Dawn, l have ordered water cress, how/where do you grow it? Did you know it was on the CDC's list as the most nutrient dense veggie?

Amy, I did know that, but didn't know it when I first planted some a long time ago.

My watercress seed is in a mesclun mix from PVFS that I'll plant in a raised bed in morning sun, afternoon shade. I probably wouldn't order it and plant it on purpose since we are so water-challenged here nowadays, but since it is in the mesclun mix, I'll just let it fight for survival in less than optimal conditions for it. I grew it on the edge of the lily pond before the cottonmouths moved from the creek (when it dried up) to the lily pond and ruined the backyard pond for me. That lily pond has become a hugelkultur bed that I hope will be relatively snake-free. I'm fairly sure it will at least be free of cottonmouth snakes since it now is filled with organic matter and soil.

You might be able to grow watercress near your HVAC's drainage area where a little moisture flows all summer if it is in part-shade. If the soil there is bad, you could stir in humus, compost or something to make it richer. Or, you could grow it in an earthbox or similar sub-irrigated planter. Google Earthtainer and you can find instructions on how to build your own.

To grow watercress properly, it needs to be grown in water or at least in perpetually wet soil. If I had a packet of watercress seed, I'd sow it in clay pots filled with a very rich soil-less mix and I'd add extra coir to help it hold a lot of moisture. Then, I'd place the clay pots in a larger pot or container of some sort (I'd probably use one of the black concrete mixing tubs from Lowe's or HD) that has no drainage holes. I'd keep water in the black container all the time. Because of mosquitoes, I'd scatter some Mosquito Bits (like Mosquito Dunks but they come in tiny pieces) in the black tubs water. I'd put it in a morning sun/afternoon shade situation.

I like water cress but it is not necessarily real easy to keep happy here, If you happen to have a small pond or stream, you can grow it right on the edge where the water meets the soil line.

I grow a couple of kinds of upland cress. I've always assumed they are about as nutritious as water cress. They're easier to grow than watercress as they will grow in normal garden conditions. I'll list mine on the herb grow list.

I'll link a photo of the kind of black concrete tub I'm referring to. I use them for mixing up soil-less potting mixes and seed-starting mixes. The edges (where corners are) are rounded instead of square, so the ingredients in the mixes cannot get stuck in the corners. I find them handy for all sorts of little garden chores. I've got them in a couple of different sizes, and in the past have found them at both Lowe's and Home Depot on the concrete supply aisle.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Example of a concrete/mortar mixing tub

Thanks, Amy. If I find some, I'll pick some up.

Ok just a few cool season plants this year for me!
Spinach, leaf lettuce , romaine and onion but when can I plant the spinach and lettuce? Is next week to early

I got my seeds TODAY from Pinetree. They say basically the same thing Dawn said, plant in a container and sink it in another container of water. My plan was to grow it indoors, like micro greens or sprouts, but I would like to get seeds from some so I have a continuing supply. I had never eaten it, so I bought some last week. I'm okay with the taste, so another new thing for me!

Bon, I got Egyptian spinach, too.

Way to go Chadwick! The spinach, like baby kale, might survive if it gets big enough before it freezes again. Lettuce will need to be protected overnight during freezing temps.

I have plenty of room and seed, so I just plant and see what happens. I have cold frame for lettuce.

Yay, Amy! You'll only need ONE plant, fer sure. Oh boy, I can't wait to graze.

Broccoli

Brussell Sprouts
Catskill [Practice]

Cabbage
Glory of Enkhuizen [Practice]

Carrots do well in spring for me in certain spots:
Chardeney Red Cored
Danvers 126
Nantes Improved

Cauliflower
Mini Baby Snowball

Kale
Dwarf Siberian Improved

Lettuce
Bibb
Black Seeded
Mesclun
Nevada
Redina
Romaine
Salad Bowl

Mustard
Giant
Southern Curled
Tendergreens

Parsley
Italian
3x Curled
Still have plain from last year

Peas
Alaska (Earliest)
Oregon Sugar Pod II

Spinach
Bloomsdale Long Standing

Just so ya'll know, we don't eat this much. In fact, half of it will get neglected. No worries for me because I have the space and the rabbits to fatten. :D

This is what I have, or have ordered. Trying a lot of non lettuce greens. Probably won't do Brussells sprouts till fall. Haven't decided on the cabbage. I have yet to get a beet. Fall crop froze, Spring's didn't survive. So, may not bother.

