I was very pleased with many food plants I tried last year. So as I’m planning my garden for this spring, here are plants I want to grow again.
Lemon Cucumbers are a bit unusual yet very tasty. I bought new seeds last and with fairly regular rain, they produced heavily. These cucumbers are lemon yellow, roundish like an apple and taste very similar to a regular cucumber, but rarely turn bitter. Westcoast Seeds has another ‘white’ Australian cuke, an old heirloom called Crystal Apple. Apparently it’s “less scrambly”, so I’m going to compare the two.
Lemon Cucumbers are a bit unusual yet very tasty. I bought new seeds last and with fairly regular rain, they produced heavily. These cucumbers are lemon yellow, roundish like an apple and taste very similar to a regular cucumber, but rarely turn bitter. Westcoast Seeds has another ‘white’ Australian cuke, an old heirloom called Crystal Apple. Apparently it’s “less scrambly”, so I’m going to compare the two.
Melons: In 2017 I purchased a Sugar Baby Watermelon (75 days to maturity) at Kuhlman’s and it produced only 2 melons, but they were very delicious. So in 2018, I’m going to try my own watermelon seedling, a variety called Diana (75 days) with a yellow skin and dark pink flesh.
A very prolific producer last year was a musk melon plant I bought from Kuhlman’s and another one I received from a friend. Both musk melons were not super sweet, but it was a nice treat to pick one from the basked almost every day for a couple of weeks. I saved some seeds and will be growing them again.
Squash: I grow some varieties of squash every year because they store right into March or April. I really like Red Kuri squash or Gold Nugget. For 2018, I am very excited to try out Styrian Hullless Pumpkin from Heritage Harvest Seed, because the seeds are “naked” and can be harvested and used directly! This pumpkin takes around 95 days to maturity, so it is a bit of a gamble and will be race against time before next winter.
A very prolific producer last year was a musk melon plant I bought from Kuhlman’s and another one I received from a friend. Both musk melons were not super sweet, but it was a nice treat to pick one from the basked almost every day for a couple of weeks. I saved some seeds and will be growing them again.
Squash: I grow some varieties of squash every year because they store right into March or April. I really like Red Kuri squash or Gold Nugget. For 2018, I am very excited to try out Styrian Hullless Pumpkin from Heritage Harvest Seed, because the seeds are “naked” and can be harvested and used directly! This pumpkin takes around 95 days to maturity, so it is a bit of a gamble and will be race against time before next winter.
Sweet Potatoes: A friend ordered Georgia Jet Sweet Potato slips from Mapple Farm for me and I grew them in 4 inch pots inside until they were ready to be transplanted in early June last year. My deeper bed at home with lots of compost produced slightly fewer but larger tubers compared to my community garden patch. There the soil has more clay (and more sun) and the tubers were thinner and longer.
While we enjoyed many of the small roots that traveled quite far and wide in my raised garden bed, I was not sure I would repeat my efforts. Until some of the smaller roots started sprouting in January... So I've decided to give it another try and pot them up. I will plant the slips into a very large black planter in late May. I'm hoping the extra heat might produce larger roots. Below, I have listed some companies that ship sweet potato slips - you will need to decide very soon as they will sell out!
Burts Greenhouses (ON)
Gelert Garden Farm (ON)
Sage Garden Greenhouses (MN)
Mapple Farm (NB)
Veseys (PEI)
While we enjoyed many of the small roots that traveled quite far and wide in my raised garden bed, I was not sure I would repeat my efforts. Until some of the smaller roots started sprouting in January... So I've decided to give it another try and pot them up. I will plant the slips into a very large black planter in late May. I'm hoping the extra heat might produce larger roots. Below, I have listed some companies that ship sweet potato slips - you will need to decide very soon as they will sell out!
Burts Greenhouses (ON)
Gelert Garden Farm (ON)
Sage Garden Greenhouses (MN)
Mapple Farm (NB)
Veseys (PEI)
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