In some respects I miss the melons and the beans and peas but I live by myself and have maybe 500 square feet to garden in. Back in my childhood the house garden on the farm originally went close to a full acre with the sweet corn and squashes planted in the corn field hidden from the raccoons. We had both watermelons and muskmelons by the tub full, once they started. Now there is just me and the squirrels; so I am planting so the harvest can be more on the order of single servings thus fewer leftovers and less waste and a bigger variety into the bargain.

This is also a hobby for me to keep me active at 72 and sane with the messes going on all around this country these days.

I hear you: coming up on 84 myself. wife eats few vegetables. I have cut back to a kitchen garden in the backyard.. I grow year long with harvests in Spring, summer and fall. Small harvest (collards, carrots rutabaga) in winter. I still grow multiple types Just not in numbers. Usually give away a lot, problem this year with everyone locked down. I still grow sweet corn which also did well this year.

I went to look at your zone and apparently houzz doesn't show that any more. I am in Minneapolis, where are you? I've seen you around quite a bit. This website is getting slower and slower all the time, and less user friendly into the bargain.

I just got off a Polish seed company that ships world wide and theirs works much faster. Interesting. They have a whole lot of seed variety; some of it very interesting. That would be Garden Seeds Market. Huge variety, low prices and individual cultural guidelines aimed at the particular variety in question not just general at species. Plus fast page refresh. They even take Paypal and ship seeds at the cheap, too even overseas. I may just give them a try.

Middle Georgia 8a) Augusta to be more precise. Most of the vegetable websites are getting slow and with fewer participants each year. Most have been bought by larger outfits and run as a sideline. I do enjoy the long growing season as I can grow northern vegetables in late winter /early spring, hot weather vegetables in the summer and some cool weather vegetables in the fall.

Have you grown the purple overwintering broccoli? The summer types are really pretty as well as so edible. Way too cold over winter up here for them.

Have tried them a couple of times, They don't don't do much for me.

About all I ever planted for overwintering before was tulips, until I got serious about garlics. Of course being here in USDA Zone 4 reduces the overwintering vegetable options somewhat.

I am new to this forum, though I've been a member of Gardenweb for many years. For some reason, I had to re-register, so my name turned into a number. I finally bought 2+ acres in January, after years of shade and city life, and have begun to establish garden beds. This summer I grew tomatoes, peppers, basil, butternut squash, pumpkins, eggplant, asparagus, strawberries, and put in some raspberries, hazelnuts, elderberries, and blueberries. I had early deer/woodchuck damage to my tomatoes, but now have a bumper crop of green ones. i just finished canning my third batch of green tomato salsa. My eggplant, peppers, squash and pumpkins also did very well. I have a bed prepared for garlic, but don't know a good source for starter cloves. Any suggestions? I don't need anything exotic, just something reliable for zone 5/6 in southwest Michigan. I might see if Seed Savers Exchange has anything still available. Happy gardening!

Martha

Hi Martha, first I think you can change your "first name" by editing your profile. That is where I keep Old Dutch.

You are a little late for seed garlic at least on line. There are a lot of sold outs already. It also pays to checkout your local nurseries to see if any of them carry seed garlic. We have at least three inside the actual borders of Minneapolis proper that do. You can also google seed garlic. I like Music but Japanese and Siberian also do well for me most years. I occasionally run across seed garlic mixed in sort of with tulip bulbs sometimes. Years ago I had to google a lot of suppliers to find anything this late, but now I keep my own seed.

Yay! My name is now changed back to my previous, with location and zone! Unfortunately, COVID-19 financial stresses prevented me from purchasing anything until this week, even seeds. But, things are looking up. Maybe I'll wait another year to plant garlic. I can use the bed for any number of things next spring. My plan for this fall is to collect as many bagged leaves as possible from curbsides. I will use them to smother grass and weeds for further garden beds come spring.

