Your 2025 Garden

[Nomadicus]

Banana trees?

Cavendish. Full size bananas. Have to cover them when it freezes to keep them growing. If I forget the get burned off to the ground and then grow again in the spring. This year I'll have a wood frame that I can cover. Each fall I'll have to modify it after the summer's growth.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

I’ve been making my 2025 wishlist for weeks, I actually need to prioritize and possibly prune it down a bit. But first, some lessons learned from this year:

• I need to not panic when the pepper seeds don’t sprout exactly on time. This did lead to the next two items on the list, so for this year it was informative, but there’s no need to do it twice.
• My cayenne peppers LOVED the hanging basket I put them in (after I ran out of space everywhere else). Definitely doing that again!
• No planting peppers in the shady boxes, or in the shadow of tall, sun-blocking plants, like the beans.
• Some of the creatures hereabouts will munch on potato plants. I suspect deer, as the netting prevented further damage from whatever it was.
• Netting prevents birds from eating insect pests.
• The netting I put around my ground level planters needs adjusting/rethinking in general. Chipmunks were able to get inside it, leaving holes in the ground at the end of the season, and recently I had one strangle itself to death in the netting. Ideally, they are completely excluded and/or repelled, with no fatalities and no damage to the veggies!
• Jury is out on why, but carrots did not do well. I suspect lack of sunlight (they were in the shady boxes), and I have an experiment currently in progress to help determine that.
• Onions did not do well. I suspect sun problems here too.
• Basil did extremely well outside!
• Herbs planted for pollinators were, in general, a huge success and brought in lots of bees and similar species. Will be doing that again too.
• I need to plan my vining plants planting schedule to avoid building maintenance.
• Quasi-related to the above, I need to trellis better.
• Water globes were helpful for the plants in hanging baskets during heat and drought.
• Tarragon needs to be trimmed back more promptly so the leaves don’t die off before harvest.

So for 2025 I am planning to implement some Square Foot gardening principles - primarily plant spacing and not overseeding, as I dislike having to thin seedlings, but also not starting a lot more of any given plant than I have space for. I’ve done the first two with the peas and beans in previous years and it worked well. The third is going to take some self control.

I’m looking into more forms of self-sustaining pest control; this year even the pungent herbs and other plants that insects supposedly don’t like got munched heavily. I do think the dill helped, as once it bloomed I stopped seeing aphids, but the bigger insects like caterpillars were rampant. So I’m putting out BSFL to keep the insectivorous bird species around more, and planning to get some beneficial nematodes as well as planting some marigolds, though I need to find out if the marigolds will play nicely with the beneficial nematodes and what kind of spacing they need to dissuade critters. I’m also planning to put eggshells over the top of the soil rather than mix them in, in the hopes that will deter ground pests.

For trellises I’m looking into cattle panels for some of the vining plants (beans and cucumbers/squash/melons depending on which of those I end up growing), currently trying to find a place that ships them for a reasonable price (Tractor Supply is winning so far, but they only ship the 8’ panels not the 16’).

I plan to continue banging my head against the wall as far as onions and carrots, I might try to find some shade-tolerant varieties.

Now for the actual wishlist:

• Potatoes
• Scorzonera (aka ‘Black Salsify’)
• Carrots
• Peas
• Beans
• Cucumbers
• Squash
• Cayenne Peppers
• Mystery sweet pepper
• Strawberries (alpine and regular - note to self, check if these can cross-pollinate)
• Onions
• Leafy greens - lettuce, spinach, arugula, russian kale
• Melons (exact variety to be determined)
• Herbs of various kinds

