Catalogs are starting to add up...seed/variety selection is right around the corner. Soon after, seed starting supplies... Not a fan of winter at all, but thoughts of glorious spring and summer help me get through.

A New Year...A New Garden.

What's everyone's gardening situation looking like for this year?

I've been looking through the catalogs, but have not totally decided what I want......I will try to grow shishito peppers because they are so tasty....lots of cukes for pickles.....I always plant Jade green beans, a few rows of carrots, a few rows of beets....some lettuce....I buy my tomato plants...the rest of the garden is devoted to flowers, lots of dahlias & glads.

I have a large stack of catalogs on my desk and still need to order seeds. Have seeds but not all the seeds that I want.

Going to be putting in an order for some onion seed soon. I already have a couple varieties but I'd like to add a couple more. It'll be my first time growing onions from seed rather than from sets. My understanding is that it's much easier to get nice size bulbs from seed so I'm gonna give it a go. Got nothing to lose!

I'm still trying to decide what and how much I want to get started in the greenhouse this Spring. I know I will be starting tomatoes and peppers (adding shishito peppers this year after reading so many good things about Rita's and how good they are.) Almost everything else can be started from seed outside: scallions, lettuce, spinach, carrots, peas, cucumbers, etc. Our garlic has been in the ground since early November. I think we planted 36 cloves this year.

On another note, my cabbages in the greenhouse have really taken off since I added a new LED grow light (damn Poconos with it's constant cloudy winter days! ). Heads are just stating to form.





Spinach and lettuce continue to produce well. I have 2 new rows of spinach coming up (right side) and 2 new rows of lettuce coming up (left side). You can also see 2 small volunteer tomato plants in between the 2 rows of lettuce. I don't think they will amount to much since I keep the greenhouse cool for the other plants.



Here's the latest photo of my Douglas Fir trees I started last March. They are about 2 inches tall now.

The firs are so cute at this stage.....growing them for Christmas trees?

If I had success with the Balsam and Fraser Firs, I would have used them for Christmas trees when they grew. Douglas Firs have very firm and sharp needles. I bought one a few year back as a Christmas tree, and it was torture decorating it, so they will be planted as landscape trees. I'm thinking about planting them across the front of our property for noise reduction from passing cars.

Good idea.....

Rita...love the daylily banner......

RobinD said:Rita...love the daylily banner......

Thank you!!

Thinking of buying these seeds...

Tomato:
Better Boy
Celebrity
Early Cascade
La Roma

Peppers:
Ace Sweet Bell Pepper
Shishito (thanks to Rita)
Ajvarski (thanks to Rita)

Better Boy and Celebrity are very good 'maters. They both makes loads of nice slicers.. 'Ace' is a good bell pepper that I've grown in the past, but I wish they had slightly thicker walls.

Better Boy and Celebrity also are very disease resistant; that's one reason why I picked them. Last year I tried 4th of July and wasn't impressed. I've planted San Marzano for a number of years, but I want to try the La Roma's this year for sauce-making. I also have planted California Wonder Bell Peppers the past few year. They did OK for me. I thought I would try another variety this year, so it most likely will be the Ace. The other peppers are because Rita raves about them, and they always look so delicious in the recipes she posts pictures of (NE Veggie Gardening 2018). It's really hard for me to limit myself, but I am determined this year. I usually grow way too much, and a lot of the produce comes in when my business gets real busy for the season and my better half is back teaching.

Does anyone know the variety(ies) of the typical bell pepper(s) you can get at the grocery store? My store always has nice ones with thick walls, and I love bell peppers as a snack, but I rarely buy them now that I read they are one of the Dirty Dozen of vegetables, and I refuse to pay $2.50 a piece for organic ones.

Have no clue what they are in the stores.....I rarely buy them because I like the smaller, thinner walled peppers better.

MoonShadows said:Thinking of buying these seeds...

Tomato:
Better Boy
Celebrity
Early Cascade
La Roma

Peppers:
Ace Sweet Bell Pepper
Shishito (thanks to Rita)
Ajvarski (thanks to Rita)

Nice list on the peppers!!

Thin walled peppers are far easier to have sucess with than the more common thick walled bells.

I never have any problem growing thick or thin walled peppers. Thin walled types do tend to be a bit more prolific though, but I don't think they present any differences as far as difficulty having success with them when compared to bells.

Saw some peppers in Pinetree Seeds that looked interesting.....Corbaci...skinny & curly!

RobinD said:Saw some peppers in Pinetree Seeds that looked interesting.....Corbaci...skinny & curly!

I grew Corbaci last season. Very prolific and a great pepper for cooking. I used them at every color stage from green to red and orange in between. Will be growing again this season.

robertduval14 said:I never have any problem growing thick or thin walled peppers. Thin walled types do tend to be a bit more prolific though, but I don't think they present any differences as far as difficulty having success with them when compared to bells.

I find the thin walled bells to be a great success. They set far more peppers that get red much more quickly than the regular ones.

I looked them up and they look great for cooking. Just added Corbaci to my list!