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Re: Catalogs are here

You should only grow what you and your family likes to eat, first thing. I
spent many years trying to grow marginally viable exotics like eggplant and
okra, with mostly failures, the odd year I'd succeed because of an
unusually warm summer, then I had all this eggplant and okra that I am the
only one who will eat it. (how's THAT for a tortuous sentence
construction....)

Then pick things that will grow well in your climate. Then decide how much
your family will eat and be RUTHLESS about thinning out all the extras.
This part is hard!

With a smallish garden you'd probably be better off to grow veggies that
have a lot of yield per plant, like spinach, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes,
potatoes, rather than say, corn, which produces two ears, tops, per square
foot of garden space, or pumpkins, which as we all know will need the whole
back yard! Bush squash plants like zucchini and yellow crookneck are better
than runners like delicata, but if you've ever tasted a fresh-steamed
delicata squash in the summertime you'll not care how much space it takes
up! And anyway, its vines are slender and can be trained between the rows
of other vegs.

So in short, the selection is personal, and geared to your tastes and
loves. In the Pac. Northwest, we have to start peppers and tomatoes indoors
and set out under cloches or plastic, but you know that. I had a pretty
respectabe harvest of ripe peppers last summer. Nothing like the flavour of
a freshly-picked pepper warm from the sun. Eat 'em like apples. You can
probably grow anything you like in our climate, with a bit of care as to
when you set out your plants and a little good luck.

Good luck!

Which catalogs are you perusing?

Denise McCann Beck
USDA Zone 7
Sunset Western 4
Coastal Bristish Columbia

----------
> From: Duncan McAlpine <mcalpin@eskimo.com>
> To: veggie-list@eskimo.com
> Subject: Catalogs are here
> Date: December 28, 1997 9:35 PM
> 
> Ok, the catalogs are coming in and I need to order some seeds. I will
> provide some dimensions for my garden and I hope you can tell me what to
> plant.
> 
> Of course it is in Full sun and the soil is a sandyloam the process cow
> manure.  It is just 15' x 8'x 12" tilled. So what should I grow and why?
> -- 
> Duncan McAlpine, Federal Way, WA   m*@eskimo.com
> Why buy plants when you can grow them yourself.....?
> http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/
> http://www.eskimo.com/~mcalpin/pumkin.html
>
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