Every year, it seems like we put out a bigger and bigger garden. We always try to put out a wide variety of different plants to be as self-sufficient as possible. This is why we have put out more heirloom seeds than we have in the past. It gets kind of busy for us right around planting time and then right around harvest time, so right now things have slowed down a little bit. I wanted to take some time to talk a little bit about some of the plants we are growing in our garden.
There are four main plants that we make sure to put out first each year. These staple crops for us are tomatoes, green beans, corn, and potatoes. With the corn, we usually only plant one variety. The variety we use can vary from year to year. With the potatoes, we usually plant the Russet potatoes. With the green beans, we have always put out two different types and they are called Blue Lake and White Half Runner. Finally, we usually put out a mix of many different tomatoes. For example, this year we plant varieties such as Brandywine and German Johnson.
Then there are the other plants that we plant every year. These include various peppers, squash, cucumbers, turnips, radishes, lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. We usually plant several different types of peppers. We plant various bell peppers, banana peppers, and jalapeño peppers. For the squash, we really like growing acorn squash. As for the other plants, we are not usually really picky about which ones we grow. We try to look for the plants that will grow food that would be really good for canning/preserving.
Lastly, there are some plants that we are new to trying this year. One of those is kale. We have heard a lot of great things about kale, so we thought that we would try it. Another plant we decided to grow was garlic. We have not really done a whole lot with growing our own herbs and spices, so we are wanting to greatly expand upon the herbs we are growing. I am really interested in being able to use fresh herbs and having the ability to dry them to preserve.
As time goes on, I will be posting updates on our garden and how it is doing. Thanks for reading!