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Vegetables

Organic Vegetable Starts

TERMS:

Cracking – splitting of tomato skin. Large-fruited varieties with low fruit-set and high sugar content are most likely to crack , but even some cherry tomatoes are subject to cracking. To reduce cracking, avoid heavy watering and large day/night temperature fluctuations, and maintain adequate calcium in your soil.

Determinate (det) – Bush tomato varieties that spread laterally should not be pruned, and may be grown with or without staking. Determinate varieties ripen their crop within a concentrated time period, so are a good choice for canning or drying.

Heirloom – An old variety that owes its present availability to the seed-saving efforts of gardeners (rather than commercial seed growers), often for many generations. All heirloom varieties are open-pollinated.

Hybrid (hyb) – usually first-generation offspring of two different varieties, not stabilized and therefore cannot reproduce itself in kind from seed.

Indeterminate (ind) – Vining tomato varieties that are customarily staked, trellised or caged, and pruned for largest fruit. Caging/staking without pruning delays ripening, reduces fruit size, but increases production, prevents sunburn, and reduces fruit cracking and rotting. Indeterminate varieties produce and ripen fruit over an extended period until frost.

Open-Pollinated (OP) – a non-hybrid variety, one that can reproduce itself in kind from saved seeds. All heirloom varieties are open-pollinated.

TOMATOES ~ New for 2010:

Jaune Flammee
70 – 80 day French Heirloom, Indeterminate
Beautiful, small, deep orange, apricot-shaped fruits are 2-3 oz., great for fresh eating, also for drying or sauce. Very prolific.

Black Cherry
75 days, OP, Indeterminate
Round red-black cherry tomato with the exceptional complex flavor of heirloom ‘black’ tomatoes. Somewhat late for a cherry tomato, fruits ripen slowly and individually until frost, but worth the wait. A big favorite at local farmers markets last summer.

Mortgage Lifter
95 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Abundant deep pink, 1-2 lb., meaty tomatoes with old-fashioned flavor. A popular variety with a good story.

Juliet
60 days, hybrid, Indeterminate, 1999 All-America Selection
Deep red 2″ (1 oz.) oval fruits are borne in large clusters. Flavor is rich, fruits resist cracking and vigorous plants are disease-resistant.

Orange Blossom
60 days, hybrid, determinate
The best early orange tomato, bears 6-7 oz. round, golden-orange fruits with mild flavor and nice texture.

Martino’s Roma
Heirloom, determinate
High yields of 2-oz. red paste tomatoes in clusters, early mid-season to frost, makes superb sauce, ‘immune’ to blossom end rot.

Paul Robeson
78 – 90 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Rare, maroon-brick 6-12 oz. slicer, prizewinning distinctive sweet smokey flavor. We tasted this one last year for the first time and were very impressed.

Pineapple
85 -95 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
High yields of colossal, meaty 1 to 2 lb. golden beef-steak type fruits with red streaks inside and out. Unique, sweet, fruity, full flavor. Sometimes the shape is funky, but slices are beautiful on the plate!

Chianti Rose
80 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Abundant big rosy-red fruits of the beef-steak type. A crack-resistant Brandywine cross with superb flavor, creamy texture. Vigorous potato-leaf variety, tolerates cool summers.

Golden Delight
75 days, Open Pollinated, Determinate
Heavy early producer of golden 5 to 8 oz. round fruits with excellent mild, low-acid flavor.

Speckled Roman
83 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Early, abundant 4 to 5 oz. elongated red paste tomato with yellow stripes. Makes rich, sweet sauce with good texture, and is also good for fresh eating.

Goliath
65 days, Hybrid, Indeterminate
Very early bright red, sweet, 1 lb. blemish-free fruits on a tall, vigorous, disease-resistant plant.

TOMATOES: last year’s introductions

Kellogg’s Breakfast
~85 days, Heirloom (Midwest) Indeterminate
Stunning, brilliant golden-orange, meaty slicing tomatoes are 4 to 5″ or larger. Old-fashioned flavor is rich and full. Vining plants have open, rambling habit and require staking. One of Eve & Mikl’s top favorites.

Black Krim
69 – 80 days, Heirloom (Russia), Indeterminate
One of the most productive heirloom tomatoes. Striking fruits are black, green and iridescent purple-red on the outside, partly black in glistening interior. Average 12 to 18 oz. Flavor is unusual – described as sweet, intense, smoky, and texture is juicy and meaty. Krims should be harvested when half green and still firm – at that stage they are dead ripe and delicious.

