Vegetables I’m trying in 2018

Sungold tomatoes

Here is a list of the vegetables AND tomatoes (underneath) I want to grow this year. Some I’ve grown before and really like and some are new.

Also this year I will try 11 new varieties of Dwarf Tomatoes that have been released to the public that are not on this list.

I will also be involved in the Dwarf Tomato Project, growing 3 new varieties of cherry tomatoes (that are not released yet to the public but are in trials). I will write about the Dwarf Tomato Project in another post coming soon.

______________________________

Vegetables I’m Growing in 2018

BEANS
Borlotti Lamon-vining-dry multi color pods
Emerite-vining-green French haricot
NEW! Rossa di Lucca-bush beans-dry-get at Farmers Market at Zulu’s Petals Organic Farm booth
NEW! Di Casalbuono Panzariedd-vining-get at Farmers Market at Zulu’s Petals Organic Farm booth

SUMMER SQUASH
Costata Romanesco-wonderful italian zucchini
Zuchetta Rugosa Friulana-These produce an abundance of light yellow, “warty” fruit. They aren’t beautiful, but they’re suppose to taste great. This is the most common zucchini in the markets of Venice in summer.

WINTER SQUASH
NEW! Tahiti Butternut-Sweeter than most other squashes, and suppose to get better with age! Large fruits shaped like butternuts with elongated necks and light golden orange skin.
Waltham Butternut

WATERMELON
NEW! Bradford-90 days-heirloom that was almost extinct until the Bradford family brought it back

EGGPLANT
Fairy
Rossa di Bianca

PEPPERS
Jimmy Nardello
Shishito
Poblanos

CUCUMBERS
EATING-
Poona Kheera-from India, wonderful flavor-yellow

PICKLING-
Parisian-used for cornichon pickles
Bothsby Blonde-used for bread and butter pickles
National OR Russian-used for dill pickles

PEAS
Dwarf Grey
Sugar Snap

LETTUCES
Marvel of Four Seasons
Rouge d’ Hiver
Marshall Red Romaine
Santoro
Mesclun mix

ARUGULA
Wasabi-spicy- tastes like wasabi used in Japanese sushi

OTHER GREENS
Pac Choi
Cilantro
Tatsoi

RADISHES
French Breakfast
Cherry Belle

SPINACH
Carmel

CHARD
Rainbow or 5 color beetroot
Argentata-white stems-most cold hardy

KALE
Toscana
Vates Scotch Curley Leaf

FENNEL
Florence bulb

CARROTS
Cosmic Purple
Atomic Red

BEETS
Cylindra
Detroit Red
Yellow or Touchstone

RASBERRY
Polana
Heritage

GIANT PUMPKINS

_________________________________

Tomatoes I’m Growing in 2018 (partial list)

YELLOW
Virginia Sweet– 80 days-outstanding large yellow with red blush inside-super sweet

PINK
Brandywine (Sudduth)-90 days-(aka Pink Brandywine) This strain was obtained by tomato collector Ben Quisenberry of Big Tomato Gardens from Dorris Sudduth Hill whose family grew it for over 100 years. Large pink beefsteak fruits to 2 pounds. Incredibly rich, delightfully intense tomato flavor.

BI-COLOR
Ananas Noire-80 days

Lover’s Lunch-MID-SEASON-A very beautiful and tasty yellow with red stripes with bi-colored flesh. This large, meaty, fruity and sweet tomato has stand-out flavor.

NEW!-Summer of Love-MID-SEASON-16 oz. fruit, Mid-season indeterminate. This improved Berkeley Tye-Die produces a larger yield and ripens earlier. It has all the great colors and flavor of the original BTD. A good improvement to an excellent tomato.

Afternoon Delight-MID-LATE SEASON-8-16 oz. fruit-Large and very meaty yellow /red blush bi-color beefsteak with purple anthocyanin splashes on the shoulder. This was an accidental cross between Big Rainbow and an unknown anthocyanin line. Large, beautiful, solid and meaty. Good ability to hang on the vine ripe and maintains flavor and texture. Stores well post harvest.

Pink Berkley Tie Dye-65-75 days-Early to mid-early, 8-12 oz. fruit, Beautiful, early, and very sweet rich flavor. 10 out of 10 people liked it better then Cherokee Purple in a farmers market taste off. Regular leaf. Port wine colored beefsteak with metallic green stripes. Excellent sweet, rich dark tomato flavor.

PURPLE/BLACK
Purple Cherokee-80 days-dusty rose-brown fruits-12 ounces. Delicious sweet

Paul Robeson-80 days-Brick red, 8 to 12 ounce fruits have dark green shoulders and red flesh. Flavor is exceptional with a nice balance of sweetness and acidity.

RED
NEW!-Shasha’s Altai-59 days-hearty tomato plant that produces very good yields of 4-6 oz., thinned-skinned, bright-red, slightly flattened, round tomatoes with an award-winning complex flavor. Fruit sets well in cooler coastal climates and high altitudes.

Goldman’s Italian American-80 days-Unique, beautiful and large tomatoes have a squat, pear shape, being ribbed and pleated. These have a bloody, intense red color when ripe. Thick, red flesh is perfect for delicious sauces and preserves.

