2010 seed order

My 2010 Seed Order

My seed order is probably of more interest to me than to any reader, so, instead of listing out every seed I am ordering (and there are a lot) I will discuss the odd or unusual ones, or ones that are new to me that I am trying this year (plus some old favorites at the end).

From Pinetree garden Seeds (www.superseeds.com):

The first oddball to describe is a basil I have grown once before, HOLY BASIL. This odd, slightly fuzzy basil is essential to many Thai dishes. I love it because it is just wonderfully fragrant and it is a treat to run my hands through it. Not as anise-like as Thai basil (like “Siam Queen”) it is a tasty in stir-fried vegetable dishes, added after the cooking is done. I grow both types of basils (along with lemon, lime and large leaf basils) and am looking for seed for the gorgeous African Blue basil, an ornamental that attracts lots of bees.

ROUGE GRENOBLAIS LETTUCE. My husband has a weakness for red leafed lettuces and I have a weakness for growing it for him! 52 days, crisphead/butterhead, slow to bolt, good in the cold….supposedly.

SANDWICH ISLAND MAMMOTH SALSIFY. I love odd root crops and have grown scorzonera, celeriac and parsnip among others, but I also like salsify, also called oyster plant, for its delicate flavor.

LOVAGE. Celery is hard to grow, but lovage, a celery substitute, is not (though getting the seed started can be a little tricky), Lovage comes back year after year, can be chopped and used in stocks, soups and stews and tuna salad and the leaves are nice to eat too.

MOKUM CARROT (F1 hybrid 54 days) and NAPOLI CARROT (F1 hybrid 66 days): I love carrots and have been having fun growing them (when the voles don’t get them) and wanted to try these two. Mokum is a Dutch hybrid, reportedly sweet, 6 inch roots. Napoli, an early nantes type, more carroty than sweet.

MUSQUEE DE PROVENCE PUMPKIN: a “Cinderella” or “cheese-wheel” type pumpkin, which I think is the most beautiful type, and pretty darn tasty too!

BOLTARDY BEET (46 days). Beets break my heart most every year, but I keep trying (now that should have been a New Year’s resolution- make a fluffy soil bed for beets! Or give them up!). They seem to start out OK, but don’t always form the root, and end up with this scraggly little plant trailing out of the soil. I love beets- to me they are the candy of the vegetable world, right up there with sweet corn. These are supposed to be bolt resistant, which might be part of my problem, in this short-spring climate.

RATTLESNAKE BEAN (65 days): a vigorous, 8 to 10 inch long, green and purple bean with reportedly great bean flavor.

From totally Tomatoes www.totallytomato.com

This year I ordered a few new tomatoes, to supplement my old standby, Parks Whopper Improved. All are disease resistant and the Talladega is heat resistant too.

Original Goliath Hybrid Tomato: very large slicer, indeterminate.

Early Goliath Hybrid Tomato: earlier than above, large slicer, indeterminate.

Red Brandymaster Hybrid Tomato: a more disease-resistant type of the heirloom Brandywine, a potato-leafed variety with great taste, indeterminate. I used to grow the original Brandywine and loved it, until it started succumbing to disease.

Talladega Hybrid Tomato: beefsteak-type, mid-season, determinant.

A short list of what I am ordering again, because they worked out great last year? Lavender touch and Raveena eggplant, Starbor dwarf blue curled kale, Sweet Success cucumber, Pinetree Garden lettuce mix. Sugar Snap pea and India Mustard Red Giant.

Happy Gardening!