2025 Garden Plans

[wtxbadger]

Wondering what everyone's garden plans are for 2025? I'm figuring on completely replacing our garden fence to keep the whitetail and axis deer out this year fingers crossed.

Planning on growing blackeye peas, tomatoes, yellow squash and maybe some green beans this year.

[Graybeard]

I'll have onions, bell pepper, cow horn pepper, perhaps banana pepper and tomatoes. I plant to plant way more tomatoes this time.

[Mule 11]

Tomatoes, strawberries and bell peppers.

[ironglow]

  In my zone...way too early to contemplate...   

[Bob Riebe]

Osborne Seeds, sent me a Black Friday seeds sale E-mail.
Now normally I do not buy the new hybrid sweet corn seeds but this time I had the urge to check them out so I bought three small bags, and they are bags not packettes, of sweet corn from Osborne.

I ordered -  274A -  Seminole and - Inferno F1 - seed corn from Osborne seeds.

 Victory seeds had a Black Friday sale so I bought - Painted Mountain - Oxacan Green field corn and -  Golden Beauty and Country Gentleman -  Sweet Corn.
As usual I will put in potatoes  but will put in more than last year, as the first time in a looooong time I will use up all my potatoes this winter.
Tomatoes, I will head down to Hugo, Mn and get more uncommon tomatoes, but will get my chiles else where.
Once again onions, carrots, squash, and what ever may strikes my fancy will take the rest of the space.

[ironglow]

  Some companies now offer heritage seeds.  Not bad, so long as the dealer is reliable..

 https://www.gardenersbasics.com/products/seed-vault-kit-35-variety-pack?variant=37802282877112&country=US&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_sou

   This firm offered much heritage seeds, and I have been pleased with their products I have tried;
    https://www.johnnyseeds.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BL%20|%20Search%20|%20Brand%20|%20PRP%20|%20HG%20|%20US&utm_keyword=john

[Bob Riebe]

     Finally uncovered all my roses and started planting potatoes.

      I lost , so far , five roses this year; in the forty plus years I have been planting roses, this is the most, and worst year.
In the past I put in both bare root and potted roses. Not potted roses  are notorious for being one year wonders, so over the decades no surprise if one or two either were kaput when uncovered or slowly died later.

      In the past my worst screw up was uncovering them too early in the spring as the other half was ragging me that it was too warm etc. etc. etc. , even though she knew near nothing about planting roses - so that stopped when I asked her if she wanted to pay for the replacements.

      This year as soon as I uncovered them and saw Black canes, I figured they were kaput. Often then will die down to the ground , but there are still sprouts on the green main plant; nope, these were totally dead.
      In my South garden , I was afraid that was going to be the same but, at this point they have a green base and are sending out sprouts.
Fifty miles makes a big difference up here for how much sub-zero weather a garden gets.

      A truly cold dry winter is the absolute thing for plants .  That is probably the main culprit.
Usually when I uncover them , the bottom three inches of leaves are a sloppy mess; this year, the ones on the ground were barely wet.

     I have gotten lazy, as for decades I would either bury the entire plant and, or, put a good insulating cover over them, and then still put on a heavy layer of leaves.
      Once again my Father was proven correct, he said I was a hard learner.  There are reason for the problem, but after all the years I have done this, no good excuse.

       I have one half of the potatoes down South in the ground and covered with leaves.  When roto-tilled the garden , I often had tines sending up dust, this could be a very bad year if we do not get a good soaking shower soon.

[Graybeard]

I have 37 tomato plants in the ground and growing like weeds. Four are cherry tomatoes, all the rest are supposed to produce large fruit hopefully large enough one slice covers the bread.

I have bell pepper, cow horn pepper, cayenne pepper, squash and Okra planted. The yellow crooked neck squash are also growing like weeds. Of the 30/40 okra seeds planted only one has come up. I think I got a bad batch of seeds.

Photo of my tomatoes, well part of them below is from 4-27-25, they are much bigger now..

[Bob Riebe]

     
     June 18 and I am still planting my gardents, I have planted into the first week of June before but this is the latest where I still have 40 percent to finish.
     Have to finish the corn , squash and potato planting in my South garden, while up North I have an empty spot, not sure what to put there and empty spot on the berm where tomatoes go.

     Greenhouses up here have had even less variety to choose from than last year; and I simply have not had time to drive 50 miles to Hugo where they have a greenhouse with HUGE variety in tomatoes and chiles.
     I will visit Fleet Farm and Home Depot green houses today and see what is left over. Even simple seed packets variety is horrid as not even much of the same old, same old.

      I wish when we went 90 miles North to Amish green houses, a month ago,  I had bought some plants. Did not as it was too cold to plant in the garden and I did not want to deal with keeping them in the bay window with all the plants the other half had purchased.
      It would have been weeks , not days.
     
       The drought has been ended by frequent recent rains, so having to water the garden after planting is not a problem, but as low as many sloughs still are, water level is not what it should be.   

