View Full Version : What's your fave veggie to grow?
fidgiegirl
3-29-13, 6:09pm
We started some of our seeds today! Tomatoes, peppers, flowers, some herbs, cauliflower, brussels sprouts. Squashes we'll wait to start in a few weeks, unless someone can make a convincing argument otherwise.
I was thinking about veggies - so many we've not tried to grow or maybe even ever tried to eat! What's your fave veggie to grow - for ease, for taste, for fun, or for whatever reason?
Do I really have to pick just one?
I love homegrown asparagus - it is so different from purchased. But I've had trouble with my plants the past couple years. Hoping they are ok this year.
Sugar snap and snow peas are easy and perfectly lovely when fresh from the garden.
Squash are fun because they are so productive and sprawl all over the place.
And it's great to go cut a salad of mixed leafy greens from the garden.
Chard keeps all season! It provides salad and cooking greens long after other greens have given up from heat.
My least favorite:
bell peppers. I don't know what they do to produce the monsters you see in the supermarket, but nothing like that has ever come from any of my gardens, and I've gardened in NC, AZ, and MN.
My least favorite:
bell peppers. I don't know what they do to produce the monsters you see in the supermarket, but nothing like that has ever come from any of my gardens, and I've gardened in NC, AZ, and MN.
That's funny. I try bell peppers every year, and DH always tells me not to bother, and I always say I'm going to try again, and no dice. I also tried jalapeņo, which I thought would be great--they weren't bad. I'm going to try again this year. I just like knowing if I crave salsa or gazpacho or guac I'll be good to go.
I tend to like to grow the things I use.
I LOVE the cucumbers. I also love basil, cilantro, parsley (curley is my favorite), tomatoes OF COURSE, and kale, lettuce.
Tomatoes!!! There's nothing like homegrown. I especially love growing cherry tomatoes---I can just sit out in my garden eating them like candy!
Tomatoes!! Yes you know I used to hate tomatoes until I had tried them fresh from the garden, lets just say I converted right then and there. I also love spinach! This year I'm going to try growing them under a row cover to keep those leaf miners out. And I'm going to try a new experiment of Watermelons on a trellis (small varieties of course)
fidgiegirl
3-29-13, 11:08pm
Fun to the trellised watermelons! All of it sounds fun, actually . . .
Peppers - we've had reasonably good luck, believe it or not! Looking forward to some mini sweet peppers this year.
Anyone else?
My least favorite:
bell peppers. I don't know what they do to produce the monsters you see in the supermarket, but nothing like that has ever come from any of my gardens, and I've gardened in NC, AZ, and MN.
If you can, try California Wonder" bell peppers. They are huge. And another called Carmine are huge and delicious also.
My least favorite:
bell peppers. I don't know what they do to produce the monsters you see in the supermarket, but nothing like that has ever come from any of my gardens, and I've gardened in NC, AZ, and MN.
If you can, try California Wonder" bell peppers. They are huge. And another called Carmine are huge and delicious also.
Wildflower
3-30-13, 2:32am
Tomatoes are my fave for sure!!! And radishes make me happy too. :)
Hmm... CA Wonder is the variety of bell pepper I tried growing for many years! I always got very small, thin-walled peppers. My chile peppers produced abundantly, so after a while I just started growing Anaheims instead of bell peppers - they are quite mild.
Green beans as none taste as good as the homegrown either fresh or frozen plus tomatoes of all kinds in all types of dishes. Leaf lettuce is good in the spring as well.
Cucumbers and tomatoes (for their freshness and taste). Nothing beats the flavour of fresh garden grown cucumbers and tomatoes, and they are so easy.
I haven't gardened for a while but one of my favorite more unusual things was turnips (the white ones - not rutabaga) but especially for the turnip greens. If I garden again I'd plant more just for the greens. They have this weird fuzzy texture which I enjoyed raw. Also kale. I find the kale in the store so hard to chew. I think growing it allowed me to harvest it a bit younger.
