Next summer's vegetable seeds have arrived in the mail. Hard choices; the gardening will is infinite and the execution confined; which is to say that there just isn't enough room to grow all the varieties we'd want. But in addition to the old reliables, we try to make room for some exotics and antiques. This year: two kinds of heirloom tomatoes. Rose (an Amish favorite), and Black Giant. Pasillo Bajio (an intense black hot pepper, for the pepper-lovers in the family). Ma-Zu Purple Chinese Eggplant, supposedly a favorite of Taiwanese gardeners. Black Beauty Zucchini. Suyo Long Cucumbers ("very mild and sweet"). Romanesco Italia Broccoli ("spiralling apple-green heads"). Ching Chong Bok Choy, an early, cold-weather kind. Russian Red (some call it Ragged Jack) kale. Two kinds of beets: Albino, a Dutch variety, and Crapaudine, unfortunately named, but supposedly the oldest beet still in cultivation. And also carrots, so easy to grow in our rich sandy soil, both a new variety (Cosmic Purple) and an old one (Jaune Obtuse du Doubs, a French carrot which dates to 1894).
It's going to be a good summer. We're in the midst of a January snowstorm right now, but I can imagine myself tilling in a load of manure, raking up, and setting out the stakes and twine. It's going to be a good summer.
Can't wait.
Posted by: CKNC | February 05, 2012 at 10:23 AM