Let's kick this form into action. What are you planning to grow in your 2025 garden?

[NewHendoLib]

Aside from a mostly perennial (with a few annuals tucked in) set of flower gardens, my early thinking garden plan will include

bush snap beans
cucumbers
sweet peppers
hot peppers
eggplants
tomatoes
summer squash
scallions
garlic
lettuce

and my big experiment - sweet corn in straw bales!

[Turbineguy]

1. An excellent and most timely question.

[NewHendoLib]

2. I really want to get this form active - focusing on healthy pursuits will help us through the next 4 years!

[drray23]

3. So, we have not gardened in a few years because of two reasons

1) I was so busy at work that I found it hard to make time for it

2) Our last few attempts to grow tomatoes, we got plagued by either diseases or bugs.


We live in southeastern Virginia (tidewater area) close to the border with North Carolina. I am considering trying again but would probably want to do raised beds to save on my back even though we live on a farm and have acres of land I could plough. At 58 and busy at work, I feel its not the best option.

What do you think are easy things to grow in raised beds (By that I mean those wooden beds that are a couple of feet of the ground) ?

[NewHendoLib]

4. Howdy - some thoughts below.

Your conditions are similar to my 28 years of Raleigh gardening. You are right - tomatoes are tough in that onset of disease is pretty much a sure thing - it is about choosing the right varieties, timing and paying close attention. Even here in Hendersonville NC my harvest season runs from late June to late July from a May 1 planting. But it is still worth it and fun.

Raised beds - straw bales - containers are all good options for you - and you can grow anything in them. Over the years "ive had success with lettuce and various greens, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, bush beans - you name it. Keep asking and I will keep answering.

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Pineapples, bananas, papayas, and coconuts.

Want to get a mango tree as well.

[NewHendoLib]

6. clearly, you and I have very different growing conditions!

[Shambala]

7. In addition to the standards

Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, that are usually hit and miss with me, I was given a dragon fruit cutting that I didn’t know what to do with and it got out of hand so I built a trellis last weekend in hopes of taming it and reaping some fruit shortly.

[MiHale]

8. Yes!...already been planning...

We have three growing ‘zones’, an enclosed in ground garden, two lines of straw bale garden then a 10x20 greenhouse. Last couple years we’ve been experimenting with straw bales and had some luck. The placement wasn’t real good and conditioning wasn’t the best. Ready to go full tilt this year started conditioning the bales in the fall with more to go in the early spring.
5a, close to 4b growing zone.

In all gardens we’re growing Roma’s processed into sauces, dehydrated, jams and the like.
Onions in the enclosed garden.
Peppers all the colors with some Pablano’s
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Green beans…going mostly in the bales this year they did great last year.
Potatoes…russets and sweet growing in 25 gallon bags this year, getting too old to dig in the ground.
Garlic 3 varieties Korean red German white and some other one that I forget.
Comfrey
And Marigolds all over.

Then there’s tending to the medicinal garden.
Meadowsweet
Bee Balm
Prunella Vulgaris
Elderberry

[NewHendoLib]

19. this all sounds great. I've really gone all in on straw bales - they really excel for me.

[MiHale]

20. Trying something on the bales this winter...

Last spring one of my new bales that I set up and wintered over had a terrible time thawing out. Location was the biggest problem not enough early spring sun. So we changed location to a more favorable spot. All good. Then, maybe over thinking things a bit I wrapped the bales in old ground cover to hope the sun warms the bales as early as possible. I don’t plan on leaving it on during the summer because it could heat the bale way too much.

I’ve been looking at tons of videos on YouTube haven’t seen anyone doing it. Any foreseeable problems?
Northern Michigan growing zone 5a

[NewHendoLib]

21. Last year, because we anticipated watering issues at a

nearby farm, we wrapped half of the bales in black plastic. We ended up having a better time watering, so moisture retention ended up not being a factor. But - wrapping really had no impact otherwise - plus or minus. My feeling is it won't hurt, and could help.

[MiHale]

22. 👍Thanks

[GardenGnome]

9. A little earlier than I usually start planning.

But it always picks up my spirits to think about planting my garden, so...

