In this video we talk all about my plans for next year. 2 beds a whole lot of new crops.
Zone 7A – Greater Philadelphia
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3 Comments
The brassicas that I've had better success with are usually store-bought seedlings. They still seem to have bug issues, mostly aphids where we live. Had pretty good luck with lacinato kale and not so much luck doing broccoli. Both would need to be hosed down regularly (neem / high pressure water) to cut back on the aphids. The broccoli would get aphids so bad that the heads would have a hard time forming. Getting aphids off of all the nooks and crannies around the florets was just not worth the effort for me.
I tried to interplant toy choi all over a garden bed this last year and had almost no luck getting it to survive much more than a few days. The seeds sprouted but they were almost instantly mowed off at the ground level (bugs I think, the area was chicken wire / bird netted in).
Swiss chard always does great, it's one of the sturdiest greens that I've found to grow. We get some leaf miner issues, but, if it's not too bad you can just cut around those parts or pick unaffected leaves. I'm gonna try amaranth and various types of sorel (french, red-veined) this upcoming season to see how they do as greens. There are also some vining plants that are vigorous with edible leaves (sometimes described as spinach-like). Most greens that do well for me have to really tolerate afternoon heat / sun and be ok with the more arid climate here.
Carrots have usually been fairly easy to grow for me; I've always sprouted them outside in the spring with almost no effort other than keeping the soil moist. I'll have to try fall planting next year as I hear they tend to get fairly sweet when you harvest them as the night time temperatures get cooler. There's something about how sugars form in carrots and the temperature affects how it's utilized.
Chives are also on my bucketlist this year. I want to get them established in permanent locations and see how they do in the long term. I've had chives that sit in the shade all year without any added water (got maybe 16-18" of rain over the year) and not really seem to care. They didn't grow much, but I was kinda shocked that they held on without any input whatsover. I'll probably skip a lot of the other related plants (onions / garlic) due to how easy chives are.
Ross I’ve had so many over crowding issues with things like tomato and squash. How in the world are you able to grow tomatoes and squash in 1×1 squares according to your plot plan?
I'm a huge fan of the Asian greens myself, so I appreciate you turning me on to Kitazawa and some of these new heat tolerant varieties; If I plant two Kale plants this year it will be "two" many; the Portuguese varieties are good though. For the longest time, I've had far more success with arugula, rapini, and spinach on the shoulder seasons – specifically autumn (super easy). However, I noticed something from watching Curtis Stone growing Arugula and other greens in his hot climate of BC…If you plant Arugula and salad in succession, and cut it early before it bolts, you can get a continual harvest. The trick is not growing greens to maturity and then turn the bed over quickly after a few cuts. I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this? if you ever find a minute. Stone has a video called "HOW TO – Grow Greens In The Heat"