I've never had any major germination issues.

I buy most of my seeds at New Braunfels Feed and Seed. Just got through sifting my garden for rocks with the soil trommel I built. Now working on adding mulched leaves and sawdust to till in, in preperation for potatoes, onions and cabbage first week of February and then first & second week of March, corn, okra, squash, zuchinni, watermelon, canteloupe, green beans, pinto beans, tomatoes from the rodeo grounds, bell peppers, brocolli. Only have 470 sf, so short rows.

Worked my blackberries today. Before and after cutting the dead canes and weaving the lives one into the hog panels.

Bregxit said:

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Anyone have suggestions for good reference material (books, sites, etc)? I want to get a vegetable garden started (probably not this spring but at some point) but want to learn about the process before diving into something I know little about. I am in zone 9a.

TIA! I look forward to this thread every year!

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https://agrilifeextension.tamu.edu/browse/featured-solutions/gardening-landscaping/

Might be a little out of place here but I'm looking to 15-20 acres of sunflowers this year. Any suggestions on where to source seed would be appreciated.

AgCWby90CS48 said:

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I buy most of my seeds at New Braunfels Feed and Seed. Just got through sifting my garden for rocks with the soil trommel I built. Now working on adding mulched leaves and sawdust to till in, in preperation for potatoes, onions and cabbage first week of February and then first & second week of March, corn, okra, squash, zuchinni, watermelon, canteloupe, green beans, pinto beans, tomatoes from the rodeo grounds, bell peppers, brocolli. Only have 470 sf, so short rows.

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Tilling In leaves and sawdust?

I would think the mulch would be fine, but a big nope on the sawdust.

Can anyone send me a link to these zones y'all are talking about? I have no idea which one I'd be in.

My dad always did and had great garden produce. It helps to aeriate heavy soils.

I heavily mulch my tomatoes (keeping it away from the stem) every year with oak leaves. Till them in after the year is done. The more organic material the better!

AgCWby90CS48 said:

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My dad always did and had great garden produce. It helps to aeriate heavy soils.

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It's more toward the consistency of wood shavings than saw dust.

This issue with using sawdust as an amendment is that it ties up the nitrogen in your soil. You can use it, but you will need to supplement with nitrogen at the same time. Here's a good article explaining why:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/building-garden-soil-wood-mulch-zmaz10onzraw

HTownAg98 said:

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I would think the mulch would be fine, but a big nope on the sawdust.

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In the long run using organic materials as mulch builds soil more than tilling it in. Tilling encourages OM to turn to CO2 rather than humus.

S.A. Aggie said:

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I heavily mulch my tomatoes (keeping it away from the stem) every year with oak leaves. Till them in after the year is done. The more organic material the better!

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I use my grass clippings that way. Then, like you, I till it in later. I know B-1, you are anti-till.

I grew up in the Davy Crockett National Forest eating food grown by my grandfather (Papa) on land that his dad bought to grow cotton on a hundred years ago for something like $5 or $10 an acre. I've had small veggies growing in pots since grad school but just got a big enough place to plant a proper vegetable garden. I just laid out about 400 SF of landscaping fabric in the back yard, and in a few weeks I'm going to till up the soil and add some compost and get this party started. I'm stoked.

Bump.

Got ZooGuy's seeds in the mail the other day. Thanks (and Gig 'em) again, man.

Happy to report that I've got these guys coming in, as well as some cabbage and peas, but deleted those pics.

Still sitting at the "lettuce, spinach, onion stage". I'll spray some of my cover crop next week and plant a new kale variety I found, then kill the rest a week or so later ready for tomatoes, squash, and more lettuce.

My garden starts in April after the last chance of frost.

XpressAg09 said:

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Bump.

Got ZooGuy's seeds in the mail the other day. Thanks (and Gig 'em) again, man.

Happy to report that I've got these guys coming in, as well as some cabbage and peas, but deleted those pics.

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No prob, dude. I had a lot of leftover seeds! And I'm buying more this year! I'm nuts!

zooguy96 said:

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My garden starts in April after the last chance of frost.

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Me too. I've got pretty much everything ready to go.

Will be killing some of my cover crop this weekend, and then begin planting carrots and onions around Valentine's Day. Will also start most seedlings indoors around Valentine's Day also.

Quote:

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Will also start most seedlings indoors around Valentine's Day also.

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How romantic.

I've got two beds, a 8' keyhole garden, and a traditional 4x8 raised bed. All tomato in them. Researching on a different fertilization this year. For sure I'm going rock phosphate in the hole at planting instead of the Microlife I've used in the past. I'm trying to reduce the N this year.

I'll top dress with cow manure this weekend or next. I'll get my plants from the Harris County Master Gardener sale on Feb. 22nd. Plant as soon as weather permits. Mulching with this years leaves I saved. I also added a drip irrigation system for this season. I'm looking at adding a liquid fertilizer tank to the system as well.

I just received grow bags and trying carrots, beets, onion, and potato. If you have a good potting soil mix recipe I'm looking. The 7 gallon bags seem small but we'll see how it goes. Peppers in self wicking buckets.

The big experiment this year is growing cucumbers hydroponically out of my old rain barrel.

The beds are getting ready. I ordered the 3/4 gallon easy flow fertilization tank to add to the drip system. I'm pretty sure I had a P deficiency last year so I'm hoping this helps solve that. All of the readily available fertilizers have too much N in my opinion for raised beds. I top dress with cow manure compost and have good compost based soil.

There are a few out there like Greenway Biotech that is 4-18-38. I could continuously drip it after fruit set.. Materblend has a 5-12-25, Or should I try to do the 0-46-0, then also find a straight K also?

What does the agronomist say?

I have patched up the garden boxes and we have been planting with this nice weather. We top dressed with cotton burr compost. So far we have onions, carrotts, broccoli, cauliflower, beets,cabbage, brussell sprouts, spinich,arugula,, and perrenial asparagus that is starting to make. Probably 3 boxes of potatoes this week. We will cover with straw and hope for the best when the inevitible cold snap finally hits.