Howdy....I will help for zone 6 in the tip of Oklahoma over by the Ark. border. Some of Ok is in zone 7, but we are in 6.....
I will be growing Malabar spinach this year and saw it on your list. Also.....
M. Wash. asparagus(already have a big bed of it) It is important to keep the grass from growing in your asparagus bed. We mow over the bed in late winter to remove the rest of the growth from the previous year and then dump a load of well composted manure over it.
Surecrop strawberries(already have those too)Strawberries love a little acid soil...so spread your ashes on them during the winter. Don't fertilize them while they are blooming though or you will get mushy berries.
tomatoes of lots of varieties...heirlooms that I grow include brandywine, yellow hugh's, amish paste, boxcar willie, ark. traveler, and can't remember the rest...heehee... I start my maters from seed in the side porch that faces the South. If it freezes outside I put a little heater out there to keep them warm. Maters love manure tea and when I set mine out I do a couple of things first......I dig a hole with the post hole diggers, put some compost in the bottom of the hole, followed by a small handful of fertilizer( I just use triple 13 or rabbit poo), then put the plant in and cover with soil. If I have enough milk jugs or coffee cans I plant inside those with the tops and bottoms cut out. To keep cut worms off I usually put either a match stick along side the baby plant or a nail....the match stick will rot and I don't have to go back and get those later, the nail is more of a pain for the tiller. I use neem oil spray for pests. Something that helps me to save my little critters that are good.....I wash off the plant well with a hose and then spray the neem oil on there. When the good bugs get on there they won't die if they don't eat the plant..only the bad ones do. The neem oil is considered organic by most people...but some don't like to use it. I also plant a marigold between each mater plant.
The other varieties that I grow of maters include beefsteak, delicious, rutgers, early girl, big boy, and can't remember what all....We love our maters around here!!!! I start them all from seeds and still can't resist the others from the store when I see them! I always plant about a hundred plants and sell the extras at the farmer's market or give them to friends.
Peppers including bells, anaheim, jalapeno, and cayenne I start these from seeds too. Start them early because they take forever to germinate! I treat them very much like maters except they don't need staking. They will cross so if you collect your seeds the second generation will be different.
bunching onions and keeper onions I just planted onions today(March 22). I could have started them earlier but it has been very wet. I plant these with swiss chard or another one of the lettuce or brassica family.
sweet potatoes I start my sweet potatoes from a couple that I save from the year before. I just put them in a glass of water and cover half way up with water. When they start to root and make a plant.....you can use those "slips" to make a new plant. They can't take it cold and the little potatoes form along the runners. Different then white spuds.
white potatoes....probably kenebec...those are the ones that I usually get. I plant my spuds in compost that has been well tilled and then I just lay them down into the dirt and cover them with a heavy layer of straw. They grow up through the straw and when they are done I just peel back the straw and there they are! Easy!
red potatoes....red pontiac usually These are great canned to use during the winter for stews or for augraten..however you spell that. I scrub the skins off of the new potatoes instead of peeling them...then can the little ones whole and the bigger ones cut up into inch chunks or so. EASY way to have a fast side dish! Pretty good drained and fried up with bits of bacon or some onions. I grow them the same as the white ones.
broccoli (waltham and can't remember..will check) One thing that helps with broccoli and the other brassicas is to cover the small plants with a sheer curtain or row cover until they get larger. The bugs and worms will not be as numerous that way. The little white butterflies that lay their eggs on the leaves can not get through the sheer and the curtain gives it a little cooler environment. I have a large crop that I start indoors in January and then set outside to harden off in March and then put into the garden in April. If it gets a bit spendly just plant the plant a little deeper. I find that hardening it off for a couple of weeks makes for sturdier stems though and there isn't as much need for that...
brusselsprouts(bubbles)I treat my brussels sprouts just like my broccoli. As another comment.....All of the heavy feeder veggies love manure tea. My favorite kind is rabbit poo tea and that helps make lots of sweet tender sprouts and also huge heads of broccoli
cabbage(will check I only planted a couple dozen plants)The sheers are almost a neccesity if you want wormless cabbage around here. I find that when you start to see the little white and lavender moths then you better have a cover over your brassicas. It helps shade them in our harsher sun and also keeps them pest free. I have found that a side dressing of mulch works well to keep them from splitting as well as the manure tea for larger heads.