Gardener’s Delight
68 days, OP, Indeterminate
Bred in Germany in 1950-51, a parent of the famous hybrid ‘Sweet 100′. Abundant 1″ to 1½” deep red cherry tomatoes are meaty, juicy, sweet and richly flavored, and they resist cracking. The large plants need staking and will bear until frost. One of Eve & Mikl’s top favorites.

Purple Calabash
75 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Unusual fruits shaped like Cinderella pumpkins, about 3″ wide by 1½” tall, are very deeply ruffled, with light green-purple shoulders shading to dark purple toward base. Flesh is deep purple. Frequent winner of blind taste tests, with very complex, rich blend of rich tomato flavors reminiscent of a fruity Cabernet wine. Ours were very productive, and plants reportedly yield abundantly even under very hot and dry conditions. Makes awesome roasted tomato sauce.

Mo’s Golden Paste
Mid-season, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Our friend Mo McKenna is an accomplished gourmet cook and culinary gardener, and gave us seed for this favorite (of unknown name) that she’s been growing in Boulder for 4 years. Fruits are uniform, oblong/egg-shaped and a rich golden color. She describes the flavor as tomato/fruity, not acidic. It makes delicious and beautiful sauce, and is really good for fresh eating, too. Vines are rambling and large, and require serious staking or trellising.

Mexico Midget
65 days, Heirloom (Mexico), Indeterminate
Round, 1″ cherry tomatoes are dark crimson and have rich flavor. Plants produce prolifically up to first frost. A favorite for mountain gardeners.

Tumbler
50 – 70 days, OP, determinate
Bred for hanging baskets, but also good for window boxes, or edging for planting beds. Bushy plants produce lots of nicely flavored red cherry tomatoes. Tends to fill in a basket instead of producing lanky growth. Very productive.

Gold Nugget
55 days, Hybrid, Determinate
One of the first tomatoes to ripen, and extremely prolific. The pretty, egg-shaped golden fruits are 1 – 1 ¼”, with delicious, well-balanced flavor, and are crack-resistant and have few seeds. Healthy compact plants are great for growing in containers and small gardens. NOT AVAILABLE 2010

Silvery Fir Tree
58 days, Heirloom (Russia), Determinate
Exceptionally early, fire engine red 2 – 3″ round fruits are slightly flattened and have a very pleasant tangy flavor. Produces heavy crops on beautiful, compact plants with ferny foliage. Elegant, ornamental and successful in containers.

Opalka
83 days, Heirloom (Poland), Indeterminate
Unique, hard-to-find, superior paste tomato. Bears clusters of massive, long, solid, red fruits with shape reminiscent of a bull’s horn, 6″ long x 3″ wide. Definitely a paste tomato, with excellent sweet flavor, dry texture and low seed count. Makes thick, full-flavored sauce. Very high yields, holds well on the vine.

Thessaloniki
75 days, Heirloom (Greece), Indeterminate
Beautiful, smooth, round red baseball-sized (5 to 8 oz.) tomatoes with outstanding, rich, classic flavor. Resists cracking, blemish, sunscald and rot. Great for slicing, salads, canning. Keeps well. Plants are very productive.

Box Car Willie
Heirloom, Indeterminate
Classic, big orange-red tomatoes, great old-fashioned taste. Produces heavy crops of 10 to12 oz. fruits for slicing fresh or canning.

Rutgers Determinate
73 days, OP, Determinate
Developed at Rutgers University in 1943 from the original Rutgers tomato, which was bred for the Campbell’s Soup Co. in 1928 for processing, but is also a superb slicer. Fruits are uniform, 7 ounce, brilliant red, with great full-bodied flavor. Very healthy, reliable producer. NOT AVAILABLE 2010

Sun Sugar
62 days, Hybrid, Indeterminate
Vigorous, disease-resistant vines bear flavorful sweet orange-gold fruits that are similar to ‘Sungold’ but resist cracking. NOT AVAILABLE 2010

TOMATOES: Old Favorites

PEPPERS: NEW for 2010

Anaheim
78 days, Open Pollinated
Old favorite ‘Chile Verde’ for rellenos. The 7″ tapered fruits are pungent but not very hot.

Peruvian Purple
Open Pollinated
Fully purple plants bear mildly hot peppers that ripen red. Performs well and is very ornamental in containers.

