Did you acknowledge January is National Mail Order Gardening Month ? January is the perfect time of year to run through seed , garden , and nursery catalogs , patronize for the perfect plants to grow in gardens and orchard .
I love piece out varieties that I ’ve never tried before , because — to me — experimenting with raw and dissimilar plants is half the play . Here are three works that I ’m excited to grow for the first prison term in 2024 .
1. Apricot Tree
My orchard is filled with yield trees that are stout to northerly Wisconsin winter : more than a dozen variety of apple , three different kinds of plums , three character of cherries and even a couple of pear .
But I ’m also branching out with more adventurous specimens . A couple of twelvemonth agoI embed a inhuman - stalwart Contender Peach treethat is doing well . And in 2024 , I mean to plant a likewise dusty - hardy apricot Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree .
I have n’t badly considered planting apricots in the past because I assumed they were n’t hardy enough for my part . But give away through catalogs this wintertime , it seems there are at least a duo of varietieshardy to Zone 4 .
hearten by this discovery , I ’m go to give an apricot a try . My orchard is situate on a Dixieland - facing incline , so as with my apricot tree , I ’ll plant my apricot at the top of the James Jerome Hill ( for frost protection ) , where it will be protected from harsh winter winds by rows of shelterbelt Tree to the west , north and east .
By ask this approaching – and by mulching it exhaustively before each winter — I’m affirmative my apricot tree will not only survive , but expand .
2. Jarrahdale Pumpkins
I have a tendency to grow the same Cucurbita pepo varieties twelvemonth after yr . other Prince and Casperita are my two front-runner . They ’ve show productive and consistent in my raised garden seam .
But last class , I expanded my horizons with Big Max pumpkins . The plant struggled a morsel with health issue , but I did manage to grow two sizeable pumpkins — one of them the largest I ’ve ever grown .
Now that I ’ve conquered “ vainglorious Cucurbita pepo , ” I ’m going to branch into growing different colors . I have intercourse my miniature white Casperita pumpkins , and in 2024 I ’m going to embed down in the mouth Jarrahdale pumpkins .
When I saw them in a come catalog , I knew I had to give them a attempt . Blue is a relatively uncommon color in nature , and blasphemous pumpkins will be a delight to grow . The only tricky part is the fact they postulate 100 days or more to rise and ripen . I may jump them off indoors as seedling to give them a chief outset .
3. Mongolian Giant Sunflowers
I enjoy produce American Giant sunflower each year and will implant more in 2024 . But I ’m going to try another diverseness as well : Mongol Giant .
It seems that Mongolian Giants can grow to over-the-top size — more than a dozen feet tall , with heyday heads as wide of the mark as 1 1/2 feet . I plan to grow them in a productive bed of compost soil , give them every chance to live up to the “ Giant ” part of their name . I may even stake a few of them to leave extra support and see if they ’ll grower taller as a result .
Which plants are you excited to grow in 2024 ?