carrots(danvers) They have to be kept moist while they are germinating. You can put a board over them or just put straw over them and when they start to sprout kinda move the straw aside to let them have light. Mine overwinter very well and I think they taste better with a freeze.
beets(detroit dark red and also some new ones that I am getting from Paquebot on the cooking and crafts forum) When I thin my beets I just replant them somewhere else in the row. I also plant my beets in big blocks rather than rows. I plant them very very early spring...really late winter and then cover them with a sheer curtain to keep them from drying out and helps them to germinate more quickly. I have tried plastic and it can sometimes make them moldyish...so the sheer works better and they still get enough light to germinate well and grow. I kinda plant them in an indented spot so that I can flood the spot with water and makes for more tender beets.
green beans(blue lake bush)I plant my green beans along side my corn to help them both. I never water the tops of my green bean plants because they tend to get scorched by the sun if the leaves are wet during the heat of the day. My neighbor and I have the great bean tail debate each year...LOL! She leaves the ends of her's on when she cans them and I take the tiny pointy ends off....no difference really...but it gets pretty comical when the two of us get together to can each year!
okra(some heirloom okra that I got from a friend that produces when it is short and keeps on until it is only about 5 feet tall, great stuff!) Okra is one of those things that has to be planted when it is warm out. Grandpa used to say that if it was above 50 at night it was time to plant okra. It is one of the easiest things to grow because it really doesn't have many pests. Keep it picked so that it will continue to produce well.
butternut squash, a great keeper. I mulch mine well and leave them on the vine till the vine dies back. I have some in the basement from last year still good! I plant radish seeds along with my squash plants to deter squash bugs. It is not fool-proof, but really helps.
cushaw , these get to be whoppers! The best for canning and you get soooo much for your money! Water these well because they seem to need more water than other squash. At least mine do. Probably because they are such huge veggies!
cantelope, probably hales best jumbo, the only real problem with cantelope are the squash bugs that bother it occasionally! If you don't want the bugs to bother the bottom of your melon then place it on a peice of heavy waxed paper or something and it keeps it from rotting on the bottom and from the little roly poly bugs and other stuff that like to attack from underneath.
watermelon, sugar baby I have yet to figure out a fool-proof way to tell if the watermelon is ripe. I was told by some to watch the curly q to see if it was shriveled up and by others who said the bottom white patch would turn yellow. The shriveled curly q probably worked the best. I waited for it to shrivel and then gave it a couple of days and then picked it.
spaghetti squash This is a great keeper too! Squash bugs seem to like it so watch for them and treat with neem oil or some other natural spray or better yet....just keep a very close eye on them and squish them as they come on there. Early in the morning is the best time because they move more slowly then!
leaf lettuce(both ruby red and black seeded simpson) I plant this very early and then to harvest I go out there with my scissors and whack off what I need for the salad. It grows right back.
head lettuce(including buttercrunch and iceberg-my hubby's idea- never had much luck with it before and he likes the stuff!
) The stuff that I have in the cold frame and that has been out there all winter....is forming heads(iceberg). It took it forever though. I don't think it works well in this area...but if you give it all winter it works. Buttercrunch works well both spring and fall. I have done both for years. We love salad and I like to have some going all year long.
spinach(bloomsdale)Spinach doesn't like acid soil so you have to be careful with it around here! I side dress mine with lime and it works pretty well. I pull off the bigger leaves and leave the little ones to get bigger. It lasts longer that way. If you live where it is hot you can make a shade tent for it out of sheer curtains and then you get a longer yield without it bolting.
zucchini (whatever is cheapest at wallyworld..heehee)Plant radishes and let them go to seed in the middle of your squash hills. The bugs will be deterred. I planted them in tomato cages a few years ago when the garden was jam packed and it helped to save space. Also kept them off the ground and they didn't get that fuzzy stuff that they sometimes do during a rainy season.
yellow crookneck and yellow straightneck I pick mine really little because we love them just barely stir fried! Again....plant some radishes with them to deter bugs
turnips. Love those turnips! Easy to plant and we steal the greens until the turnips get big enough to harvest. I still leave a few of them all season so that we can have the greens.
chard(love that rainbow swiss chard!) Just planted mine today(March 22). I noticed that some had reseeded and was up in some funny places throughout the garden. It will also overwinter and readily reseeds for me if I let a few go to seed. The red chard seems to come up before the other colors.
collards(vates I think??)These are easy to grow like the turnips.
