Most Overrated Plants to Grow According To Subscribers
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- We asked YOU what the most over rated crops are in the garden, and these were your answers. Kevin reacts with his personal takes...let us know if you agree!
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TIMESTAMP
00:00 - Intro
00:40 - Brad's Atomic Grape
01:40 - Bell Pepper
02:35 - Potatoes
03:53 - Tomatillos
04:40 - Watermelon
05:49 - Corn
07:04 - Malabar Spinach
08:21 - Cilantro
09:39 - Summer Squash
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Do you agree or disagree with my takes? What are the most overrated crops to YOU?
I find all the American channels are obsessed with peppers, tomatoes and corn. We don’t need more info on those
i dont find any larger heirlooms are worth growing like the beefsteak tomatoes as they have very specific environmental needs use the "grape" tomato varieties and youll get it to grow easier just my observation
Kills me to say it, but CARROTS are an overrated garden crop. Garden space is precious, and carrots are really inexpensive at the market.
My issue with corn is tree grasshoppers eating away at the silk so the kernels don't properly fertilize :/
Broad Beans!
Cilantro is a lot easier than you think. It needs to be cut like the lawn. When it gets to 4-5" inches harvest the whole plant back to 2 inches, Wait 2 weeks and do it again and give it away if you don't use it. If you let it grow tall it will bolt, If you keep it short it will never bolt! I use CALYPSO long standing variety.
Thanks for the info. 😁
I'll have to try that this year. Imin a wonderful zone of Canada where our summers are really short but the temps do get really hot. Meaning it can be a struggle to grow long season crops and yet the temps to get hot enough so that plants like cilantro can easily bolt
Sometimes I will start seeds a month apart to give me more options when using cilantro the stems can get thicker when older also some shade is helpful
@@ugosmith7529 ontario?
Ok! I’ll do this. Mine bolted last summer so I harvested the seeds. Hopefully, the seeds are good.
My watermelon journey over the last three seasons looks like this. Season 1: Four plants, vines everywhere, 1 small watermelon that tasted like garbage. Season 2: Four plants, vines everywhere, 1 small watermelon that tasted good. Season 3: Five plants, vines everywhere, six giant watermelons that tasted like the nectar of gods. The biggest tricks I learned was how to start indoors and transplant successfully and I found the right varieties.
Variety for your zone is huge to have success. Crimson sweet is my favorite so far.
Took me 10 years, last year got five big sweet melons. I was shocked. I grew them for groundcover.
Tip here from a fellow farmer: once your plant has 2-3 melons on it, cut the rest of the stem after the last leaf of the last fruit!! This will focus the energy of your plant on growing that melon and less on making those leaves. Also, watermelons are obviously full of water so I find that mastering the amount of water your plant gets is the secret to a good melon harvest.
In my region single watermelon plant could have up to 3 huge fruits on it.
Biggest key is properly watering them.
I think people tend to call plants "overrated" because haven't had success with it, meanwhile it can be prolific for others!
I agree. Also, when my family is bored with a plant I had a lot of, we just skip a year of that veggie. Next year I'm skipping zucchini.
@@mandy3486 I only do one zucchini plant now. One is a treat, two is a full time eating job.
To me overrated is about taste. If the taste of type of plant/variety is the same as what I can buy at the store then I move on.
I also think various disagreements comes down to commenters living in different hardiness zones.
I would never grow watermelons. In my climate it would have to grow in my greenhouse and because of the size the plant grows to it would mean no tomatoes, cucumbers ect. for that season.
Some plants really don't make sense, especially if that plant is already mass produced locally (and therefore cheap) and is also tedious to grow. Corn is def one from this list that is true. Waste of time for a private garden. It's heavily subsidized, has very big spacing requirements, and extremely cheap at the grocery store already
That's what I was thinking.
There's a trick to getting bell peppers to produce a bunch. I pluck the flowers/ small peppers when they first start. It forces the plant to grow bigger instead of concentrating on a couple fruits. It'll need support or it'll fall over from the weight of the fruits. I live in Michigan so we have a decent but not super long growing season. I usually have anywhere from 6-12 peppers per plant. But it has taken me years to get to this size yield. 🤷♀️
how many times/or how long do you keep picking the flowers until you let it bear fruit?
also what fertilizer + watering amount and other tips do you do to grow them?
@@TylerDurden404 I usually do the first round of flowers, basically until I can see a little growth. I try to get the actual plant at least a couple feet tall before I allow blooms to stay. The bigger the plant the more peppers it can produce. We try to do as much organic gardening as we can so we make our own compost that we use at the time of planting. I also will use a half teaspoon of blood meal (organic) well mixed into the soil before I plant into the ground. I don't use pots as they seem to limit the size of the plants. I live in a fairly wet area so we just make sure to keep the ground moist. They don't like being crowded and they need as much sunlight as you can give them. I'll usually feed them again with liquefied blood meal about a month after planting. Once they start blooming, and I let them keep the blooms, I switch to organic bone meal to help with fruit production.
@rshells what about pest control?
Mine grew some small fruit but ends up never ripening because of some pest eating a small hole in it.
Btw are yours big like the stores?
Or know how to get them big size?
@@TylerDurden404 TBH as we try to grow organic we kinda assume that Mother Nature will take her share one way or another. We estimate she usually takes around 20% so we over plant to compensate. We do try to use organic products when possible, things like Neem oil and Grower's Ally (they make organic fungicide and pesticide out of naturally sourced ingredients like rosemary oil, lactic acid, etc) but we find that encouraging prey insects like wasps, lady bugs, spiders, etc. do their part as well. We do grow nice, store size peppers but as the peppers will keep flowering throughout the season we do get lots of smaller green ones too. They are usually one of the last things we harvest in September because they do need time to get big and turn red/yellow/orange/etc. I'm not a huge fan of the unripe green pepper so we usually leave them on until the start to change. I will pull damaged peppers, no point in allowing the plant to continue to put energy into it. The skins are a bit thicker overall than store bought but the taste is so much better.
@@rshells9755 May have to give that a try. We usually get maybe three peppers and a teeny tiny plant.. I'll share the info with my sister as well.. she fares better than I, but only just. Thank you for sharing your process.
Bell Peppers were $1.50 each last year and will undoubtedly be higher this year. I typically get 8-10 per plant and can cram 48 plants into a 4'x8' box. So you can get a ton of peppers. It's a cash crop with current food pricing. Marconi Giant Peppers give the same taste but grow very prolific and do not sun scald as bad.
The other day you were talking about homesteaders to add to your crew and I think Becky from Acre Homestead is one of the literal best when it comes to food preservation techniques and recipes. She is super into local ingredients and meat. Her experience with preserving goes back to her days as a CSA customer, before she even had her own garden. Her channel is not that old, but has exploded quickly.
Good suggestion. Plus, she has a newborn so her ideas about growing food and preserving for babies and children would probably attract a lot of interest. Great idea! ~ Lisa
AMAZING. I will check her out.
Omg yes, I love her channel! 😍
I literally just came here from her newest video. Shebwould be a great addition to the epic team.
