Which varieties / veggies will you repeat and which will you not

pheasantplucker · #1 08/25/10, 01:44 PM

My wife and I are loving Pink Girl Tomatoes...We have two plants. Have probably gotten 30 - 40 beautiful tomatoes off of each plant. Beautiful colour, non diseased, attractive fruit, with excellent flavor. I will definately go with these again next year. On the other hand, I have three tomatoe varieties I will never again go with: Mr. Stripey, Pineapple, and Old German. Mr. Stripey and Pineapple both get real funky and water filled. They feel like they have a spot on them whcih resembles a waterballoon.Not a good flavor, and they are unattractive to boot. Old German is a real disappointment. Only two tomatoes have appeared on the plant and both are still green. Next year it's Pink Girl and Cherokee Purple. Maybe Beefeater and Romas too. Oh...Golden Girls have been good to us this year, too. They will also be permitted to make an encore performance.

ronbre · #2 08/25/10, 02:51 PM

well now that i'm not eating anything starchy i won't be planting corn or potatoes again, and likely not pumpkins as the bears got them all this year..but otherwise i can't see any vegetables i won't repeat..i love my garden.

my cukes and tomatoes were really really wonderful this year..best year ever for them..so sweet..and pretty much everything was fine..however..we did lose some fruit blossoms to frost on Mother's day weekend (3 days at 20 degrees) so it made it hard to determine how good our fruit crop wouild have been

7thswan · #3 08/25/10, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronbre

well now that i'm not eating anything starchy i won't be planting corn or potatoes again, and likely not pumpkins as the bears got them all this year..but otherwise i can't see any vegetables i won't repeat..i love my garden.

my cukes and tomatoes were really really wonderful this year..best year ever for them..so sweet..and pretty much everything was fine..however..we did lose some fruit blossoms to frost on Mother's day weekend (3 days at 20 degrees) so it made it hard to determine how good our fruit crop would have been

Do you grow Jerusalem artichokes? they are supposed to be good for Diabetics.

**Terri** · #4 08/25/10, 04:18 PM

Half of our tomatos cracked and split, so we will not be planting Better Boys again!

I will try out something more crack resistant: there is a list of crack resistant tomatos here: http://www.harvestwizard.com/2009/07...o_varieti.html

Jean · #5 08/25/10, 05:46 PM

For fun tried lemon cucumbers. Just left one vine to grow and it went wild in the garden but will not plant them again. Cute little cucumbers but ALL seeds. We will stick to the good old pickler and straight 8's
Jean

TheMartianChick · #6 08/25/10, 07:22 PM

I have given up on eggplant... I have yet to get a single fruit in the four years that I've tried. I get really strong looking plants, though!

Emmy D · #7 08/25/10, 07:29 PM

This is the first year I planted egg plant, the white variety I don't know what they are called and I have our of four plants got 15 good size fruits!

With regard to the OP, like you I will NOT plant Pineapple or German Giant tomatoes again, they have done nothing for the most part and the few fruits I have gotten were just, ehh, tasting.

Emmy

Oldcountryboy · #8 08/25/10, 08:29 PM

I'm gonna reduce my gardening down. I went from one garden (30' X 75') to adding 2 more gardens. One 30' X 30' and another one 30' X 100'. I added on the additional gardens cause my wife and 3 daughters said they would all help me keep the weeds down and help out harvesting. Yea right! I ended up being a one man army and lost plenty of battles.

So now I'm going back to the 30' X 75' garden only and am just gonna plant a few of the basic stuff such as corn, tomatoes, cukes, squash, okra. The H E double hockey sticks with all that lettuce, radishes, and other stuff. I'm gonna do the salad stuff in a green house on tables and such so that I wont have to stoop over so much. Try my luck at hydroponics.

WisJim · #9 08/25/10, 08:46 PM

We never make a decision on whether to continue growing a variety unless we grow it at least 3 seasons. Weather and other variables can make such a difference that we don't judge on just one season's results. What was terrible one year might be great for the next five, or vice-versa.

pattycake · #10 08/25/10, 08:46 PM

We have learned the hard way that people who say they will help weed and harvest never show up! That did not bother me much in my younger years but at my age now I just cannot do a large, large garden !

Lyra · #11 08/25/10, 08:57 PM

heirlooms. i tried a couple for the first time this year and i am hooked. even now i am entering my pre-winter junkie state. i can't stop dreaming of my first hit from this winter's seed catalogs.

Callieslamb · #12 08/25/10, 11:20 PM

I won't be doing sunflowers again. the birds always beat me to the seeds and I am left with those large, tough stalks to cut down.

I won't do pumpkins again either - they spread out too much and make it impossible to weed. I didn't have any outstanding tomatoes this year - I love my old stand-by Sioux and will always have those.