Beets
Cylindra
Early Wonder
Bulls Blood

Broccoli
Calabrese
Aspabroccoli F1 (backordered)
Piracicaba
purple sprouting
Early Green

Brussels Sprouts
Diablo F1
Falstaff

Cabbage
Nero Di Toscana Cabbage
Cour Di Bue Cabbage

Carronts
Chantenay
Muscade Carrot

Cauliflower
Winter Dream

Collard
Top Bunch F1

Greens
Gala Mache
Arugula
Claytonia
aurora orach
fun jen (f1)
yu choi sum
misome
mizuna
salad burnet
Golden purslane
Senposai F1
Sorrel
Tokyo Bekana
watercress
Wrinkled Crinkled Crumpled Cress
Yokatta-Na F1
minutina
Rosette tatsoi

Kale
Vates Dwarf Blue Curled
Red Russian

Leeks
King Richard

Lettuce
Mix from 2013
Red Lolla Lettuce
Red Romain
Freckles Lettuce
Black seeded Simpson
Bronze Beauty Lettuce
Chadwick's Rodan Lettuce (Love this)
anuenue
Balady Aswan Celtuce
bolt resistant mix Bountiful Gardens
jericho
summer mix Fedco
winter mix Fedco

Onions, Seed
Gold Princess onion
Ruby Ring
Red Creole
Potato Onion Seed - Green Mountain Huge
White Lisbon Bunching

Peas
Sugar Ann
Sugar Snap
Oregon Sugar Pod II
tall telephone
golden sweet snow
Tom Thumb

Spinach
Matador
Bloomsdale

Swiss chard
Ruby Red
White Ribbed
Argenta Chard

Potato
Yukon Gold
Kennebec
Red Lacosta

Chadwickthegoat, Without knowing which part of Oklahoma you're in, it is hard to answer your question.

I'm going to link the OSU publication on Garden Planning. It lists recommended planting dates as a range of date. Let's say the range of dates is February 15 - March 10. That means the February 15th date is for southeastern Oklahoma, where the spring warmup arrives first, and the March 10 date is for northwestern OK where the cold nights hang on the longest even though they often have warm days. All the rest of us who live in between southeastern and northwestern OK just choose a date for planting that falls in between the two extremes, depending on our location in OK. I'm in southcentral OK, so generally plant just a tiny bit later than folks in southeastern OK---like, maybe 3-5 days later. It all depends on what our weather is doing though and on how warm our soil temperatures are. The recommended dates are recommendations only and you can plant whenever you choose. Just keep an eye on your soil temperatures---if they are too cold, the seeds won't sprout and the plants won't grow. Also watch your overnight low temperatures---cold-hardy plants tolerate some cold but each of them has a limit to how much cold weather they can tolerate. They can and do suffer cold-related freeze damage, including death, frost damage, and with some cool-season plants, bolting caused by a combination of factors including plant size and age as well as temperatures below a certain level and some other stressors.

Bon, But you should eat it all....even if you have to fight the rabbits for every bite. : ) Good, healthy veggies make you crave more good healthy veggies.....

I do grow tons of greens to feed the chickens in early spring before the native plants green up very much, and I grow cat grass and other similar greens for the dogs and cats...and wild rabbits and deer and whoever happens to stumble upon them and eat them.

Nice cool-season list

Amy,

Your list is very nice. Got room for all of that? I suspect you'll be cramming in a lot of stuff into too little space like I do. It is my favorite way to grow things---when a lot are crammed in together, they shade the soil and keep it cool and also shade out the weeds.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide

Aspa Broccoli! Oh. Mah. Gawd. Conratulations, yer an enabler!

Ima get some for the fall garden. Uh huh. YUM

Dawn,

We will be using a row hipper to create raised rows for all of our cool season crops. I would guess the raised rows will be about 7 inches above the surrounding ground level.