I totally agree, Becky is one of my favourites to watch, she is a huge inspiration, I live in Australia and love her, I even bought some mason jars and her preserving book she has ready to do my own canning all because of her, just hope I get enough produce to can, this stupid Aussie weather has been to cold, not enough sun and to much rain, I’ve had to resow seeds twice, some three times, only to get the seedlings to die, or just grow so small, hopefully next year will be better.
I usually avoid growing the staples unless it's a particularly nice tasting or hard to find variety. Here in the UK, potatoes, carrots, onions are literally pennies to buy. I tend to put my energy into growing soft fruit and other things which don't travel well. For instance, an English strawberry in season is unparalleled for flavour but the season is short and the best varieties don't travel.
Thanks. I think the same thing. Why grow cheap staples? Waste of space and effort. Tomatoes, berries, fruit, peppers, some herbs, and even a few staples like corn that are best eaten fresh picked make sense to grow in a home garden plot. Potatoes? Why?
Try putting Cilantro with your tomatoes! They provide so much shade by the time summer rolls around my cilantro grows like a literal weed in my tomatoes areas.
Where are you and what climate are you in?
@@doodlesthegoose7085 midwest, zone 6a. I go for about 3/4 sun for the bed location.
@@connorh7352 I'm in 8b but still going to try your suggestion! Thank you!
I read somewhere that Cilantro isn’t good to grow with tomatoes. So, I dug mine out. Then I read this. Oh internet, you cruel, deceptive ,source of information.
I just grow what I know my family or I will eat. My problems come with planting in intervals so I don't get so much at once and having a bunch of wasted food. Beyond that, I just like cramming seeds in the beds and watching and learning what happens. Now that I've moved from South / central California to Northern Idaho I get to learn everything all over again and it's fun.
That's a great take!
Yes! I keep telling people that crop “failures” are great for growing your brain! Learning what to grow and when yo grow things really fun!
Howdy neighbor! As a Montanan, my advice to you is "learn to love short season & cold hardy crops!" We can have our last freeze in June & our first freeze in August. It can also get 80° in May & not rain all summer. Or it can snow through June, then rain every day in July. I grow a lot of summer squash, spinach, chard & kale, radishes, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes. I have a small hothouse for my slower tomatoes & peppers. I also love my tough perennials like horseradish, rhubarb, Egyptian walking onions, sunchokes & herbs that seed & replant easily like dill & cilantro. When I feel like putting in extra time I'll play around with some cucumbers & other squash. One problem you'll find is when we have a cold spring, the bees don't come out & lots of your plants won't get pollinated. I use pollinator attractants to help with this. While plants like Rocky Mountain Bee Plant bloom midsummer, they bring in so many pollinators that it makes up for the late start
@@Junzar56 I live in Washington state can where my California relatives did very well with watermelon, Washington not so much. There are crops that really really grow here in the PNW, and there are crops that will let you know don’t bother me.
@@marcwhite9234 yep! In the high altitude desert I have learned not to bother with long season tomatoes- we have a shorter season and warm summer days- cool summer nights. Learning growing for your area is important!
As a Mexican living in Germany I have to say tomatillos are a MUST in my garden, yearly I grow anything from 8 to 16 plants. With the extra tomatillos I don’t directly use I can them, so they’re basically a canned salsa ready to mix 😁
I just gotta say, you don't hear very often of a Mexican living in Germany. That's epic tho, I bet your salsa is the best in the country!
@@Pops1970 😂😂😂🤣😂
¿Licuadora o molcajete?
@@Voykod licuadora, lamentablemente no tengo molcajete 😅
Yes it is a must!
In my opinion the saying... “ 1 man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” applies here. I personally LOVE homemade salsa & salsa verde. We plant tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, onions...etc. for making salsa. We go through a lot of salsa. We also love our potatoes! Fried, mashed, baked, hash browns, put in breads or casseroles, it’s versatile, filling, and just out right tasty. We love our watermelon here. Granted, you may need to try some different varieties to find a flavor you enjoy most, but that’s the rule for a lot of fruit & veggies, including peppers (favorite is poblano by the way) and.. pepper plants can be brought in doors to over winter,giving you more harvest time; & tomatoes &.... Corn, my dad loves his sweet corn, I myself can live without it, but I do enjoy cornbread, so dent corn is more to my liking. And everyone in my family loves squash! Butternut, summer, spaghetti, again... if you don’t like 1, try another variety before giving up on it. I have found things I never thought I would eat, just by trying a different variety. Also, in these days, an abundant garden is NEVER a bad thing. There are always those in need, we take ours to church and give to those who are less fortunate and do not get a chance to enjoy a fresh garden. There are also, soup kitchens you can donate produce to; Anyone who has fallen on hard times. When a crop seems endless, remember...so are your options of giving. Be blessed! And Thanks for the videos!
Ok
"When a crop seems endless, remember...so are your options of giving" love this
as an added tip for squashes, you can eat the flowers of both summer and winter squash. It’s commonly eaten in Mexico and is quite delicious! I usually cook them with garlic, onion, serrano, tomatoes, and seasoned with salt and pepper. I put them in tacos, quesadillas, soups, and tortas and lemme tell you it’s…BUSSIN! Highly recommend!
Sounds great! I'm going to try that next year.
I had tons of male flowers (bees were very happy) and wound up giving at least half to my next door neighbor.
She is from Mexico and maybe she'll show me what I can do with them.
BUSSIN!
My mom stuffs them with goat cheese and herbs and pan fries them, and they are SO delicious
I think are are male and female flowers too, so you can still have squash if you leave the females 🤔
I've been talking about trying that for a few years and just keep putting it off. I'll give it a whirl this year.
I think zucchini is great to grow for bulk easy food production. Imagine how many tummies you can feed even if you put it 4 plants! I usually also dehydrate some and blitz it into powder for easy nutrient dense storage. We add the zucchini powder to home made bread, pasta, sauce, or anything really! 🎉
Agreed! It's also fantastic for smoothies if you struggle to get enough fibre. I just cut it up into chunks and freeze it so I don't have to add ice to them.
I’ve heard of this a few times recently and I’m intrigued! Another youtuber I watched intentionally let her zucchini grow very big just for the purpose of making zucchini powder/flour. Supposedly you can sub zucchini flour for 1/3rd of the total flour amount in baked goods recipes. I’m gluten and grain free so I’m wondering if this would still work. I’ll have to give it a try!🤓
End of season I let the last ones grow fully mature. You can store them like this the same you would store Pumpkins the whole winter...
Three steers will feed men so they keep the economy alive and running.
This is going to be my first year for zucchini. Might want some easy food.
They are so many factors to decide if a crop is worthy.. your climate, space, why are you growing it, skill level, time availability..
Broccoli. Drives me nuts that it’s all my husband wants! It takes up a ton of space for the yield, it’s temperamental and seems to attract pests I never have otherwise, and it’s just so cheap & easy to get it anywhere but in my (tiny) garden.
