2012 Garden Notes

This is a list of the different annuals we’ll be growing in the garden this year.  Underneath each variety we’ll note when we started, transplanted, seeded, and harvested them.  We’ll also note how many we planted, how much we harvest, the quality of the produce, any pests or diseases we run into, etc.  We’re also going to record rainfall and high-low temperatures in the garden in a separate spreadsheet.

The majority of these varieties we haven’t grown before and are trialing them to see what we think, how they do in our climate, and if we should save seed and grow them again.  We’ve chosen to buy our seed from local seed providers because the seed will be better adapted to our location.

Last Updated on February 20, 2012

Garden Log

  • 2/18: Spread compost bins and straw mulch on perennial beds.
  • 2/19: Started 2 soil block trays of pepper and 1 tray of tomatoes.
  • 2/20: Started onions from seed in peat pots.

Plant Varieties

Bush Beans

  • Dark Red Kidney Bean

    • R.H. Shumway’s: 95 Days. The good old-fashioned baking bean. The largest and perhaps best of all the baking beans. One of the best varieties we know for use as a dry bean. Produces large, flat, green pods, filled with huge, red kidney-shaped beans that are rich in flavor. Excellent flavor when baked, broiled, used in soups and in Mexican dishes.

  • Gaucho Dry Bean

    • Carol Deppe: Very early productive bush bean for drying. Not available commercially. My favorite dry bean. Rich distinctive flavor. I’m expecting about 1-2% off types from this year’s crop. Just cull anything that dries down much later than the Gauchos or is a little viney instead of bushy. Give your Gaucho dry beans as much isolation as you can from your green bean types, but don’t worry overly much about purity. Gaucho wasn’t pure when I got it, as is common with heirloom beans, and I didn’t help it any by growing it near Black Mitla, a supposedly different species that it proved to be far friendly with than the species concept suggests is appropriate. I had about 10% off types last year, but rogued well enough so that I would expect only a percent or two of off types this year. If you get a cross or two with your green beans this year, they will show up in the next generation as plants that are much later and/or don’t dry down as early as Gaucho, making them easy to eliminate. (Crosses don’t show up on the bean seeds in the first generation when the cross happens.) Gaucho beans made a good crop on Vancouver Island B.C. Canada in the unusually cold (even for Vancouver) summer of 2011. Gaucho is an heirloom dry bean from Argentina that came to me from the old Abundant Life Seed Foundation.

  • Resilient Bean Breeder F3

    • Carol Deppe: These are the F3 seeds segregating from crosses of Gaucho common bean X Black Mitla tepary bean.) (Phaseolus vulgaris X Phaseolus acutifolius) Gaucho is a very early, very delicious gold dry bean. Black Mitla tepary is a widely adapted black tepary with a powerful delicious flavor as a dry bean. Both are small beans round in cross section and about twice as long as wide. Both are easy to thresh. Teparies are unusually drought-hardy and are resistant or tolerant to diseases common beans succumb to. Common bean varieties tend to yield more. In 2009 I was trying to do seed increases on the pure varieties, which shouldn’t have crossed since they are different species. Such crosses are “against the rules.” The beans were unruly. I got about 5% crosses from patches that were 12′ apart, as evidenced by about 5% black beans in the 2010 grow-out of what I thought was (and what looked like) pure (gold-seeded) Gaucho. I can’t think of any cross that has more potential for producing interesting and highly resilient dry bean varieties than this cross, though, however unintended. So I hand-sorted out several thousand black seeds representing those crosses and planted them in 2011 to produce this year’s Resilient Bean Breeder F3. The rows of this material are by far the most productive dry beans I have ever seen. The plants are mostly short-vined in type, and hold their pods up off the ground so can be handled like a bush type. The bean colors that are segregating are black, gold, brown, tan, and speckled. Maturity is a little later than Gaucho but still quite early. (Presumably there will be continuing segregation for plant type, maturity, drought resistance, disease resistance, and bean color and flavor.) Save seed from the plants that do best for you and breed your own unique varieties adapted to your own needs and conditions. This should be particularly good material from which to select varieties for short-seasons, cool or cold or hot summer weather, drought hardiness, yield, and disease resistance.