[Graybeard]

I've picked so many squash my wife says next time I pick to just pull the plants, she has all she needs in the freezer she says. I've been picking peppers for 2-3 weeks I guess and am getting tomatoes most days now. I've had bacon and tomato sandwiches 3 times now and eaten tomatoes with meals other times. Man those vine ripened tomatoes sure do taste good.

I'll attach more recent photos.

[Bob Riebe]

I've picked so many squash my wife says next time I pick to just pull the plants, she has all she needs in the freezer she says. I've been picking peppers for 2-3 weeks I guess and am getting tomatoes most days now. I've had bacon and tomato sandwiches 3 times now and eaten tomatoes with meals other times. Man those vine ripened tomatoes sure do taste good.

I'll attach more recent photos.

OH YEAH, WELL, MOM ALWAYS LIKED YOU BEST! 

[Graybeard]

I'm just back from a rideabout to the pond and my garden. I picked a half bowl of blueberries for a snack tonight and got several tomatoes and a bunch of pepper. No squash ready today but several will be soon. Her okra on the one stalk that made it from first planting is about an inch and a half long, it grows fast so will be ready soon.

The 15 okra plants from second planting from another bag of seed are close to a foot tall now and growing fast. By end of month I'll likely be picking okra regularly also.

My tomato plants all 37 of them have hundreds of green tomatoes and hundreds of blooms. Soon I'm gonna pick some green ones for fried green tomatoes.

[Graybeard]

Here first is a garden harvest photo with a strange looking sort of double squash plus some tomatoes from that day.

Second is another harvest and last is a wide view down toward my garden from front yard. The blueberry orchard is off in the distance in it. My pond is beyond the orchard.

[Bob Riebe]

     Finally finished planting the North garden last night; found a greenhouse that still had broccoli and Buttercup squash.   Paid two and a quarter for the broccoli plants but they gave me the 4 squash plants for free.

     Heading home tomorrow to finish the South garden; will take two of the squash plants there, and put in some more corn and potatoes.
This is the latest, (although Once I put in potatoes later than this as they did not arrive till July) I have ever put in the home garden.
     More because I can than any hope for a greater yield from that garden.  I have to find the product I bought for cut-worms as they were a problem last year in both gardens.

     Corn is popping up in the North garden, but so far, only the dent corn for fall decorations.
Some of the chiles have fruit already but as the plants are still only about a foot or so high, not sure if I should take them off so the plant can put more energy into growing.   

[Ranger99]

Despite planting a good many seeds, my excuse for
a garden looks pretty dismal. I still blame
the poor quality seed we're being sold. I'm
hoping to get my young relative a few hundred
miles away to get me a couple of different
varieties of heirloom seeds from her master
gardener friend that supplys her with the seed
she uses.
A lady who supplied me with some really
good banana pepper seed in years past
is deceased and I have no idea where she
sourced the seed for those.
She would give me a little plastic cup
with a lid like what a restaurant would
give you your salad dressing or sauces
in with no nothing other than "PEPPER
SEED " written with a marker.
I was sure counting on a few okra.
Planted 2 rows and didn't even get any
sprouts poking up

[Graybeard]

My first okra planting was a bust Got the seeds at a local hardware store. One came up from my first planting so I planted the rest of the bag. One more came up. I ordered some heirloom seeds from Amazon and planted 15 of them, all came up and are looking really good. In fact they are all much bigger than the second plant from first bag even tho planted two weeks later.

I've pulled the squash plants as my wife says she has enough to do her. She's the only one who eats them.

My tomatoes and pepper are producing nicely. I have one container with potatos in it that came up from some peelings dumped into it really just to compost them but the potatoes are taking over and are about to kill the three pepper plants in that container.

[Mule 11]

My strawberries are done producing, the kids ate a ton. My tomatoes are green and plants are looking good, looks like my cherry tomatoes will be first eating.

[Graybeard]

Today I picked a box full to overflowing with peppers, banana and bell and another box full of tomatos. Boxes are the size seen in the photos I've posted with them in it.

I'd guess two dozen tomatos with 2-3 being cherry tomatos the rest larger. I picked six big mature bell peppers so we'll soon have some stuffed peppers for supper. Tonight will be tomato sandwiches with bacon. We're eating tomatos most all days now. Soon I'm gonna pick some green ones for fried green tomatos.

[Drilling Man]

  To be honest I'm tired of gardening! After growing up on a farm with a HUGE garden and having gardens ever since, they have just become pretty much all work!

  SO, I just plant a little for my wife and me and call it good enough. So here's a row with my fav potatoes, Yukon Gold's, and my two fav varieties of tomatoes,



  I do have more than one garden spot, and yes, I do have a few other things planted.

