How Did They Grow? Reviewing Five New Garden Varieties in 2013

Every year I like to pick out new garden varieties to try out for the following season.  It keeps gardening interesting and allows me to experience different vegetables and compare them to what I am already growing.  For 2012, I chose 5 different plants that I picked based on productivity, uniqueness and compactness.  You can read my original post here where I picked them - "One Way to Beat Garden Boredom."

So here were my picks with the garden packet photo on the left and my produce on the right...

 

1.  Summer Green Tiger Zucchini:  

 I chose this zucchini because it was a compact plant and because it was described as having a pleasant nutty flavor.  What was the result?  I would give this squash an A+ for productivity, compactness, disease resistance and delicious flavor!

It tasted great no matter what size it grew to and we gobbled this zucchini up all summer.  I had one plant that withstood all the fungus our wet and cool summer provided and it was faithful to give us lots of zucchini!

My small amount of beans are located in the right photo, bottom middle.

2. Dragon Tongue Wax Bush Bean:

This yellow wax bean caught my eye because of its unique markings and that fact that it was an heirloom made it a fun try in the garden.  What was the result for 2013?  I would give this bean a B - as it was a good tasting bean but it germinated very poorly even after two plantings.  Of course, some of this could be the season or it could have been the seed lot, but it was very spotty in germination and I had a lot of blank spaces in the garden.  The plants that did grow were semi productive.  This was a fun plant to try but I don't think it'll make it to the garden in 2014.

 

3. Sweet Pickle Pepper:

This little pepper plant looked adorable in the seed catalog and its little fruits were too hard to resist!  How did it grow in my garden?  Well I planted some in the garden and some in containers.  I would say they both grew equally well.  How did they fare?  I would give them a B.  They weren't as productive as the catalog photo but they did put on a decent amount for fresh eating.  I didn't get enough to can even though I grew at least 8 plants.  The taste was okay, not too sweet, the skins a little tough but not bad.  I will grow these again because I like having snack peppers to eat while working outside.  I would classify these as a novelty plant and not a heavy producer.

My Tumbling Toms got hit by late blight.

4. Tumbling Tom Yellow Tomatoes:

I grew these because I love how they are made to tumble and what fun to grow them in containers too.  The yellow variety was a nice change from the usual red tomatoes.  How did these little gems do?  These tomatoes get a C as a grade.  Unfortunately, they were difficult to germinate as well and the plants that did make it succumbed to blight and leaf spot. They managed to give me quite a few tomatoes, not as many as in the seed catalog photo, but enough to enjoy them.  Our wet cool summer wasn't a help for these tomatoes, but I am willing to try them next year hoping our summer temps next year will produce better results.  I really want to grow these as I loved growing vegetables in a vertical space.  Stay tuned to see how they work!

5. Small Wonder Hybrid Squash:
Last but not least was this smaller variety of spaghetti squash.  I grew it for its relatively compact vines but especially its smaller fruits.  It was listed to be very productive.  The result?  This one gets an A+!!  I have so many of these squash ranging in size from a softball to a small pumpkin.  They taste great and they did very well in the garden.  They held up well despite the fungal disease going on because of the wet weather and I have more than enough for winter.  I loved these and am going to include them again for 2013!  It was a rough year for many garden crops because of the weather and whatever made it through is definitely a keeper!

And that was the results of my 2013 Garden Trials.  Overall, I was very happy with my newest additions and most of them will be making a comeback in 2014.  It's great to keep a record of your garden plant varieties so you can make the best choices when it comes to planting time.  It's hard to believe, but you don't always remember what plants grew the best in your garden.

What was your favorite garden plant for 2013?

Blessings!!


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Container Plant How-to's

 

Whenever I'm looking for a burst of color in a sea of gray pavement, nothing does the trick of filling out a space like container plants.  They are colorful and mobile and bring life to an otherwise boring spot in the yard.

