Category Archives: general

UGLY WIND!! UGH!

I hate this wind we have been having the last few days. Typical spring weather here in Santa Fe. Today winds sustained at 25-30 mph and tomorrow projected to be 40 mph! Just terrible for a gardener chomping at the bit to get out in the garden. But I refuse to go out in it (I’m not that nuts!) so I have to be content to stay inside and dream about what my garden will look like this summer. They say the spring winds wake up the trees from winter and if this is so, they should be wide awake by now.

I did start my tomato seeds 2 weeks ago and they are mostly up inside, under lights on heat mats. I keep moving forward towards the garden even though the wind wants to move me backwards. Ugly Wind-Ugh!!!

Santa Fe Garden Club Lecture

 

Today I did a 2 hour lecture on starting tomatoes from seeds for the Santa Fe Garden Club. I explained how to start the seeds, how to transplant them into bigger pots, what ingredients I use in each potting hole when planting outside and much more. Then they planted some of their own seeds. Nice class. Nice people. I am going to start my tomatoes inside on March 25.

Attached are the lecture handouts from the class for those who requested them:

STARTING TOMATO SEEDS INSIDE

2018 TOMATO INFORMATION SHEET

2018 Tomato Growing 101 Class

Sungold tomatoes
Virginia Sweet tomato inside
Costuluto Genevese tomato
Get more tomatoes!
Lemon Boy tomato
starting tomatoes
Indigo Rose tomatoes
The Tomato Lady
Tomato Lady’s mini-farm

Not much time left before the first class!

TOMATO GROWING 101-Season Long Course—starts Mar 25-Aug 5

Do you want to learn how to grow great heirloom tomatoes organically from start to finish? Think of the money you can save by learning to grow your own heirloom tomatoes from seed. Plus you can try new varieties that are not sold in the nurseries.

These hands-on classes will emphasis learning how to grow tomatoes successfully throughout the season. Participants will learn how to grow tomatoes from their seeds, what starting mix to use, what soil to transplant in, how to handle the delicate seedlings when transplanting up, how to produce sturdy plants. Lighting systems will be discussed and your seedlings will stay under lights at my farm under my care until time to plant outside when you will take your plants home to plant outside in your garden.

All planting materials, seeds, soil, amendments and pots supplied while growing them at the farm. Class participants will get a workbook with printed material added at each class to help them be successful throughout this growing season and as a reference for years to come. Students will get hands-on experience by planting to gain confidence and will come back to learn how to prune them, make compost tea, how to identify diseases and pests and how to control them.

Participants must sign up for all classes at once. Course payable at sign up for a total of $150. Class size is limited-10 students max. This takes a commitment. No partial classes.

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To register for the class is an easy two-step process:

1. Fill out the CONTACT FORM below and hit the submit button. Then to pay:

2. TO PAY: click the PAY PAL button (below the contact form). You don’t need to have a paypal account.  They will process credit cards too.

Step 1: Fill out this CONTACT FORM:

Name(required)
(required)
Phone(required)

Step 2: TO PAY: Purchase all 6 classes for $150 here

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HERE IS A PDF OF THE SCHEDULE BELOW. PUT THIS SCHEDULE IN YOUR CALENDAR AND PRINT IT SO YOUR DON’T FORGET!

2018_TOMATO GROWING 101 CLASS SCHEDULE

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Review the class schedule:

2018 TOMATO GROWING 101 CLASS SCHEDULE

Section 1
HANDS-ON LEARNING OF HOW TO START TOMATO SEEDS/CARING OF THE YOUNG SEEDLINGS AND TRANSPLANTING UP/PREPARING SOIL IN GARDEN

Class 1 
Sunday, March 25nd—10 am to 12 noon

Learn how and why to plant tomato seeds/how to pick your varieties, what soil medium to use, learn about germination troubles and how to avoid them/hands-on planting your seeds

Class 2
Sunday, April 15th—10 am to 12 noon

Transplanting up to 4” pots/changing the type of soil, adding amendments for great the sturdiest stems, how to deal with transplant shock and learning how to maintain your plants.

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Section 2
LEARN HOW TO TRANSPLANT THE TOMATO PLANTS OUTSIDE IN THE GARDEN /LEARNING ABOUT SOIL AMENDMENTS/TAKING YOUR PLANTS HOME

Class 3
Sunday, May 6th—10 am to 12 noon

Participants will learn how to transplant their tomato plants out in the garden, how to prepare planting hole and what amendments to add when planting for better growth of tomatoes. Discussion and demo of how to use wall-of-waters (WOW) and how to set them up properly. After learning how to do all this, students will take home their plants to be planted in their own garden.