I’m with you. I’ve tried every year to grow broccoli and cauliflower and it just takes up space for very little pay off. I’m done even trying.
yes, never again. Just swarms of cabbage white fly and since their larvae eat the plant, everything stinks of broccoli/ cabbage within a wide radius of the plants.
Putt it in pots (medium size ones) and have it in the shade for the hotter months of the year ... so you don't lose space ...
Totally Agree!!! Broccoli is my Arch enemy in the garden.... failed every year.... Boooooooooooooooo.... Of course, I just germinate another 15 plants.... So... 😬 I'm nutz.
Gotta do it cold
2 - 3 bell peppers per plant??? What?? I'm in zone 8b and while I did have about 6 bell pepper plants, there were several times this past year where we had 9 or more peppers on EACH plant, at one time! They were extremely, crazy prolific. I can't even imagine how many we cooked/ate, gave away or just composted, just from those handful of plants. In fact, I have about 15 or so peppers that I just picked prior to our freezing temps that hit last week.
I scrolled down to comment this very same thing. I am also in zone 8b. I started three bell pepper plants this year and I had so many peppers. They just kept coming. Seems like every time I went out to grab some peppers, there was at least 7 or 8 ready to be picked. I had blossoms on the plants right up to the freeze last week.
Hmm it’s probably your 7:51 intensity of sun. Im in a warm but temperate climate and the summer temps rarely get above 25C . My peppers are very late to develop , and the frost comes just as the peppers are ripening. I keep trying , and start them early but only get a good ripe crop in once in about 3 years!
@@greencloud2225 My growing season is very short, but putting my tomatoes and peppers in my greenhouse made a huge difference.
I think it's where you are. I'm in the UK and they're only just worth growing if they're in my greenhouse and I can over winter the plants so they get growing early. If I start from seed each year they're not really productive.
In the green house, I had too many of them. I might have the same plants next year, as they are still alive and producing right now.
Pineapple. I don’t think its overrated because we did get one to harvest and it was delicious. However we realized it takes up valuable garden space for 18-24 months AFTER we planted 16 MORE! My raised bed is now a dedicated pineapple bed for two years. I could have gotten two seasons a year for 4 seasons of other vegetables. I’ll grow them again but not that many.😮
They don't need super fertile soil to grow. I have mine in the sandy undeveloped parts of my yard and they absolutely thrive there. I can use the nicer soil and raised beds for everything else.
@@Ragekolb i wish I would have spoken to you first. LOL.
@@sandreawhite7534 they are super tolerant to transplant. I would just rip them out of the ground and shove them in a place you don't care about (full sun). Regain that good gardening space!
Definitely agree about transplanting them all out of the bed and into another space, either potted or ideally in ground.
I planted several along the drip line of the roof. I ignore them until the pineapple needs to be staked up.
Zucchini for sure lol, and I'd agree about bell peppers.... They're just so darn pretty that I can't help myself! Due to the fact that a young farmer down the road grows tractor loads of watermelon and muskmelon we've stopped growing those and just purchase them from him to support local farms as well.
My large dogs can never get enough zucchini. Frozen in chunks is their favorite treat. Growing food doesn't always have to be for humans😃
I grew three zucchini plants for my dogs this past summer. I also grew a huge amount of winter squash this year for my dogs very specifically because of their food allergies. I feed them raw meat and cooked squash. The skins and seeds go to the chickens and every once in awhile my horses and goat get a squash treat as well. I almost never eat any myself but found butternut squash to be amazing! Next year I'm growing a bunch of that for myself.
Exactly! I always grow extra greens for my chickens, and any squash that we don't use, they devour!
My dog eats all my veggies
I live in hawaii and I grow Culantro/Kulantro instead of cilantro. The plant puts out cilantro tasting leaves year round and it's prob about 3 years old now. The only downside that I can think of is when it flowers the different style leaves on the flowering stem can be a bit pokey. I just cut/pull the flowering stems and that solves that issue. A good perennial alternative for warm climates
Since im in australia and the weathers wild at the best of times and goes extreme in drought flood frost heat etc so if its hardy or easy to grow even better if its perennial and self seeding (sweet basil, tomato, lettuce etc)
So besides the hardiness and ease of growth which also translates into getting the most bang for my buck AND most food for my effort which is small to nothing.
After that i get seeds based on rarity uniqueness variety even if i never eat a bitter melon ill get the seeds and try it once and if it flourishes then itll quickly be what i eat.
So overall i grow for solid food supply thats pretty proofed against famine and drought and pests etc. So survival food basically. Thats what it comes down too.
About cilantro I'd like to add that it's not the end of the world when the plants have bolted. As long as the seeds are unripe and soft they taste exactly as the leaves, only even more intense. You can crush them in a mortar or whizz them in your blender with your other ingredients or even add them whole to your dish to have them explode like a flavour bomb in your mouth. And when they do ripen they are an essential ingredient in curry powder or bread spices.
So funny, I’m zone 3B where the season is short and so jealous of what others can grow. What I can say is that for me, I can’t get salsa verde at every grocery store and cilantro does exceedingly well for me (2 crops per summer) so tomatillos and cilantro are now my staples every year. 😛
I’m growing in zone 3 too. Definitely give a caterpillar tunnel a try. Gave one a try this year and got a really nice harvest of watermelon, cantaloupe and honeydew out of it.
@@cortholiopezorama8879 wow thats incredible for zone 3!
You should check out Quebec Homestead (zone 3) she does an amazing job!
@@cortholiopezorama8879 OMG I seriously just built a greenhouse this summer for the purpose of trying to grow crops like melons! So excited.
I am jealous. I am a Latino man who eats a traditional Latino diet. That means cilantro and practically everything. There is literally not a single day that I don’t have some. I season practically everything with salt pepper cumin garlic and cilantro. Even my salads. I would love to be able to grow as much as you do.
I agree with all of it except cilantro. Even if it bolts you could still use the seeds and the flowers are very pretty to attract the beneficial insects❤
In my opinion, with the possible exception of Brads atomic grape, which is low on flavour but which has been much raved about, the other selections seem to be based on different peoples opinions of the difficulty they had growing the crop, or the problem of what to do with the abundance. Seeds are cheaper than buying the product at the supermarket. Take cilantro as an example. You can success sow it for less than a penny per seed and have it for far longer than buying it at the market, only using it once (for the recipe you got it for) and having to compost the rest. Can you post a video on how to increase under abundance of hard to grow crops and how to preserve over abundance?
A great channel for food preservation and home gardening is Acre Homestead! I am always so inspired by her motivation to put homegrown food away for her family to enjoy at a later time. She just moved this summer so she is having to restart her garden area but I'm so excited to see what she comes up with
Just wanted to share a comment that might help a few home gardeners...If you are having trouble with growing certain type of vegetables, maybe check into some of the different varieties of a specific vegetable. As a couple of examples, maybe if you're having trouble growing a full size Watermelon plant because of the size that they grow, try growing one of the more compact size Watermelons like the "Mini Love". They are very disease Resistant and I found this year that they were very easy to grow. It was the first time I was able to actually grow one that produced an actual fruit that didn't rot and in a raised bed of 4' x 12' growing area, I planted 5 plants down the middle and they thrived.