Johnny

Ok y'all here is my list so far
Not counting herbs and flowers I am putting out this is it for vegetables. A lot of these seeds are just a few not a whole pkg but I want to use up most of my old seeds so I am going all out with it. Also I am going to do some seed saving so a portion of the garden will be just for that.

Beets Burpee Golden
Beets Detroit Dark Red
Beets Early Wonder
Beets Gourmet Blend
Broccoli*
Broccoli Purple*
Brussel Sprouts*
Cabbage Market
Cabbage Misc
Cabbage Red Express
Carrot Carnival Blend
Carrot Chantennay
Carrot Cosmic Purple
Carrot Danvers Halflong
Carrot Little Finger
Carrot Scarlet Nantes
Cauliflower *
Chard Fordhook
Chard Red Ruby
Chard Swiss El Dorado
Collards
Greens Mustard
Kale
Kale Lacinto
Kale Red Russian
Kohlrabi*
Leeks*
Lettuce Butterhead
Lettuce Mixed
Lettuce Romaine Freckles
Onion Red Italian*
Onion White Lisbon*
Onions from dixondale
Parsnip All American [we will see]
Pea Alaska
Pea Sugar Snap
Peas Sugar Dwarf Grey
Peas Sugar Snap
Rapini Zamboni*
Rutabega Wilhelm [we will see]
Spinach Mustard
Spinach Bloomsdale
Spinach New Zealand
Spinach Tyeef1
* started in the house some I already potted up
kim

Johnny,

That sounds like a plan to me.

Now that we're getting close to the planting season, I am so ready to get started. Today we saw wildflowers (spring beauties, the lovely little henbit weeds and dandelions) blooming in the pastures. That made it feel like spring.

We had bees out flying and ladybugs roaming around looking for food. I carefully caught the ones that landed on me and put them on plants in the greenhouse where I hope they'll seek out, find, and destroy any spider mites that hatch. That made it feel like spring.

It was sunny and warm and the wind blew fairly hard. It felt like spring.

My onions are here and I hope to get them planted sometime in the next couple of days. It seems like spring.

I look at the calendar, though, and I know that winter isn't done with us yet and more cold weather will return. That blew up the illusion that spring was here. It is still winter.

February is the cruelest month. We're so ready to plant, and Mother Nature keeps on sending us those cold night-time temperatures. I'm loving these sunny days though and the smell of freshly plowed soil. Having such gorgeous weather makes me dread the return of our usual cold February weather.

Dawn

Nice list, Kim! I'm really interested your carrot list and would love to know how they taste. I'm trying Chantennay this year. Hope they're tasty because I have a bunch of seed.

what's your favorite among them?

I loved the red carrot that I got in a carnival mix last year from Botanical Interests. The rest are new to me so we will see. My little guy loves carrots and it is a legal food for me so we are canning and drying carrots this year. Been stocking up on jars this winter. I am ready....
kim

Sigh, Dawn, you know me too well. I like a mixed up, tightly planted, sprawling over the edges system. Planning to experiment with strawbale gardening for some extra space this year.

I've been going through the greens trying to figure out how big they get and what can grow in containers. Most were chosen for fall/winter, but I will probably grow one of each to see what they taste like. Of course I have WAY too much lettuce, too, but I want to see what it tastes like, as well. Last year I thought I wouldn't need to order as much this year, ha, ha, ha!

Bon, if I'm an enabler, I'm in good company. ;)

I like Kim's carrot list, too. I have not been too impressed with the carrots I have grown. They get limp really fast.

It sure was a pretty day.

Did ya pop those carrots into the crisper drawer in the frig? They gotta go in quick. something about a certain amount of humidity .... I was amazed when my carrots lasted more than 2 months. Oh gaw... that just reminded me I need to stagger the plantings for perpetual harvest. Lemme go change my schedule... DOH

Bon, All carrots grown at home in your garden will taste superb....just so sweet and fresh. We've never yet had a carrot crop that wasn't incredibly no matter the variety so I think you should feel free to plant any and every variety you can find. I suspect that store-bought carrots, like potatoes, can be held in cold storage an incredibly long time before they even hit the store shelves and a person who's never eaten really fresh carrots wouldn't even realize how much the flavor eventually fades during long-term storage. However, it takes it months to fade when you quickly get them from the "farm" to the fridge.