  DM

[Ranger99]

Well tomatoes are vastly better when home grown.
I've never bought a beauty contest winner tomato
that tasted better than the scraggliest tomato off
of one of my own plants.
I'll always try to grow a few tomatoes as long as
I'm able to.  I would prefer to have a big surplus
as I've grown in the past to have enough to eat
fresh and can a few and share with friends and
neighbors, but the yield hasn't been good in some
years now.  I would imagine all the chemtrails
I see daily is the cause of that, along with so
many mature trees in the area dying.
I would like to grow other stuff if it
only would.

[Ranger99]

Looks like another dismal failure again.
Seedlings jump out of the ground.
Make beautiful foliage and grow grow grow.
Start putting on beautiful fruits, and woops.  . .
Everything comes to screeching halt.
Fruits wither and droop or fall off.
Plants are all basically dead.

Can't tell if it's the GMO  or laboratory
seed they're selling, or the frequent
chemtrails are killing everything,
or both or more.
It ain't like that I'm a gardening rookie.
It's something out of my control

[Bob Riebe]

Looks like another dismal failure again.
Seedlings jump out of the ground.
Make beautiful foliage and grow grow grow.
Start putting on beautiful fruits, and woops.  . .
Everything comes to screeching halt.
Fruits wither and droop or fall off.
Plants are all basically dead.

Can't tell if it's the GMO  or laboratory
seed they're selling, or the frequent
chemtrails are killing everything,
or both or more.
It ain't like that I'm a gardening rookie.
It's something out of my control

Do you treat them for virus and fungus.
Had I not done that for the past 40 years my gardens tomatoes squash, and some times even corn would have been history by august.

Thiirty years ago I had a huge infestation of  corn rust and squash wilt.

[Bob Riebe]

     After a not good start , the warm humid weather of the past month has helped the garden grow very well.
The second planting of corn, has been the big surprise, with at least 90 percent success up North and even 70 percent success down South.

     I had not attended the garden down South for near 3 weeks and then we had a major wind storm.  I spent 3 days on my hands and knees weeding and standing up corn stalks.
The still short sweet corn was easy to stand up, putting a mound of dirt at the base to make sure it stood up, but some of corn that came up with first planting was not so easy,
If you do not get out and stand up the corn within one day, the stalks bend reaching for the sun, so when you stand them up they are curved.
     I filled a 90 refuse bin with weeds and piled another 90 gallons on the ground and will bury them when I get back.

     Up North the second planting of corn is now hip high and growing fast; I did not expect that to do so well.
Tomatoes, chiles, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, squash are rapidly growing.

     The carrots are finally showing up, but in both gardens the potatoes are only spotty, although , some left overs I put in late with the second corn planting in mid-June, of 10, 8 came up, that is odd.
     The gardens are doing far better than expected. 

[Bob Riebe]

       The corn that I stood up is doing far better than I expected; the sweet corns will be late season as the youngest is now just hip high.

       Squash and cucumbers are thriving but the cauliflower and broccoli plants are large with no heads to pick, on either.   Other than miss labeled no real reason for no heads as it was not that hot when planted and even then there should be stunted heads but on a total of 8 plants , nothing but large leaves.

       Cabbage did just fine so this is a mystery. 

[Mule 11]

Been eating lots of tomatoes as that is all I grew this year.

[Mule 11]

Just had one of my black krims on homemade sourdough with mayo salt pepper and smoked turkey and it was awesome. I think the krims are my favorite variety as they are good and have a zestiness to them. I like em before they are fully ripe.

[Mule 11]

Have you tried the black krims? If so, is their another variety equally zesty or even more so?

[DDZ]

Been eating lots of tomatoes as that is all I grew this year.

Yeah me too. Just cant beat the taste and flavor of a fresh garden tomato.  Then Bacon, tomato on buttered toast is just over the top in goodness.

[Bob Riebe]

Have you tried the black krims? If so, is their another variety equally zesty or even more so?

The dark tomato group, and there are quite a few of them are , generally all very tasty with more flavor than the standard large red tomatoes.
I have grown over a half-dozen varieties, and a couple, in a good year, produce so much so fast, that you will find over ripe ones laying on the ground as you simply cannot eat them or cook them fast enough.

IF, big IF, you want a tasty tangy tomato try a Green Zebra, there are actually three or four that have the quite tangy taste but Green Zebra leads the pack.
Druzba and  Purple Calabash are two more quite tangy tomatoes.

[Mule 11]

Have you tried the black krims? If so, is their another variety equally zesty or even more so?

The dark tomato group, and there are quite a few of them are , generally all very tasty with more flavor than the standard large red tomatoes.
I have grown over a half-dozen varieties, and a couple, in a good year, produce so much so fast, that you will find over ripe ones laying on the ground as you simply cannot eat them or cook them fast enough.

IF, big IF, you want a tasty tangy tomato try a Green Zebra, there are actually three or four that have the quite tangy taste but Green Zebra leads the pack.
Druzba and  Purple Calabash are two more quite tangy tomatoes.

     Thank You, I’ll give these a try next year…