Pole Beans

      • Rattlesnake

        • Baker Creek: This pole bean is easy to grow and produces lots of green pods that have purple streaks. Good flavor and very tender, the speckled seeds are popular in soup. This variety is great for hot, humid areas.

      • Purple Podded

        • Baker Creek: This delicious heirloom was discovered in the Ozark mountains by Henry Fields in the 1930′s and is still requested by many “Old Timers” of this region. The pods are bright-purple, stringless, and tender. Plants grow to 6′ and produce heavy yields. 

      • Henderson’s Black Valentine

        • Baker Creek: 53 days. Introduced in 1897 by Peter Henderson & Co., this excellent fresh snap bean has tasty pods. Also makes a fine dry soup bean. Great yields! Any seed that has “Henderson’s” name on it just has to be good— that’s why we offer so many of his fine varieties throughout our catalog. A perfect all-purpose pole bean!

Fava Beans

      • Ianto’s Fava Bean

        • Baker Creek: Originally introduced by Alan Kapuler of Peace Seeds. A large-seeded Guatemalan variety that reaches 6 feet tall! The bright yellow seeds are reputed to contain elevated levels of dopamine, and may have benefits for those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease. A fine plant for improving garden soil. Abundant production of delicious fava beans.

Carrots

      • Chantenay Red Core

        • Baker Creek: 75 days. One of the sweetest, this variety was introduced in 1929 and is a large, stump-rooted carrot with a deep red-orange center; great for juicing or fresh eating. A good market variety that is smooth and refined in shape.

      • Parisienne

        • Baker Creek: Small, round carrots that are so popular in France. Tender, orange globes are superb lightly steamed. Easy to grow even in heavy soils. This little carrot is great for home and market gardens, as this variety is fairly uniform. 

      • Little Finger

        • Baker Creek: 55 days. A superb baby-type carrot with a deep orange color, it was developed in France for canning and pickling. Sweet, 3-inch carrots are great for snacks.

Corn

      • Abenaki Flint

        • SSE: 90-95 days. Heirloom flint corn originally from the western Abenaki (Sokoki) people of Vermont. Subsequently grown by local farmers Roy and Ruth Fair of North Calais, VT. Plants grow 7′ tall and bear 8-12″ long ears that are golden-yellow or maroon-red. The only type of corn to survive during the infamous Year Without a Summer (1816). Primarily used for cornmeal, posole, or hominy.

      • Cascade Ruby-Gold Flint

        • Carol Deppe: About 85 days to full dryness; plants 5 ½ feet high. A very early, productive true flint corn superb for cornbread, johnny cakes, and polenta. Has 8-10 inch ears with 8-12 rows of big seeds on a medium-narrow cob that dries down easily. Usually 2-3 ears per plant depending upon spacing and soil fertility. Good husk coverage for protection against birds and worms. Very vigorous. Does well even in downright cold summers. Produces solid-colored ears of several colors—red, red-brown, dark red, orange-gold, maple-gold, gold, and yellow. Interior kernel color is always yellow or gold. Each color of ear produces a different flavor of cornbread and polenta. The red shades make a rich-flavored cornbread; the yellow shades make a mild-flavored cornbread. Both make great polenta and johnny cakes. Recipes for cornbread, johnny cakes, and polenta made with this corn can be found in The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-reliance in Uncertain Times. Cascade corns did well even on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in the unusually cold summer of 2011. Although bred primarily to be gourmet-quality food, Cascade Ruby-Gold Flint also makes a great ornamental corn. Bred by Carol Deppe to be the ultimate survival crop, the variety and crop you would choose if you could have only one variety to get you through good times and bad. (Note: if you want to plant sweet corn too, plant a late sweet corn variety so as to avoid pollination conflicts.)