They like the cooler weather and we sometimes will plant another crop in the fall.
and I think that is it for now....don't really remember what all there will be out there. I do have some neato okra that grows on a fence...vining okra. I want to try that this year if I find out it won't cross with my other okra. I will also be growing some special soybeans for an Indian friend of mine. She has some seeds that she brought over with her on her last trip to India and wants me to try growing some of them for her.
So....anything of the above that you want to know about.....that is great! I have grown most of it for 20 plus years and have a huge garden every year! We can and freeze it all and grow enough veggies for the year! So....just ask if you need any info....be glad to help! God Bless all! Nan
OH....p.s. I looked back through and forgot several...sorry
Cucumbers(how could I forget cucs! We pickle about 40 quarts a year of those critters...we love Marketmore 76. When they are small they pickle great and large are wonderful slicers!) I have planted them on both a fence and in tomato cages. I prefer tomato cages. I make a big round hole within the concrete reinforcing wire cage and then plant around it. Place a milk jug with holes in the bottom in the hole and then when I water them I can put the water in the jug and it gets them watered more deeply. They can't stand to be dried out. Mulch heavily. I put a scoop of rabbit poo in the milk jug and then when I water it they are fertilized at the same time..kinda a time released version on the cheaper side...heehee!
garlic...I have both the small and the elephant. I don't know the exact variety of the small kind because an older woman gave me both! The elephant garlic takes a couple of years to get large enough to use and to separate into other plants. It is much milder, but is very good.
purple hull peas(known as cowpeas around here)I plant these on the side of the corn...with the green beans on one side and the purple hulls on the other. These are vining and need a bit of support. Very easy to shell when they get larger . Just kinda squirt out the end. I now have a pea sheller and so it is easier still!
radishes(iceburg and whatever the cheapy ones are at wallyworld...I grow them in each hill of squash to deter squash bugs!)
rhubarb..the green variety..have had it for several years now and it is very prolific! My cat loves to hide under the leaves too..LOL! I bought the seeds from Wallyworld in the cheapy section and boy have they been good ones! They are not the pretty red colored ones and you have to be super patient for it to produce from seed...
sunflowers..several different kinds. During the winter I put a sunflower out for the birds about once a week. Good to plant them by your shade loving veggies!
new zealand spinach, great stuff. Make sure you mulch it well because it doesn't like to be dried out. It will reseed if you let a couple of the plants go to seed.
banana squash
delicata squash
eggplant...I think it is called black beauty...I always get the packets from Wallyworld for a dime and they are great! I start them at the same time I do my tomatoes and peppers. They are about an inch tall so far!
Now...I think that is it..but I am sure that I have forgotten something...OH...did I mention Corn? I grow Bodacious sweet corn and have for years! My favorite! I plant three, 150 foot rows. It is wind pollinated and so to make sure it gets pollinated well I make like an airplane and rake my arms gently over the tops of the stalks. I have found that if you plant it early enough and harvest it when it is ripe and not let it get toooooo ripe then you have very little problems with worms. We parboil our shucked, silked ears and then run them through cold water then straight to the freezer in ziplock bags. I get the canners to boiling before we even go out to pick the first ears. That way it goes straight into the hot water and the sugar is set. Of course we eat our share of fresh corn too and I snitch a few raw ears every morning just to make sure exactly when it is ripe....heehee! That is what I tell the kids when they catch me anyway!
Now.......I guess that is it....LOL! I always seem to find a packet of seeds that I just can't resist though..and in it goes!
again....God Bless all! Nan
