What I am experimenting with this year.

10 years ago

Hi all,

Saw an old thread about people trying new things and I decided to show my experiments this year.

The vines that are growing up the sides and back are on the side lemon cucumbers and on the back Armenian cucumbers. Both have done very well for me this summer, the lemon have stopped producing right now but then the armenian stepped up to fill the gap.

You can see some Armenian cucumbers on the other vine I have going in another part of my garden.

I have decided to try Fava Beans this year. I know, I know, Silence of the Lambs has a lot to answer for but I have never had them and what the hell. They are also supposed to be great for rejuvenating the soil so why not. I have a couple different sites planted to see what it likes.

Trying sweet potatoes as well, and I have a basil plant in there as well. I have never grown sweet potatoes before, I have another batch going and am doing it in a potato tower style like on pinterest with wire and hay. A ground squirrel kept getting in and eating the tops off the other plant so I have had to chicken wire around the sides and top. So far it is coming back so there is hope for that tower yet.

Trying a boysenberry vine. The one cane is going crazy, I keep having to add trellis for it to grow on. This should have fruit next spring so I hope it gets quite long, bigger vine more fruit?

This is a cushaw squash. I have gotten one off of it, but I am not convinced that it likes our heat, maybe it will produce more in the fall. Supposed to make the best "pumpkin" pies so I had to try.

This is my goji berry tree/bush? You can see the red goji berries on it. I have had a few, they are supposed to be very good for you, not the best tasting in my book but I eat them because "they are supposed to be good for you". Hmmm. I find them a bit resiny.

This is my kaffir lime tree. Still a baby but I do have 3 limes on it and you can use the leaves as well. I have yet to do that but I just found a recipe so I will let you know...

So these are a few of my experiments I am trying. Love to know what anyone else is trying this year!

Shannon

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Comments (7)

iandyaz
10 years ago
Looks great Shannon, I've been wanting to try a boysenberry. I wonder how they do in our winter. Did it get full sun in the summer? I've been wanting to try a loganberry as well.

My volunteer Armenian cucumbers took up a huge chunk of my yard this summer. They are now growing up into my arabian jasmine plant and into a nearby pomegranate :)

It's awesome that you got berries on your goji, is it in a container? I took mine out last year because I kept getting bugs all over it (they were these little brown weevil looking bugs), and they were starting to spread to other plants once the leaves were all torn up on the goji. It also never got berries in the 3 1/2 years it was in the ground. I wonder if I should try another in a container.

I'll try to get some pics up later but here are a few new things I'm trying this year for the first time: cinnamomum verum (aka C. zeylanicum or true cinnamon tree, most likely staying in a container), Jujube (grew from seed so I'll probably graft onto them), Papaya (started a bunch from seed in containers and around my yard, very easy to start, tough to make it through the winter I hear), Sugarcane (green type), 2 varieties of Barbados cherry (glabra and emarginata), 12 (!) varieties of figs (all in containers for now), a couple gingers.

I'm also planning on planting some fava beans and sesame plants into the ground (might wait for spring on the sesame). I'm also doing some usual fall vegetables and retrying a few plants from seed that failed in the past for me (like torch lily).
worryzone
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi iandaz. Boysenberry do okay in the cold I think, now I will have to look it up! It got sun until about 3 o'clock so it took quite a bit of sun. I have the goji in a pot because when I got it in March or April it was just a stick really. When I bought it didn't even look alive so I thought I could baby it more in a container for the first few years until it actually represents something. It has done a lot in the months I have had it. The rabbits will eat it however so when I do put it in the ground it will have to be protected.

You must like figs! I have put in a brown turkish fig this year, a new one for me so hopefully that will go well, I do have a fig on it right now so fingers crossed. I am trying loveage, a new herb for me, don't think the first try took so I will try again. I like that it is a perennial and that it should be of use year round. I have wanted to do some ginger. Do you have it outside and in the ground or pot. I would like to give that a go, but they said it should be inside and well, cats.

Thanks for sharing, would love to see pics!

Shannon
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iandyaz
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
Here's a few pics from the back yard this morning:

I'm pretty excited for this one, it's my first successful cutting of a kumquat tree. They weren't very easy to root for me.

.
This is a false cardamom (alpinia nutans) and Celeste fig. I just repotted them today. I also have a common ginger that I forgot to get a pic of but it's pretty small anyway.

This is my small plant/seedling/cutting propagation area. I have it netted because birds like to dig thru my containers and they tend to kill small plants doing that. There's purple hopbush, jujube, papaya, avocado (seedling experiment), torch lily, and a bunch of new fig varieties, and probably some others I'm forgetting in there. Milo (the cat) doesn't prevent the birds from digging, he just sits there and watches them :)

New sugar cane plants (and a new pimenta racemosa, aka bay rum, plant for some reason).

My 2 barbados cherry starter plants (malpighia glabra on the left, malpighia emarginata on the right).

New Mulberry tree (got this one about 6 months ago), that plant in the back right is a pineapple guava).

Cinnamomum verum starter plant. I'm pretty anxious to see how this does in the winter with some protection. I definitely want to be able to keep it on the patio all year. The new leaves on it were a neat orange/red color when they first started.

Front plant (on the small step) is a wisteria vine I got this year and I'm training as a tree, front right plant (on the shelf) is a Yerba Mate. There's a colt rootstock I started behind that. The fig is a Petite Negra. You can barely see a leaf from my 2 year old Ylang Ylang to the right, I just potted that up to a 10 gallon as it grows a lot each year.

I noticed this while I was out there taking pictures. Probably my first pumpkin of the season :)
iandyaz
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
These aren't new this year, but I just repotted them.

Left is a Cattley Guava. It did completely fine in our winter despite saying zone 10 required, granted it was on the patio, I've had other plants that are zone 9 required look bad on the patio. The right plant is a Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora).
worryzone
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for all the awesome pics. I got a Surinam Cherry this year as well. Don't have any fruit, I have heard they are resiny if not left to ripen enough. Excited for that...haha. At my old house I had a pineapple guava and it was very nice. I got a harvest of about 100 guava once and decided to make guava jelly, 100 guava equals a half inch of jelly. Not worth the effort.
iandyaz
10 years ago
hah wow.. how are the pineapple guavas if you eat them fresh off the tree? Are there any other popular uses for them besides jelly?

I've heard some pretty funny horror stories about how Surinam cherries taste if you eat them too early. If this one ever fruits I'll be sure to wait for it to be very ripe.

As a side note, I got my moringa seeds today so I started those today as well.
worryzone
Original Author
10 years ago
The pineapple guavas are nice to eat, but you can get 100 or more at the same time so I hope you like guava. The might make a nice tart base and I am sure you could throw them in smoothies. I got 10 little goji berries off my little tree yesterday and I am throwing them into a smoothie this morning, hoping to disguise the taste. I had thought about a moringa but I think that is another thing that is "good" for you but tastes like crap. I don't know how many things like that I can grow... I am growing a Neem and that is like that as well.

I have two different Mulberry's, I got a ton of Mulberries off one tree that I had in ground for two years, I liked them so much I got a second tree, see here.

We are busy enclosing a whole area in the garden from the birds. I agree about the digging up of seedlings, it is maddening. My husband designed this hoop system and we have partially enclosed it in chicken wire, plenty of work yet to be done before it is completed but hopefully we will get a lot more harvest from the area.

BTW, boysenberries don't mind a bit of cold and can be grown in zone 5 so the winter shouldn't be any trouble for them. Maybe I will have to try jam again :)