Are you trying anything new?

I have not tried the small version of leeks before
the traditional big ones only do so...so in my garden
anyone grow these?

I'd never heard of those before, Cinda - they certainly sound interesting! Are you starting the seeds indoors?

I think the only new thing for me this year is 'Ambrosia' cantaloupe; I've tried melons a few times in the past without much in the way of success, this year I'm going to try planting it inside my small (7x15) hoop house. Hopefully this will be more successful than the sweet potatoes that I tried last year

Those look nice!! I'll be doing leeks this year which are new to me since I've never grown them before. Mostly what I do new each year are new tomato varities. This year I obtained Phil's One, Wherokowai dwarf, Dwarf Caitydid, Belgian Old Sort...thing is I won't have room to do all those indeterminates this year, more of my gardening space gets confiscated each year by a certain person who thinks she can't live without homegrown peas and beans.

Forgot that I do have one other totally new thing this year - back on February 8th I was making a coffee cake with some fresh cranberries and collected some of the seeds that fell out when I was cutting the berries up, and subsequently planted them in moist vermiculite in a 2-L bottle. They need cold stratification but I figured that the cranberries having been in the refrigerator for several months should satisfy that requirement, so I put the bottle in our warm sunroom where I put all the flats of seeds that I start - yesterday I thought I could see a couple of (very tiny) sprouts starting, and when I looked today there were definitely a number of sprouts popping up. I did read that it can take 3-5 years for plants started from seed to start producing... but it will still be interesting to see how they do.

Lots of new varieties of tomatoes and peppers for our garden this year. Concentrating on drying chilis this year. Aji Colorado, De Arbol, Pasilla Bajio. Also Fish pepper. Fat Frog Sweet Sister Sunny are some of the new tomatoes I am trying.

Those leeks look interesting, I'm keen to hear how they do for you.

Godspeed @Weedwhacker. I tried some cold strat seeds last year (gentian and blueberry) and it was just an epic fail. I'm thrilled you have some sprouts already!

CorabethGodsey said: Lots of new varieties of tomatoes and peppers for our garden this year. Concentrating on drying chilis this year. Aji Colorado, De Arbol, Pasilla Bajio. Also Fish pepper. Fat Frog Sweet Sister Sunny are some of the new tomatoes I am trying.

Those leeks look interesting, I'm keen to hear how they do for you.

Godspeed @Weedwhacker. I tried some cold strat seeds last year (gentian and blueberry) and it was just an epic fail. I'm thrilled you have some sprouts already!

I did Fish pepper years ago; such pretty variegated fruit and foliage! Didn't turn out as hot like I thought but that issue occurred on another pepper that was supposed to be hot to.

I went big on garlic last fall so this is new to me, really being intentional with a pound of garlic and I have some onion seed sprouting too. Other than those my garden is pretty settled. Trying to grow what I will use and know I can grow.

sallyg said: ... Trying to grow what I will use and know I can grow.

That's kind of the stage of gardening I'm at, as well; trying to weed out (so to speak) the things I always grow but never seem to utilize. Chard comes to mind in that respect - I love the way it looks when it's growing, and even love how it tastes when lightly sauteed like spinach, but just never seem to "get around" to using it .
So maybe I'll just grow a little bit of it this year

Elisabeth, you might want to consider "winter sowing" for seeds that need cold stratification; easy to do and almost fail proof.

Sally, a word of warning - growing garlic is very addictive! (oh, wait - maybe that's just me )

Weedwhacker said: Elisabeth, you might want to consider "winter sowing" for seeds that need cold stratification; easy to do and almost fail proof.

Sally, a word of warning - growing garlic is very addictive! (oh, wait - maybe that's just me )

Thanks, if I try it again, I will keep that in mind. I tried winter sowing one year and just disliked the whole process. Tomatoes never came up but peppers did...far later than the peppers I started inside. I think the process would be perfectly suited for cold strat seeds though.

Garlic planting is addicting. I have a 1 yr, 2 yr and 3yr bed. Decided to play with seeds.

You leave your garlic in the ground for multiple years?

I may try Leeks again for the first time in at least a decade; did well last time but just quit them.
May try some garlic again after a similar break; I have been looking for onion varieties, plants not seeds that I have never grown before but variety is not what it used to be.
Tried Elephant Garlic last year and that was a bust; looking at maybe putting some Ramps in for the first time.

May grow Cushaw squash up North for the first time, as they do well down South.
Have not really looked for new potato varieties but there too, variety is diminishing.
I already have a bundle on new, never before corn seed but am actually looking at planting stuff that I did before.
I always get that , I just did that one, and then realize just did that was over a decade ago; ditto for potato types.

