JosieGladysGardens: Here Come the Seed Orders!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Here Come the Seed Orders!

Joy! Joy! Joy! The first of my seed orders just came in the mail today! This one is from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I love them for the $3.00 shipping, fast service, dedication to open-pollinated varieties, that the packets always have many more seeds than they guarantee, and that gorgeous catalog. I am not sure why I keep starting so many tomato varieties - more about that in another blog.

On a quest for the largest harvest possible, I ordered Six-Week Purple Hull Cowpeas and Alabama Black Butterbeans. As I am one to give just about anything a try, I'm toying with the idea of starting both of these, along with Christmas Pole and King of the Garden butterbeans, indoors to get a jump on the season. Last year, soil temps were cold and legume seeds rotted in the ground because the weather just wouldn't warm up. Typically, cowpeas take at least 60 - 85 days to mature to harvest. I think it would be great to get at least 4 crops of the Six-Week peas out of the garden. With succession sowing, I think it can be done.

One reason the lagniappe from Baker Creek is appreciated is that some of these seeds will be shared with others to help them get their gardens started. It's part of the Seed Bank program at Josie Gladys Gardens to bring greater food security to more homes. Looks like there are 2 community gardens that will receive seed from Josie Gladys Gardens this year. Since the seed offered are open-pollinated, the recipients will be able to save their own seed for next year, and that means less strain on people's budgets.

The next order that should arrive (maybe tomorrow) will be from Seed Savers Exchange. It includes a stuffing tomato called Striped Cavern, Blue Jade sweet corn that is a container candidate, Lazy Housewife bean, and Golden Midget watermelon (for early harvest and a color-change when ripe).

Mostly, the focus in variety selection is for maximum production whether due to prolific fruiting or shorter days to harvest. On my website - http://www.sandrareaves.com/ - I have a growing list of vegetables that are ready in about 60 days. Next, I'll shoot for a list of vegetables you can harvest in 45 days. Just imagine what that would do to fill pantries!

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Vegetable Trials (Yes, and Tribulations, Too!)

March 15, 2011
I can’t seem to stop planting tomato varieties. In the basement nursery, there are Hawaiian Pineapple, Spoon, Large Cherry, Mr. Stripey, Moneymaker, Mortgage Lifter, Omar’s Lebanese, Striped Cavern, Big Rainbow, Amish Paste, Jersey Giant, Roma VF, Principe Borghese, German Tree, Giant Belgium, Hungarian Pink, and an unknown black tomato from seeds saved. And, just now, I’m wondering why I haven’t planted any kind of grape tomato. Of course, there’s still time.

Most of these are planted because I’m curious about tomatoes – the flavor, color, and size. Spoon is the tiniest tomato, literally the size of English peas. And I’ve read that it will be a weed in the garden. Not such a terrible thing, tomatoes as weeds; maybe it will crowd out the crabgrass. Others, like Mr. Stripey, I have a fondness for; it is very low-acid, which means endless tomato sandwiches can be consumed without consequences. Mortgage Lifter is a reliable tomato and, I think, good luck. The breeder was an amateur who repaired radiators and sold tomatoes as a sideline. He sold enough of this one that he paid off his mortgage, hence, the name. Sure enough, after I started growing Mortgage Lifter, I was able to get a much more favorable interest rate on my mortgage. There are specific culinary reasons for growing the Cherry tomato: 1. to use fresh in salads, 2. to make Fireball Pickled Tomatoes, and 3. so the dogs, YoYo and Huckabee, can have their own tomato plant by the garden gate. This keeps them from eating the bigger tomatoes….are at least fewer of them.

Other tomato varieties – Omar’s Lebanese, Giant Belgium, Big Rainbow, German Tree – are returns from last year and are participants in my efforts to become proficient at growing hugemongous tomatoes. New in this year’s slicer trials is the Hawaiian Pineapple (said to have a fruity flavor), which supposedly will reach 1 ½ pounds. First, I have to overcome my hang-up about pruning tomato plants. Why can’t I make myself pinch off those side branches?!!

Then there are my culinary trial tomatoes: Principe Borghese, which did not do last year at all, is for making sun-dried tomatoes. Thanks to a suggestion from someone in a BlossomSwap forum, I will try drying them on the dashboard of my car where they will be safe from birds and bugs. Striped Cavern is supposed to be a thick-walled, hollow tomato perfect for stuffing. I have visions of chicken salad and roasted, rice-stuffed tomatoes for this one. Yum!

The remainder (Roma VF, Amish Paste, Jersey Giant, and Hungarian Pink) are part of my research for an endless yield, perfect flavor, and labor-saving sized paste tomato. This is probably the most important trial, since it has the most “pantry impact.” The goal is to find the very best paste tomato for putting up a year’s supply. These tomatoes will be evaluated on number of seeds, size of individual fruit, total production per plant, length of productive season, earliness and lateness, ability to hold on the vine and in storage, percentage of waste, quality (green shoulders, cracking, rot), and overall vigor. Of course, I will not be pinching the sideshoots of the paste tomatoes.

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Friday, February 25, 2011

Here Come the Seed Orders!

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