Another example is Corn. If you don't have the room to grown a big square of Corn, maybe try the Container Corn. There's a variety on the market now where you can plant about 5 seeds inside a 24" container and it's supposed to produce 2 ears per stalk. I might try to step this up this year by actually planting it inside one of my raised beds to test how it does.
Point is, don't cancel off a certain type Vegetable just because you had bad luck with it one season. Maybe try different varieties to see if it benefits you more. Then you can brag to your friends when they attempt to grow it and can't. Peace.
solid advice. I have a rooftop garden, so everything is in containers. Picking the right place so plant do not get too hot, are possibly shaded by other plants etc is an important second step to picking varieties suited for your specific conditions. I easily grow pounds and ponds of eggplant and peppers, because they love the heat, I have a rotation going for cilantro so if it bolts I let it go to seed which I then use in Indian cooking or to sow fresh cilantro. Wild bees absolutely love cilantro flowers.
Good ideas.
Good advice. That’s definitely an issue here in central Florida. I grew the Seminole variety of pumpkin and it took over. The critters are still enjoying the leftovers.
My grandmother grew corn just once. It was when I was a toddler. She wanted me to see how it grew and understand what the plant was like as a whole rather than just the cob. She was so disappointed when I informed her I dont remember them at all, but I assured her it likely had an impact even if I cant recall it now.
I’m from Toronto and I honestly agree with the cilantro (and any other cool weather crop) one
The thing is, once all the snow melts and you have cilantro ready, it only takes 2 weeks for the temps to get blistering ( 30c / 86f) same with radishes
The time period is just way too short where I live
I grew Kamo Kamo squash last summer and it was a perfect replacement to summer squash and pumpkins for me. The ones I caught early were perfect to eat like a summer squash and the ones I didn’t get to I harvested late as a winter squash. Cooked them up and froze them like a pumpkin purée. I actually made thanksgiving pie out of it and it was yummy. I love that it filled two needs, especially for as lazy as I can be to harvest!
I love growing New Zealand spinach. It's easy to care for (in zone 5b, at least), self-seeds for a few years, tastes milder than real spinach, and freezes well. It does get a bit buggy in the hottest part of the summer, but I get several reliable months on either side of that.
NZer here. I find it strong. More so than perpetual spinach or even chard. Does look after itself tho and creeps everywhere
New Zealand spinach is also native to Australia, here its called ' Warrigal '
Its bluddy invasive as well as prolific.. I grew it for 1 season 8 years ago ( didn enjoy the taste so stopped ) and yet i still constantly pull New plants up, in a wider and wider area.... I've turned over the soil ( its actually Sand here in West Aussie ) every Year, tried covering it in black Plastic a couple of Seasons ( during winter but ) and yet its here again This bluddy Year...
Good Luck !
for me it's gonna be large tomatoes - maybe it's bc i've had a lot of issues growing them but i also don't consume big tomatoes a ton either; i love smaller tomatoes (yellow grape is my go-to and i've made really great sauce with them)
I agree. I'm currently growing a dwarf tomato plant and it's beginning to blossom so much quicker. It's small and I don't have to fuss with it much and doesn't take up as much space. Small tomatoes ftw!
I like cherry tomatoes for fresh eating and drying and plum tomatoes for sauce. I only really like slicers for sandwiches.
I live in a rural community and drop lifted squash on the front porch (especially zucchini) is just a part of life during the summer months 😆
Yes!!! Isnt it so funny? I had a monster zuc in the backseat of my car one day after work this past summer....lol!
I read a magazine article years ago where the writer had moved from the big city back east to a small rural town in the midwest. She said that the only time people in town would lock their car doors during the summer was when zucchini were in season. LOL
@@chadburke1938 it's the truth! 😂
August 8 is officially designated as Leave Zucchini On Your Neighbors' Porch Night
Other types of sweet peppers certainly have a much greater yield. I'd only grow bell pepper if you really want bell peppers. There are many varieties of sweet peppers, and many, in my opinion, have better flavor.
I agree with your takes. Most of the ones people find overrate just come down to struggling growing it, which is a totally valid reason to have, I just don't think that makes it overrated
VERY True!
Trouble growing something may hint that it IS overrated for their growing situation. Sometimes, gardening in a particular area can make a plant more trouble than it's worth, or overrated from a utility/quality standpoint. I always warn people who get into gardening just how MASSIVELY variable it can be, from climate/microclimate, to localized pest concerns, to soil types, crop rotation, or even simple plot positioning. For example, growing spinach as a salad green at my current place is overrated, because it doesn't do very well, whereas my old place (in a similar area a mere 25 miles away), it was well worth it. (Different soil type and different microclimate, the Lake Erie snow belt.) So here, I switched to Red Root Pigweed, Lamb's Quarter, Kale, and young Broadleaf Plantain for salad greens.
Bell peppers continue to be frustrating to grow. All of my other kinds of peppers are very productive (sweet Italian, paprika, hot), but the bells just don't come close, no matter what I do - transplant nice-sized plants once it gets warmer at night, fertilization, no pests, good watering. A few peppers per plant is all I get. Yet for some reason, I just keep trying..........
I have a couple over rated crops here in PA that for some are great but for me they just crapped out in one way or another. First would be Corn, I just can not get it to have the sweet flavor of any local farmers products. If you just like the look of the plant then go for it cause it is pretty and grows fairly easy. Second would be Brussel sprouts. I thought mine were doing great but the sprouts never really grew that big at all and keeping the bugs off is almost impossible, I think Cabbage is phenomenal alternative. Third would be plants that require lots of manual labor and dont produce much. Like beans and peas that need shelled. My lima bean crop of about 5x10 feet equaled about a bag from the store. I would say green beans or best choice would be Sugar snap peas and snow peas. They grow rapid and taste amazing with out needing to be shelled.
I have the same problems with bugs on brassicas. Better to buy at the store or farmer's market. Peas aren't super prolific, but I grow them early, mid summer, and even into the fall. Stop at the plants first thing out in the garden every day and have a big snack of fresh peas. Few to none make it into the house for cooking. If you snack often (or pick often), they'll keep producing. It's super frustrating to tend and protect bean plants for months to get maybe two bags worth of dried beans. That's like $2-3 worth.
I get cabbage moth larvae in my cabbage. I planted broccoli once and I did the salt bath soak to get rid of the worms. I blanched it and many more worms came to the surface. I rinsed it VERY well in cold water and froze it. I eventually threw it all because we just couldn't get the image of those worms floating on the blanching water out of our heads. How many more were stuck in the florets?
Corn needs lots of sunlight and nitrogen to get sweet. If your plants are large and easy to grow, you probably have enough sunlight, but they still desperately need nitrogen for a sweet crop. I use slow-release lawn fertiliser on mine.
Corn is totally worth it if you're growing dent corn or any type of corn used in tortillas, not only can you use it as sweet corn by harvesting it young but if you let it mature and dry and go through the process of nixtamalizing it.
