Why I’m NOT Gardening in 2024 (the same way)

Growing the same plants in the same way every year can produce successful gardens, but it can also lead to a gardening rut with a lack of excitement. Gardener Scott shares his plan for shaking up his gardening plan with a new way to choose plants. (Video #492)

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I’m done I’ve been gardening the same way for 35 years and I’m just not going to do it again this year I’m shaking things up join me as I discuss my new plan for Gardening hi I’m Gardener Scott and I love gardening I don’t want to stop gardening I love the planning I love the planting the growing the harvesting but after 35 years it’s all pretty much the same and in recent years what I’ve recognized is what I probably like most is trying new things experimenting

Pushing the limits and this year I’m going to do exactly that with everything I grow for years I’ve been talking about black CR Tomatoes how they’re my favorite and I grow them every year but not this year the last couple years I’ve highlighted black cherry tomatoes a wonderful discovery that did great for

Me I’m not growing black cherry tomatoes this year for decades I’ve grown Market more cucumbers not this year this year I’m not growing anything that I’ve ever grown before I’ve determined that I’m in a gardening rut doing the same things every year the same plants grown the

Same ways producing the same results and there’s nothing wrong with that that’s a big reason why many of us Garden to find those plants that do well in our garden and then to keep growing them over and over because we know they’ll be successful my new Greenhouse gives me a

Lot of opportunities and and last year what did I grow tomatoes they did great the black cherries but I also grew Super Hot Chili Peppers I didn’t even know what I was going to do with them but I grew and harvested some wonderful fruit incredibly hot and that excitement of

Trying something new without even knowing what the results would be really brought back the inner Joy of gardening that I’ve enjoyed so much over so many years and that’s why this growing season I want to find that feeling again with all new plants that may or may not work

For me in the garden but that’s where the enjoyment and that’s where the excitement is going to come in trying something new and then waiting to see what happens this year as I look through my seed cataloges I’m avoiding The Usual Suspects the same old same old plants

Instead what I’m looking for is something that shouts out to me that screams try me in your garden like this Dragon carrot it’s a beautiful red purple exterior with a striking contrast to its yellow orange interior and light yellow core I discovered the dragon carrot in the Seed Savers exchange

Catalog and it intrigues me because they describe it as a sweet slightly spicy carrot I’ve never grown a spicy carrot before I also found it in the Southern Exposure seed exchange catalog and they have it as a wild spicy Flavor now I’ve always grown carrots because of

Their sweet flavor the Danvers and the Scarlet nones they’ve done well in my garden but to grow something like this that looks different and tastes different I’ve never done that before this year is the year I like the the sound of this Arkansas little leaf cucumber that can

Have compact Vines but will still climb a trellis small leaves make finding the fruit easier that’s always nice cuz cucumbers tend to hide among the leaves but the fruit is good for both slicing and pickling I usually grow separate varieties for each and I find this part

Particularly interesting it has a lot of disease resistance but they point out here at Southern Exposure that this variety may have lost its Downey mildew resistance and so that allows me the opportunity for a little experimentation that’s what I like to do to see if this little Arkansas has the Downey mildew

Resistance in my garden because almost every year by the end of the season my cucumbers start getting that powdery mildew this could be one of those varieties that not only provides the double bang of both slicing and pickling but it could fight off some of the few diseases I have in my Colorado

Garden now I recognize that this way of choosing the seeds for the varieties that I’m going to grow is not for every Gardener and I don’t think I would recommend it for every Gardener I’ve only gardened this way once in the very beginning the very first year I gardened

All those decades ago I grew varieties that I had never grown before and over the course of the years I found what works best I found the varieties that I like and could give me that double bang but in the process it got a little boring quite honestly because each year

Looked pretty close to the year before and I like that excitement of the new what’s happening in my garden that’s never happened before so I did it that one time why not do it again all these years later you can follow along and try the same thing new plants you don’t have

To do your entire Garden like I’m planning to do but stretch it a little bit it do something that you just haven’t tried before and as you look through the catalog and I dog ear the pages of some of these things that are particularly interesting I come across

