Okay, so you’ve found the space for your garden. Now, what to grow? Ask yourself these questions:
What do you like to eat? If you only have a small space, choose wisely and pick the things you are least likely to get sick of. For instance, while I like the occasional cucumber, I don’t like them enough to devote any garden space to the plants. I was drowning in cucumbers last year (my own fault, as I didn’t realize how productive a single plant could be and had 8 plants). Spinach and tomatoes, on the other hand? Though they produce a lot, I know I’m not going to get sick of them!
How much bang do you want for your buck? And not just in terms of money, but time, energy and space as well. If you consistently pick them, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes and herbs will keep producing more and more food. Plus, plants like spinach and radishes grow quickly, so you can do a second or even third planting throughout the season for even more produce! Plants like broccoli, onions and carrots, however, only grow one unit per plant and take a long time to mature, so they are’t as space or energy efficient. If you only have a little space, these probably aren’t the best choice.
Where do you live and when will you need to plant? Living in the northern part of the country, I know that our warm season is too short for me to plant all the seeds directly outside. Heat-loving plants like tomatoes and peppers need a lot of time to grow, so I’m going to need to start growing the seedlings indoors in the spring to plant outside once the soil warms up…and I’ll need space by a sunny window for that! But spinach and kale grow quickly enough and handle the cold well enough that I can wait and plant them directly outside.
What cans/freezes well (if you have space to grow a little extra)? I know I’m going to want to freeze some summer vegetables to use in the cold winter months. Most veggies such as spinach, beans, peas and corn freeze remarkably well, while tomatoes are easy to can in the form of chopped tomatoes, salsa and pasta sauce. Taking the time to freeze and can during the gardening season will save money and help me keep eating locally in the winter!
Next up: Choosing which varieties or breeds of each vegetable to grow!
What I’m Growing:
Vegetables
- Tomatoes (lots)
- Peppers (lots)
- Beans (lots)
- Peas (lots)
- Spinach (lots)
- Arugula
- Carrots
- Corn
- Kale
- Lettuce
- Lima Beans
- Soybeans
- Summer Squash
- Cauliflower (maybe)
- Brussels Sprouts (maybe)
Fruits
- Melons
- Maybe some cherries or raspberries… still considering this!
Herbs
- Basil (lots–I want to freeze some pesto)
- Chives
- Dill
- Mint
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Sage
Flowers
- Marigolds
- Nasturtiums
- Geraniums
- Rest to be determined…
What are you going to grow?? Or if you aren’t gardening, what do you wish you could grow?
we’ve been looking through seed catalogs and picking ours, too!
Definites:
tomatoes
green beans
peas
strawberries
squash
figs (already have 2 fig trees in our new yard)
asparagus so we’ll have some next year
possible:
blueberries, if we can get a bush to plant
cherries (obviously, we won’t have them this year. takes a while for the tree to mature enough to produce)
I’m debating between cherries and raspberries and can’t decide…but know we only have the budget for one or the other right now! Hmmm….
Also, I’m jealous of the fig trees.
Which is weird, because I don’t think I’ve ever had a fig…
I love that you know how to do all of this b/c the past few years of living where I have lived have not been very good for gardens.
Tucson: We lived out in the middle of nowhere, and the rabbits would eat everything in my compost pile before it could decompose despite the chicken wire that I put up. I don’t think a garden would have been good there.
Germany: not very viable where we lived
Spokane: We have a huge yard, and I’m excited. We got hit with a lot of snow last night, and it is 13 degrees out now. I don’t think I’ll be starting anything this week! haha
Yeah, it is going to be a few months before we can actually plant outside here too!
my favorite things to grow are spinach, basil, cilantro, squash, eggplants, and peppers! they’re the vegetables i know i’ll eat and eat and eat as long as i have them on hand!
Wow, look at your spread. You are going to have such wonderful & fresh produce. I am jealous!
In response to your email – yes, we get a lot of sun here in northern Cali. I’ve never looked into container gardening. We have fresh herbs, but I’ll have to see about containers!
I have a post about container gardening coming up in the next few weeks that will hopefully help!
Great info and advice! My favs are spinach and tomatoes!
I love the list of all the things you are going to grow! Billy and I planted a garden last spring with tomatoes, jalapenos, cucumbers, watermelons, arugula, parsley, cilantro, etc. It was such a fun project for us! We don’t have an area to plant this spring, but maybe we’ll use the space in his mom’s backyard.
…Just planted the pea seeds! And an asparagus patch!
Awesome! You must live someplace warm, because it is going to be a few months before we can plant here!