I've learned the hard way that cilantro is not a summer crop. If you grow it out of season of course it's unsuccessful. Outside of summer, it grows like a weed in my garden, literally. I haven't had to plant the seed in a decade since I always let it flower for the pollinators in the summer and now they come up everywhere like weeds in the spring and fall.
I get all mine from volunteers, as well. I dig up the best of the volunteers and plop them in my raised bed to grow. We live in Minnesota where everything is a summer crop, so I do have trouble with bolting. Someone else commented that you need to keep it trimmed back to keep it from bolting, so I am going to try that this summer.
@4:52 You hit the nail on the head! I hear people say things like that all the time- they blame it on the crop, when it's actually the grower that is making the mistake... like tomatoes- some will say "its watery, not a lot of flavor" but yet they were watering their plants daily 😬 That's too much water!
If temperatures are 25 degrees + in Australian summer how often should tomatoes be watered? Also my tomatoes are in grow bags and raised beds
I grew 900 tomato plants this year....I water almost every night, unless rain is expected. I think it depends on how hot your climate is, how quickly your soil drains off the water you give it, and so on. For me, if I miss a watering then the tomatoes for the next few days split. My 600 green pepper plants get water every night also, but I almost never water my artichokes. Again, everything is specific to your garden!
@mark fairbanks you're right... my soil holds on to every bit of water so if I were to water daily they'd split. Lol. I try to make sure theyre watered a couple tiems a week if we dont get rain because if they get too dry, every time we get a big rain I'll get some splitting. The amount you water also depends on if you grow in a high tunnel, if you have high humidity, etc. But regardless, if you water too much, it's going to taste nasty/ watery. & that's not the tomatoes fault or the person you bought the seeds from fault l- it's because you watered too much...
@@alexmchardy1615
Water them once a day
In Oz if it rains don't water them
@@oftin_wong thanks for the tip
It’s corn for me all the way, I’ve tried for many years but the pest pressure down here in south Florida is incredible and I don’t use pesticides.
With tomatillos, I grew up in California and always thought of them as a Cali/Latin American crop. But now living in the PNW, they grow effortlessly up here. I actually haven't planted them in a couple years- we've just been using volunteers that pop up. So if you're up a lil North, y'all may have better luck with them. And if you need an easy recipe for em- I always add them to a pork shoulder in the crock/Insta pot for taco meat. Add some chilis, tomatillos, seasonings, and broth and cook till it falls apart. 👍🏽
For me in Northern VA, its San Marzano tomatoes, very sadly. For the last several years I have devoted space for at least 4-5 plants among all the other tomato kinds (heirlooms, beefsteaks, cherry, even other domestic plum tomatoes, which all do really well for me). But San Marzano's never end up yielding enough of a good crop around the same time (which you need to make a decent amount of sauce), plus they aren't really good raw-eating tomatoes if you only have a few at a time.
Central Virginia here - agree about the San Marzanos.
for me, the San Marzano is super susceptible to blossom end rot, but my other tomatoes do well.
Yup. I used to plant equal numbers of San marzano and Roma's, because then i was covered no matter what it kind of summer I had. Then i discovered Amish paste. Now, not a san marzano or Roma are to be seen...
I’m in Hampton Roads and have a difficult time with San Marzano as well, I stopped growing them. I have a couple recipes I like to use with them, but for some reason when I was living in Connecticut they did really well. I’m thinking less humidity and heat there maybe was similar to the conditions they experience in Italy.
@@dlwn64 I agree they did well for me in San Diego but not Virginia.
Random thought, but all my plays just died in the freak freeze (Texas). Might be a good time to do a how to protect your plants video, with all these insane freezes becoming more normal!
My take on bell peppers, I did grow bell peppers (south texas) and plant gave me 20+ but they weren't really big maybe half the size of the large store bought bell peppers. But they were beautiful and tasted really good.
My bells were smallish too, but they tasted great and I enjoyed growing them. I don't expect to grow enough to last the whole year, but will keep some space in my garden for them.
Live in north LA here, and similar, first batch of peppers were on the smaller side, but 2nd was half to 2/3rds size of store bought learned they can rarely cross pollinate with texas wild chilies, which lead to a really nasty surprise when i made stuffed peppers with them >.>;. Corn, texas wild chilies, yellow onions(less me growing these and more they come back every year), tomatoes (cant remember the breed's name, but they have a strong taste and kinda stinky, about baseball sized) cilantro and yellow water melons are my normal spring/summer crops. The crop that gives me the most issues tho is okra.
I tried regular bell peppers several times and also had small harvests in my zone 4 garden. For the past two years, I have grown Just Sweet peppers - a small yellowy orange pepper that's about 4" long by 2" across. From 8 plants, I harvest enough peppers to last me all year as I freeze the extra. Very prolific and the fruit is super tasty. I think peas are over rated. They take a lot of space and don't produce for very long.
here in SE WI, I did the Just Sweet also, in grow bags, and had tons. I dehydrated so many. I love the flavor.
For my situation, anything that has bulk harvest situations that demand preservation are more demanding than rewarding. Determinant tomatoes, corn, winter squash, june strawberries all fall into that. Being able to harvest enough for a meal, every few days is perfect for me. Leafy greens, summer squash, ground cherries, cherry tomatoes, artichoke, and herbs are my standby. I'm finding that root crops and brassicas which can overwinter are just fine too; they wait until I'm ready.
For summer squash, my grandma pickled everything we couldn’t eat, she has a spicy slightly sweet brine and it’s the best. I just made my first batch this year, I used up my baby melons, zucchini, green tomato, pepper, cucumber…everything I could find in the garden and we can eat throughout the winter months!
I live in N. Mississippi(8a) and I have to say that I agree on the bell peppers. I can grow other peppers out the ying yang (especially cayenne and jalapenos), but not those. I don't grow melons or pumpkin bc my yard isn't big enough and they grow REALLY FAST here, like kudzu fast.😂 I've grown tons of tomato varieties that weren't worth the salt I put on them. Mr. Stripey def comes to mind.
Yes Mr. Stripey isn't invited back to my yard!
re: potatoes, I wouldn't bother growing any of the varieties I can get in the grocery store. They're so cheap, it's not worth the cost or effort. However, I definitely find it worthwhile to grow other varieties. They are often tastier, and oddly, we have been finding particular success in growing purple varieties. Not just in potatoes, but just about anything purple seems to grow better where we are!
For us, the thing we won't bother growing again is lettuces (though we did end up with packets of free seeds with our orders, this year! LOL). I imagined having lots of salads all summer, or including them in sandwiches, etc. but... it just didn't happen. They became bitter and bolted so quickly. We're sticking to spinach, though. Last summer, most was a write off due to flooding and related weather issues, but the year before we had so much that we were able to dehydrate large amounts and reduce them to spinach power, which we found we used a lot.
More than one Carolina Reaper. It is great to make some sauce but my plant produced 20 or more peppers. I struggle to use all 20.
I’m on the Gulf Coast and bell peppers are among my most prolific plants, usually producing through mid-December. Corn is def a waste of time-giant aphid magnets & always a worm in every ear no matter what method/product I use (and I’ve tried them all)
Ever tried netting the ears?
