Our 2019 garden was a major success. We planted some of our old favorite varieties and some new varieties too. A couple of the new varieties we planted really stood out as “must plant every year” seeds. Now that our seed catalogs have started to arrive, I am excited to plan next years garden. Being in Zone 4, we have a lot of time to plan, but we are also more limited on types of plants that survive and thrive during our cool weather summers. We have had great success the last couple of years, so I thought I would share some of our favorites, especially for those that live in a similar climate. We primarily order from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds. Visit rareseeds.com to request a beautiful free heirloom seed catalog if you don’t already receive one. I am also excited about the garlic I purchased from MIGardener. We also buy some seeds at the hardware store to fill in where we are missing something.
As far as tomatoes go, I like to can crushed or diced tomatoes to use all winter. I liked German Red Tomatoes last year, and I have to say they were my favorite again this year. They are a great meaty tomato for canning, with some tomatoes growing over 1 lb. I also grew Pink Ponderosa and Atomic Grapes. These varieties were both great producers, but we had too many Atomic Grape tomatoes. I added some to our canning, but they are small and tedious to peel. I also dried them, but we just had too many. We ended up with over 60 lbs of tomatoes between our 3 varieties and fed MANY to the chickens (they could get to them through the fence and I didn’t even mind). Next year I would like to have about the same number of tomato plants, but with a greater variety. We missed the sweetness of the Tappy Heritage breed we grew in 2018, so that will probably get added back to our list, along with a Roma type tomato.
We also plant a lot of beans, because we can them plain and as dilly beans, and we usually freeze some as well. We have always loved the production of Blue Lake Bush Beans, but going vertical with pole beans really saves on space. We loved Kentucky Pole Beans last year and added Purple Podded Pole Beans this year. The purple pole beans are what we planted on our teepee, and it was a major success. All 3 of these varieties are a must for next year! Not counting the beans we ate fresh, we picked 15 lbs of beans and ended up with 11 pints of dilly beans as well as 5 quarts of canned green beans.
I have struggled with peppers for years. I have mostly avoided them the last 2 years because I just wasn’t sure they were worth the trouble. This year, even with the short season, we found some that did great. I started them very early inside, removed blossoms for weeks after transplanting while they set roots, and pruned them as needed. I also planted varieties with smaller peppers, such as mini bells, corbacis, banana peppers, and jalapenos. This made a big difference and we had great success. We made pickled banana peppers, cowboy candy (from jalapenos), and the kids loved snacking on the mini bells and corbacis out in the garden. We also planted some Paradicsom peppers, which didn’t do well. They were a free seed variety from Baker Creek, and I don’t think our climate is quite right for them.
We also planted peas, zucchini, and romaine lettuce. The Green Beauty peas are an early season plant and they were delicious. They never made it inside because we all fought over who got them right in the garden. We will need to plant more next year. Of the zucchini we grew, we still loved the Black Beauty, but really weren’t fans of the Fordhook variety. It was very firm and I even had trouble shredding it. We have grown buttercrunch lettuce in the past, but we really loved the Parris Island Romaine we planted this year. It grew with more structure and lasted better in the fridge.
As far as cucumbers, I planted 2 varieties and my labels disappeared. I’m not sure which was which, but both the Chicago pickling cucumbers and Dar grew almost exactly the same. They are both the perfect size and flavor for pickling, so we will probably plant them both next year as well.
Onions. This was a first for me. I tried growing onions 3 different ways. The ones I started from seed indoors were a total bust. I also tried winter sowing for the first time (more info to come on that), which is essentially starting seeds in a covered container outdoors. As the weather warms up, the seeds sprout and become acclimated to the cold weather better than seeds started indoors. We used Australian brown onions. These onions grew well once transplanted, but I didn’t plant nearly enough. I also planted some onion starts from the hardware store, which grew well. Most of our onions were on the smaller side, but the flavor is so much better than store bought. We are just finishing up what we harvested, so we will definitely need more next year.
I almost forgot to mention the flowers we grew! Marigolds are great at keeping pests away and do well near tomatoes, so we planted a petite mix again this year. Besides those, I mostly planted zinnias. I absolutely loved the Redman Super Cactus Zinnias with their deep red, feathery petals. I plan to have a flower garden next year and it might be what I’m looking forward to the most.
We planted some pumpkins, melons, brussel sprouts, radishes, and herbs, but nothing stood out to us. They all grew okay and we were able to have meals from them all, but I might try some new ones next year. I will say, the Beni Kodama watermelons were really fun to grow and grew well since they are a small melon. Our corn was unsuccessful, but I think it mostly failed because of the wet weather and short season. Our carrots, noodle beans, and snake beans were also unsuccessful due to the new soil and mulch we tried this year. You can read more about that here. I also have a saved story collection on Instagram named “2019 Garden” if you want to catch up on the garden progress throughout the summer. Just look for ScottFamilyHomestead on Instagram!
As I look through my catalogs, I will share what I’m most looking forward to trying. First, I need to make it through the busy Christmas season. I am so thankful and blessed this holiday season, and I hope you are too! Merry Christmas and Happy New Years! As always, thank you for reading and following along on our journey.
