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@Broadfork Great question! This year I will be growing some Celeriac that actuall develops a proper bulb. That will be new to me.

@JimmyB They need regular watering and leaf removal helps bulb growth but I have a love/hate relationship with celeriac too.

Any celeriac growing tips gratefully accepted.

@Broadfork yes David told me last year to scarify them and I did… but maybe not enough? And water in our veg garden can be a bit hot and miss it’s true. We didn’t get lots of rain last summer so I rely on good mulch mostly but I suspect that’s not enough… will@keep trying though. Have a similar issue with Florence fennel

@gowtywood New Zealand spinach. I’ve never tried growing it but have heard they can get a bit thuggish here. Good luck with them.

@Broadfork @gowtywood we've grown this in the UK - it does Go Big - but its easy to control and isn't perennial in our climate, and whilst it dropped a tonne of seed none of it seemed to germinate on its own in the same spot the next year. So it certainly didn't become a weed (I don't think I'd complain if it did though lol).

We preferred it over spinach in terms of culinary value - and it was easier to grow, abundant, and seemed barely of interest to any of the usual pests.

@Broadfork @gowtywood this is what our patch looked like in June 2023... but it died entirely when we had the first frosts that winter. We didn't grow any in 2024 alas, hopefully the seeds we have will still be viable for 2025 and we'll have our act a bit more together.

@Broadfork @gowtywood the NZ Spinach has a very different slightly succulent leaf which is a bit more tender than amaranth I found. We also have amaranth self-seeding itself around bit! I should try it again, we tried amaranth and orach a couple of years ago but didn't really fall for them as alternatives to our basic staple leaf crop which is chard (and somewhat also beetroot leaves, which are very similar to chard of course). We didn't do well with any leaf crops at all last year though. I should endeavour to get some of all of the above in this year, hopefully the seed is still viable. I've always struggled to get any normal "spinach" varieties to grow in the UK, but I think that's because I mistook it for a summer crop and should have been aiming more at spring and late autumn... so we have some "over-wintering" in the polytunnel now in the hope they'll be a good spring crop. Not given up on the stuff yet lol.

@Broadfork yeah, had an eyeball over the seed collection and here's a few "new to us" varieties of things we have grown other varieties of before:

"Waltham" butternut squash
"Easy Pick Gold F1" courgette
"Petit Gris De Rennes" melon
"Tough Ball F1", "Density IV Long-Storing", "Carmen Sweet Red" onions
"Zebrune" shallot
"Green Knight F1" aubergine/eggplant
"Red Rubin", "Cinnamon", "Aristotle" basils
"Beauregarde", "Delikett", and "Golden Sweet" peas
"Double Standard Bicolour" and "Minipop" (baby) sweetcorn
"Koralik" bush tomato
"Michihili" Chinese cabbage

Hopefully we'll have a go at all of these this year, and plenty more of course, the first sowing of onion seeds is in already.

This is in fact the first year we will try growing bulbing onions and shallots from seed, we're giving up on onion sets because they always seem to bolt and don't seem good value for money. (But we do have shallots in from bulb too so will be comparing that to trying shallots from seed.)

@yvan I grew the Zebrune shallots from seed last year they were ok and didn’t suffer any allium leaf miner damage which we can get around here. I will be doing them again this year.

Petit gris de Rennes are a nice melon.

@Broadfork we had really great success with the Minnesota Midget melon 2 years ago so decided to try a slightly larger melon as well last year, though didn't manage to grow either of them... so maybe this year!

@yvan That’s another good one from real seeds. I also have grown their Prescott melon. All are good.

I have put a request in for an heirloom cantaloupe from the Heritage Seed Library called Cantalun which is also supposed to be very tasty.

@Broadfork first time for the salsola / agretti / okahijiki / saltwort for me too... shall be interesting to compare what we grow to see if they are the same or divergent types... there is varied information online about the provenance. There is apparently "Salsola soda" versus "Salsola komarovii", but they seem to be somewhat interchangeable in cultivation. I may have the "S. soda" and you may have the "S. komarovii".