Eliminating those two items will give me a lot more room in the garden....I wonder waht I can add? I LOVE Pineapple tomato! it's one of my favorites.

adamtheha · #13 08/26/10, 04:34 AM

Just about everthing I put in this year turned out well, the peas just went bananas from July till now! My corn still hasn't put any heads out, and by this time of year it's probably too late. I might need a quicker maturing variety here in the frozen north. My poor brocolli is full of holes, and only a few heads made it...too much canola round these parts (same pests). Might need a more resistant variety.
This year was research for me to find something I can grow for market. So far, carrots, peas and beans are good to go. Melons are iffy, corn is out, potatoes would probably do ok, if they were grown in multiple tires.
My sunflowers are taller than me, but no flowers yet??? Hopefully they'll blossom soon.
Unlike many of you, I don't have any animal pests to contend with (yet), which is nice!

brosil · #14 08/26/10, 07:22 AM

I planted multi colored swiss chard this year and it tastes terrible. I'm going back to the stuff from last year. Our Hawaiian Pineapple tomatoes were great. The Black Russians are tasteless water balloons .I planted pumpkins , squash and watermelons in a small unused pasture and they have taken over. Sometimes, you need to plant in a different area to make it work.

FarmerRob · #15 08/26/10, 07:35 AM

Tomatoes are the main reason I garden. The rest is great to have but tomatoes are the king of the garden.
My top choices are Burpee's BrandyBoy, a hybrid of Brandywine. I like them best because the taste is the same, and the yield is much higher and over a longer period of time than the Brandywine. Also they ripen more evenly.
Also making the list are the heirloom Rutgers (aka Jersey) -- medium size but big on flavor, Big Beef, always a good producer and good flavor. And my favorite cherry tomato ever is the Sweet Baby Girl. Good size, tons of yield, early bearer and like the others I listed above they have a sweet and tangy flavor--love that acidic taste.
I always have to have okra--Clemson Spineless is my standard. I tried some Cowhorn okra this year but it did not bear as much.
I tried MultiPick straightneck yellow squash for the first time and it produced well with a yummy flavor.
The cukes were impressive--In addition to what we shared with neighbors and family, we put up more than 40 quarts of sweet and dill from 10 plants. Used the Homemade Pickles variety from Shumway.
My first attempt at sweet potatoes were a real disappointment but I'm going to try again in a different spot. Hope I figure out what I did wrong this time.
If you have never tried Rattlesnake green beans you are missing out--best flavor I have every found for green beans and best of all they are a pole bean. My back fusses too much if I grow bush beans. I'm going to plant twice as much of them next year.
The non-stop 90+ heat has made my gardening time shorter this year. I am already planning the next crop. Actually I have been since I got this one in the ground.

bee · #16 08/26/10, 07:52 AM

Malcom Lincoln tomato, huge, pink heart shaped and a total dissapointment for flavor.

I will always plant Sungold cherry tomatos and Black Cherry tomatos. I will always plant WV Hillbilly tomato..only a few fruits but I love the FLAVOR..creamy texture and fruity flavor. Summer is not complete until I have at least one. I hoped the more prolific Pineapple would replace it but the flavor was a total dissapointment. Discovered Green Zebra this year..will plant next year; unusual and flavorful. Tried a Burpee seed called "Endless Summer"..this is supposed to hold 16 weeks after ripening because of doubling up on the genes that prevent rotting. HAH!! I picked one at "blush" put it on the table and 4 weeks later it is just as picked..no ripening. All the ones on the vines look the same..no nice seed packet pictured RED tomatos. Reminds me of "Longkeeper" tomatos; guess I will have to cut one to see if it is red inside. I will plant it again if there is enough flavor with the keeping qualities to warrent it.

I can't grow peas,cauliflower or rutabagas; but I am too dumb to give up.

Our Little Farm · #17 08/26/10, 07:52 AM

Our tomatoes were a loss this year. They are still mostly green, and it is getting down in the 50s and not making it for long if any out of the 60's.

(Any recommendations for a short season variety next year?)

I will always plant yellow squash.

also kentucky wonder pole beans and sweet bell peppers .

This year my garden was much bigger and because of circumstances it got neglected. Next year, if things remain the same, I will plant a small crop and buy locally.

Callieslamb · #18 08/26/10, 11:02 AM

OLF - look for determinate tomatoes - they usually will produce earlier than the indeterminate ones.

Our Little Farm · #19 08/26/10, 11:22 AM

Thank you Callie.

MariaAZ · #20 08/26/10, 09:11 PM

Heatwave determinate tomatoes... they do great in our summer heat and this year produced through July before the heat put a stop to fruit set. I didn't get as much as I'd have liked but I didn't tend to the plants as well as I should have, plus something ate a good percentage of the crop. I had a 14+ oz tomato and several well over 8 oz, which is not too common around here. I left a few plants in to see what they do, and they're starting to flower and set fruit again (albeit not at the rate they did in the late spring/early summer.)

Next season I'm going cage the plants (I just let them go this year), heavily mulch around them and use a drip system, but they will definitely be my tomato staple variety!