Ok, this is more or less a list to myself of what I want to grow. If anyone actually reads this please feel free add some suggestions or comments.
1. Tomatoes. I always grow tomatoes. It's that simple. I figure half a dozen plants will do it because if I grow more plants than that I'll end up with way too many tomatoes like I did in '07. The varieties that I like are the ones that are not available in the stores and roadside stands, they all grow some variation of Rutgers because they are tough fruits that withstand shipping. The skins are thick and they aren't very tasty. Even the tomatoes billed as Beefsteak in the stores are a big disappointment as they are either lying about the variety or they are picked green. In addition they don't even look like Beefsteaks. Besides, I like growing great big, huge tomatoes. Perhaps I'll go for record setter by doing that trick of selecting one plant and pinching off all but a couple blossoms so it devotes all it's energy to one or two fruits.
a. Beefsteak and Supersteak - big, "sandwich tomatoes."
b. Red Lightening or the equivalent. That's a Burpee name and other seed companies give the same variety another name. They are medium sized and really tasty. They look like they are hand painted with orange streaks. I grew some last year but they were a little disappointing as the Spackle buckets I grew them in were really too small to be growing any kind of tomato plant in.
e. Brandywine: Mr. Patterson sold me a Brandywine plant last year and said it was the original New Jersey tomato. I have no reason to doubt him and they were really nice tomatoes. Mucho tastyo. I used a much larger container for this plant as well and attribute a lot of the success to that.
d. Other: Maybe some yellow maters - Yellow Magic - or some other unusual color pattern. You know I like unusual stuff. Porterhouse: A variation of Beefsteak. They look really enormous in the B catalog. Black Crim: Another variation of Beefsteak. Very dark, supposedly developed in the Crimea. Others look good in the catalog too. Tomande, Giant Pink Belgium. Ok that's more than six plants. I'll have to be selective. So many tomatoes, so little chance of not growing way too many tomatoes. Maybe I'll set up a roadside stand. a, b and c are definites.
2. Peppers: No hot peppers. I grew some jalapeños in '08 and they were blisteringly hot. I have no tolerance for hot stuff anymore so I had little use for them. I think there are still bags of them in the freezer if Kathy didn't throw them out.
a. Bell peppers: Three varieties: Red, golden and green. The B catalog has a variety called Chocolate Belle that looks good. It's purple. Purple is good.
b. "Italian" peppers. The long ones that aren't hot. The B catalog has varieties called Banarama, Marconi, Godfather and a really big one called Big daddy.
3. Onions and other members of the Allium family:
a. Yellow onions
b. Red onions
c. Garlic: I understand that growing it is a bit tricky. I'll give it a shot.
4. Asparagus: I don't know if there are different varieties of asparagus (besides green and white), I'm sure there must be and I'm going to find out. I think timing may be essential as asparagus is a perennial and I'll also have to be careful where I establish the beds so I won't have to move them.
5. Brussels Sprouts: I have tried for the past two years to grow these. Third time's the charm. I hope.
6. Artichokes: The same as the Brussels sprouts. As with the asparagus it's a perennial so location is important.
8. Beans and peas:
a. and b. I like wax and limas a lot. I didn't have a whole lot of luck with them in the past so I'm going to plant a couple different varieties of both. Maybe some Blackeyes too.
c. Snow peas: I like these as much as limas and wax so I'm going to put in a couple different varieties.
e. String beans: I've grown the Kentucky Wonder the past couple years and have had success but I think I'll skip them. They get too stringy. I think I'll try the Burpee Tenderpod. The claim they aren't stringy.
1. Italian Rose: These turned out fairly well last year but I didn't get enough of them growing in containers.
2. Purple King: The same as the above. They were tasty and tender.
9. Brassica: I have had mixed luck with brassicas due to cabbage loopers and other pests. I'm going to hope that Cream Ridge is lees friendly to these pests. I'm also going to be more vigilant spraying BT and will perhaps put netting over the plants.
a. Broccoli: Choose a couple varieties when it comes time to order seeds.
b. Cauliflower: The same as the broccoli and I'd like to see if I can get some purple cauliflower seeds too.
c. Broccoli Raab. Kathy likes to make "bitter broccoli" with peppers. I had great success with it in the past so it's a go for this year.
10: Squash and melons: Again as with the brassicas pests were a big problem. The squash vine borers devastated my two pathetic plants last year before they even bore fruit. I don't know what other tricks to use other than very vigilant spraying of BT.
a. Spaghetti squash: I love this stuff so it's a must.
b. Yellow squash: This time I'll be sure not to let the fruits get too big so they are tender and tasty.
c. Butternut squash: I had some last night and I liked it. I didn't know I liked it. You might not think that a person could live 51 years and never taste butternut squash but I have never been much of a squash eater. Someone gave me some squash when I was a small child and I didn't like it. Maybe it was just my juvenile pallet or maybe it was lousy squash.
d. Cantaloupe: I haven't tried this since I was a kid so I'll give it a go. The Breakfast Longkeeper may be a good idea s I don't want rotting melons in the house.
e. Pumpkin: I grew two pumpkins in '07 before the vine borers killed the plants. Neither were very big, decent sized, not dwarfs, but I'd be very happy if I could grow a couple really big ones. Maybe plant them in the front yard.