Goliath-65 days. (F1) Early maturing plant produces high yields of 10 to 15 oz bright red tomatoes. This beautiful tomato has a blemish-free exterior. One of the best early varieties on.

Marmande Garnier Rouge-70 days-A medium to large dark-red slightly fluted tomato from France-excellent old-fashion tomato flavor.

Big Zac-80 days-This variety was bred by Minnie Zaccaria, a home gardener who crossed two heirloom tomatoes to create Big Zac. True to its name, it bears enormous 4 to 6 lb. fruit, and is a high quality tomato in every respect—meaty and delicious as well as disease resistant.

CHERRY TOMATOES
Black Cherry-70 days-Beautiful black cherries look like large, dusky purple-brown grapes; they have that rich flavor that makes black tomatoes famous.

Borlotto Beans

Jan18

Borlotto beans in the garden

Last season I planted a new dry pole bean called Borlotto (also called Borlotti). They are an Italian heirloom variety. The variety was Lamon which is supposed to be the best for flavor. It got around 6 feet high and I grew it in the garden on one of the 3′ high perimeter fences. As it got taller, I added bamboo stakes to let it continue upwards. They are a very beautiful bean on the vine when growing. I planted around 12 plants, 6 inches apart right at each drip emitter. You can shell the bean fresh but I just left them to dry on the vine. I got my seeds from Seeds of Italy.

I particularly like dry beans. I picked them after they dried on the vine which is towards the end of the season but before the first freeze. I find dry beans are so easy to grow, needing nothing except water and a vertical support of some kind and then harvesting at the end. They are very different then fresh beans which you must pick daily. There is also a bush variety of these beans but they are not Lamon.

I left them in their shells in a basket until last week when I took the beans out. I find it fun to shell them on a cold winter night. The beans are very beautiful being cream color with maroon stripes. I got 3 cups of the precious bean. Good for 1 meal. I will save some to replant too. This year I will definitely plant more.

Tuscan Bean Soup recipe from Ialian Food Forever

I like that I can make a hearty soup or stew from them and eat them in the winter. Here is a recipe from Italian Food Forever for a traditional Tuscan bean soup using Borlotto beans. When cooking the beans before hand, you must cook for a long time here in Santa Fe due to our high altitude at 7000 feet as you want them soft and creamy. I just cooked mine in a crock pot all day and it worked well. You can also leave out the pancetta for a vegetarian style soup. There are many recipes for Borlotto bean soup out there that all sound wonderful! Can’t wait to try them.

Gardening Porn=Seed catalogs

Jan9

Here are a few of my favorite 2018 seed catalogs

All the 2018 gardening catalogs are arriving in the mailbox and I love going through them. Makes me want to get going in the garden (except when it is windy and cold). I call them gardening porn. It’s fun looking at all the beautiful pictures of veggies and planning for next season’s garden. Makes me want to buy all the seeds! The problem is I want to grow more stuff than I have room for in the garden so I’m going to have to make a garden layout so I don’t buy too much. Now is a good time to curl up with the catalogs and enjoy them and plan for the next growing season.

Gardening Geeks—What to do in January!

Jan1

Tomato Lady of Santa Fe with a 3 lb ‘Big Zac’ tomato out of her garden.

1. Unplug your outdoor holiday lights and your ready for next year. (Notice I didn’t say put them away)

2. My uncle turned me onto an alcoholic drink called a Picon Punch-a basque drink. He was Basque/Italian and had one every night. I think that’s why he lived so long plus he had a great garden.

3. Read gardening books and catalogs by the fireplace. Leave them out. Your significant other will love you for this but be careful they don’t use them for starting the fire.

4. Watch weather (say isn’t that a cloud-oooh I think it looks like a tomato up there-do you see it?)

5. Make snow vegetables instead of a snowman-that’s if we ever get any snow…

6. Drool over all the seed catalogs (by the fireplace).

7. Take your dog or goat (I don’t have a dog) for a drag (they don’t like to walk in snow-again assuming we get snow). Don’t have a goat? Get a dog.

8. Order more seeds-as if we don’t have enough.

9. Guess how high your utility bill will be this month. Sit by the fireplace more and turn the thermostat down.

10. Get lots of firewood inside before that next storm (what storm?). Buy green firewood-lasts longer…

11. Find your growing light boxes or shelves (or make them if you haven’t). Drag them inside this month to set up early and freak out your significant other.

12. Get heat mats for your grow shelves-a must have if you start seeds indoors. Nice to sit on too.

13. Insulate your grow shelves so they don’t loose heat at night inside. I bought a roll of metallic bubble wrap and wrapped it around all 4 sides (one side removable in front so I can get to the plants). Wrap your dog or cat in the leftover metallic wrap-you’ll enjoy it-they won’t.

14. Schedule when each veggie can go out (by the fireplace). I use a garden planner from Johnny’s Seeds. How’s that for obsessive? Hey you gotta do something inside all these months!

15. Toss that plant you didn’t plant outside and didn’t have the heart to get rid of last fall that is now full of aphids. (where do they come from anyways?)

16. Thank your significant other now for putting up with your obsession. They’ll thank you next growing season with all your veggies.