I thought this post listing what I’m growing in my garden would never get published. It seems like for weeks, I’ve been preparing the garden, planting seeds, replanting seeds, and praying it all grows. Honestly, that has been happening for weeks.
This year was a BIG one for our homestead because I have so far doubled the size of our garden to make room for even more plants! I wanted to grow a larger variety of fruits and vegetables, and I needed more space to make that possible.
So let’s dive into what I’m growing in my garden, shall we?
What I’m growing in my garden
To keep this simple to follow, this list is in alphabetical order according to vegetables, and within that list, I’ll name each variety I planted. I’m also going to link to where you can find the same seeds and seed companies I use.
Okay, here’s what I’m growing in my garden!
Beans //
Blue Lake 274 – My husband loves meaty green beans, and these are his favorite.
Henderson’s Black Valentine Bush – This is a new variety for our garden this year. I plan to try it both as a green bean and dry bean to see which is preferred.
Hutterite Soup Bean – Another new variety for us, but I’m honestly not sure I have that many that germinated. I’ll be curious to see what these are like! I don’t normally eat white beans, but I’m all about trying new things this year.
Jacob’s Cattle Bean – I am in love with the way these beans look and cannot wait to add them to taco soups this winter!
Kentucky Wonder – I’ve grown these before and purchased them from a local feed store. These are tried and true for me and were also purchased out of fear of not having enough fresh green beans on hand this summer. I’ve linked to Baker Creek’s seed, which is called Old Homestead. They are the same variety, just a different name.
Purple Teepee – I’m in love with this plant’s blossoms! They are breathtakingly beautiful! I picked these for their slim shape because those are my favorite green beans. I do have to warn you that even though you harvest purple pods, these do turn green when cooked, which I think is a fun experiment when cooking!
Runner’s Bean Streamline – Another new variety to me [Are you getting tired of hearing that yet? Hopefully not!] that I picked to have a unique pole bean option. I also like the color and size of these beans, as they will work great in soups. I got these from Baker Creek, but they no longer carry the variety. They have others, though!
Tendergreen – This was my first green bean to ever grow, and I fell in love with it! The texture of the green bean is structured and doesn’t turn to mush when cooked. It is also really easy to grow, which is always a bonus.
Zuni Gold – This is another new bean that I am planning on using as a dry bean because it is beautiful! This is another I got through Baker Creek, but they no longer carry it.
Berry //
Goji Berry – This is a variety that is new to me that I have big plans for in my garden! I’m going to use them as a privacy fence between us and our neighbors. I’m so excited for these to grow big, attract pollinators, and produce delicious and beautiful berries!
Corn //
This is my first time growing corn, so all of these are new to me.
Fisher’s Earliest Sweet – We don’t eat a lot of sweet corn, but enough to want to try growing my own. This is the only sweet corn I’m trying this year, at least at this time.
Chapalote – Not only is this variety of corn stunning, but it is also multipurpose! I haven’t decided if I only want to use it like popcorn or if I want to try other things. I guess that all depends on how well it produces ears.
Glass Gem – Of course, this variety has me swooning with its beauty, and I wanted to see if I could put a dent in replacing chips with popcorn. I don’t like growing things for their beauty alone, but this is definitely the primary reason I picked this popcorn variety.
Cucumber //
National Pickling – This is the only variety I chose for cucumbers because I want to pickle all of them. Pickles are something I never get tired of eating, and often choose to eat pickles in place of chips. If you couldn’t tell, I’m trying to decrease and hopefully eliminate my chip addiction with things I’m growing in my garden.
Gourds //
Bottleneck – I picked this variety because my grandfather used to grow it when I was a kid. He would let my sister and I use them as maracas as they were drying out [again, we were kids, haha!], and then he would make birdhouses out of them. I know there is a birdhouse variety, but I like to think that my grandfather would be proud of me for growing bottlenecks. I got the seeds from Clear Creek Seeds, but they are currently out of stock.
Loofah or Luffa – Nature’s vegetable sponge! I have tried these before, but they didn’t produce well since I didn’t have them trellised. This year, my plan is to grow and dry enough for use around my home and also give as gifts. It is my favorite thing to share with people who don’t realize a loofah is a vegetable!
Melons //
Hale’s Best Jumbo Melon – This is a cantaloupe melon, which is my favorite melon! I’ve yet to harvest any, as my fluffy rabbits get to them before I do, but this year, I will enjoy my melons!
Honey Rock – This is probably the most common cantaloupe sold in stores and what I grew up eating. It will be nice to actually harvest some this year!
Jubilee – This is the heart of Arkansas watermelons! In fact, if you didn’t know, Hope, Arkansas, hosts the Watermelon Festival each year in August to celebrate harvesting jubilee watermelons. I’ve grown and actually harvested several of these before and love how big they get! It makes working in the hot summer worth it! I’m never without Jubilee seeds, so I actually have some from Baker Creek and MIgardener.
Okra //
Okra is my FAVORITE vegetable to harvest! If I grow nothing else, I’m going to grow okra!
Clemson Spineless – I’ve grown this variety from several companies, and it is very prolific. The very first time I grew it, my plants grew so tall we couldn’t harvest them without breaking the plants, which impressed me and made me love okra even more.
Long Green Pod – This is my first year with this variety. I’m excited to see how it does. So far, it is slow to take off, but I know that once it does, it should really produce well.
Stelley – This is another first for me. The description on Baker Creek’s website says it is a Louisiana variety, and since I am in Southern Arkansas, I knew I had to see what it was about! It is supposed to be a long tender pod, which means more to cook! Since receiving these, Baker Creek has stopped carrying them.