Hmm... CA Wonder is the variety of bell pepper I tried growing for many years! I always got very small, thin-walled peppers. My chile peppers produced abundantly, so after a while I just started growing Anaheims instead of bell peppers - they are quite mild.
Not sure either. I know when I grow California Wonders they are nearly as big as my foot! The carmines were too. They are not a bell, they are more of a sweet pepper.
I haven't gardened for a while but one of my favorite more unusual things was turnips (the white ones - not rutabaga) but especially for the turnip greens. If I garden again I'd plant more just for the greens. They have this weird fuzzy texture which I enjoyed raw. Also kale. I find the kale in the store so hard to chew. I think growing it allowed me to harvest it a bit younger.
Do you try other varieties of Kale? The dinosaur kale seems much more tender. I didn't like my experience with kale either. My dil likes the dinosaur kale. I felt the leaves and they are much more tender than the most common curly variety.1233
Tussiemussies
3-30-13, 10:40pm
I love to grow plum tomatoes for making spaghetti sauce, beefsteaks for sandwiches and sometimes I'll try a different variety. Peppers and sometimes I let most of them turn red. Banana peppers and some times jalapino. Cubes, eggplant. Over the years I have grown many different items and enjoyed them all, especially the cantaloupe and small watermelons....
fidgiegirl
3-30-13, 11:17pm
Getting so pumped!! Rosemary, the mini greenhouse I picked up on your recommendation has the seeds in such a nice little warm spot . . . . I have high hopes for this year!
Probably the cut & come again salad greens & mesclun mix I sow every March. Because it's sooo easy, and then we have fresh, tender salad greens every night till about June when it bolts. They're up & we'll be cutting them in about 14-20 days!
Me, too, Kelli! I'm going to start my seeds today... didn't get to it last week. But they've increased the forecast temps a little for this week and are indicating more sunshine, so I need to get moving!
The things that dominate our garden are tomatoes, garlic, various greens (tuscan kale, collards, tiny little bok choys...), basil, and potatoes. I love growing all of those things.
Thought about it and came up with a 3 way tie. Chili peppers, tomatoes and green beans. Too many uses for the first two to even name and we know about 50 ways to fix green beans so I never get bored with them. Bought most of my seeds this weekend. Chomping at the bit to plant, but I'm afraid its still almost a month off. We got a dusting of snow last night. Blea.
Gardenarian
4-8-13, 6:54pm
Radishes because they are so fast! I like the Easter egg ones that come in all different colors.
Chard, because it is so easy - it even reseeds itself so we have a constant crop. And it's pretty - I like to plant nasturtiums in with rainbow chard. Pretty!
Tomatoes, because they taste so good.
I'm looking forward to planting Indian corn this year - almost time to plant.
decemberlov
4-12-13, 10:23am
That's funny. I try bell peppers every year, and DH always tells me not to bother, and I always say I'm going to try again, and no dice.
We never have luck with our peppers either!!
I love growing eggplant, cucumbers, string beans and tomatoes!! Nothing like sending the kiddos out to the garden to gather dinner for the evening :)
iris lily
4-12-13, 11:27am
I'll tell you what grows like a weed here: okra. It won't like MN, but it surely loves St Louis. DH always grows it and we eat probably 1/10th of it.
I'll tell you what grows like a weed here: okra. It won't like MN, but it surely loves St Louis. DH always grows it and we eat probably 1/10th of it.
I grow it so we can slice it lengthways, deep fry it then toss it in a sweet/hot chili power kind of mix. Try that and you won't have so much left over! Man can not live on gumbo alone.
Trying to pick out my favorite veggie is like having to choose which child I like best! I love them all, for different reasons!
I love tomatoes and cucumbers. We mix them with olive oil, vinegar and herbs for almost every summer meal.
The snow peas are great fresh or in stir fries.
The winter squash is so yummy in the winter.
The green beans and peppers are great all summer long, and through the winter.
I just can't pick a favorite!
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