Some things like this melon for instance that I think I’m going to try even though melons don’t do well in my Colorado region this is a Kansas melon and since Kansas is the state right next to me I’m operating under an assumption that if it grows in Kansas it can grow

In Colorado it’s a 90day variety which fits with the length of my growing season it’s got sweet flavor fine texture high production and hardiness I’m not sure what that means whether it’s Hardy in my Cool Spring and fall or Hardy in my hot summer but it’s worth a

Try to find out I’m not going to throw out the basic rules of seed selection this year as I try everything new I still need to choose the seeds that will fit within the length of my growing season and I want to choose varieties that are part of my diet or maybe

Something that could become part of my diet I don’t have to be completely out there trying things that know won’t work I still want to have a successful garden with plants that should work in my garden and to match why I Garden one of the reasons I Garden is to preserve my

Harvest and I’ve talked in some of my Monday live stream shows that I want to grow Hungarian peppers and make my own paprika well right here are hungar Ian Peppers so I’ve added this to my list it’s not a crazy plant it’s not entirely new but it’s a variety that I haven’t

Grown before and it’s something that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time it just never fit with my current plan I also like to make jams and jellies so I’m looking at this DRS yellow ground cherry now I’ve tried growing the ant Molly ground cherry

Without much success but this DRS sounds pretty good it’s got a 55 day from transplant to fruit it’s got a sweet fruity flavor that sets it apart from ground cherries and the plant is highly productive which sounds like this might be ideal for growing plants and making

Ground cherry jam at the end of the season something that I’ve never grown and something that I’ve never done and something I’ve never even tasted but it’s worth a try this year I had a fantastic Gooseberry Harvest and I made gooseberry jam it was good it was

Different it was a flavor I’d never tried before and it gave me that excitement I put those Gooseberry bushes in the ground 3 years ago it took three years for me to taste a gooseberry for the first time and to make a very unique jam and I enjoyed that a lot which is

Why I’m continuing to look through the catalogs and find what’s going to be the best choice for me I’m not going into this completely solo I like it when I see something like this from Seed Savers exchange where they highlight a staff favorite this velvet red tomato

Falls into that category and it was the winner of one of their annual tomato tastings and so when an organization like Seed Savers exchange who I respect and admire suggests a particular variety it sounds good to me especially when it has won a taste contest I like having people people

Recommend to me something that they like that’s how I discovered the black cherry tomato I would love it if you would give me your recommendations in the comments below if there’s something that is a little bit unique outside the mainstream that you’ve grown tell me about it and

Tell me why I should be considering it in my garden because this is a blank slate this is my entire garden and I’ve got a pretty big garden and I don’t know yet everything that will be growing in it I’ve made some highlights I’ve put the star next to some of the varieties

That I think I’m interested in but I haven’t finalized my list and I’ve got catalogs and more on the way and when I finalize it I’d love it to be what I want to try because it’s an interesting carrot or ground cherry or because an organization like Seed Savers

Exchange suggested or even better yet because you suggested it for me as well and I’ll definitely give you credit if I choose a variety that I’ve picked from the comments below I’m looking forward to this new way to plan my garden by this time of year I usually have a

Pretty good idea of how many tomatoes I’m going to grow and how many cucumbers I’m going to grow and which squashes I’m going to grow but I’ve thrown all of that out the window I really don’t know everything that’ll be in my garden this year I may only have that single tomato

Plant I may have 12 I don’t know yet it’s going to come down to what I choose from the cataloges what you suggest to me and then I’ll sit down and figure out what goes into all of my beds and how many different plants I’m going to grow

Of course I’ll bring you along on that journey and you can expect future videos as I highlight some of these new varieties for me that I’ve never grown before and hopefully you’ll see the excitement as I discover the new things that work but also maybe the things that

Don’t work it’s all part of the gardening Journey it’s all things that can teach us a little bit more about our Gardens and about ourselves I’m Gardener Scott enjoy Gardening