@@spacemanspiff7788 25,000 Volts should teach Rocky not to steal other Peoples Corn! lol
You could try using bacillus thuringiensis tho
Youve tried mineral oil on the silks? and BT doesnt do it? Thats odd.
Hmmm. I live in Indiana and corn grows great here.
Tip: plant some cilantro every three weeks- plant in the shade the summer. You can leg it go to seed and harvest the seed for cilantro microgreens. In by the winter grow it inside, or in a climate that is colder, grow in a protected area- a low tunnel, in heated greenhouse, or even using wall of water.
I have been astounded by how resilient it is, since I used to consider it a "tropical herb". My current crop survived -12C under a heap of snow. Absolutely tough little plants!
@@roofterrace4930 yep! It grows well in the winter!
Glad I'm not the only one struggling with tomatillos. 😭😭😭 I spend a lot of money on tomatillos year round because I'm Mexican and there should always be salsa verde in the house. In the summer, EVERY husk I open has a worm eating the fruit. It gets better in early fall, but the harvest I get does not justify the space a tomatillo plant needs. Looking for ways to get rid of the worms without harming beneficial insects.
So interesting. I planted tomatillos 3 years ago and I have soooo many every year just growing all over the place that I pull out at least 50 seedlings in my garden every year. They grow like crazy. I’m in southern Idaho and we get hot summers so maybe that’s an issue?
Maybe my squash trick would work for you. I interplant with radishes. Then i leave them to go to seed, in and around my zukes, cukes. They attract an unbelievable number of beneficial insects and pollinators. The years I do this, I'm able to harvest all kinds of squash, etc....and my peppers and tomatoes set fruit extremely well. I noticed I didn't have any problem with tomato worms or cabbage loopers until later summer, when the radishes were drying out (and i had forgotten the second planting. My bad.) Zone 6 central indiana...long hot summer days with usually not enough rain.
@@cristiewentz8586 thank you! I will try that!🤞🏻
My cilantro is growing really well in the South African summer. I did put it behind a Boulder in the hottest part of my garden. Did not know it hated a lot of sunlight. Our summer this year is so hot for 2-3 weeks and very wet (other areas are flooding) foe a week or 2. First season growing in my area. It's been good. I am encouraged for the next season. Best tip I got was to put compost on top only when the plant needs it.
For us, I'd say it would be head lettuce. I'm a major lettuce fan, and the home grown does taste better than the head lettuce from the store--but just so many bugs! So much work to keep the bugs from the lettuce! I ended up spending hours to just clean off my lettuce so I could eat it (and no one else I live with would touch it because of he fear of eating a bug!) Way better for me to grow the leafy kind rather than trying to get a huge head of lettuce.
I second that
I agree, leaf lettuce is WAY better and more productive!
100%.
agree! Cut and come again kind of lettuce is a much bigger success for me.
Lettuce is the only thing I grow on my counter top with a hydroponics unit. No bugs or dirt.
It grows so fast and eaten so fast it seems like I'm always replacing plants.
With all these crops: more recipe ideas for them just like you did with the alien squash.
Example: here at epic gardening, we are growing XYZ and here’s why: you can make (insert list of uses for the vegetable). I’ll link in the description a few recipes that you may have never tried with this before and may make you like it”
Part of my problem is what should I grow and how will I eat it where it will be enjoyable and feel like it was worth growing. I’ve asked my husband and all he wants is potatoes. 😂
Gypsy bell peppers may not be as thick walled but they are fairly prolific compared to any bell peppers I’ve ever grown. But Adjvarski peppers thick walled very sweet great roasted try an Adjvarski from baker Creek
'Gypsy' is very productive I agree, I grew them years ago, though later switched over to thicker walled and better flavored varieties, 'Sweet Sunset' is a favorite now!
I’ll check out sweet sunset is it yellow?
Agreed! I had four gypsy bell plants and they kept me in more bell peppers than I could use through spring, summer, fall…up until this recent freeze. I picked about 15 the day before it froze. I saved the seeds in case overwintering doesn’t work.
@@adigmon 'Gypsy' produces like crazy, it's a variety that has been around for a very long time, there are now others with thicker walls and sweeter fuller flavor, 'Sweet Sunset' is an excellent choice!!
Great point during the tomatillo portion about growing what is not accessible to you. I’m from California but I started growing them when I was living in Connecticut and still grow a couple in Virginia. I’ve had hit or miss years with them and also only use them for salsa verde so I completely understand it.
Green chili stew. Slow cooked pork with a marinade of tomatillo, the three citrus juices, garlic and a jalapeño.
What I've seen with my bell pepper is that they can put out a lot more peppers during the following seasons. I've babied one for a few years now and after a short winter hibernation it's already putting out a lot of bulbs. Do only have one because my farm is just our balcony and with our winters killing everything left outside there's only so much real estate inside I can annex without getting into trouble. If you live up north definitely invest in a quality plant light. I've gone with a full spectrum so I can just use it as a corner lamp for my personal jungle.
For folks with too much summer squash or cucumbers, you can make a puree and can or freeze it to use as a replacement for pumpkin in pies. A lot of stuff gets thrown away or given away that can be perfectly useable for other recipes. Cut up peeled, de-seeded Zucchini or Yellow squash, and boil until soft and mash it up. Add eggs, sugar, spices, milk and bake in a crust. Cucumber puree works just as well, by the way.
Oh yeah I have puréed centercuts for winter zucchini bread, and cucumber cubes for cucumber water. It’s so nice.
I love using slightly overripe cucumbers in soup.
My Chinese husband uses cucumbers in soup, as well as romaine lettuce. I always thought it was some special kind of zucchini and cabbage that was used. He also pickles broccoli stems with soy sauce and lemon. They are delicious and a good substitute for bamboo without the woodiness or bitterness that can be present in some varieties.
@@haleybastian1483 cauliflower stems make great pickles as well exact same recipe as the broccoli lol but taste a bit spicy. My mom pickled both.
Also, we make our own dog food. Freeze the abundant squash and use it in dog food. He loves getting "people food"!
Ahh... permission to give up on the bell pepper! AND hope for cilantro this summer, it's supposed to be a cooler/ shorter one this coming year and next. THANK YOU!! I feel a teeny bit wiser picking my garden battles!
I can't imagine ever getting only 2 or 3 bell peppers on a plant, nor can I imagine having to wait 6 or 7 months to get them. The average time to maturity for peppers from the time transplanted to harvest is 70 days. I transplant my seedlings into the raised beds in mid-May, and start harvesting beautiful peppers by August up until frost kills them in mid-October. When I transplant the seedlings into the raised bed I pinch out the top of it to force branching of the stem to produce bushy plants, and each plant produces 15 to 20 peppers. We freeze a lot peppers for winter use.
I just subbed to you! It's great to see other gardening channels like me and you commenting!