Cucumber

      • Beit Alpha

        • Baker Creek:  A delicious, very sweet cucumber that is usually picked small and does not need peeling as the skin is very tender. This variety is very popular in the Mediterranean, having been developed in Israel at a kibbutz farm. Now becoming popular with Americans because of the fruits’ fine flavor and high yields. They are also burpless and have great shelf life.

Greens

      • Dutch Corn Salad (Mache)

        • Baker Creek: This old-time favorite has a mild, nutty flavor. Tender leaves are excellent in salads or cooked.
        • Notes:  Very hardy green.  Grow very early or start late.

      • Canton Bok Choy

        • Baker Creek:  The typical Nai-Pe-Tsai type pak choy, semiupright plant produces thick, white stems and deep green leaves. Good for warm areas as it is heat tolerant.

      • Red Malabar Spinach

        • Baker Creek:  70 days. This beautiful plant is not a true spinach but a different species (basella rubra). This heat-loving Asian vine has lovely red stems and delicious, succulent leaves that are great in salads and stir-fres. A delicious green that can be grown as an annual in many areas or as a perennial in sub-tropical areas.

      • Southern Giant Curled Mustard

        • Baker Creek: Large, upright plants with crumpled leaves that have a delicious mustard taste; slow to bolt and very easy to grow. An old heirloom from the Southern U.S. and makes a mighty swell mess of greens.

      • Five Color Silverbeet Chard

        • Baker Creek:  60 days. A beautiful chard; its colors are brilliant (pink, yellow, orange, red and white). This chard originated in Australia. Very mild, ornamental, and tasty. Great for market growers and specialty markets. Pretty enough to plant in the flower garden; so delicious and one of our favorite greens! (Sold in stores as Bright Lights”)

Lettuce

      • Amish Deer Tongue

        • SSE: 45-55 days.Amish variety valued for its ruggedness and heavy production. Thick compact plant great for a cut-and-come-again lettuce when thickly sown. Thin midrib, good texture, pleasant sharp flavor. Looseleaf.

      • Bronze Arrowhead

        • SSE:  40-50 days. Introduced as Bronze Beauty by Germania Seed. Awarded the bronze medal at the 1947 All American Selections. Hailed as “the finest, most colorful and most delicious leaf lettuce for the home garden.” Our favorite oakleaf type. Looseleaf.

      • Slobolt

        • SSE:  45-55 days. A garden standard since 1946. Large thick clusters of light green frilled leaves are produced all summer. As its name suggests, this variety is very slow to bolt. Pleasing flavor, never bitter. Looseleaf.

      • Forellenschluss (aka Speckled Trout Back)

        • SSE: 55 days .Gorgeous Austrian heirloom with green leaves speckled with maroon. Superior flavor; holds very well in the summer heat. Our all-time favorite! Romaine.

Melons

      • Boule D’or

        • Baker Creek: Very sweet, pale green flesh is just marvelous. Yellow and loosely netted, a very beautiful melon. This was one of our top melons in our 2003 trials, truly incredible! It was listed in Vilmorin’s book The Vegetable Garden in 1885, but is very rare now. An all-time favorite and a dream for market growers.

      • Kansas

        • Baker Creek: 90 days. A very rare heirloom from Kansas; the vines are vigorous and the yield is great; oval-shaped, ridged and netted fruit; the flesh is orange and has exceptional flavor; very delicious! A very dependable variety; fruit weigh around 4 lbs. One of our most endangered varieties and also one of the best. Perfect for farmers, markets.

      • Sakata’s Sweet Melon

        • Baker Creek: 85 days. A favorite Asian variety of Dr. Amy Goldman, author of Melons for the Passionate Grower. These small 3-4-inch round melons are very sweet with a high sugar content. Oriental varieties open a whole new dimension to melons as they are amazingly different. Crisp and crunchy–they have edible skins. Their small size and brilliant golden rind make them very attractive. This fine Japanese variety was developed by Sakata’s Seed Co. of Yokohama. Very Rare
        • Notes:  Try keeping fruit in fridge a couple of days to sweeten.

