Strategies?

[johno]

What are your strategies when planning what to grow?

I normally spend untold hours planning which tomatoes to grow, for example. But this year my strategy is to grow anything in my stash that I haven't grown yet, and see if the rate of good new discoveries is better or worse than the years in which I spend all that time.

[canadamike]

Not much of a strategy per say, but I swear my life away I know where you are coming from...

Aint it great?
Ahhhhh! discovery...

[ottawagardener]

The most important variable for me is space. My biggest interest is in intersting, ornamental, self sustaining edibles so I give them some priority. However, soon, so soon, space will be much less of an issue!!! Then I'll really have to restrain myself.

[plantsnobin]

I can't say I have any strategy. I have been primarily an ornamental perennial grower, a bit of a plant snob even, so my friends say. Geesh, called me that just because I commented on just how horribly ugly the mimosa trees are along the road to Churchill Downs. But anyway, I am going to make an effort this year to grow as many edibles as I possibly can. Thanks to the PFAF website, I have come to realize just how many 'ornamentals' that I have are in fact edible, had not really given it much thought before. I have actually been tasting some of the things this year, which has led me in many cases to think that there is good reason why most of our diets consist of maybe 20 main types of food. So, I am really going to concentrate on the things that people might actually enjoy eating. I found out I don't really like fresh figs, but the plant I have has rooted through the terracotta pot into the ground in the greenhouse, so I guess it can stay. 2008 I was temporarily insane and bought I don't know how many different kinds of tomato seeds, didn't plant any of them, I dont' really even like them that much. So, I am not going to go nuts growing lots different varieties of the same species, but try to have a very broad range of many species/genus's.

[mnjrutherford]

I'm with Karen. We are working on diversity. I'm waiting to see how many fruit tree seedlings pop up. Our main program at this point is developing success from planting through harvest. Not as easy as it may sound due to ignorance. However, we are learning by leaps and bounds, literally. I'm also VERY much looking forward to seeing what happens to our corn. Our neighbor has told us that you can't plant seed from the corn you grow because the seed won't grow. I'm praying to prove him very incorrect. Not to show off, but to show that the blarney from the seed companies is just that, blarney.

[massachusett4hills]

Dec 5, 2009 23:26:30 GMT -5 johno said:

What are your strategies when planning what to grow?

My number one gardening strategy is to reduce my grocery bill...
To this end I reviewed what I planted this year.
Decide which plants I would like more or less of and looked at my expenses / Labor...
. weeding time ..pest management..
feeding requirments/watering.. crop variety space requirments.
As always rotate crops for pest control..

This is what I`m doing in 2010
(Most of my seeds are selected and saved from my seasonal plantings)
I May also try 2 or 3 new older varieties as well...

More rows of.....
Potatoes
Carrots
Bush beans
winter squash


Less rows of.....
Pole beans
Onions


Same rows of.....
kale
collards
squash
chard
broccoli
toemates
Spinach
Cabage

[mnjrutherford]

I like your layout Mass. It simplifies the process AND makes it easier to "build" on specifics. Do you do herbs at all?

I also forgot to mention that we are hoping to do a "beescape" and I would like to know what "beesy" folks think of it. We have 2 hives that both face toward the garden. Our nectar flow season is shockingly short, so short in fact that we didn't get a drop of honey out of our hives and the honey we got from a friend is a very poor quality particularly compared to what we are accustomed to from California.

Goals are:
1. Protect us when working in the nearby gardens
2. Maximize nectar flow
3. Make the bees happy
4. Eliminate the need to mow around the hive
5. Create clear access area for hive maintenance

My idea is to "draw" a circle around the hive. Plant the front and sides with woody herbs and flowers that will flower from spring to fall. Lay out garden fabric, cardboard, or whatever to squelch weed growth. Put down flagstones around the back of the hive to create a solid surface where we can do the maintenance work out of the way of the bees normal flight path.

I want to put in just a few plants at a time, the woodys would go in this winter, with flagstones around them to act sort of like planters, then add a few things each year. When all is said and done, plants would include:
clover
lavendar
basil
bee balm
borage
... drat, drawing a blank!
Anyway, the idea would be for things to either grow for a long time, like the woody herbs, or reseed themselves, like the clover.

So, what do you think?

[plantsnobin]

Jo, I don't have bee hives, and neither does anyone close to me, but this year I had lots of bees. The one plant above all others for honeybee activity was mountain mint. I'll try to find a couple of pictures to post. It bloomed from June to frost, even standing several light frosts. It spreads, but not uncontrollably. I don't know which species I have, but I could send you some in the spring if you remind me. Another late season must have is asters. And they also loved the very late blooming Allium thunbergii, which blooms past the frost too. I have seeds of that too if you would like to try from seed. They self seed for me, so they should do great where you are I think.