I developed a taste for scrambled eggs with summer squash one year when I ended up getting overloaded with squashes. My kids and I really enjoyed them. We got to where we missed them when the season was over. Just get one or two yellow squashes, wash them and dice them. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper and garlic and drizzle them with olive oil. Sauté tomatoes, onions and jalapeños in butter, add the squash, sauté for a little bit, add eggs and scramble thoroughly. When the eggs are done, enjoy. It is amazing! It’s an old Mexican favorite for breakfast. It’s called huevos con.calabisita. Goes great in a flour tortilla with some salsa Verde. I have now gotten myself extremely hungry and I’m craving this dish and it’s the middle of winter and I no longer have a garden.
You can grow amaranth or quinoa. They are in the same family and taste pretty similar to spinach. Spinach is a no go in my 100+ dry summers, but amaranth and quinoa go wild!
My amaranth attracted way too many asphid and old af
Hi Kevin, Jacques, Chris and all Epic Gardens Happy New Year. Tks you for all the help and adv given during 2022, I am now able to grow very juicy tomatoes.
I agree about zuchini unless you have a ton of growing space, I grew 3 plants last year and had to kill them because A: I couldn't eat that much & B: It dominated nearly all the growing space and shaded out several plants. Also the juice wasn't worth the squeeze with bell peppers.
I Highly recommend Arugula. I use it daily on sandwiches and veggie stir fry or salads. Chard, Spinach, Kale, Bok-Choi, Mizuno greens and many other greens are all excellent for the same reasons, just pick from the bottom what you need as you need it. The plant keeps growing and you have it fresh and it's one of the more costly items in the store and store bought doesn't last long.
Also had big time success with Habaneros, I will be growing that every year now along with other hot peppers.
I tried the atomic grape tomatoes in my garden last year and had the opposite experience. I've seen lots of reports of them being tasteless but they were very sweet and tasty for me. They were also incredibly colorful. They werent as productive as I would like though. I wonder if there is some instability in the seed and I just got lucky. I grew it knowing that others had found it disappointing but I was pleasantly surprised.
Squash is feeding my dogs and chickens this winter. Winter varieties are awesome! Summer varieties fed them from July through October. NOTHING wrong with squash. Next year I'm growing more butternut and sugar pumpkin for me and my hubby. We really struggled with cucumber beetles last year so we'll be planting lots and LATE in the season in hope to avoid the first rush of those pests.
Have you ever tried Tahitian Melon Squash? It's been my favorite since the 70's.
@@jim8577 No but I will definitely look into it!
@@doodlesthegoose7085 I have had them last over 2 years, sweet to the point you can eat them raw, and
I always make pies with them.
@@jim8577 I just ordered the seeds (along with a boat load of zinnia and nasturtium varieties). Thank you!!!!
Kevin, I wish I had your climate, but for us in zone 5b, I can definitely share my frustration with bell peppers. I had some better success from Dulce Italiano and NuMex Big Jims, but bell peppers not so much. But I'd like to add Celery to the list.
As a fellow 5b I agree! 😂
Really enjoy the presentation- love the inclusion of ways to cook/use - thank you.
Instead of cilantro people could try growing culantro Eryngium foetidum, it grows in shade in tropical climates and has a 2 year life span like carrots. You can get a harvest for 2 years and then let it go to seed to grow more.
i love tomatillo i just eat them straight to lazy to make them into salsa. you can also grow the purple ones that are even sweeter and more people would probably eat thoose ones straight as well
I love tomatillos too! I haven't grown them yet, but I use them a lot... green pozole, enchiladas, chilequilles, chips and salsa, quesadillas, tacos, costillas....soooo good. I haven't tried eating them straight yet. My kids as me to make "that green sauce" all the time. I tried to buy some tomatillos just today and they were $1.99 EACH... not per pound but EACH! I am in zone 9 and haven't heard of anyone growing them in my area, but I would love to.
I’m in zone 9 too ! I’m going to try this year!
It is likely our soil, but bell peppers go nuts in my garden in southern Ontario. On the other hand, for potatoes (white, purple, or sweet), we just don't get much of a return.
About 10-12 California Wonder bell pepper plants will give me enough peppers to last from July until October and some will even survive in the fridge until November. Definitely something that works really well for me in southern Québec. We just need to start them inside in April.
I have always gotten the best return on red potatoes. Three rows red and three rows Yukon Gold, and I will get at least twice as many red ones.
I took a long break from gardening in 2020 because my plants were always getting attacked whether it be these black bugs that suckle on my herbs, cabbage moth caterpillars, fungus gnats, earwigs, some weird fungus. So it was a defeating feeling. I took a break from your channel and asking you questions, but I'm glad this came up on my feed. I think I'll start thinking about gardening again.. maybe. At the very least, I think I'll start watching your videos again!
Loved this. Great discussion!
I think nobody should give up on growing a certain thing until you have tried several years. Because every year is different. Lots of people had trouble with beans last year. Some years its a good year for beans. Or tomatoes. Or whatever. So if its your first time trying it and it happens to be a bad year for that thing you will never now what it is like to grow that thing in a great year unless you try again! I personally cant stand Malibar Spinach. Ive tried multiple years. And even though I agree on the bell pepper issue, I will keep growing them. I think a lot of it has to do with where you live. We only have 9 months of warm weather here and BARELY 120 days warm enough to get sweet potatoes. But they are one of my favorite things to grow! And I agree with you on the slow bolt cilantro. Let it go to seed ONE time and its like a weed after that. Cut it and dry it. Then you will have it when you want it. Agreed that its dissapointing to not always have fresh when you want it but thats just the nature of things. Everything has a season. Thats like being mad that you cant go pick a watermelon in January.
Great video! For me it was carrots. Took up a ton of space and took a long time but only yielded small little ones. Might of been the type or my poor skills. Cheers
I love growing summer squash. Every year I try something new and often kind of fail but the squash always keeps pumping out more fruit. In summer sliced up and fried squash replaces bread for my bacon&egg breakfast, which is not only really tasty but also helps me keep the calories down as by that point I'm cutting most of the time. Tomatoes is another one I love to grow as the difference in taste to store bought ones is insane. Last year I grew a freebee tomato and it turned out the best. The Golden Queen and Indigo Rose cherry tomatoes were good as well but the red bush tomato had such an intense taste that I will probably stop growing more 'ornamental' ones altogether.
I have to go with corn as I don't have the space to grow it efficiently and it is readily available for me, it does taste good though.
I totally agree with your take on cilantro (although you can grow in spring, harvest, and freeze for summer) and summer squash. I will add ground cherries to the list. I wasn't fond of the flavor, but after one growing season, I now know when to harvest for best flavor. I might try again next year.
Ive been a hater of cilantro for years but since ive moved to Costa Rica and the bugs can be nuts, its an amazing thing to grow so it can bolt and pull in tons of lacewings and other beneficials. Shoot as soon as they bolt also feed it kinda heavy too with a liquid even all purpose too so it gets crazy big and eventually get the coriander seeds from the top as well cause someone out there is liking the flavor... not me though lol
My first thought was also tomatillos for the exact same reason. You can toss them in salsa or make a nice sauce for enchiladas, but they are cheap here. I’m going to plant them again this year and then decide for sure.
Lettuce and cilantro too. The bolting in the south is crazy!
