bob2the2nd
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First I am Maryland so i will have slightly different growing conditions that most of you who live in ohio. But the basics arent that different.
While I would hope that by the time we get to June/July time period we arent all completely shut down, still I figured i would start a thread anyway. First Ill give the breakdown of the things that you can grow this year and have actual crops, then ill go into the stuff that is more than just a summer thing.
Stupidly easy to grow. Leaks and green onions. You need a 6 inch pot with decent soil(thats it). Next time you go to the store and get either one of these use the green part and save the white part with the roots. Put the white part in a glass of water giving new water for a couple of weeks. Once you ahve some decent roots established, put it in the pot. Put the pot outside in the sun and make sure the soil doesnt completely dry out for an extended period of time. The. End. Congrats you now have green onions and leaks forever.
Herbs- 6-8 inch pots are pretty much all you need for any herb. I make mojitos a ton, so i actually have 2 12 inch pots dedicated to peppermint (this needs to be contained or otherwise it will spread everywhere). But we also grow basil, thyme, oregano, sweet marjoram, rosemary, sage. You can generally buy this from a home improvement store. If you can bring the pots in over the winter there is no reason most of these wont just keep growing year after year. We leave the rosemary and mint outside over the winter making sure they get a lot of sun. However ohio maybe too cold, im not sure.
Easy Annuals (tomatoes and peppers). Im going to stick to peppers and tomatoes because thats what most everyone starts off with. First i recommend a raised bed, that gets full sun. I tried to do an in-ground bed and that just became too much of a challenge. I can honestly say if you are just having fun, I recommend getting a pallet, wrapping it with gardening fabric, fill it with some decent potting soil, and making sure it gets sun. This is how my wife did her gardening when she lived in an apartment with a balcony. Peppers, tomatoes, herbs, will all gladly grow out of this but your yield may not be prolific. Also I would look to things other than full bell peppers or beefsteak tomatoes. It will be too much stress on the plant, so vine on tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, etc
For those of you that want to spend a bit more time and have enough tomatoes and peppers to share. A single 4'x8' foot bed is more than you will ever need. You need a total height of between 18-24 inches (so whether you use 2x6s or 2x12s or something inbetween it doesnt seem to matter), with 4x4 posts in each corner all screwed together. I throw down a small layer of stone for drainage, then fill the rest (at least 2/3rds) with something called "mushroom gardening soil". This stuff is basically gold when it comes to growing, you can get it from your local landscaping company. If you are using a 4x8 bed you can comfortably get 6 plants in the bed, and really jammed together you can get 8. But trust me thats all you need. Go to homedepot pick out what sort of peppers and tomatoes you want, plant at the listed spacing and make sure they stay watered, and occasionally check for weeds. Total cost to make this bed is probably 100-120 dollars (depending on how much the soil costs), but will last you for years, and did i mention prolific.
Tomatoes-Last year we had 2 mortgage lifter tomato plants (Beef stake), a cherry tomato plant, and a vine tomato plant. We ended up with about 55 pounds of tomatoes. We froze the extra tomatoes and at the end of the year made sauce. A warning though unless you have a ton of extra freezer space in a secondary freezer this is not something i would count on. We more or less fill a stand up freezer 1/4 full with just tomatoes.
Peppers- We usually do a jalepeno (or 2), a couple of bell pepper plants, and maybe a Sante Fe. Overall the jalepenos always do the best and we a massive amount of them. I always struggle with bell peppers but we get an okay amount. The Sante Fes produce a ton, but heat is unspectacular.
We have done green beans before with pretty decent results. Corn is really hit or miss plus requires a bunch of space (and will have to be inground). If you have the space Cucumbers and zucchini are fun (use the mound method). Also pumpkins are always a hit in the halloween time period. We generally grow both jackolaterns and the little decorative ones. Also my wife makes pumpkin pie all the damn time, so we grow pumpkins to eat (Cinderella pumpkins)-you will have to order seeds. But ultimately you can eat pretty much any pumpkin.