Martha

Hey OldDutch, I had the same experience in south Minneapolis with tomatoes being a bit late this summer. My seedlings also were stunted under the lights in the basement this spring for some reason, I think maybe the mix I was using, so mine went in the ground super late (like mid to late June), so I was already behind schedule. Alas. We still got a decent amount of fruit, but more is always better! My garlic (seeds from Mother Earth) did really well this year, the best I have had in the 6 or 7 years I have been growing garlic. Armenia did particularly well. I have some I could plant out this year, but I reloaded for seeds at Mother Earth last week. They have the same varieties this year that they did last year (Armenian, Chesnok Red, Deerfield Purple, Georgia Crystal, and Metechi). I followed my garlic with some short season red and green cabbages (Red Express and Early Wakefield) and cut the largest Wakefield this week and braised the sliced head in chicken broth, garlic, and a bit of tomato. It was great! The others are a bit behind (my succession was a little late) but I will have to cut them by the end of the month to plant garlic. I was pleased how the succession worked out as this is really the first time I have managed to get the timing close enough to work. Next year I will have the cabbages ready for mid-July and they will be ready earlier!

This year Mother Earth also had Music earlier. Gotta agree about the Armenian. The seed i got from them a year ago for that did very well, although I had a few cloves missing in the stand. I also tried out Metechi and it did well enough.

Almost all my starts did well last spring under my side by side 4' LED light fixtures. The key is to keep the foliage as close as possible to the lights without burning it. I also found that a timer was a godsend. I set mine for 16 on 8off. My ight garden is in an unused upstairs bedroom converted to nursery. That is handy every morning to putz around in, but it eventually gets a little warm for the cold sprouters like lettuce.

What set back my tomatoes was that early heat wave we had, and I think that had an adverse effect on most of my garlic too. The peppers and eggplant took it right in stride though and so did the sweet potatoes.

I had decent sweet potatoes this year, both orange flesh and purple flesh. Best vines I ever had and a decent set of roots although nothing huge. I dug them ahead of the last frost warning we had and set them up above the light garden for heat to cure. They seem to have done that with even the broken ones seeming to heal.

So I ate one of each, one red skinned/orange flesh and one purple skin and flesh. Both cooked up in the microwave although the purple one kept its texture better and the orange one mashed much easier. The purple one was purple all the way through and that makes for a dramatic side dish! Both were quite edible with just butter and salt. The taste to me was similar, but since going on my heart medicine years ago both my taste buds and my sense of smell have suffered; so all I can say is that the orange left a bit more residue probably from being softer; so you could probably say the purple was "cleaner" ... Both tasted to me like "sweet potatoes".

I have never been able to bring in edible sized sweet potatoes before here in Minneapolis, but this year they did very well. The purple ones had vines all over the garden but the orange ones were originally IIRC bush and semi-bush and grew like that, too.

The purple one came out of a produce bin at Trader Joes; so I have no idea what variety. The orange ones would be either Wilma's or Amish Bush Puerto Rico, and probably what I have are mixed. I couldn't tell them apart when growing nor after digging.

I grew the sweet potatoes as an under-story crop under my sweet banana peppers and they seemed to get along just fine with both fruiting out nicely.

Finally hard frost overnight; so tomatoes and peppers are done. Still have garlics to plant.

I found a vendor that still had seed garlic for sale, so I hope what I ordered arrives soon for planting. We have not had frost or temps below 40, yet. I think Lake Michigan (6 or so miles to our west) keeps our fall temperatures from dropping as low as more “inland” locations. I also ordered onion seed to start under lights in late winter. I have a farmhouse built in 1855, with a spacious “Michigan basement” that should function as a classic root cellar. I’m trying to grow varieties of onions, carrots, squash, and potatoes that store well. My butternut squash was surprisingly productive, so I have a dozen squash cured and in the basement. I also have a dehydrator, so if things start to deteriorate, I can dry them. I enjoy reading here to learn from your extensive experience. Thanks for everything.

Martha

We got seven and a half inches of snow here yesterday, which sorta puts my outside gardening and yard work on hold for a while. Didn't get the leaves raked this year either.

It should be mostly to all gone by week end though.