The fruits, herbs, and vegetables that stick around from year to year are: apples, cherries, plums, blueberries, and strawberries; thyme, oregano, chives, mint, French tarragon, and comfrey (which was thriving when I bought my property 22 years ago, gets completely ignored, and continues to thrive); and asparagus.

The hardneck garlic was planted in October.

The plants that go in May 1st will be: arugula, loose leaf lettuce, dandelion chicory, collard greens, curly kale, Mediterranean kale, mustard greens, pac choi, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, radicchio, pole beans, English peas, radishes, carrots, beets, oca, rosemary, and cilantro/coriander.

[NewHendoLib]

18. sounds great. Yes, I always feel better when pondering gardening in winter.

[drray23]

10. Just watched one of your presentations regarding container and straw bale gardening

with my wife. We are excited about trying it out. You mention that one should avoid pine straw bales, instead go for wheat bales. Have you ever tried to use peanut straw bales? The farmer down the road from where we live has some for sale. Would that be a good medium for growing ?

[NewHendoLib]

17. Pine straw doesn't really break down quickly enough, and repels water - hence the wheat straw. I've not tried

peanut straw - maybe try one or two and see how they do - and report back! have fun.

[scipan]

11. I just planted broccoli and tomatoes under my grow lights.

Broccoli for the first time. Any tips welcomed.

I don't have a real garden, just a balcony off my apartment.

I planted garlic about a month ago under the grow lights and they are coming up nicely although one has some brown tips, so I shortened the number of hours the lights are on to about 10/day and turned down the intensity.

[NewHendoLib]

16. key with broccoli - doesn't like its growth checked by weather changes

Grows quickly and well, pretty heavy feeder, likes cool weather - and watch for white cabbage looper butterflies laying eggs, which turn into worms in the edible part!

[scipan]

23. Ewwww. Another reason to keep them inside.

I hope 68-73 degrees is cool enough for them.

Thanks.

[NewHendoLib]

24. Let us know how it does.

[Keepthesoulalive]

12. I discovered stock tanks

They range from 50 gallon to 300 gallon and they work very well for me.
Mexican sunflowers for the pollinators and hummingbirds
Tomatoes
Jimmy Nardello peppers
Cucumbers
Sweet potatoes
Rhubarb
Strawberries
Melons

[NewHendoLib]

15. I really like Jimmy Nardello - what a pepper machine! Growing in containers is also a joy.

[MissB]

13. allll the things.

Lots of tomatoes, including two of my newer favs - dwarf wild Fred and big green dwarf. I think I like big green the best. That one absolutely sprawled all over the place for me last year. I gave up trying to stake/cage it and just let it do its thing. I use tall birdies beds, so it had plenty of space to fall over and produce a ton of green tomatoes. I think I was into green varieties last year? Big green is the only one I'll repeat this year, as it was super easy to see when it was ripe. Always shocking to get massive tomatoes on dwarf plants. Thank you so much for your work on those!

Bush beans will be tucked in everywhere, mostly fresh eating and black beans. I think I'm trying some version of a bush kidney bean this year too.

Rampicante, even though it goes absolutely bonkers. I'm putting it on a fence instead of an arch. The back wall of my garden has a fence that starts just above the tall birdie bed height, so there is a lot of potential growing space there. I'm keeping one of the squash from last year in the basement until May to see how it really does store. So far so good.

Lots of garlic, shallots and walking onions. I lost all of my garlic last year with the garden remodel, so I'm trying to keep a few things going.

I've tucked in some wine caps in one of my beds.

Pickling cukes and lemon cukes. Might plant the Sikkim cukes again, because they were actually very tasty.

I'm trying to find a good replacement for my favorite hot pepper, fireball. I usually get it from Territorial but they're not carrying it, and it's an F1. I've picked up some cherry bomb with hopes that it is similar. I'll also be doing a lot of Serrano, jalapeño, arbol, ancho, guajillo peppers.

I may try to grow some sweet potatoes this year. I had some growing last year and they did actually grow some roots. Usually I just grow them for the foliage (eat like spinach), but I have some new south facing corten planters that get a lot of heat gain on the 3' depth, so I figured they'd be good for sweet potatoes.

[NewHendoLib]

14. this all sounds great. My gardens are now decreasing a bit in size as my age increases!

I need to leave plenty of time for dogs, hikes, kayaks and our new grandson!