What is a good amount of garden?

[digitS']

I think that might be part of my problem. I want to try a little bit of everything right out of the gate! I've never heard of Kohlrabi before this forum - what's it taste like? Do you eat the funny little bulb or just the leaves? . . .

Kohlrabi is something like a turnip, but not as sweet.
It is something like a radish, but not hot.
Mostly, it reminds me of a peeled broccoli stem.

I like "the funny little bulb" just fine. I don't care about those sweet turnips and often, radishes are too hot for me .

But, taste is subjective - ya know? The US has become a veggie-limited society. I mean, if the average teenager didn't have tomato sauce with pizza and french fries with everything - he or she would eat no veggies at all!

Steve

[WinglessAngel]

LOL Steve very true!! I was an exception to the bunch when I was a kid, I always ate salads and hardly ever ate meat when I was a kid, my parents had NO idea how great they had it with me....we would go out to eat and I would want a salad for dinner LOL....they always said I could have that at home if I wanted and would get mad....but with any luck, when I have a kid, my kid will be the same as me growing up and I don't care if all they want is salads, at least their eating their veggies! LOL

[Aya]

I completely agree Steve - its kinda sad really. I was like pp and loved veggies and salads. So far my daughter does too, let's hope it stays that way!

[WinglessAngel]

aya another thing about the kohlerabi is that most kid DO like it as well, as it is a very unsual looking veggie, and lots of kids like things that are unusual looking LOL...there are also the giant versions as well for all intents and purposes from what ive heard are just as good tasting and don't get woody even when big, look it up on the internet on google images, u can see what they look like, I think its alaska giant or something like that, but if u just put in giant kohlerabi u should see some pics....ive heard lots of kids call it the alien plant/veggie which is why I think so many of them like them....

[cynthia_h]

If I had limited my gardening to what I *already* liked, I would never have experienced fresh kale, among other veggies. The *only* kale I've ever eaten is that out of my own garden. I haven't even bought any from the produce store a block away!

And fresh peas are so $$$ that it really pays to grow them at home, even if you harvest sufficient numbers only for garnishing.

Fresh fava beans I had never purchased UNTIL I picked them out of my Square Foot Garden at MIL's house. WOW! Now I grow them here, I grow them there, and I purchase them as well, since the favas seem to have a difficult time making it back to my house from Palo Alto...I end up with a lot of compost material, but not many beans. Hey, a driver's got to eat; right? (Another pricey veggie.)

Arugula. $$$, so grow it at home if you like it. Radicchio, ditto. Tomatoes, since even in season, the really good ones don't travel well and won't show up at the stores.

As to why people grow stuff they don't like: I have at least one answer to this. My strange gardening experiences in Atlanta (college + working) included a desperate need for quick success. My Man and I read seed packets like crazy and found that radishes had the shortest germination + days to harvest period, so we bought some radish seeds and put them out in (maybe?) March. By mid- to late April, we had radishes!

Only to discover that, despite their glorious color and odor, neither of us could stand eating them. *sigh* But at least we knew that something would grow behind the house (where the southern exposure was).

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[Aya]

I'm funny with radishes - sometimes I like them and sometimes I don't. Hubby is very hesitant to try new things, but he's pretty good about eating his veggies too. Imagine if I plopped a Kohlrabi on his plate (Prolly wouldn't, but ya gotta admit - it would be funny!)

[WinglessAngel]

LOL hey a wife's gotta have some fun with their hubby's right?

[Des_WA]

Welcome fellow Seattlite!

I'm also a big fan of tomatoes, just be careful to choose varieties that product earlier rather than later. Our springs and summers are cooler and shorter than some tomatoes prefer and you may not get much (or any) of a harvest out of a long season variety here. A pretty good semi-local seed source is Territorial Seed

https://www.territorialseed.com/

They're in Oregon I believe but if you browse their tomatoes, for instance, you can get an idea of what may work around here. You may want to stick with ones listed as 75 days or fewer to start with. Last summer I bought some Mortgage Lifter tomatoes (95 days) and neglected to educate myself sufficiently and didn't get a single tomato harvested from it...

[digitS']

And, Territorial's 75-day tomato isn't some other seed company's 75-day tomato.

They are actually using numbers from their test garden there in the Coast Range, as best as I can understand. Here is an example of what I mean:

Big Beef Tomato is an 80-85 days variety according to Territorial.

78 days, Tomato Growers Supply
73 days, Park
73 days, Jungs
73 days, Burpee
73 days, Burgess
73 days, Stokes

You know, it makes me wonder if some of these others actually have trial gardens and, B, where they come up with their days-to-maturity ratings.

Steve
who can grow Big Beef despite having a much, much shorter season than the Emerald City

[DeborahL]

Wingless Angel, I meant I'm not going to experiment anymore. I'm sticking with what works for me.

[digitS']

I guess I should try to clarify also.

Big Beef may well not be suitable for your garden, Aya. I really don't know. Des_WA should have a much better idea than those outside of your area.

My garden is not too far from Seattle (about 300 miles) but it is also tomato challenged. Mostly, I am just bragging about coming just a little closer than the Seattle area to these days-to-maturity ratings. Here, Big Beef performs much closer to what Territorial claims than what Burpee, etc. claim. It is almost as late a tomato as I can grow and still expect ripe fruit.

I do have some early-earlies and rely heavily on the quicker-maturing cherry tomatoes in my garden over here, on the not-so-emerald side of the hill.

Steve

[rainbowgardener]

Agree, I don't waste time growing things I know I don't like, like cucumbers. I also don't grow things that I like (like beets) that no one else in the family will eat. Not worth it to me, though I miss the beets.

But it is really worth experimenting with all the things out there that you might like, but haven't discovered yet. I had never eaten swiss chard until I started growing it. Now I really like it and it is my favorite thing to grow because so productive.