More complicated things- We also grow asparagus and its on year 3 (we will finally be able to enjoy it). Its a grass, so its relatively simple, but it takes a while. if you have the time I recommend doing at least a 3 foot row, if not longer. We have artichokes but for you folks in ohio this is probably a no go. It only works for us in maryland because its on a south facing slope, near the house. So in the winter it stays just warm enough to not die. Blueberries- are fun but i noticed they are a royal pain to deal with. Some years they grow a lot, and others they just die back.
Hops. So if you make beer, growing hops is the new in thing, but you have to have a place for a 20 foot vine to grow. Also ultimately unless you make a ton of your own beer they just look cool and then die off. They are a root structure so once they are planted they just keep going, year after year.
Table Grapes. If you ahve a ton of extra space then yes you can set up a trellis. I am on year 4 now and should have a moderate yield. I just did seedless concord grapes. Not exciting but they are WAY more flavorful than anything you get at the market.
Trees- I have 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees, and 3 cherry trees. (only 1 peach tree produces yet). Recommendations, get a self fertile tree and a dwarf (up to 6-8 feet) or semi dwarf tree (up to 10-12 feet). Ultimately trees are going to be location specific and you are going to have to do some decent amount of research. However if you know you are going to be in a place for 5-10 years+ then i highly recommend going this route. Overall if you are willing to make sure the location is appropriate for a tree i recommend going with more established trees (a couple years old). However that generally means you have less choices in types , and you will have to spend a signifcant amount of time making sure the location of the tree is more prepared. Unfortunately though if you want to get a specific type of tree (for example honey crisp) you are probably only looking at online ordering which means its going to be cost prohibitive to get anything other than a whip (small, no branch tree). Also for most fruit trees they are not self fertile and do require a pollinator (a different type), so make sure you do your research. There are going to be charts specific to your location that let you know what you should look at as far as pollinators go.
Just figured there are some people sitting around right now with nothign to do and worried about having to go to the grocery store. Also for those of you in ohio you should hold off growing anythign outside till the end of April, but chances are you wont be able to find anythign other than seeds before then anyway. I left out the process of growing somethign by seeds. Its a lot more time consuming, but ultimately a bit less costly. However you need to start them now (well last week).
While I would hope that by the time we get to June/July time period we arent all completely shut down, still I figured i would start a thread anyway. First Ill give the breakdown of the things that you can grow this year and have actual crops, then ill go into the stuff that is more than just a summer thing.
Stupidly easy to grow. Leaks and green onions. You need a 6 inch pot with decent soil(thats it). Next time you go to the store and get either one of these use the green part and save the white part with the roots. Put the white part in a glass of water giving new water for a couple of weeks. Once you ahve some decent roots established, put it in the pot. Put the pot outside in the sun and make sure the soil doesnt completely dry out for an extended period of time. The. End. Congrats you now have green onions and leaks forever.
Herbs- 6-8 inch pots are pretty much all you need for any herb. I make mojitos a ton, so i actually have 2 12 inch pots dedicated to peppermint (this needs to be contained or otherwise it will spread everywhere). But we also grow basil, thyme, oregano, sweet marjoram, rosemary, sage. You can generally buy this from a home improvement store. If you can bring the pots in over the winter there is no reason most of these wont just keep growing year after year. We leave the rosemary and mint outside over the winter making sure they get a lot of sun. However ohio maybe too cold, im not sure.
Easy Annuals (tomatoes and peppers). Im going to stick to peppers and tomatoes because thats what most everyone starts off with. First i recommend a raised bed, that gets full sun. I tried to do an in-ground bed and that just became too much of a challenge. I can honestly say if you are just having fun, I recommend getting a pallet, wrapping it with gardening fabric, fill it with some decent potting soil, and making sure it gets sun. This is how my wife did her gardening when she lived in an apartment with a balcony. Peppers, tomatoes, herbs, will all gladly grow out of this but your yield may not be prolific. Also I would look to things other than full bell peppers or beefsteak tomatoes. It will be too much stress on the plant, so vine on tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, etc
For those of you that want to spend a bit more time and have enough tomatoes and peppers to share. A single 4'x8' foot bed is more than you will ever need. You need a total height of between 18-24 inches (so whether you use 2x6s or 2x12s or something inbetween it doesnt seem to matter), with 4x4 posts in each corner all screwed together. I throw down a small layer of stone for drainage, then fill the rest (at least 2/3rds) with something called "mushroom gardening soil". This stuff is basically gold when it comes to growing, you can get it from your local landscaping company. If you are using a 4x8 bed you can comfortably get 6 plants in the bed, and really jammed together you can get 8. But trust me thats all you need. Go to homedepot pick out what sort of peppers and tomatoes you want, plant at the listed spacing and make sure they stay watered, and occasionally check for weeds. Total cost to make this bed is probably 100-120 dollars (depending on how much the soil costs), but will last you for years, and did i mention prolific.