11. Berries: Again these are perennials so I'll have to place them carefully.
a. Strawberries: If the plants in the garage make it through the winter I'd like to add at least one different variety to them in particular the Alpine.
b. Raspberries: Perhaps black as well as red. Maybe gold too.
c. Blackberries: I don't see these in the B catalog. Perhaps I'll transplant some wild plants as they grow all over this part of Jersey.
e. Blueberries: Perhaps I'll see if I can get some plants from locals like the people in Whitesbog or simply "liberate" some plants that have gone wild in that neck of the woods.
12. Radishes and carrots:
a. Fire and Ice look like a good bet as does Watermelon.
b. Carrots: I don't care for big carrots. The small, sweet ones are just delicious right out of the ground and will grow well into the fall. Perhaps the Purple Dragon, Touchon and the Nantes.
13. Eggplant: I don't particularly care much for this as a food but prepared well, as in moussaka, it can be good. But I do enjoy greatly growing the rather attractive plants. So there.
14: Potatoes: Particularly the varieties that are not commonly available in the stores. I'll have to scare up an inexpensive source of seed potatoes as the B and other catalogs are really expensive. Potatoes should be cheap. I'll also use some store bought spuds for seed even though it's said that one should not do that. I've proven that a myth.
a. Red: While commonly available I like the little "new potatoes"
b. Blue
c. Fingerling: I'll have to plant quite a bit as experience shows that they don't have a very big yield and I really like the flavor.
d. Yukon Gold.
15: Peanuts: Really just a novelty. Peanuts are cheap enough and I'm not about to grow enough of them to make up for that fact. I have some seed "nuts" left over from last year so I'll see if I can get a few to germinate in a container and if they do I'll plant the rest.
16: Jerusalem Artichoke: Just found them in a catalog. Tubers. Nutty, potato like.
17. Spinach: How could I forget Spinach? At least two different kinds. The first crops in early spring.
18. Spices: Too many to list. I'll try to grow all of them. I'll plant them in beds around the house so their fragrance blows into the windows.
19. Ornamentals and flowers: This is going to take some careful selection. I want a lot of these around the house as well as the garden. I'll have to start most from seed because if I have to buy plants it will get mucho expensivo. Sunflowers are a definite as well as the big pink things. I'd like to get some odd looking things going too like Starflowers and Chinese Lantern.
20. Fruit Trees: I've decided that I'm probably better off buying these as young trees rather than start them from seed. I also realize that I will not get any decent fruit for a couple years. The sooner I start the better.
a. Cherry: I'm thinking two varieties. Definitely the small, tart cherries that I have made jelly from. The tree in my back yard when I was a kid, the tree out at the Howell Minipark and the trees next to the firehouse in New Egypt are this variety. I don't know what it's called but if I have to I'll saw off a branch and see if I can root it.
b. Apple: Again I'm thinking two varieties. For sure a yellow like Granny Smith and a red one. I want to avoid the mealy commercially available varieties. I once heard an NPR segment where a guy described his program to preserve heirloom varieties. Apparently there were once hundreds, perhaps thousands of different varieties of apples. The commercial apple industry put an end to this with their disease resistant and tougher, shipment resistant hybrids. Maybe I can get ahold of an heirloom tree or two.
c. Nuts: Maybe. I'll have to do some research into what will grow well here.
21. Trees: I like the big beech tree in the back and the oaks in the front are ok but I may cut down at least one of them. The evergreens forming a division between the backyard and the road are ok too but I'd eventually like to replace some of them with other kinds of trees.
a. Sycamore: I like sycamore trees. I like their great, big leaves and the bark that looks like it has a skin condition.
b. Hickory. The wood makes a great smoke and I gathered some hickory nuts from the New Egypt property and I'd like to try to sprout them.
c. Red Oak: I like the red leaves and it's the state tree.
What not to grow:
1. Corn. We are surrounded with it. In the summer the roadside stands have plenty of good fresh corn and they seem to be able to grow it a lot better than I can. I think I have some seed corn left over though. Perhaps I'll throw it in the ground out by the road as a novelty.
2. Watermelon: I don't particularly care for it and it takes up a lot of space and it's hard to tell when they are ripe.
3. Cucumber: I don't like cucumbers but I'll like to grow them just for kicks. I seem to like climbing, spreading plants like this so if you'll volunteer to take some cucumbers from me, I'll grow some.
4. Any ornamental that will spread uncontrollably: There were these violets that grew from bulbs all over the New Egyptian garden. They were the bane of my existence. I called them "booggers." while digging all the little bulbs out of the soil. They were impossible to keep out of the garden. It will be a real pleasure to work soil that isn't infested with them. I want to avoid things that will spread in this manner like the plague.
5. Horse Radish: See # 4 about things that spread and make a pest of themselves. I have heard that horseradish does this too. I like good horseradish so it's tempting to grow some. If I want some there are grocery stores that sell it fresh. The "mule radish" back in New Egypt was long thought to be horseradish and it was a pest. Not as bad as those damned violets but still a nuisance. I still don't know what that stuff was.
6. Grass: If I can kill it all I won't have to mow it. There must be something that will cover the ground that I don't have to mow.
7. Black Walnut trees: You can't eat the nuts, the roots poison other plants and the nuts they drop on the ground are a pain in the ass.
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