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There's an excellent seed catalog from a company that "breeds" plants specifically for New England growing conditions called Johnny's Selected Seeds. I put a link below. Their quality is high and the produce from their seeds is delicious! I am a black-thumbed wonder (I can kill mint) but my gardening-nut mom swears by Johnny's.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/home.aspx?ct=HG (broken link)
I was curious if you could grow tomatoes in NH, so I am delighted you CAN!
Regarding Deer:
Where I am in Illinois, it is absolutely loaded with deer. I am in an upper-class suburb of homes spread a half block apart or so, and deer are running thru the lots all the time. Regardless, I have tried the hose and human hair thing and it did not deter the deer here.
What did work for me was putting ground up red chili peppers dried in a spice shake little bottle (50 cents from the spice aisle at WalMart) on and around the tomatoes. One bite of them, and it's amazing that the deer don't come back..ha! Do not put Tabasco or anything wet on the plants as that is too strong and will kill the leaves. What I used was ground up and dried like black pepper would be. It worked!
I used a small amount of blood meal as a nitrogen supplement and the tomatoes and other stuff did rather well. The resident woodchuck ate my neighbor’s garden. The chipmunks exercise the neighbor's tomcat. We grew more zucchini than we want to eat and picked enough tomatoes for salads, a couple gallons of sauce and several quarts of green tomato/chile sauce. Not a bad harvest from a 5’ x5’ garden.
My veggie garden this year gave mixed results. I tried cauliflower, a big waste of space for just a couple veggies. Best results were cukes (I tried a bush variety, and it does save ALOT of space!) I also grew Sweet 100's and Roma tomatoes, jalapeno, bell, and Italian sweet peppers. All of the pepper varieties took FOREVER to ripen, so next year I am going to try starting everything in a cold frame. Green peppers are OK, but for the best flavor, I like to let everything get red before picking, so much better flavor!
Zucchini is on my list for next year (I make a killer zucchini bread and zucchini cake!) Greg, you just let me know if you've got too much zucchini and I'll be happy to take it off your hands What variety of tomato did you plant? The roma's were just ok, good for making sauce or salsa, but not great for slicing/salads, etc.
Do you have to do anything to the garden to prep for Winter, so it's ready come Spring? or is it too much hassle...just let it be & see what happens.
Also, might have missed this speed reading, but what about cabbage? It seems to be in containers w/ mums in the Fall there...is it just decorative or is it the eating kind?
Bugaboo, it's best if you can prep the soil before the ground freezes, but not essential. even if you pick up some compost from a farm or a couple bags from the garden center or home depot, spread it over the garden area, if you can rake it in a little, great. If not, Ma Nature takes care of it anyway, the good stuff seeps in and will benefit plants next year. I'll get back to you later on with some good links and info
Oh and the cabbages that you see out this time of year are just to look pretty w/ the mums. If my mums come back this year, I'll probably try to grow some cabbages to go with them.
Mums will come back each year if the winter is not overly severe, but they do much better if you mulch them with dead leaves, grass clippings or hay. If there's enough snow, that does the trick. Remove the mulch as soon as the ground thaws in the spring. If you pinch out thebranch tips several times over the season as they get leggy, the mum wil grow full and pretty again like the store ones you buy... If you fertilize them they will get big and showy by fall.
One easy way to prep the garden for the winter is to dump all your raked leaves on it each fall. Tossing kitchen vegetable scraps and dead plant material is great too. Let them pile up, and they will pack down under the snow. Add some lime in spring to offset the acidity the leaves add to the soil. By April till it all in and let it set a week or so before planting. It will add humus and nutrients for the growing season and keep your soil rich and light!
BuggaBoo2: There is a plant that I don't think you eat called colloquially a Cabbage Flower. Looks like a cabbage, shaped more like a flower on top if a cabbage was made to look like a flower by a florist (get that?). They grow them every Fall in Texas gardens and are really pretty. I think you are referring to this. This is the nonedible cabbage.
ValC: You sure do wear a lot of hats OMG, when do you sleep? And bake too, zucchini bread & cake - yum! I think the cabbage looks pretty mixed in w/ the mums. Thanks for the tips.
Earthangel: Glad to know it may be possible for mums to come back. Here in Cali I have a couple mum plants that are a few years old. I just have to deadhead them & it'll bloom Spring & Fall (as long as I remember to water them). Nothing like in NH though. Thanks too for some gardening tips.
TootsieWootsie: Yes, that is what I was referring to. After reading these posts, I did a little research online. I guess it's a hybrid & just decorative. Before this, I didn't know if it was like some flowers that are pretty, but also edible. Anyway, I don't think it gets cold enough where I am now to grow those...I'll have to wait & someday I'll have some in my garden!
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What variety of tomato did you plant? The roma's were just ok, good for making sauce or salsa, but not great for slicing/salads, etc.
mmm fresh veggies
OMG, when do you sleep? And bake too, zucchini bread & cake - yum! I think the cabbage looks pretty mixed in w/ the mums. Thanks for the tips.