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Section 3
THEY’RE IN THE GROUND, NOW WHAT?
THE NEXT STEPS FOR TOMATO GROWING SUCCESS

Class 4
Sunday, June 3th—10 am to 12 noon

HANDS-ON: Participants will learn how and when to remove wall of waters, how to control leafhoppers, learn about tomato cages-what works and doesn’t work, saving water by mulching and using a drip system, using organic fertilizers, using row cover as protection.

Class 5
Sunday, July 15—10 am to 12 noon

Removing row cover. Trimming and pruning your tomato plants, the pros and cons of sucker control and how to remove them. Learn to make compost tea. Identifying beginning problems, which organic fungicides and insecticides to use as the season goes on if needed.

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Section 4
MAINTAINING YOUR PLANTS-PRUNING TECHNIQUES, IDENTIFYING AND CONTROLLING DISEASES AND PESTS AND HARVESTING

Class 6
Sunday, August 5th—10 am to 12 noon

Participants will continue learning how to maintain their plants, more pruning techniques, harvest techniques, and identify tomato diseases and pests and how to control them organically.

Dwarf Tomato Project Trials

One of the things I’ll do in the garden this year is I’ve been invited to become involved in the Dwarf Tomato Project trials. They needed some tomato growers in the US to grow out some of their tomatoes from seeds from their project and keep detailed info on how they do in our short growing season. These are open-pollinated tomatoes that are not released to the public yet as they need to stabilize these new tomato varieties before they get released.

I became interested because  Craig Lehouiller, a tomato grower who wrote the book, Epic Tomato and created the Purple Cherokee tomato, is in charge of the project here in the Northern Hemisphere. Someone else is in charge of the Southern Hemisphere down in Australia. They gave me 3 different cherry tomato seed packets to grow for this season.

Dwarf tomatoes are not determinate tomato plants but are indeterminate tomato plants that stay shorter but the tomatoes are not necessarily smaller, just the plant. I thought this would be a good for people who have a limited space or maybe just a patio. They can be grown in the ground or even in five gallon pots. And you won’t need a huge cage. Many are created with crosses from tomatoes I love, like Brandywine with another variety.

In addition to trialing these tomatoes,  I also got some of his already released dwarf tomato seeds (about 20 varieties have been released so far) that I bought from Victory Seeds. I am anxious how they will grow and taste too. Stayed tuned when I report back about how this project develops. Very excited!

Watering in early spring- how much in a greenhouse, hoop tunnel, or cold frame?

Just got a great question from the earlier post. How much do I water in winter-early spring in my greenhouse? Not very much. Since I don’t have the drip systems on and I don’t want to empty hoses that might freeze, I fill up 5 gal buckets, leave them inside the GH and then fill up my watering can from them and water the plants. Five gal buckets are kinda heavy for me (40 lbs) so I prefer to transfer the water to a watering can. Or just fill up a watering can from your house and refill as needed. The only problem is my greenhouse is too far from my house to keep refilling a watering can from the house. Notice the white row cover on the side, ready to go back on the greens tonight when it gets cold.

This time of year is called the ‘shoulder season’—not quite winter and not quite spring-with extreme temperature swings from day to night. There is no set formula for watering because one day the temperature can be 60°F and the next day in the 40’s°F or even 30’s°F. Same with nighttime temperatures.  Or you structure might really heat up in the day if you forget to open the doors or plastic on the ends or open the cold frame. So there are lots of variables that will affect how much to water. I really watch the plants and the soil in regards to watering when I have to do it by hand. Does the soil appear damp after your last watering even though its been maybe 4-5 days? Don’t water. Do the plants look like they need water? Are they looking stressed? Wilted? Water! The cooler it is, the less you have to water. I don’t water till the soil FEELS dry when I put my finger in it around a plant. But I can tell you this, you will be watering much less than in the heat of summer.

 

Greens in the Green House!