At home, I've kept carrots happy (in the extra fridge in the garage, which for years was a $50 Craig's List fridge that Chris bought one day) for at least 4 months. That long storage period will keep us in carrots all summer long, and then we can plant again in fall if we choose. I also freeze a bunch, but it is nice to know they hold well in cold storage if I'm too busy harvesting and processing other foods that don''t have as long of a fresh shelf-life.

If you have a cellar, you also can store the carrots in buckets or tubs of moist sand.

Kim, I don't remember if BI lists their individual varieties on their mix packets, but it is likely the red one was Atomic Red.

Amy, They shouldn't get limp like that. I've had them last months and months. So, here's a few ideas: Are you harvesting them in the heat of the day? I always harvest carrots early in the morning, practically before sunrise, and hustle them indoors ASAP. I twist off the green tops and discard them (I put them out on the ground beside my compost pile where rabbits will find them and eat them.) I wash the carrots, line them up on paper towels (often with several layers of newspaper beneath the paper towels to absorb the moisture), let them dry completely, and then put them in plastic bags in the fridge. No limp carrots until they've been in there for many weeks.

Often, you can restore limp carrots to a crisper state by soaking them in a water bath or ice water bath for a while.

As far as cramming in a bunch of plants together, maybe all of us plant addicts do that just so we can plant as many plants as possible in the available space.

Bon, I don't stagger carrot plantings because the ones planted significantly later than the first ones were planted often are maturing in much hotter conditions and aren't as sweet and don't store as well. I do, however, plant varieties with different DTMs so that some are maturing early, some mid-season, and some a little late even though all were sown the same day. (Late for carrots in that their best flavor comes from being grown in cool weather, but not late compared to warm-season crops.) People in cooler climates than ours get great results from successive plantings, but I don't think it works as well in our heat. They are cool-season crops and our cool-season is short enough as it is, so making it shorter for them by succession planting them so they'll mature in hotter weather is likely to adversely affect their quality.

Dawn

I'm sure I did not refrigerate quick enough. The last batch, I pulled from the garden where the tops had frozen. They went into the soup I was making. I still have some carrots in the fall bed. Have I left them too long? Thinking about harvesting the carrots and brussells sprouts before next cold spell. The only things left otherwise are some collards and spinach. Might not have to cover them then. The carrot tops are edible, too. Maybe I will make some veggie broth with scraps from the beds.

Okay, Dawn. I'll check the seed packets for the DTMs. I don't have a lot of frig space, so I might still stagger for bunny fodder so they'll be fresher for them. So far, I've only planted them in the hugel bed at the front of the house that remains cooler at the hottest part of the day. Works good if I over plant and harvest them young in mid summer. That happened by accident (and impatience) last year. Huh! Never know. Some are going in ground and unsheltered, this year. I'll remember to pull all those at once.

Kim, I am absolutely certain it is. Wish that were true for sweets.

Amy, They might be fine. It just depends on how cool the soil has stayed. Hopefully it has stayed cool and evenly moist so the carrots have just sat there and maintained.

Bon, The best carrots I've ever had were from a time I ignored all the rules and just broadcast carrot seed and lettuce seed on the soil surface around my tomato plants in, hmmm, probably early April one year. They all germinated and grew and I just kept thinning tiny baby carrots and eating them (as well as baby lettuce leaves) as they grew. We had vast quantities of carrots and lettuce all spring and summer, and the carrots' quality never really dropped even though some of them were maturing in some fairly hot weather. It was a case of being out of space back when the garden was younger and smaller and just desperately scattering the seeds because I couldn't bear the idea of not having any lettuce or carrots that year. I bet if I did that again as a planned method, it wouldn't work out at all, but it was great that year. I think it was a cooler, wetter than average spring and summer though, so it must have been 2002.

I've also sown those little round Parisian carrots and "Little Finger" carrots in window boxes when I ran out of good, loose soil in the garden. They did fine there in morning sun, afternoon shade.

Dawn

Oh, the sublime sunlight kissed by a cool breeze. The dogs frolic, birds chirp and bunnies hide from the sun.

