Why would any of us bother to start seeds when we can go to nurseries to buy the plants. Well, I do both. I can only speak for myself but I have grown all kinds of unusual vegetables that I couldn’t find at the nursery and I like to try something new and different every year. Besides being ‘The Tomato Lady’ here at the Santa Farmers Market, I really like to try some new heirloom tomatoes every year along with my tried and true varieties. Every year some new variety gets on my ‘all-star’ list at the end of the season while others don’t make the cut. In fact in some years, many don’t make the cut-I’m picky as hell about my tomatoes. If I don’t like them I don’t grow them again. Luckily, I like many tomatoes but they’ve got to taste good!

Some of the unusual varieties I have tried and loved eating are Atomic Red carrots, Cosmic Purple carrots, Craupadine Beets, Tarabais beans, Rattlesnake beans, Emerite beans, Fava beans, Parisian cucumbers, Poona Kheera cucumbers, and about 25 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes (too many to mention). None of these are sold as plant starts in the nurseries but you can buy some of the seeds at the nurseries and some seeds you have to order online.