So my greens made it through the worst of winter (I hope) and have really started to kick in growing. They went on hold (stopped growing) from around Thanksgiving to mid-January when we had less than 10 hours of daylight. But since then the daylight hours keep increasing daily which is a signal for the plants to grow again in earnest. In case you are wondering when I planted all this, I planted the carrots, arugula and spinach last September inside the greenhouse, and the red and green lettuces I started from seed under grow lights inside my house on January 2nd and then were put out in the greenhouse in early February.

To keep the greens from freezing in the dead of winter in the greenhouse which is unheated, I’ve cover them with one layer of winter weight row cover every night and on some really cold nights (when temperatures got down to 14-17° F), I put two rows of row cover over them. One night the lettuce actually froze. But I read in Elliot Coleman’s Winter Harvest Handbook that if you don’t harvest it when it’s frozen, it may be fine by the afternoon when it warms up and sure enuf, it thawed out and is still growing great. You just can’t harvest it when it’s in a frozen state.

My Greenhouse a few summers ago

In the greenhouse are some carrots which aren’t very big yet (about the size of a pencil in circumference) some green and red lettuces, arugula and spinach, all of which will be harvested before the Green House (a play on the word greenhouse since my greenhouse was painted green) gets too hot. In fact when the day temperatures reach the 50’s, I put fans on to blow the heat out of the greenhouse.

 

Pray for heat, girls!

You see, I don’t worry about it being too cold but worry about it getting too HOT which will cause the lettuces and spinach to bolt (make flowers) which will cause it all to go bitter and then it is only good for our chickens who don’t seem to mind the bitterness at all. In fact I think they pray for the heat!

Looks like some of the lettuce and spinach are now big enough to pick the outer leaves while leaving the inner leaves to continue to grow. And a big bonus for me is to see so much green now already at the start of March! I love going into the greenhouse right now. Refreshing when the outdoor plants are still sleeping…

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.

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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

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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

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

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!

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.

Happy New Year to all my obsessive gardening friends!!!

Happy Holidays!!

Happy Holidays everyone! Some of you have snow this Christmas but not here in Santa Fe. We are bone dry here this year and looking for some moisture. So I thought you could enjoy the snow pattern on the blog. Be sure to water your trees and perennial plants soon before it gets bitter cold again. We tend to forget to water them and not doing so really stresses them.

I’m embarrassed to say I’m not even done with cleaning out my big garden yet. Arrgh! I did pull all the tomato and other veggie plants out of the ground and the cages as well before the ground freezes. They are laying all over the place in the garden. At least they won’t be frozen in the ground. So I’ve started cleaning out the cages of tomato vines, storing the cages and loading up the trailer to go to the dump. I put all tomato plant debris and squash debris in the trailer because they are so prone to diseases and I don’t want to put diseased plants in my composting piles. All healthy plants do however go into the compost pile. Hope to have it done in the next 2 weeks.

Mostly I’ve read some gardening books this winter-nice time to catch up on reading. We should all enjoy our time off in the garden and use it to rejuice us so we are ready to garden by spring. Hope you have a fantastic holiday whatever you celebrate!

 

Tomato and Vegetable Winners in 2017 garden

Sungold tomatoes

Here are my favorite vegetables that I grew for 2017. Mind you I’m super picky and I’m sure there are many other varieties out there waiting to be tried that are great. That’s what keeps it interesting for me. Also I give you where I bought the seeds or transplants. You may be able to buy these elsewhere but this is where I purchased them from.

2017 Tomato Winners

***ALL-TIME FAVORITE TOMATO
Lucky Cross: MY FAVORITE TOMATO-Bigger tomato. Starts yellow then turns more pinkish yellow on the outside with red marbling inside. Sweet and luscious with few cracks. Ripens later in the season but before the end of the season. Part Brandywine and tastes like them. DELICIOUS!  Not to be confused with Little Lucky tomato. Seeds from Victory Seeds

 

RED
Goliath: A very abundant and nice size red tomato. No cracks and old-fashioned tomato flavor-excellent. Seeds from Totally Tomato seeds

Costoluto Genevese: Beautiful fluted tomato with old-fashioned tomato flavor from Italy. Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Marmande Garnier Rouge: A medium to large dark-red slightly fluted tomato from France-excellent old-fashion tomato flavor. Seeds from Secret Seeds Cartel

Big Zac: Huge, red sweet tomato-takes all season to ripen but still one of my favorites-worth the wait. Transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

 

PASTE
Goldman’s Italian American: My favorite for a sauce tomato-Unique, beautiful and large tomatoes have a pear shape, being ribbed and pleated. These have an intense red color and fantastic flavor when ripe. Thick, red flesh is perfect for delicious tomato sauces. Ripens towards end of season. Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