From sheer impatience I judged winter-sowing carrot seeds since those beds are ready. Last year it worked but germination was spotty. Decided to wait. The front raised beds are eeeeasy.

Instead, I did boring prep work and started some clean up in the main garden bed. I promised the kids a trip to the park, so that's it for today unless I get the urge to jump out there later. I probably will. I intentionally cooked a large vat of stew last night so I didn't need to cook much today.

My pita bread will need wait until the morning. hehe

Do home made seed tapes work? You know.. flour, water and toilet paper rolls? would be cool to use them to create nifty little straight rolls of variegated leafies and carrots.

I glued my carrot seeds to napkins with school glue. It worked, I was surprised.

Awesome. I'll make some.

I got bored over on the Vegetable Forum and decided to read elsewhere. That's when I remembered this forum and remembered that you all have interesting conversations over here. :)

So here's the list of things I'll be growing this spring. A couple things might change but for the most part it's pretty much set.

Lettuce:
Grand Rapids
Deer Tongue
Red Sails*
Red Romaine (actual variety unknown)
Butterhead (actual variety unknown)
Lettuce Mix

Carrots:
Little Finger*
Chantenay Red Core
Scarlet Nantes*
Baltimore
Rainbow

Radishes:
Cherry Belle
Salad Rose*
French Breakfast

Beets:
Cylindra
Early Wonder*

Peas:
Amish Snap
Sugar Snap
Sugar Daddy
Dwarf Grey Sugar*

Spinach:
Bloomsdale Long Standing
Giant Noble*

Garlic (planted in the fall but I consider it a spring vegetable):
Carpathian
German Red
Transylvanian
Inchelium Red

Other:
Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard
Mizuna Mustard*
Witloof Chicory (Belgian Endive)*
Shallots
Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi- Both overwintered (well, hopefully they get through this winter) so I can eat some of the florets as well as some that will be freshly planted in spring for the bulbs.

And I've got Egyptian onions, asparagus, and soon to be rhubarb in their own permanent areas.

Those that have asterisks are new to me this year. I've got around 200 square feet of garden beds, not including the three perennial beds mentioned above, so I tend to avoid things that take up a lot of space per plant for an extended amount of time. Things such as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes which never grow well for me anyway (no idea why).

I'm just a bit jealous when reading of you all talking about planting things so soon. I'm buried in snow up here in Michigan. Wish I had a high tunnel, large greenhouse, or even a cold frame so I could maybe plant something, anything, just a little bit earlier. Instead I've got to wait until April for most of what's on my list.

Rodney

Hey. Thanks for stopping bye, Rodney. Everyone is welcome. Now, I'm eye-balling your garlic varieties:

Cold-hardy?
How do these taste?

I recently became interested in different garlic and I'm planning for next fall plants. I think my whole family would wither away if garlic were not in everything.

bon

Bon- The world of garlic is a little weird and the link is probably more than you'd ever want to know about it. Garlic 101, A Garlic Overview

I grow both hardneck and softneck types. Hardnecks are usually more cold hardy than softs and I could definitely tell during last winter which was colder and wetter than usual. All the plants made it through the winter but my softnecks, Transylvanian and Inchelium Red, had pathetic little bulbs when I harvested them. The hardnecks, Carpathian and German Red, had only slightly undersized bulbs. I've been growing them for years and they've all done great before. Weather is the only thing that could explain it.

As for the taste, well they taste like garlic to me. haha I honestly can't really notice a difference between them. Perhaps if I had them raw in a side by side comparison I could tell. But just using a couple cloves here and there isn't enough for me to discern the differences.

Rodney

Thank you, forgot

I'm bumping this up in case some people missed it due to changes.

There's been changes? Here? What happened? (lol)

I couldn't figure out how to edit the original post at the top of this thread, so will make additions here.

I found four more varieties of seed potatoes today that I want to grow this year. Actually, I found about 8 or 9 but only bought 4. I found them at TSC. These are varieties I had to either order online in the past, or I raised them from organic potatoes purchased at a grocery store.

They are:

Peruvian Purple

Sangre Red

German Butterball

Russian Banana

Wonder if all TSCs have them?