Tomatoes-Last year we had 2 mortgage lifter tomato plants (Beef stake), a cherry tomato plant, and a vine tomato plant. We ended up with about 55 pounds of tomatoes. We froze the extra tomatoes and at the end of the year made sauce. A warning though unless you have a ton of extra freezer space in a secondary freezer this is not something i would count on. We more or less fill a stand up freezer 1/4 full with just tomatoes.
Peppers- We usually do a jalepeno (or 2), a couple of bell pepper plants, and maybe a Sante Fe. Overall the jalepenos always do the best and we a massive amount of them. I always struggle with bell peppers but we get an okay amount. The Sante Fes produce a ton, but heat is unspectacular.
We have done green beans before with pretty decent results. Corn is really hit or miss plus requires a bunch of space (and will have to be inground). If you have the space Cucumbers and zucchini are fun (use the mound method). Also pumpkins are always a hit in the halloween time period. We generally grow both jackolaterns and the little decorative ones. Also my wife makes pumpkin pie all the damn time, so we grow pumpkins to eat (Cinderella pumpkins)-you will have to order seeds. But ultimately you can eat pretty much any pumpkin.
More complicated things- We also grow asparagus and its on year 3 (we will finally be able to enjoy it). Its a grass, so its relatively simple, but it takes a while. if you have the time I recommend doing at least a 3 foot row, if not longer. We have artichokes but for you folks in ohio this is probably a no go. It only works for us in maryland because its on a south facing slope, near the house. So in the winter it stays just warm enough to not die. Blueberries- are fun but i noticed they are a royal pain to deal with. Some years they grow a lot, and others they just die back.
Hops. So if you make beer, growing hops is the new in thing, but you have to have a place for a 20 foot vine to grow. Also ultimately unless you make a ton of your own beer they just look cool and then die off. They are a root structure so once they are planted they just keep going, year after year.
Table Grapes. If you ahve a ton of extra space then yes you can set up a trellis. I am on year 4 now and should have a moderate yield. I just did seedless concord grapes. Not exciting but they are WAY more flavorful than anything you get at the market.
Trees- I have 2 peach trees, 2 apple trees, and 3 cherry trees. (only 1 peach tree produces yet). Recommendations, get a self fertile tree and a dwarf (up to 6-8 feet) or semi dwarf tree (up to 10-12 feet). Ultimately trees are going to be location specific and you are going to have to do some decent amount of research. However if you know you are going to be in a place for 5-10 years+ then i highly recommend going this route. Overall if you are willing to make sure the location is appropriate for a tree i recommend going with more established trees (a couple years old). However that generally means you have less choices in types , and you will have to spend a signifcant amount of time making sure the location of the tree is more prepared. Unfortunately though if you want to get a specific type of tree (for example honey crisp) you are probably only looking at online ordering which means its going to be cost prohibitive to get anything other than a whip (small, no branch tree). Also for most fruit trees they are not self fertile and do require a pollinator (a different type), so make sure you do your research. There are going to be charts specific to your location that let you know what you should look at as far as pollinators go.
Just figured there are some people sitting around right now with nothign to do and worried about having to go to the grocery store. Also for those of you in ohio you should hold off growing anythign outside till the end of April, but chances are you wont be able to find anythign other than seeds before then anyway. I left out the process of growing somethign by seeds. Its a lot more time consuming, but ultimately a bit less costly. However you need to start them now (well last week).
Last edited:
The hummus cart was a failure.