 

PINK
NEW! Stump of the World: Big pink tomato with sweet flavor. Good at high altitudes. Seeds from Tomato Growers

 

PURPLE or BLACK

Purple Cherokee: Dusky purple with dark shoulders-Always a favorite-sweet, flavor. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Paul Robeson: Dark brown with green shoulders-Always a favorite-sweet, earth flavor. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

 

BI-COLOR
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye: Dark pink with green stripes-great sweet flavor.
Seeds from Wild Boars Farms or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Black and Brown Boar: Brownish-red tomato with green stripes-good, sweet, earthy flavor. Seeds from Wild Boars Farms

NEW! Summer of Love: Large and very meaty red/yellow bi-color beefsteak with purple anthocyanin splashes on the sun-kissed fruit-wonderful flavor. Seeds from Wild Boars Farms

NEW! Lover’s Lunch: A very beautiful and tasty striped red/yellow with bi-colored flesh.  This large, meaty, fruity and sweet tomato has stand-out flavor. Seeds from Wild Boars Farms

NEW! Lucid Gem: First they ripen yellow, than more of an orange when very ripe. Very attractive with black purple anthocynin splashes on shoulder that contrast with the yellow skin.  Flavor is very good- Sweet with fruity tones. Very meaty, very few Seeds – One of the best varieties for heat tolerance. Seeds from Wild Boars Farms

NEW! Solar Flare-XL: Bigger than the regular Solar Flare-very sweet red with faint yellow stripes. Seeds from Wild Boars Farms

 

CHERRY TOMATOES

Artisan Blush Tiger: I love this one-fruity flavor. Seeds from Johnny’s Seeds or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Pink Bumblebee: Great sweet flavor. Seeds from Johnny’s Seeds or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Black Cherry: One of my favorites that I grow EVERY year. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Sungold: One of my few hybrids-Always a favorite-super sweet yellow cherry tomato. Transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

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2017 vegetable winners

ARUGULA
Wasabi arugula: This arugula gives the same nose-tingling sensation as the wasabi condiment used in Japanese dishes. This variety is very quick to bolt but delicious. Grow in early spring before heat. Seeds from Johnny’s Seeds or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

BEANS-DRY
NEW! Borlotti ‘Lamon’ beans: Climbing beautiful cream, red splashed shell on outside with beans being a pale pink with red splotches inside if you let them dry. I like to harvest them when dry. According to the Venetians, Lamon’s are “THE” bean for ‘pasta fagiolo’. Seeds from Seeds of Italy

BEANS-GREEN
Émérite Filet Pole Bean: Émérite is a true Filet Bean from France, produced on graceful vines growing to 8′ tall. When picked early and often, the beans are tender and have outstanding flavor. Seeds from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

BEETS
Craupadine: I’ve tried this one before-poor germination every year except for one year and the one year it did germinate, it tasted FANTASTIC-sweetish beet I’ve ever eaten. Will try to start seeds inside this year to see if I get better germination. Would really like to get this one again. Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

BOK CHOY
Violetta bok choy: A beautiful green with purple tipped leaves and tastes great sautéed. Transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

CABBAGE
Kalibos Red cabbage: This Eastern European heirloom cabbage has a pointed shape and intense red/purple leaves. Beautiful and sweet flavor. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange

CHARD
Argentata chard: Has green leaf with big white stalks that when cooked, melt in your mouth. Plus it is the most cold tolerant variety in my garden outlasting many other varieties of chard. Seeds from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

CUCUMBERS
Poona Kheera: My all-time favorite eating cucumber. Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

EGGPLANT
Fairy Tale: my favorite-never bitter or tough skin. No need to peel this small eggplant. I just cut them in half  and saute or BBQ them. Transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

FENNEL
Florence Fennel: A bulb type fennel from Italy. Wonderful mild anise taste to add to Chippino or Boulabaise. I chop it and freeze it for use later. Seeds from Seeds of Italy or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

PEPPER
Jimmy Nardello: Super sweet, red pepper-good for sauteing or cook on BBQ. It is thin-walled. Good cooked or raw. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

SPINACH
Carmel: A fabulous early spring spinach with great flavor. The only spinach to survive winter with row cover. Seeds from Johnny’s Seeds or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