Quadrato d’Asti Giallo
75 – 85 days, Open Pollinated
Huge, bright yellow-gold bell peppers are long and blocky with very thick flesh and rich sweet flavor. Excellent for stuffing, salads, or frying.

Peppers – Introduced in 09:

Alma Paprika
70-80 days; Heirloom
Extremely productive plants are loaded with small round peppers with thick meaty flesh. They ripen from creamy-white to red. The flavor is sweet and delicious, with just a hint of warmth. One of the best for drying when red and powdering for paprika; also great fresh.

Peacework
65 days, OP
Exciting, early red bell pepper with medium-thick walls, good flavor and full-bodied sweetness. Average yield 6 peppers per plant (that’s good!). Plants have open canopies, so fruits are susceptible to sun-scald. To overcome this, plant 2 plants together, several inches apart, or shade plants with light row-cover fabric. Bred by Peacework Farm in cooperation with Organic Seed Partnership, California Pepper Commission, and university breeders. NOT AVAILABLE 2010

Jimmy Nardello’s
76 days, Heirloom (Italy)
Listed on Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. Thin-walled, 8″ long frying peppers on very heavy-yielding plants. Long, curved, tapering pointed fruits turn deep red with shiny, wrinkled skin when ripe. The wonderful sweet, mild flavor is good raw, in stir-fries, and especially fried. Brought to Connecticut in 1887 from Southern Italy by Jimmy Nardello’s mother.

Quadrato d’Asti Rosso
80 days, OP
Fruits are HUGE with very thick brilliant red flesh and have delicious, sweet rich flavor. Excellent for stuffing, frying or salads. One of the largest red bells, beautiful and blocky.

Red Cheese
80 days, Heirloom
Candy-sweet, round, flat 3″ pimento-type peppers with thick, red flesh. Great for stuffing or fresh eating. Very productive plants. Once used to color cheese, hence the name.

Chimayo
90 days, OP
This wonderful ristra chile pepper named for the famed hill-town outside of Santa Fe NM. Turns from green to red when mature. Heavy yields of 4″ long hot peppers are also good used fresh green or red for stews and sauces.

Black Pearl
90 days, hybrid, 2006 All America Selection
A striking ornamental pepper plant for a dramatic focal point in the garden or potted. Too hot (above 30,000 Scoville units!!) for most people. Foliage starts out green when grown indoors, but once planted out, the color quickly deepens to purple-black. Masses of small shiny black fruits in clusters mature to bright red. Grows ~18″ tall x 12 – 16″ wide. Vigorous, pest-free, heat-loving. NOT AVAILABLE 2010

Lanterna
~85 days or longer, OP, original seed brought from Italy
Unique, brilliant orange-scarlet, small, pendant peppers shaped like flaring bells are gracefully borne mostly on the main stem of tall, exceptionally pretty plants. Flesh of the fruits is tasty and mildly piquant, seeds and ribs are hotter. Traditionally used to season pasta dishes, but they’re so ornamental, we recommend growing some for arranging in a vase too! Takes a long season but if harvested green they will ripen to orange quickly indoors. In 2009 we grew ours in a big pot – the two plants reached over 5′ tall and bore over 90 peppers! We had to bring the pot into the greenhouse when early frost threatened, and it produced happily there for months.

Peppers: Old Favorites

ARTICHOKE:

ASPARAGUS:

BROCCOLI:

CABBAGE:

BRUSSELS SPROUTS:

TrafalgarNEW – Hybrid; Bred for ‘medium sized, firm ‘buttons’, better, sweeter flavor, heavy crop that holds excellent quality over a long time’.

CAULIFLOWER:

CUCUMBER:


EGGPLANT: Old Favorites

GREENS – many NEW

MELONS:

ONIONS:

POTATOES:

PUMPKINS:

RHUBARB:

SUMMER SQUASH:

WATERMELON:

WINTER SQUASH:

Great Veggies for Containers/Small Patio Gardens

Silvery Fir Tree Tomato
Tumbler Tomato
Fairytale Eggplant
White Fingers Eggplant
Lanterna Pepper
Peruvian Purple Pepper
Marbles Pepper
Purple Cayenne Pepper
Black Pearl Pepper
Salad Bush Cucumber
Bush Champion Cucumber
Spacemaster Cucumber
Culinary Herbs (Basil, etc.)

and more…