I've been growing flowers in pots for years now and learn something new every year.  I've really settled on flowers that I love and always look in gardening catalogs for new inspiration with different color and plant combinations.  

If you're considering making your own flower containers this year, it's good to know some basic information in order to have the best flower display all summer long.

 1. Know your location.

 Is your spot shady?  Full sun?  Windy? Sheltered?  These are all important things to know when considering what plants to choose for your containers.  Place an empty pot in the spot you're looking to plant and get a general idea of the sun/shade conditions.  I tend to go with plants that can tolerate sun/part shade as I have mostly an eastern exposure with some later afternoon sun.  
Is the spot near a easy water source?  Locating pots far away from easy watering is an invitation to dead plants.  My pots are always located close to an outside rain barrel or indoor water source.  
Is the spot in a hot,  non sheltered location? You may also want to consider using a self-watering planter and plants that are good with hot sun for 6-8 hours.  This will limit your flower choices but it's so important to plant to your location for the best results.

2. Make sure to pick great soil and use the best pots. 

I like to make my own potting mix blend.  I generally use a bag of great basic potting soil, a bag or two of vermiculite or perlite, and a bag of peat moss.  I don't like watering plants twice a day so I tend to use half soil and half of a soil lightener to get a great mix.  I try to use a bit less soil in the hanging plants so they aren't so heavy but enough soil so one watering will be good for them.  
I like plastic pots the best.  I do have a terra cotta pot I use, but I have to keep it in standing water as it dries out way too fast.  Plastic is light, moisture retentive, easy to store and reusable year after year.  Porcelain is nice too, but is heavy and can't be kept out all winter as it will crack.   

3. Pick the flowers and plants that will work best for your containers.

You will want to choose the best flowers for your sun/shade location and ones that will give you continuous color all season long.   I have gone back and forth with flower choices over the years to figure out what works best for us.  I like pinks, blues and purples the most, but have found my tastes have evolved as I discovered certain flowers just didn't handle the long bloom season.  Like the "Wave" series of petunias would be beautiful for a month or so but would really burn out by mid-summer.  I would have to pinch them way back and wait for them to rebloom.  It didn't work for me because I want color all the time...all season.  The flowers in the photo above are excellent in containers giving me great color all season, holding their color, not needing deadheading, can handle dry conditions and are generally hardy.  Some are old fashioned, like begonias and coleus, but they are beautiful and last a long time.  Don't forget to add non-flowering plants like coleus, caladium bulbs and even herbs to your collection.
You may want to plant the same kind of flowers all in one pot when placing the pots in a large display.  Some plants are more vigorous and will overtake another plant.  Try to find out what the flowers growing habits are before putting them together.  I solved this problem by planting the same flower varieties in the same pot and then placing the pots all together.  It also helped me to see what plants were more aggressive.  Always check the growth size of your plants as well.  Taller plants will always overtake the shorter varieties.

4. "Overplant" your flowers and fertilize with a long 
 season fertilizer as well as weekly feedings.

You will want to plant as many flowers in a pot in order to get the pot to be lush and overflowing.  This is the one time you can ignore the little tags as to flower spacing and "crowd" your container with flowers. I figured this out after buying different hanging flowers pots.  After the growing season, I noticed they overfilled their containers with plants.  By doing this, your pots will fill out quickly with foliage and eventually blooms instead of waiting the whole growing season for this look, you can achieve it much faster by overplanting.
Fertilize, fertilize and fertilize!!  I use an organic 2 month granular fertilizer as well as an organic weekly or monthly one.  This will keep all the blooms nice and healthy and solves the problem of the overplanted container.  As long as you water and fertilizer consistently, you're sure to have beautiful blooms.

This is the basic information that I have discovered along the way and I continue to learn more as I experiment with different flowers and plant combinations.  Planting your own containers is a great way to express your own creativity and to create your own floral space.  

What are some of your favorite flower combinations?  Blessings!


 
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