Peas //
I’ll be honest. It was a rough start for my peas, and I’m not quite sure what germinated and didn’t. I did a second planting because of the poor germination [my fault], so here is what I planted.
Blue Shelling / Snow Pea – I love the idea of a royal purple shell pea! I really hope this is one that germinated because I’d love to snack on these.
Garden Pea – I chose this variety specifically for full-size peas to add to different soups and dishes.
Sugar Snap – It feels like a crime to plant any kind of pea without sowing in sugar snap peas as well! I mean, if you don’t grow sugar snap peas, did you really grow peas?
Peppers //
Carnival Blend – I had a difficult time getting peppers this year, so I decided to purchase a blended pack to bring some fun to the peppers I’m growing. Plus, I think it would be fun to shake things up a bit and not grow only the normal red, yellow, and green bell peppers.
Grand Bell – Of course, I got a mix of the popular bell peppers – yellow, red, and green. I honestly love all bell peppers, so if I have an abundance of peppers, I’ll be a happy lady!
Jalapenos – I plan to make salsa and can some jalapenos this summer, so of course they are going to be in the garden! Last year, these were my bumper crops, so I’m excited to see what they do this year!
Sweet Banana Peppers – I didn’t originally plan these, but when you see a struggling pack of sweet banana peppers, you have to save them! At least, I think I do. They are great to munch on in the garden, so I don’t mind this addition to my garden.
Pumpkins //
Big Max – I’ve yet to get these to grow for me, but this year, I believe it is going to happen! I have no idea what to expect, but it is going to be interesting, that is for sure.
Jack O’Lantern – I love a fun pumpkin carving, and the chickens can benefit from them, too! Again, I’ve tried in previous years to grow these, and it didn’t work, but I’m optimistic this year!
Jarrahdale – This pumpkin grows 6-10 lbs, and it is slate blue! I’ve yet to attempt to grow a pumpkin that isn’t orange, so this will be fun!
Squash //
I did something I’d never done before in my garden. I completely stepped out of my comfort zone with regular yellow squash and opted for new varieties! Zucchinis are technically a squash, so I’ve included them here. However, I have grown them before this year.
Acorn – These caught my eye when I was buying my tomato transplants. They are beautiful, and I’m really excited to see what they are all about!
Desi – This is a fun apple-green squash that I cannot wait to cook! It is supposed to be ready to pick when it is about the size of a tennis ball.
White Scallop – Who doesn’t love a pretty scallop? There are so many great things about this squash – its history, flavor, and shape. This is definitely going to be a fun variety in my garden this year!
Jack Be Little – This miniature pumpkin is too cute, and I cannot wait to see it grow! I have plans to try this as a summer and winter squash to see how it is cooked both ways.
Zucchini [Black Beauty] – This is tried and true for me, which is why I’ll continue to put it in the garden year after year.
Zucchini [Dark Green] – This is another tried and true that I love growing. I grow at least two varieties of zucchini and pray that at least one does well against pests each year.
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Final thoughts about what I’m growing in my garden
Now that you know what I’m growing in my garden, I want to know what is growing in your garden! Leave a comment using the below form, and let’s chat!
It honestly doesn’t matter if you only have room for three small plants on your window sill or acres of land to grow food. Each plant makes a difference, and I hope this post has inspired you to start your very own garden if you haven’t already!
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I have tomatoes! Peppers hot and sweet, beans, green beans, pinto and navy, peas, sweet potato, potatoes, lettuce, spinach, and kale. Herbs as well. Onions and garlic. I will need lots of the Lord’s help bc I have never planted this much and hope to make all our salsa, pasta sauce and tomatoes for the year!
I’m with you on needing the Lord’s help for sure, Tina! Many times that I work in the garden, I’m asking God for strength to get through it! Sounds like you’re going to have a lot of delicious produce this year! I want to do a fall garden and grow garlic. It is my ride or die in the kitchen. No recipe is complete without it.
I would love to see photos of your garden. We planted strawberries, transplanted wild raspberries growing on our place and was gifted a blackberry plant. So excited about that! We also have apple, pear, and cherry trees (one lonely cherry tree left as “strong winds” took, the others and 2 of our pear trees and 2 apple trees). Rhubarb and Gooseberries keep coming back every year as well.
I have rosemary, chives, and basil started in a large pot. these are new to me, so we’ll see how they do. I also planted some wild flowers and I hope they do well for cuttings to bring into the house and gift.
For veggies, we planted spaghetti squash, zucchini, cucumbers, mixed bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes (14 plants!!! I’m going to be canning all winter. LOL), green beans, spinach, radishes, beets, kale, green onion, leeks, and Jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes: we actually planted these last year, but planted more with the ones we had left over from harvesting last year), we also have been enjoying asparagus all May. Only a few days left for the asparagus and then you leave it alone June 1st til next May 1st.
I was hoping to have some photos of the garden in this post, but I’ve had computer problems and wasn’t able to add them. I will be sharing them in the coming weeks as I am able to. Sounds like you’re growing a lot of interesting things, Debbie! I haven’t done as much with fruit trees as I want, but hopefully in the next few years I will be able to plant some. We have wild blackberry plants, but I want to get some of the dewberry variety. I’m with you on the tomato plants! I have 27ish [planted some suckers, but aren’t sure they have survived yet] paste tomato plants. I’m going to try freezing them this year, because canning tomato sauce didn’t go well for me in the past. I’d also like to dry some and have it to make a quick tomato paste when needed.