SQUASH-WINTER
Waltham Butternut: I grew it because I had heard it doesn’t get squash bugs and that was true for me-good flavor too. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

Rogosa Violina “Gioia” Butternut: An Italian version of Butternut. Grew much larger with excellent flavor and no squash bugs-YAY! Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

SQUASH-SUMMER
Costata Romanesco zucchini: This is the most flavorful zucchini I’ve ever tasted-sweet nutty flavor. Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

WATERMELON
Moon and Stars: This has a beautiful dark green skin with yellow ‘stars’. Taste is super sweet and it ripened before the end of the season. Seeds from Seed Savers Exchange or transplants from Agua Fria Nursery here in Santa Fe

 

Veggie ornaments at Baca Street Arts Tour this weekend

This weekend at our Baca Street Arts tour, there are over 20 artists and many studios are open all along Baca Street here in Santa Fe. It is our annual holiday tour and sales weekend. I am one of the glassblowers at Liquid Light Glass that will have our work on displayed and many sale items. Above is our veggie ornaments created from glass from many of the veggies I grow in my garden: Jimmy Nardello peppers, White globe turnips, Atomic Red carrots, Scarlet Nantes carrots, cucumbers, Jack be Little pumpkins and Moneymaker Tomatoes pictured above. Great gifts for your gardening friends! I figured why not mix my gardening life with my glass blowing life. There are also many other fine art glass handblown objects in our studio. Come down and visit, watch glass blowing all weekend and shop. We are located at 926 Baca Street but the whole street will be open as well.

Start at our studio: Liquid Light Glass-926 Baca Street-Santa Fe, NM. Here is the schedule:

 

 

Cold nights are here-protect you plants!

Atomic Red and Cosmic Purple carrots harvested last week

 

Here it is Friday, November 17 2017 and I was just remarking that except for the one cold night that killed off all the tomatoes in September, how warm it has been. If it wasn’t for that one freezing night, we’d still be harvesting tomatoes!

Well it changes tonight getting well below freezing and will continue to be cold with temperatures in the mid-20’s at night and low 50’s in the days for about the next 5-6 days.

All the warm season veggies have been done for a month but I still have a few cool season crops out in the garden like Lacinato kale, Voiletta bok choy, Florence bulb fennel, Atomic Red and Cosmic Purple carrots, Detroit Red beets and Argentata chard. Since I want to keep them going as long as possible, I will put winter weight row cover (.9-1.0+ mil weight) over the plants to protect them until the temperatures get above freezing at nights. Also I have lettuces and spinaches growing in the unheated greenhouse and will cover them as well. Of course an option is finish harvesting everything and call it a season!

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New varieties in veggie garden

Now that the season is over I can review some of the new veggies I tried.

Borlotti beans: The pod of this Italian shelling bean is so beautiful and once I picked them, let them dried and shelled them the actual beans are pinkish/cream-colored with red splashes-more beauty. The variety was ‘Lamon’ which is a vining type. Can’t wait to try them in a pasta e fagioli soup this winter.

 

 

Kalibos Red cabbage: A friend gave me some plants to try. This Eastern European heirloom cabbage has a pointed shape and intense red/purple leaves. They turned out beautiful and I gave my friend the biggest one as I’m not a big cabbage fan and she makes great fermented foods-like Sauerkraut or Kim-chi.

 

 

 

Butternut Rugosa (wrinkled butternut): This variety from Italy is larger than the American Butternut variety. I only got one as powdery mildew eventually took over the plant but can’t wait to eat this. Much more interesting than the regular butternut variety. This one hadn’t turned butternut brown yet.

 

 

Chartreuse Scarlet Runner bean: I grow runner beans for their beautiful flowers although I know we can eat them too. I like this variety because of its chartreuse coloring of the leaves and the scarlet flowers. I love the contrast between the yellow-green foliage and surrounding other greens in the garden (in this case it is next to the strawberry plants.)

 

 

 

Sunset Runner bean: I grew this for the beautiful peach colored flower. The leaves are the normal green of other runner beans. I grew it on my arbor at the entrance to the garden.

 

 

 

Artichokes: I wrote about this in an earlier post but definitely worth mentioning again. Wonderful good size chokes with great flavor on a beautiful plant.  In fact I like the plant as much as the artichokes. Wonderful showstopper in the garden. Another one I didn’t think would harvest in time but they did. See previous post here.