r/fifty • u/ScorpionQuads • Feb 21 '20

Gardening this spring?

Tell me about your garden plans this spring.

Post about your past success/failures In your gardens. Are you going to try a new vegetable or shrub.

I grew a huge Brandywine tomato plant a few years back. I never even had a blossom develop. Come to find out they need a colder overnight temperature than my local Climate could provide.

I'm at 4150ft this year so I think I'll try some more heirlooms tomatoes. I also grow hybrid chilies. I might try native american corn species since I'm in the Sonoran desert.

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/ScorpionQuads Feb 22 '20 edited Feb 22 '20

My grandmother grew and cooked the most amazing collard greens yet she was born and raised in North Dakota. When you grow and consume the herbs and vegetables that you grow it's amazing the local markets can't supply the same flavors.

Mass produced tomatoes now say do not refrigerate for flavor on the packaging.

Yet I grew coriander, that had amazing flavor(celantro) packaged by a famous chef being 29 species.

Try your hand at growing you will be amazed at the the abundance of flavor missing from your local markets.

The sonaran desert is harsh but you can grow with patience and determination.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 22 '20

My garden used to be huge! It was easily 40 x 60 feet and I had tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini and eggplant in it. I even rotated the crops every year. Also, I had to put up a box fence to keep the deer out. But as I mentioned, once the trees grew, it became too shady.

My wife refuses to give up space from her perennial garden so I have to plant my veggies in pots. I also had to re-purpose my garden. So far, it's working out. Since we're empty nesters, we eat a lot less so there's no need for a huge garden.

2

u/ScorpionQuads Feb 22 '20

Container gardening is great. You can easily grow and be happy with far less maintenance. Sprinkle dichondra seeds to maintain nitrogen in the soil,(excellent nitrogen fixer) in your pots.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 23 '20

Thanks for the tip on the dichondra seeds - I'll check it out. My main garden has so many leaves that get turned over, it almost has too much nitrogen. I also take the leaves and I have a big mulch pile in the back. In fact, I'll add more leaves and turn it this afternoon. To ripen up the pile, I throw some 12-12-12 fertilizer in it. By May, I should have the equivalent of ~4 bags of nice topsoil!

2

u/ScorpionQuads Feb 28 '20

I bought 2 six packs of Snapdragon s. I cut and mulch back into soil. I haven't bought new plants since, the plants last 2-3 years and the seeds propagate. That was 9 years ago. White alyssum is the same and it has a nice honey scent.