Onions

      • Australian Brown

        • Baker Creek: Intermediate. Introduced in 1897 by W. Atlee Burpee; medium sized flattened bulbs, flavorful and pungent, yellow brown.  Very reliable at Baker Creek farm.  Super flavor. ‘

      • Bronze D’Amposta

        • Baker Creek: Intermediate. Attractive reddish-bronze onions are good-sized and sweet; an intermediate day type. A great variety for fresh eating, as it is not too hot tasting. A decent keeper in storage and a good overall red type. Named for the small city of Amposta, Spain.

      • Stuttgarter

        • Baker Creek: Long Day. A tasty old favorite that sets medium-large, yellow onions with a good, pungent flavor. This variety is among the best keepers and produces well. Plant some of these for winter eating and store them clear through to next spring.

Peas

      • Sugar Snap Pea

        • Baker Creek: This is the wonderfully sweet, edible-pod pea so popular with consumers and gardeners. The delicious, tender pods are great raw (eaten before you ever leave the garden), stir-fried, or in salads. They also freeze very well. An AAS winner from 1979.

      • Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow Peas

        • Baker Creek: 70 days. Large, sweet-flavored pods; 4′ tall plants. Needs cool weather to give good yields. Pods are tasty stir-fried or in salads. Pick before the peas inside start to swell. An heirloom that has been popular for many years.

      • Laxton’s Progress No. 9

        • R.H. Shumway’s: 58 Days. The leading, early, large-podded variety. Superb flavor. The 18 inch plant is extremely vigorous, producing large pods about 4-1/2 to 5 inches long, each filled with 7 to 9 tender, plump pods. No need to stake. Wrinkled.

Peppers

      • Anaheim

        • Baker Creek: 80 days. Delicious mildly hot flavor, excellent for roasting or frying; good yields of very large chili peppers.

      • Cayenne Long Thin

        • Baker Creek: Slender, long peppers turn bright-red and are very hot. The 2-feet tall plants are vigorous and productive. This heirloom has been popular many years for drying, using as a spice, and also using medicinally.

      • Emerald Giant

        • Baker Creek: 78 days. Large, blocky bells have thick sweet flesh. Dark green fruit turn red when ripe. Vigorous plants give heavy yields. A good variety for the south. Developed in 1963.

      • Ozark Giant

        • Baker Creek: What a pepper! This variety produces huge, long bell peppers that have delicious, thick flesh. They start out green and turn bright red. Very productive plants and great flavor will make this old Ozark variety a favorite.

Potatoes

      • Yukon Gold

        • SSE Description:  A favorite among gardeners, consumers, and chefs. Delicious flesh is drier than most other yellow varieties, perfect for baking and mashing. Yellow flesh actually appears to be buttered. Bred and selected by AgCanada and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in 1966. Excellent yields and a great keeper. 80-90 days.

      • German Butterball

        • SSE Description: First place winner in Rodale’s Organic Gardening “Taste Off.” A good choice for roasting, frying, and especially for mashed potatoes. Russeted skin and buttery yellow flesh. Always one of our favorite all-purpose potatoes. Excellent for long-term storage. Very good yields. 100-120 days.

Radishes

      • Saxa 2

        • Baker Creek: Popular European radish that matures in just 3 weeks; wow, they are quick! Bright red, smooth, round, perfect globes are crisp and delicious. Pretty and productive.

      • German Giant

        • Baker Creek:  Very large, round red radish that was collected in Germany. These keep their fine quality even when large. This heirloom is very popular with the Amish. Mild and tasty.

Squash (Summer)

      • Striata D’Italia

        • Baker Creek:  50 days. Medium-long zucchini fruit, somewhat thicker at the blossom end with light ribbing; 8-9 inches long. The skin is striped in light and dark green. Superb flavor and texture; this variety is popular in Italy for its flavor and early yield.

