My challenge this week is to try growing something new, strange, or unusual. My favorite “experiments” was pineapple sage. What a beautiful flower with the sweetest aroma! I haven’t been able to find another plant when I was ready to plant one, but I am always on the lookout. So today I am going to mention a few interesting plant varieties for you to try.

Pineapple Sage is really a beautiful addition.

My parents owned and worked a nursery and landscaping business and we were always getting in new plants. And every year my mom would order Venus Fly Traps. What a wonderful discovery for a kid! Now you can get them at wal-mart. They can be a little tricky to keep alive so follow the directions carefully. And if trapping flies is in your agenda, check out the Dragon Arum. And you won’t want to keep this one in the house! My mom bought one, one time. They are very intriguing, but very stinky!

One year we were given a bunch of discarded tomato plants. About half of these plants were Mr. Stripey’s. At that point I had never heard of this variety, but planted them anyway. Oh what a surprise! They were interesting looking and very tasteful! The only trick was knowing when they were ripe. They are not a dark red tomato, so we let the first ones stay on the vine too long.

I’ve never grown any, but I have sure enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen with different varieties of potatoes. You can get fingerling potatoes, blue potatoes, and the all red potato. 4th of July here we come!

And one of my more memorable plantings was a moon flower. My mother mailed me seeds from her plant and for a year we enjoyed the beautiful white flower that you had to get up early to catch. Another one of my mom’s gifts was a potato vine. It’s heart-shaped leaves are unique and lovely.

What have you grown that was different?

Its getting that time of year. You know, the time of year where your pants start itching to plan a garden. Its too cold to actually get outside, but I love looking thru catalogs and drawing diagrams. My tip today is all about seeds!

I already have my garden plotted out and as soon as I get a pretty day I will get out there and clean it up. You know, use a piece of machinery to tear up the ground! Of course I need to wait until its not frozen anymore.

Have you ever gotten into companion planting? I have tried it, but never gotten too into it just because of lack of time to research it. But I found this great website with lots of helps for companion planting. I do plan on adding some of this in this year.

Another great addition I am going to do this year is rabbit manure. I have a load of manure that I am gonna mix into my sandy soil. Thank you my bunny friends!

Another part of planning your garden is figuring out what you are going to plant. What do you eat throughout the year? How much do you need to plant? Can you can the excess produce? What will grow well in your area and what won’t? How much access do you have to water? How many people do you need to feed? Do you want to save your seeds for the next year? After you have answered all these questions, you can start shopping!

Here are my favorite seed catalogs:

Burpee Heirloom Varieties

Heirloom Seeds

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Seed Savers

Please feel free to share your favorite shopping spots.