[bunkie]

karen, had to look up Mountain Mint. are you referring to wild mint?

we don't strategize too much here either. always looking for new things and perennial plants, just about all edibles.

[plantsnobin]

Pycnanthemum, there are several species, I got mine from my BIL's field.

[mnjrutherford]

Awesome Karen! That would be huge. I want to "collect" a few mints for medicinal and culinary use. Haven't had much luck thus far. I'm kinda thinking of adding some sort of rocks to the soil? I've never had asters and if it makes happy bees, I want to give them a shot. As for "Allium thunbergii" my brain immediately translated that into "Thunder Burger Onions". Don't ask why, I haven't a clue what sort of allium they really are, but I would like some of those as well. Just know that when they get here they will be known as Thunder Burger Onions. ;o)

[Alan]

Good question Johno.


For the first four years it was a matter of looking up, finding, and obtaining varieties that caught my interest and making ocassional hybrids here and there while selling the extras at market.

Now it has become a matter of segregating my new hybrids, growing the OP's I've already bred and established, and increasing the selection pressure on the rarest and best of the traditional heirloom OP's in my collection to maximize returns at market and build the Bishop's Homegrown brand while also continuing to fill in the gaps in my seed list.

I've done a fairly proficient job of building up the reputations of the varieties we grow and which are also all varieties that my family loves and utilizes as well. 90% of all of it I produce my own seed for, I hope to soon make that 96% or more.

My goal has always been to maintain bio-diversity while increasing the reliability of my crops, as such some of my crops are genepools selected for production as opposed to stable OP lines. My C. Pepo winter genepool and C. Pepo winter genepool are examples, of course also Astronomy Domine sweet corn which I do select from but in and of itself I will maintain as a "true breeding" genepool.

So I go look at things like this, since most of my varieties are already adapted to my agricultural methods I try to fill in all the spaces for things which we like to eat as well as what sells well as market, while leaving some space for expanding into new crops or varieties to introduce to market or trial for home use.

My best formula is as such:
One each of all colors of slicing tomato, cherry tomato, roma tomato and saladette tomato
3 sweet corns, seperated by DTM
4 field corns of four different colors which we use for home use and animal feed but grow four to increase market value for the extra corn which will make it to the farmers market.
A hot Pepper Genepool
A sweet frying pepper Genepool
A Bell pepper Genepool
One watermelon of each of the four colors or variously for home use a watermelon genepool
Herbs whatever Kim wants to grow
Cucumbers, one or two each of varying purpose types, usually genepool mixes of slicers and pickling types
and so forth....

[oldfatguy]

I have a strategy. I'm working on it right now as a matter of a fact. It doesn't matter though. Every row will still be crooked and everything will be crowded, as usual. I really try, honest. But it's like I get Buck Fever. I go crazy. I just can't help myself. The important thing is, I'm having fun. But hey, I grow some really nice stuff just the same. Last year, I had a radish that was bigger than my head. I think it was a radish. Could have been a rutabaga. I need to straighten out my rows this year.

[sandbar]

My strategy for this year is tuned more towards supplying the market rather than diversity.

For instance, I will grow about 8 "main crop" tomato varieties which will comprise about 90% of the tomato plants I put out. The remaining tomato plants will be a few cherries, a dozen or so new trials and some I will grow just for myself and friends (i.e. paste tomatoes).

Peppers will be targeted towards the fresh market (sweets, few hots) and dried market (super hots ... dried, ground, smoked, whole, etc.).

I have used the corn strategy for my sweet corn that Alan mentioned, however, this year I'll be planting only one variety (a mid-season) and planting succession plantings. I'll also, plant popcorn because it's fun.

Bees:

- Plant a barrier crop to lift the flight path up over the garden, or you'll be fighting them all summer long. Maybe trellis cukes along the edge of the garden where the hives are at. You DO NOT want to be standing or working in their flight path.

- If it was the first year for these hives (or a new colony in an old hive), then it is not surprising that you didn't get any honey from them. They will build food stores in the brood boxes before they put anything in the honey supers.

- Spray a weed killer at night to control vegatative growth around the hives. Or, put down landscape fabric and cover with stone.

[canadamike]

HEY SANDBAR IS BACK!!!!!!!

WELCOME BACK MY FRIEND!