Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I've been a gardener for a number of years, but only annual and perennial flowers and herbs. Andy has promised to build me a vegetable bed this year (needed as our soil sucks, and I need to build in irrigation due to how dry it is here).

Best plants for a good gardener, but not one not experienced with veggies?

Amy

I would try kale, the lancianata variety (I am positive this is spelled wrong). My friends just put in a garden last summer. The kale was a big producer, and lasted long into the season. This variety cooks up well and retains beautiful color.

And of course, chard. The ultimate garden green.

Have fun Amy!

Strictly veggies or would you also consider herbs? Chives, thyme, sorrel, oregano, lavender, sage, marjoram, garlic chives, rosemary, chervil, lemon thyme are all perennials and are easy to care for. I've been growing them for years in my herb garden.

As far as other easy care veggies, I love to grow hot peppers, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, cukes, swiss chard, garlic and shallots. The only ones you won't be able to grow this summer are the garlic and shallots as they need to be planted around Columbus Day for July harves (at least here in Zone 5 in the NE).

I haven't had much luck with beans, lettuces, arugula strawberries. Basically anything that needs daily care or might bolt if not picked quickly and kept constantly moist.

Nance

"They" tell me I'm zone 6.5...the same as my old house in NY, but I don't buy that...at least not totally.

Nance, I do herbs in containers, but would absolutely consider making the switch to the bed. It may actually be more convenient that way.

Amy

Amy,

Greens are some of the easiest things to grow, esp. the Asian greens, that are "cut and come again"...sort of like weeds! Leaf lettuce is also this way, and you can probably grow these things a lot longer into the summer where you are than I can here. Mizuna, komatsuna, and bok choy are three of the easiest, and quickest greens, and keep growing until they bolt from the heat. And kohlrabi is one of my favorite veggies, and easy to grow, in spring and fall, though again, you may be able to grow it for longer, due to the cooler weather.

Zucchini is fast and easy, as long as you don't have the dreaded squash vine borer or squash bugs - the only thing you have to be diligent about is harvesting them often, or they get too big! Hot peppers like heat, so you would be better off growing those in pots, if you wanted them. Beans are easy, though unless you are putting up a fence, or something else to grow vines on, you will want bush beans, and you'll have to find a variety that does not all produce at once (commercial varieties have been bred to do this, so they can be mechanically harvested). Pole beans produce almost all season, once they get going. Cukes, tomatoes, tomatillos, melons, and many other things can be easily grown on fences - something I could not be without in my garden.

Dave

Thanks for the suggestions!

Dave, I am most definitely putting up a fence, as we have a ton of deer up here. Andy totally dislikes squash, except maybe butternut and acorn, so zucchini is pretty much out of the question. I think a ton of greens may be called for...

Amy

Amy
If memory serves me, you have a really short growing season, so I would start with veggies that do well with cool spring planting such as any variety of lettuce, and brussel sprouts, and do some root veggies,fennel, carrots, potatoes (any variety...little purple and fingerling...and the potato vines are beautiful in the garden) also any variety of cabbage. Most of these will be able handle an instant temp drop. I can only grow lettuce in the spring and fall, but I suspect you should be able to grow it al summer, so do successive planting to stretch your crop.
If Andy gets ambitious, you could put some metal hoops over the raised bed that will allow you to throw on a cover if you are going to get a frosty night. If you do that, I think any veggie would work, including some of the shorter producing tomatoes.
I will look at some of my books and see what else might be conducive to an alpine veggie garden.
ilene

Just talk of a garden makes me all giddy for warm weather!

Laurie

Amy
I looked for veggies that have a minimal time from gestation to harvest and here is the list:
lettuce
Green beans (bush variety)
potatoes
Chard
zucchini
cucumbers
cherry tomatoes
sweet peppers
Everything on this list needs only a max of 8 weeks from planting to harvest.
ilene

I am loving our new raised bed garden this year! We are by no means experts...we are learning as we go. In our garden right now we have: red sails lettuce, romaine, butterhead, rainbow chard, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauli, onions, various tomatoes, a few potatoes, carrots, leeks, chives, parsley, cilantro, oregano, basil, sage, mint, rosemary, thyme...

So far we have been harvesting the lettuces, chard, kale, herbs... The broccoli crowns are between 1-2 1/2 inches. Dave, when should we harvest these? We are worried they are going to flower.

We have had such good luck this year. No bug problems or deer/rabbits, which is surprising considering we are surrounded by woods. Now that I know it works, I plan on really going all out next year, planting our own seeds early, ordering the harder to find varieties online. We are also going to start our own compost pile. I saw this on Martha Stewart show and it looks good: http://www.amazon.com/Fiskars-5705-75-G ... LKQB766TYW

I also just bought into our first CSA! It is the first available CSA for this area. The family is really nice, and the guy seems to know what he is doing. He grows a ton of stuff. He is even starting shitakes right now... http://www.47daisies.com/