[gardenbean]

And if you do end up growing veggies that you or your family don't enjoy, there is always a local food bank who would be more than happy to take them off your hands. Maybe some other family in your community would enjoy them!!

[Aya]

That's a wonderful idea. The tomatoes I have now are Red Lightning and Large Red Cherry. Cherry/Grape tomatoes are my favorite, and I never looked to see what the harvest rate is for the red lightnings. I ordered a catalog from Territorial, so maybe I'll get some awesome ideas for next year too!

[Des_WA]

This will be my first year with any cherry tomato types and I'm only growing one (Black Cherry). I'm probably going to expand that into two cherry varieties starting next year. The good thing about a lot of cherry types (other than a lot of them being early enough to grow well in Seattle) is that they are usually pretty amenable to growing in containers. The other tomatoes I'm growing this year are Brandywne, Black Krim, Pruden's Purple, Pink Berkeley Tie Die, and Large Barred Boar. I grew Brandywine last year but they were a bit late on the start and I didn't get much fruit. I had a Black Krim plant last year (just one) and the fruit was amazing, so I'm trying again. The rest are new to me so we'll see how they do!

If you have limited in-ground space you can get a big tub (like a rubbermaid storage tote), poke some drainage holes in the bottom, throw in some nice potting soil, add some bottom rollers and stick the cherry tomatoes in there and they'll be happy. You can roll it in and out of the house depending on the weather, particularly in the early spring when temps are so variable (like now!). Just make sure you check they are determinate tomatoes - indeterminates grow huge and are more difficult to deal with in a container.

[Dillbert]

Aya -

as you've read, with no experience, starting small is more apt to succeed. you will learn few things along the way.

now, starting small doesn't mean abandoning all thoughts for future planning.... think ahead - it makes later life easier (g)

some oddball thoughts on the post chain....

corn and melons - these are _huge_ space consumers - not a good "space to crop" yield. melons are not good candidates for freezing / etc - corn you can can/freeze. I gave up growing corn decades ago because when it's (locally) in season I can buy and can / freeze myself to a cob and still have my own garden space.


if the end intent is to "put up" enough food to (substantially) feed a family of 4 through the winter, you'll need an acre plus, lots of canning jars and several freezers. regrettably it is an impractical goal for most people.

"I'm going to concentrate on: Tomatoes (Cherry and Regular Size), Carrots, Lettuce, Spinach, Potatoes, Peas, and Herbs."

tomato - cherry tomatoes don't come out of the freezer/canner all so great - best limit them to what you can consume fresh. other tomato are easily canned/frozen. 6-8 good yielding plants is enough for two fresh/frozen. I cook down any excess with onion/green pepper (next row over....) and we horde that stash for homemade pizza. if you haven't had a pizza with your own tomatoes, you're missing a really good thing (g)

my garden plot is about 800 sq ft - we eat fresh throughout the season, I put up any excess.
potatoes: I buy the seed potato, cut them, air dry them, about 20 sprout plantings keeps two in spuds through the fall. you can easily grow more - but storing them over the winter is not duck soup. you'll need something like a "root cellar"

carrots need a deep soft / loamy soil - one can be disappointed with carrots trying to grow in hard clay - what's you soil like?

"about 9 healthy pea plants, which I think might be too much "
uhmmm, not really. I have wire trellis - total of 18 linear feet, planted both sides, 36 row feet of peas sown perhaps 20-30 peas/plants per foot. I _may_ get enough 'left over' to freeze a couple quarts. there is no such thing as too many peas.....

lettuce, spinach, peas... these all fade away in summer heat. plan for something like green / wax / lima beans to fill up that space. get ruthless - peas done, rip 'em out and put something else in.

leaf lettuce I plant in a wide row; I harvest to thin out the 'patch' so the remaining plants grow nicely. if you have a 'shady' spot - that's for lettuce and spinach - the shade aka lack of hot sun can extend their harvesting time. when they 'bolt' and send up seed stalks, all done - taste goes off/bitter.

herbs - consider doing these in pots - some have very different culturing needs (aka "Mediterranean") plus if you have a sunny spot in the house, you can bring them indoors and continue to harvest thru the winter.

[gixxerific]

I didn't read the thread but I'm sure it has been said over and over NOT MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE.

[garden5]

If I had limited my gardening to what I *already* liked, I would never have experienced fresh kale, among other veggies. The *only* kale I've ever eaten is that out of my own garden. I haven't even bought any from the produce store a block away!

And fresh peas are so $$$ that it really pays to grow them at home, even if you harvest sufficient numbers only for garnishing.

Fresh fava beans I had never purchased UNTIL I picked them out of my Square Foot Garden at MIL's house. WOW! Now I grow them here, I grow them there, and I purchase them as well, since the favas seem to have a difficult time making it back to my house from Palo Alto...I end up with a lot of compost material, but not many beans. Hey, a driver's got to eat; right? (Another pricey veggie.)

Arugula. $$$, so grow it at home if you like it. Radicchio, ditto. Tomatoes, since even in season, the really good ones don't travel well and won't show up at the stores.

As to why people grow stuff they don't like: I have at least one answer to this. My strange gardening experiences in Atlanta (college + working) included a desperate need for quick success. My Man and I read seed packets like crazy and found that radishes had the shortest germination + days to harvest period, so we bought some radish seeds and put them out in (maybe?) March. By mid- to late April, we had radishes!

Only to discover that, despite their glorious color and odor, neither of us could stand eating them. *sigh* But at least we knew that something would grow behind the house (where the southern exposure was).

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

I have to agree with Cythia. I like to try new things just about every year in the garden. Even things that I may not be that wild about. The reason is that many crops taste different coming out of the garden than coming out if the grocery bag .