I'm on the Gulf Coast and grow cilantro in the winter. It did better through the freeze than most of my other plants.
I use my malabar on trellis near my house!!!Adds the red to contrast the flowers but I use it for salads but I do freeze them if the plant over takes. It does freeze quite well.
I have never heard about the mineral oil trick for the corn. I grew Hickery King so would have needed a tall ladder to treat mine, but this year I will be testing throwing a sweet corn into the rotation so this is a great little tip. Thanks.
I'm in zone 7B and seems like there is not enough time to grow bell peppers. This year, I dug up two plants, cut them back and planted them in pots. Hoping that moving them inside during the winter and outside during the regular growing season will produce a good consistent crop.
I overwintered one. It came back great but produced only ONE bell pepper. Same as the year before. 🤦
@@Mrs_Homemaker bell peppers should be started in February. This way the plants are roughly five months old bt July. Remove the first flowers. Keep them short until they go out. Then they will go crazy and produce big crops.as for every time you pruned the flowers and plant after six leaves. Once the weather gets warm. Here in the Netherlands it is may 15, no more frost. 🤞 Then they go out. Big crops.
Id prefer to have too much food than too little. So i think squash sounds good in theory and i want to grow it now!!
I liked your reference to different climates and garden size. We live in Manitoba with a zone 3 climate and there are a lot of classic veggies that are not worth trying to grow. I concentrate on varieties developed for the north with 60 tp 90 days to maturity for the best results. Also garden size is very important. The green vegetable you didn't mention, that I love, is Swiss chard. I can harvest it all season, it can survive the first frost, and is not over fussy about sun/shade. It's a great source of iron and we treat it as a spinach alternative.
Well, as I love growing my Japanese silver watermelons, and my three sisters gardens (plural), and I will be growing Brads Atomic Grape tomato and I will be planting my potatoes within the next 2 or 3 weeks, I think everything you mentioned is on my "Will grow this year," or "Must grow every year." lists. Dipper gourds are on my "Possibly never again list." Thanks for the tip on the corn worms. I'll try mineral oil this year. Is it acceptable to use any oil? Will that also help with corn flea beetles?
All my small melons that I grew vertically this year looked and smelled amazing but tasted bad, I’m nervous to try them again. I do tend to grow things like tomatoes for aesthetic reasons, and I haven’t had much luck with the atomic grape, but I really loved other varieties this year like black strawberry, blush, and my favorite spoon tomatoes. I also had a ton of Centercut squash, but I blended and froze it, and now it’s still becoming delicious zucchini bread.
My first year growing watermelon, they turned out big, beautiful and absolutely flavorless. I discovered I had planted them too close to my cucumbers and they crossed. That being said, those cucumbers were the sweetest, melon-like things I had ever tasted. Now I have to choose each year which to plant. My yard's too small for both.
My top growing priority would be weed, and crops that have continuous yield throughout the majority of the growing season. Different lettuce, kale varieties, spinach, Arugula,radishes, verities of parsley, green onions, lemon grass ( I root store bought ), herbs. These crops are extremely rewarding throughout the summer and beyond, through freezing for later use. Growing Tomatoes is like having babies, you suffer and then you go have another one.
Love your hilarious comment about growing tomatoes! 🤣
I think artichokes were the most over-rated crop I've grown. They need a ton of space and there's not much yield. And I agree about spinach "replacements" - nothing beats real spinach. I sow out big beds in autumn after things have been harvested out. It grows over winter and I get huge harvests of it in early spring. That and corn salad and winter purslane since all three are frost-hardy crops. What we don't eat or freeze gets tilled under as green manure. In summer I grow something called Perpetual Spinach, which is actually a chard and remarkably bolt-resistant, but it grows and tastes just like classic spinach. Corn over-rated? No way! I love my fresh corn, and after I've harvested, the empty plants go to my neighbor's goats who absolutely devour them.
There’s another reason to grow category - sun shelter. This summer in New Zealand I’ve grown 15 corn in pots, although they are yet to ripen, the foliage is deflecting the heat from the hot side of the house.
I adore Zucchini and I've never had the "too much" problem, sadly, not with any squash. I wish! Last year was better, this year was too dry and I had a hand injury so could not water as much as they wanted probably. Also they like it really fertile, and where they were is not so very. I DO like New Zealand spinach and that's so easy and I get it all summer up to November actually, until hard frost. Normal spinach was puny, same with chard. So far I'd say chard is my biggest disappointment, dunno what I'm doing wrong, beets do fine. Chard even grew a "beet" rather than leaves
Bell peppers depend on how long and warm your summers are.
I'm doing an experiment this winter to grow lettuce, spinach and herbs indoors in a south facing window with grow lights for supplementing the short days here in Canada.....if it works, i plan on growing these inside in the summer when it would normally bolt as well. i will be planting some outside in the spring and fall as well, but the seasons have been having PMS lately lol.....and i really have been very unsuccessfully trying to grow bell peppers but still trying....bell peppers where i am are anywhere from $3 to $5 each! sometimes you can get a 4 pack for $4.99 on sale, but they are pricy!
The great thing about peppers is that you can just plant and leave them till the end of summer and harvest then. So low maintenance.
Bell pepper alternative: Pimento! Just as sweet, smaller fruit but produces more weight per plant than the bell, in my experience in zone 6a. Bucket grown, took about 4 months from seed to fruit.
Corn: only worth it if it is a highly nutrient dense heirloom flint corn. The healthy baked goods you get is amazing. I'm growing a variety called Atomic Orange that has lots of keratin, the same stuff as carrots!
Can you use the pimento the same way? Saute/etc?
Probably Google's fault (their Satanicly terrible autocorrect), but full of "carotene," not keratin (which is the indigestible protein we use to make hair and fingernails).
@@Mrs_Homemaker Yes, but with more flavor. You can even stuff them like the Bells, but it is more time consuming because of the small size.
Corno di toro or cubanelles are a couple of other smaller pepper varieties that substitute well for bell peppers in recipes.
*beta carotene. Keratin is what fingernails are made of.
It was cantelope ( that spellng looks off to me 🤣) the 2 that grew last year were attached to vines that took over a prime raised bed. They were delish but too much space and time for NY
Cantaloupe!
@@epicgardening thanks 🤣👍
I agree with a few of these. In Michigan, trying to grow watermelon is tricky due to our short summers. So we have to grow the smaller varieties, that will mature in time. I actually got a beautiful watermelon last year after 3 years of trying!
Corn can be a pain, especially when dealing with varmints. However, it is easy enough to grow, we keep doing it.
Cilantro does bolt here quickly, but like you said, if you keep it tucken in a shady cooler place, and keep it trimmed, you can get it to last longer. People forget, that the seeds themselves are actually another spice, so not all is lost.
I quit growing bell peppers, because they do take too long. I grow the more oblong types, like Cayenne, Hungarian wax, Jimmy Nardello, and this year, I'm trying another similar variety. Seems to give tons of fruit per plant.
Thanks for all the tips! you have inspired me to grow my green thumb. What mineral oils would you recommend to stop the corn worm?