      • Lemon

        • Baker Creek: The shape, size and color of a lemon; it grows great here, has huge yields and the best resistance to insects I have seen in a summer squash. Very tasty, great fried! A favorite, this is a superb market variety and is very attractive. Our most popular summer squash!

Squash (Winter)

      • Red Kuri

        • Baker Creek: 92 days. (C. maxima) A red-orange Japanese winter squash; fruit are 5-10 lbs. each and teardrop-shaped. The golden flesh is smooth, dry, sweet and rich; a great yielding and keeping variety.

      • Australian Butter

        • Baker Creek: 90-100 days (C. maxima) A large, peach-tan colored squash from “Down Under” that has extra thick, orange flesh of excellent quality. Perfect for pies and baking. The 15-lb. fruit keep for a long period. A very rare Australian heirloom.

      • Thai “Rai Kaw Tok” Pumpkin

        • Baker Creek: (C. moschata) Green 8-lb fruit have tan spots on the rind. Flesh is yellow-orange, sweet and flavorful with a smooth texture; a great eating variety that performs very well in our Missouri summers, and stands up well to pests and disease. Attractive for decoration and superb for the table; a rock-hard rind makes this a great keeper. A Thai market variety that is sure to become popular here. 

      • Waltham Butternut

        • Baker Creek: 100 days. (C. moschata) An old favorite with good yields. Excellent tasting, rich orange colored flesh. Great baked!

      • Sweet Meat – Oregon Homestead

        • Carol Deppe:  (Cucurbita maxima) 110 days. This line of Sweet Meat represents my reselection of the Oregon heirloom for all its traditional virtues—sweet thick dry flesh of unsurpassed flavor, fruits 12 – 24 lbs, huge delicious seeds, long storing, and ability to germinate in cold mud and grow vigorously in cool weather. (These characteristics have largely been lost from the current commercial lines.) Cure indoors at least one month. Oregonians traditionally opened their first Sweet Meat for Thanksgiving. Gets sweeter and more delicious in storage. Stores at least 6 months. Freezes well.

Tomato

      • Hillbilly

        • SSE: 85 days from transplant. From Ohio SSE member Jerry Lee Bosner. Absolutely gorgeous bicolor beefsteak tomato, great for slicing. Beautiful yellow 1 pound fruits are streaked with red on the blossom end. Sweet and juicy. Heavy producer. Indeterminate, 85 days from transplant.

      • Striped Roman

        • Baker Creek:  80-90 days. Stunning and unique. These long, pointed red fruit have wavy orange stripes! People were really excited about this one at our last Heirloom Garden Show. It’s a specialty grower’s dream; just what chefs and today’s buyers are looking for; a perfect midsized beauty with brilliant color, meaty flesh and excellent flavor. This variety was developed by John Swenson.

      • Black Pineapple

        • Baker Creek:  A most exciting new tomato, it is wonderful in every way. This unusual variety was developed by Pascal Moreau, a horticulturist from Belgium. The multi-colored, smooth fruit (green, yellow and purple mix) weigh about 1 1/2 lbs. The flesh is bright green with deep red streaks. Everyone loves their superb flavor that is outstanding, being both sweet and smoky with a hint of citrus. The yield is one of the heaviest we have ever seen! Be the first at your farmer’s market to have this new classic.

      • Black Cherry

        • Baker Creek:  75 days. Beautiful black cherries look like large, dusky purple-brown grapes; they have that rich flavor that makes black tomatoes famous. Large vines yield very well; very unique and delicious .  Good reviews.

      • Ozark Pink

        • Baker Creek: A wonderfully smooth tomato with attractive pink color, good flavor and the ability to make the perfect tomato for the kitchen or the market. Fruit are medium to large in size and are produced in abundance on very productive, disease resistant plants. The perfect tomato for Ozark Mountains and all hot, humid areas. Developed by the University of Arkansas. A favorite of area farmers market growers.