There are a few complications for the above. Right now I have carrots and bunching onions already existing in the ground from this year because they’re biennials and I’m trying to get seed off them. They’re not doing spectacularly but I’ve been surprised before, so if they survive the winter I’ll need to plan around them and my dill will need to go in a pot so I can move it inside if/when the carrots bolt, so those don’t cross-pollinate. I also have an experiment going on presently with the carrot and scorzonera seeds which may impact how much space they get and what variety gets planted in the case of the carrots. I’m also skeptical that I have enough relatively sunny space for all the vining plants listed so I may have to cut some of those from the list.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I am expanding next year. I plan to have two separate pepper beds one hot and one mild. I am growing Thai chilis, scotch bonnets, Hungarian hot wax, habanero and Jalapeno in one bed. The second non-spicy garden I am growing poblano, Shishitos, purple star, habanda and padron for my son who loves peppers, but I don’t want him accidentally grabbing a scotch bonnet I am growing Cuore di bue tomatoes, giant musselburgh
leeks, frizzy headed drunken woman lettuce (my favorite), Swiss chard, autumn frost squash, dragon tongue beans, turtle beans, Oxheart carrots, maybe some beets and cucumbers. Oh and lots of potatoes! I am growing magic mollies, Adirondack blue and Kennebec potatoes along with Japanese purple sweet potatoes. Lots of fresh herbs, but I haven’t decided on where to put those.

 

[Sally PB]

What I've learned this year.

Chard grows MUCH better as a late sown crop, say, end of July, than as a spring sewn crop.

There is plenty of time to grow Dragon Tongue beans with a second planting, and they did very well.

Spinach still doesn't seem to be worth it. Or kale. But the late sowing of chard more than made up for it, and I like it better than kale.

My soil needs calcium! A lot of blossom end rot on the tomatoes. The chickens get all their egg shells, so I'll be buying bone meal. I think I might crush the oyster shell I bought for the chickens and see if that helps too. The ladies really prefer their egg shells.

I'll try growing hot peppers for hubby again. The jalapenos were not hot -- at all! -- this year. Very disappointing, and we only got 5 (!) habaneros. Usually we get 20-30 off each plant.

The New England Asters grew very well for the honeybees! I'll put tomato cages around them next year, to help support them and keep them off the ground.

Citrus peels seemed to help keep the small critters from chewing stuff up. Once I put those around their chosen plants, they stopped eating them.

Yard long beans aren't worth it. They didn't grow very well, and the few beans I got were stringy and pithy. Bleah.

We really, REALLY like the rhubarb jam I made. I might split the "big plant" next year. Or maybe ask my neighbor for another split...? That's where I got it.

I'm going to research more about growing onions. Our bulbing onions were nearly all small. A few years ago, I got a LOT of BIG onions. I think something (calcium?) is lacking in the soil.

I'm trying a second variety of garlic, Metechi. It's supposed to have more bite when raw, but calm down a bit when cooked. I love Music, which I've grown for several years now, but I want to try another kind.

 

[Sally PB]

Oh, I forgot to mention the cucamelons. I will grow those again next year. I like them fresh, and hubby likes them as pickles.

 

[klb25]

Well the new seed catalogs are out tempting those who like to try new things. Not sure what all we will plant but it will be nothing like 2024. We put a lot of effort and money into somethings that just didn't pan out. I have a great way to barter for things that don't grow well here with some things that do. Okra is one of them and after the first picking or two there is no bending or raised bed needed. Okra and summer or cow or field peas along with pole beans will be the bulk of what we grow in 2025. At least that is the base of our plans.

I'm hoping to have better luck with luffa next year. My first attempt only gave me one luffa, which I foolishly left out to dry. I found it the next day, devoured by a hen. My fault!

 

[Sally PB]

I got one luffa in 2023 from one plant.

This year, I had 4 plants that grew, two plants each had a luffa, and neither of them got big enough to pick. I don't think I'll bother with them next year.

Of course, I may change my mind when I have 3 empty pots left over.

 

[CatInTheHenHouse]

Citrus peels seemed to help keep the small critters from chewing stuff up. Once I put those around their chosen plants, they stopped eating them.

*scribbling down notes*

 

[h2oratt]

I already have my seeds for next year. I saved bell, paprika, and jalapeno seeds but no tomatoes. I do have heirloom romas and beef steak that I will be planting next year, got them from a local seed company. I also got lots of medicinal herbs and sunflower seeds, excited to try and save the seeds from those for eating. A few months ago, our local Rural King was offering their seeds for free, just to get rid of them. My sister stocked up and shared her bounty so I have lots of different lettuce and other things to try

I have a medicinal herb garden. Do you make tinctures ?

 

[pennyJo1960]

I saved seeds from the gourds we really like.
Bought tomato and pumpkin seeds heirloom varieties.
Will start many early indoors give them a head start.