2009 was a banner year for seed sales as individuals and families started looking at vegetable gardening as a way to manage tight budgets while improving eating habits. Now a month past winter solstice, daylight hours are getting a bit longer, and 2010 seed and garden supply catalogs are piling up on our night tables.
So for newbies and old hands at gardening edibles, what veggies or fruits look especially intriguing in those seed catalogs? Which less common plants or rare varieties (select your top 3 choices, if you can) are whetting your appetite for 2010? Take our quick survey below and we’ll publish the results in our next blog:
Plangarden 2010 Edible Garden Survey is now CLOSED … Survey Results Here
Before you go “hog wild”, take a reality check with respect to the suitability of those new edibles to your climate, soil type, space requirements, etc. Our “Seven Strategies To Plan Your Vegetable Garden” post might help you out.
Here’s what we’re ruminating on:
- Garden sorrel “Rumex acetosa” – apparently more popular in Europe than in the U.S. Found this recipe for sorrel soup – it is delish!
- Asian cucumbers “Cucumis sativus“- these tasty little cukes are excellent snacks that a Persian friend introduced to us on a hike
- Tomatillo “Physalis ixocarpa” – we’ll be making lots of salsa out of this and will try it in stews.
But one can’t stop at three, right? So here are other less common garden edibles we’ve attempted or thought about cultivating: quinoa (superduper healthy grain), amaranth (beautiful red plants but they needed staking; it was like harvesting sand so a bit tricky), soybeans (don’t you just love snacking on edamame?), scorzonera/salsify (we hear it’s great in soups), and celeriac (though long days to harvest, it’s so yummy in soups and as a low-carb alternative to mashed potatoes).
Now in its own rightful kingdom and no longer classified as plants, edible fungi like oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus species) have been grown in this household. Seed companies like Territorial are getting into the recent popularity of home-cultivated mushrooms and offering cultivation kits for oyster, shiitake, and even more exotic mushrooms like lion’s mane, believed to promote healthy neurological functions!
So how about you? Will it be that rare heirloom tomato or something for “shock effect”? Let us know 🙂
Love tomatillos! I’ve been growing them for a couple years now and have ventured into purple and pineapple tomatillos too. Nothing beats homemade salsa verde! We canned and froze it last year- totally awesome on our chicken enchiladas.
Hi Carri – yep, we’re excited to grow tomatillos for the first time. We started ground cherries last yr as an experiment & they’ve really taken off!
Since I’ll be still growing containers this year, I’ve been looking at expanding the types of lettuces, spinach and peas I grow. Can’t wait until next year when we are back in our remodeled house and can get back to gardening in the ground!
We can TOTALLY relate to your situation. More on home issues later … 🙂
Our goal this year is to grow things that
a. we eat a lot of or can freeze
b. grow things that are really expensive in the stores
c. expand our herb garden (it’s pretty good so far but we want to try some more off beat ones)
I love the idea of sorrel – I’m pretty sure we’re good for it where we are. We are in the process of researching soybeans as it is one of my daughters favorite snacks.
Liz – yep, it sure makes sense to grow stuff you eat lots of esp. when pricey, plus it’s yummier and fresher out of your own garden. Lettuce is actually one of the more expensive veggies as it is highly perishable – but so easy to grow in most climates. Check out Plangarden’s cool vegetable calculator to see how much money you can save by growing more popular veggies yourself.
Awesome that your daughter loves edamame. We’ve got that on our radar for this year’s garden, too 🙂
thinking about a neighbourhood / community garden this year
That’s great! Our neighborhood just started a committee for a community garden in planning stage. We think it’s an excellent excuse to get outdoors and start planning yummy dishes from harvests and which you’ll be preparing for the summer and fall potluck parties 🙂
Top 3 things to try this year that I haven’t before are:
Mushrooms
Hops – to make my own beer with
Either grapes or rutabegas
Good luck on the hops 🙂 I’d love to try brewing beer one day. You will love growing mushrooms. Shiitake are my favorite, so yummy in hearty pasta sauces.
Right now here’s 3 new items we’re trying
1. Opalka Tomato (hope it’s good for homemade tomato soup)
2. Several varieties of bean, such as Jacobs Cattle, Money & Red Kidney Beans, (just to see how they do)
3. Trying Bodacious Hybrid corn..
Can’t wait for spring to get started 🙂
Cindy – Opalka sounds like an excellent paste tomato. It looks funny, almost like a long bell pepper, but the reviews on GardenWeb say it’s everything a canning/paste tomato should be. Thx for sharing!
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Plangarden, Plangarden, Plangarden, Kelly Kunik, Jules and others. Jules said: RT @plangarden: Doing another survey just for fun. What new edibles are you growing in 2010? http://bit.ly/60NdQo […]
In Western Australia with upsode down seasons we are in midsummer atm. We have added loganberries and boysenberries this year, like raspberries which we already grow they are almost unobtainable fresh and command a “kings ransom” if they are available.
We tried okra last year (I try to experiment with things we don’t like as sometimes we find that we do when they are home grown). They cropped well in our climate but we still didn’t like them apart from the breautiful yellow flowers. So no okra this year.
Something else new this year (not yet at the harvest stage and I’m not sure whether thy ever will be as they look very feeble) is yam beans ((Pachyrrhizus erosus). The beans are inedible but the tuber is used as a water chestnut substitute. Currently I have to use tinned water chestnuts in Chinese style cooking so will be delighted if this works.
Jo – thx for the head’s up on the yam beans. Never heard of ’em but they sound intriguing. Don’t use water chestnuts much but this should be an interesting substitute.
We grow “ollalieberries” in California – they thrive on the coast where we live. Large like boysenberries and slightly tart. Wonder if you have them in Oz too. Our raspberries failed last yr. Don’t know why b/c neighbor’s do very well. Maybe ollalies competed? Raspberries had lots of flowers but no berries. Wonder if that’s common in the first year?
I have lots of veggies growing here in Gilbert, AZ but I have never been able to grow tomatillos. Can anyone help?
Also my grapes vine gets loads of beautiful vines and leaves but no gropes. Any suggestions?
everything I’ll be growing will be new to me except for green onions and jalapenos, heh. My first year of ‘real’ gardening is this year! I ordered Dragon Tongue beans for the pretty beans and Dakota Black popcorn, those will be my ‘wow’ items I think.
Lindsey – best of luck to your 2010 garden! Dragon Tongue beans sound cool. Black popcorn should be a hit at Halloween!
Sorrel does great in my zone 3 garden, it comes back every year it’s a perennial. I would like to try tomatillo’s but would have to give up space where I normally grow tomatoes, my greenhouse is a little small. I’m experimenting with different varieties of potatoes, finding out which ones taste good. So far I have grown Warba, peanut fingerling, yukon gold, Pacific russett, purple viking, and Chieftain
Melanie – lucky you w/ sorrel! We love taters too. Tried the purple fingerlings. More work to harvest and not esp. attractive (won’t say here what it looks like, might ruin your dinner 😉 However, they were delish!
[…] 25, 2010 by Plangarden Many thanks to all who participated in our “Survey for First Attempt Garden Edibles for 2010“. As we learn from your submissions, we are happy to publish them for others to benefit as […]
Wr to raspberries how is your bee population – or failing bees other flying insects? Our rasps didn’t do that well 1st yr – they fruit best on 2nd yr canes – 1st yr just growing then train and leave to fruit 2nd yr. Then we had 2 bumper years then not so good yr – then its time to split/reduce I think as they compete. That is my exp here may be different for you