      • Wapsipinicon Peach

        • Baker Creek:  80 days. Light, creamy-yellow, almost white fruit have superb taste and texture! One of the best tomatoes I have ever tried. The taste is complex, with its spicy, sweet, and very fruity flavor. The fruit are small, around 2”, and the skin is slightly fuzzy like a peach! This Iowa heirloom is named after the Wapsipinicon River, a favorite fishing spot of mine.

      • Green Zebra

        • Baker Creek: 75 days. One of my favorite tomatoes. Beautiful chartreuse
          with deep lime-green stripes, very attractive. Flesh is bright green and very rich tasting, sweet with a sharp bite to it (just too good to describe!). A favorite tomato of many high class chefs, specialty markets, and home gardeners. Yield is excellent. The most striking tomato in our catalog, a real beauty. Around 3 ounces. This is the tomato colored for the Green Bay Packers.

Watermelon

      • Orangeglo

        • Baker Creek: 85 days. Beautiful, deep orange flesh; very sweet, excellent, almost tropical flavor! The best-tasting of ALL orange varieties we tried — the favorite of many who tried it at our place. High yields. Very resistant to wilt and insects; strong healthy vines. These will sell at roadside stands & markets.  Good reviews.

      • Oh So Sweet

        • SSE: Delicious watermelon that definitely lives up to its name. Originally from Virdie Smith of Gladewater, Texas. Productive plants bear many medium round striped fruits with high sugar content. A favorite of SSE staff. 90 days.

Herbs

      • Slo-bolt Cilantro

        • Baker Creek: This is a slow bolting version of Cilanto/Coriander that produces flavorful leaves over a longer period.

      • Catnip

        • Baker Creek: The herb that drives cats wild is also medicinal; used in a tasty herbal tea for colds and flu. Vigorous plant.

      • Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum

        • Baker Creek: Delicious green leaves are great in salads and stir-fries. The brilliant yellow flowers are also tasty! A beautiful Oriental heirloom, very colorful.

      • German Chamomile

        • Baker Creek: Beautiful small flowers, makes a relaxing tea with a sweet fruity fragrance, medicinal. Attractive plants.

      • Genovese Basil

        • Baker Creek: The famous Italian heirloom is very popular with many cooks.

      • Wild Zaatar Oregano

        • Baker Creek: We offer seeds from Israel for this plant that grows wild in Israel, Jordan and surrounding areas. Doubtless a common herb in Bible times, and still one of the tastiest! It has great flavor that blends hints of Oregano, Thyme and Marjoram. A favorite.

      • Anise Hyssop

        • Baker Creek: An extra sweet strain from Montana, this herb is used to make one of the best herb teas; the leaves possess a naturally sweet, wonderful anise taste & fragrance. Lovely purple flowers that the bees love, many uses and also medicinal too! 

Other

    • Bird & Butterfly Wildflower Mix

      • R.H. Shumway’s: Absolutely beautiful! A mixture of both perennial and annual wildflowers. Contains 20 different varieties that provide seeds and nectar to songbirds, hummingbirds and butterflies. Colors in shades of pink, blue, orange, yellow, white, red, purple, lavender and more. Contains approximately 286,000 seeds per pound. Seeding rate for one half acre or less: 7 oz. per 1000 square feet.

    • Titan Sunflower

      • SSE: One of the tallest-growing, biggest-headed, and largest-seeded varieties available to gardeners. This is the one for impressing your neighbors and winning awards at county fairs. Grow your own backyard giant this year—plants can grow 12′ tall with large yellow heads reaching 18-24″ across! Edible seeds. Annual, 75 days.

    • Purple Tomatillo

      • Baker Creek: (Physalis subglabrata) Beautiful purple fruit, large size. Many are a bright violet color throughout their flesh. Much sweeter than the green types; it can be eaten right off the plant. Turns purple when ripe; rare!

    • Ground Cherry

      • Baker Creek: 70 days. Huge yields of tart-sweet berries. This is the common type used by the Pilgrims; excellent for pies, jams, and preserves of all kinds; also delicious
        fresh. The fruit grow inside a paper-like husk (the same as Tomatillos). Grow it the same as you would tomatoes.