Tuesday, June 2, 2009

New Varieties of Heirloom, Organic, Locally-Grown Veggie Starts!

Check out the new varieties we got:

Peppers:


Bridge to Paris-A long red sweet Italian frying pepper that cooks up as sweet as candy. Originally came from untangling a hybrid pepper called Paris. Phillies Bridge Farm in New Paltz has been continuing to grow this popular pepper, hence the name Bridge to Paris.

Jimmy Nardello-This variety of pepper was originally from Basilicata, a southern region of Italy. It takes its name from seed saver Jimmy Nardello, who brought the seeds from Italy while immigrating to Connecticut in 1887. The Jimmy Nardello's pepper is sweet and light when eaten raw. It is considered one of the very best frying peppers as its fruity raw flavor becomes perfectly creamy and soft when fried

Chervena Chushka Pepper-Bulgarian heirloom, traditionally used for roasting but also a great sweet pepper. Flesh is bright-red and very sweet, almost candy-like. Tapered fruits that are 2" at the shoulder by 6" long, ripens from green to brown to bright red

Cukes:

National Pickling-the firm black-spined dark green fruits are usually quite sweet, rarely bitter. Plants are vigorous dependable producers. This cucumber was developed with the home gardener in mind and has become the most popular home and garden type. Solid and crispy fruits are harvested for their canning quality for both sweet and dill pickles. Fruits average 6-7 inches with blocky ends and pack up perfect in canning jars. Can be harvested early for smaller pickles. Heavy yields over long period of time.

Cross Country-bears abundant blocky straight dark green white-spined fruit of uniformly good quality with very small seed cavities. Crunchy and cool. Has good yields (5.5 lb. per plant), appearance, and long uniform fruit. Has been highly rated in brine tests. Named for its widespread adaptability. . Resistant to diseases. One of the most highly rated and widely used pickling cucumbers in the country.

Early Fortune-Introduced in 1910 by the Jerome B. Rice Seed Company of Cambridge, New York, who described it as "the earliest and best white spine cucumber ever offered." Selected by George Starr at Royal Oak, Michigan from a single plant found in a crop of Davis Perfect (now extinct). Fruits are 7-8" long by 2" in diameter.

Melons:



Collective Farm Woman-his heirloom from the Ukraine was collected in 1993 by Seed Savers Exchange. Very popular on Island of Krim in the Black Sea. Melons ripen to a yellowish-gold and the white flesh has a very high sugar content, a favorite among heirloom gardeners and growers alike. Ripens early, even in Russia.

Banana Melon-Banana-shaped fruit, smooth yellow skin and sweet salmon flesh. 16”-24" long, 5-8 lbs. It was listed in 1885 by J. H. Gregory’s Catalogue, which said “When ripe it reminds one of a large, overgrown banana... It smells like one, having a remarkably powerful and delicious fragrance.” This is one of my all- time favorites, being very sweet

Missouri Gold-produces round, 20-lb melons with pale green skin and bright golden-yellow flesh that is crisp, sweet and refreshing. A really nice yellow type that is hard to find.
Golden Gopher-6 in. fruit with deep-orange flesh and superb flavor. Resistant to fusarium wilt. Developed by the Univ. of Minnesota in the 1930s.

Summer Squash:

Round light of tuscany- yeilds a round light green fruit as well as a profusion of blossoms good fro stuffing.

Early yellow crookneck-Traditional bush type, light yellow bumpy skinned fruit with creamy, white, mild sweet flesh. Harvest when fruit skin can easily be cut with a fingernail. North American, 1700. Heirloom.

Bennings Green Tint Patty Pan- Colorful light green scalloped shaped fruit, tender and good quality, excellent yields, easy to grow.

Yum! Are you hungry yet?

Cabbage:

Mammoth Red Rock-tightly packed, 8-lb heads hold their high quality during storage. Slightly flat heads are solid red to the core. Great for pickling and for slaw.

Danish Ball Head-A hardy late type ballhead cabbage with heads 7 to 8 inches in diameter. Excellent for eating fresh or cooked, great for sauerkraut or winter storage.

Broccoli:

Piriciacaba-About halfway between a heading broccoli and a broccoli raab, these succulent tender small green heads with very large beads make delightful raw eating. Very loose heads, lots of side shoots, sweet stalks. Even the fairly large leaves make excellent greens. Good hot and cold temperature tolerance.

Waltham- Developed in 1951 and long considered the standard open-pollinated fall broccoli. A reliable strain which consistently produces 6" heads with medium beads on attractive stocky 20" plants. Many hybrids make bigger central heads, but Waltham delivers a goodly number of side shoots.

Brussels Sprouts (both open polinated varieties which is harder to come by):

Gronigers-produces small button sprouts with a sweet and peppery flavor. Heavy yeilds from autumn to christmas.

Roodnerf-Roodnerf is the real deal. By late September 2007 these vigorous medium-large plants had set plump green sprouts along their stems. No wimps here, these were robust and flavorful sprouts.



This is in addition to all the veggie varieties we have!