I don't usually buy F1 seeds, but have a few at the moment as they were on sale from DT Brown and filled some holes in my range.

The Tough Ball F1 seeds are the only ones I bought specifically as they have a lot of recommendations. But I also have the other two onion varieties from Real Seeds. (Realistically I am unlikely to be gathering my own onion seed though as the requirements for growing for seed reliably are a bit much for me at the moment.)

@Broadfork the seed packet I have doesn't specify the variety, but does say "which the Japanese call “land seaweed”". However in theory it should be one or the other!

@yvan Yes, mine is the salsola komarovii.

@Broadfork I presume the seed companies also like F1 seeds because us allotment commies cannot just go make our own seed

I'm getting about half my seed from Real Seeds these days for this reason, and whilst I cannot be organised enough or have the space to harvest many of my own seeds, I'm happy to support those companies that do such a great job keeping these varieties going. (And hopefully in time also get better at saving my own seeds.)

I get all my chilli seeds from small indie specialist growers too.

@Hesperalis It’ll be great for you to see the difference his new plot does with all its wonderful soil. You grow a wide variety of produce too.

I hope to grow more bean varieties, more fruit and more perennials.

The rest of my growing spaces will be much like your own ethos with lots of little sowings. The new leafy greens are for the raised bed at home where I can keep a better eye on them.

At present I have more space than I had last year as I’ve taken a half plot on at the other site.

@Broadfork looking forward to seeing what you do on the new site. Besides the french and runner beans, I grow the Czar, Greek gigantes and trail of tears for podding. Would love to have another go at edamame beans too.

@Hesperalis I’m hoping I can take on another half plot minimum on the new site for this growing year.

The Czar and Greek gigantes are lovely beans. I also have some edamame beans and some chickpeas to grow this year. I hope it’s a good bean year.

@Broadfork That will be a lot of enjoyable work!

@Hesperalis I’m looking forward to it. I love being on the new site, it’s a breath of fresh air for me.

@docdieterlen Likewise, all the best!

Everything changes. We can already grow varieties here I would not have thought possible only a few years ago.

Some traditional staples here are much more difficult to grow than they once were. Weather and pests have an unnerving unpredictability nowadays.

@Broadfork I'm thinking of making a habit of always planting a few things as if it will be too warm, and a few as if it will be too cold, because same thing here, a lot of extremes and unpredictability.

@docdieterlen It’s worth trialling what will work for you in different circumstances and growing conditions.

I’ve changed what I grow quite a lot over the last few years. It’s been an eye opener.

@Pollinators

If your rocket is like mine, as long as you let some go to seed, you'll never need to plant it again. It's a lovely edible flower and seed pod too of course.

@Broadfork

@JimmyB @Broadfork. We hope so. The rocket greens season starts early and ends late in the shared reality of the Mastodon gardening universe. #growyourown.

@Pollinators

I threw some rocket seed into a big potato sach which I'd had a tomato plant, in at the back end of the season - and it's not cropping nicely! There aren't so many edibles for me, which are as satisfyingly reliable as that.

@Broadfork

@HumToTable @Broadfork. The Northern California coast growing seasons are going to inspire Jennifer Hudson-ness enthusiasm from nearly everything. #growyourown.

@Pollinators Except basil.

@HumToTable. Basil has troubles. What is the problem?

@Pollinators I'm inland but close enough to the coast that summers can be pretty cool overall. Most of the farmers around here use high tunnels. Basil will grow for me but never thrive. Same with most peppers and melons. The Big Guy just remodeled our greenhouse, so I'm trying basil one more time this year in the greenhouse.

@HumToTable. You can reserve the hottest spot in the remodeled greenhouse for the basil. Oh no. The peppers don’t thrive!

@Broadfork. Yes. Hello Broadfork. The rocket greens are some of the last greens being harvested in the Mastodon gardens. We are also looking for babbington leek bulbils that are already legally in the Midwest. #gardening, #minnesota, #zone4b.