Considering putting in cabage for first time in over a decade.
Down South may put in a cover crop , again first time in over a decade. If I do probably radishes although I have been checking a lot of seed catalogs that sell cover crops.

Weedwhacker said: You leave your garlic in the ground for multiple years?

A bulbil planted year one, becomes a clove or a round in year two and can sometimes be harvested as a full bulb in year three. Generally. So I have Bulbils (seeds) in one bed, cloves/rounds in another (as they might need another year) and then the usual cloves planted to be to be harvested as full bulbs the next summer.

I wanted to try some different varieties for cheap. So bulbils. I also harvested my own bulbils from garlic I allowed to go to seed.

It generally takes three years in my garden, but can be anywhere from 2-5 years for a bulbil to eventually become a full head of garlic. Depends on variety, soil conditions, the usual variables.

Requires patience sure, but time passes so quickly. I don't need to buy fall garlic anymore, I have my own supply from the bulbils I started three years ago, in a few varieties.

Some garlic blooms give hundreds of bulbils.

Here is a picture of a full garlic bloom with bulbils ready for harvest. Like small pink kernels of corn.

Aha - it didn't occur to me that you were planting the bulbils! Great way to get lots of garlic going.

I've grown the bulbils that look kind of like a top-setting onion, but the Music garlic that I have has the type in your photo and I've never been successful at getting them to grow. Do you just basically plant them like seeds, or?

The answer to the question at the top
I will be trying the leeks in a container and raised bed and will be starting seeds (from the package) tomorrow in the house under lights
Hope I am not too late

Weedwhacker said: Aha - it didn't occur to me that you were planting the bulbils! Great way to get lots of garlic going.

I've grown the bulbils that look kind of like a top-setting onion, but the Music garlic that I have has the type in your photo and I've never been successful at getting them to grow. Do you just basically plant them like seeds, or?

Sure do! Just like seeds.

My full bulbil process, if anyone is curious.

Plant the bulbils in the fall when you would plant the usual cloves. Typical planting depth, twice the width of the seed, officially. Unofficially I scatter it like birdseed and sprinkle loose soil over it haphazardly. I put some mulch over the bed, usually grass clippings or leaves (dry or new, whatever is available). No watering, no fertilizer at planting. In spring, make sure the mulch is a very thin layer so the teeny stalks can come through, or remove the mulch and replace when the stalks are larger. Bulbils come up same as normal garlic, but the stalks are so tiny it's best to mark the spot well.

I have definitely pulled baby bulbil garlic in spring thinking grass was in the garden. Now I have specific beds for each year of garlic.

I don't fertilize my garlic beyond the potassium all my property gets per deficiency. But too many variables for me to tell others not to fertilize. As always, do what is best for your yard. You all know your pieces of heaven better than I do.

Harvest them when you would harvest the full grown garlic, save the tiny cloves or round it produces (you will not get a full size bulb for that first harvest), and plant that again when you plant garlic in the fall. If it is still small the next year, just plant it again in the fall for a bigger bulb, keeping in mind the variety. Some just have smaller cloves.

I hope I remember to take a photo of the tiny stalks come spring.

gardengus said: The answer to the question at the top
I will be trying the leeks in a container and raised bed and will be starting seeds (from the package) tomorrow in the house under lights
Hope I am not too late

Probably not. I just planted my leek and allium seeds inside a few days ago, Zone 4b/5a. I guess we'll find out!

Well, now I will definitely have to try growing the little "Music" bulbils again. I always have plenty of garlic to replant, but now that I know they are actually viable I feel I must rise to the challenge

Thanks, Elisabeth - you make it sound easy so I don't know what my problem is; I routinely start my onions from seed (indoors, to transplant in the spring).

Weedwhacker said: Well, now I will definitely have to try growing the little "Music" bulbils again. I always have plenty of garlic to replant, but now that I know they are actually viable I feel I must rise to the challenge

Thanks, Elisabeth - you make it sound easy so I don't know what my problem is; I routinely start my onions from seed (indoors, to transplant in the spring).

You definitely do not have a problem.

It didn't occur to me until mother nature shoved in it my face, literally. I was digging around in the tomatoes, weeding, and pulled up some longer "grass". Darn grass smelled like garlic! I was just baffled. Then I remembered I had some garlic in that space the year before that I just left for some reason I forget. Very slowly I put the pieces together. Did some research, bought a few dollars worth of bulbils and here we are. I had no idea bulbils were a thing before then.

Don't know til you know, you know?

I hope more people try bulbils as their new thing for 2023.

Where do you find bulbils to buy - a local nursery? I need to get out more, haven't really bought any plants for the garden in a long time, I start pretty much everything from seed - and I've never seen bulbils in the seed catalogs.