Finally, here is information on the remainder of my gardening efforts in 2020 - herbs, peppers, eggplants, flowers, beans, peas, cucumbers and squash.

I can always think of more things - more info, more data, more pics - to add to these mammoth blogs, but at some point, find it better to post them a bit incomplete…then add and edit as things come to mind. Enjoy - you will all now have a pretty complete picture of my first garden in Hendersonville!

Peppers - I decided to grow peppers in either self watering containers or grow bags. I chose my gravel driveway for placement, which was not the best decision. Though the plants eventually caught on when the temperature of the days (and especially nights) rose, I had significant rotting prior to ripening to the final color. All in all, it was a disappointing season, though I did manage to get what I hope are good seeds saved from each.

Much of what I grew are from my Islander dehybridization work, an effort to dehybridize a Stokes Chocolate Bell hybrid begun years ago, work on a few of my ornamental hot peppers, and some miscellaneous varieties. All are described below.

Chocolate Bell, in its green stage, characteristic color and shape

Chocolate Bell - I planted P19-35, which is F9 generation, which is from 559, which is from 523, which is from P11-14, which is from P10-35, which is from P09-39, which is from P08-7, which is from P07-18, which is from 230, the hybrid purchased from Stokes in 2007. Seed saved this year, F10, is P20-13.

When growing Chocolate Bell F1 from Stokes in 2007 I loved the large size, blocky shape and sweet flavor when it passed from dark green to brown. I saved seed and have been working to get that sort of result ever since. Though this year’s plant was off to a promising start, weather and location made ripening of the fruit to the chocolate stage without rotting difficult. Yet I did save seed from a mostly chocolate specimen and did advance the generation - let’s see what I get next year from F10 seed.

Fire Opal - I planted P19-25, F11 or F12 generation, which is from P17-12, which is from P15-4 or P14-3 - P15-4 is from P14-3 - P14-3 is from P13-9, which is from P12-4, which is from P11-7, which is from P10-50, which is from P08-28, which is from P07-25, which is from P06-3, which is from 364, Islander F1, purchased in 2005. Saved seed is F12 or F13 generation P20-17.

My favorite bell pepper for color was Islander, also known as Blue Jay, hybrids offered at high price by Johnny’s and by Stokes back in the mid 2000s. Using Islander, I started growing plants from saved seed and noted five distinct types - cream to lavender to red (like the hybrid - I named this Amethyst, and it is now known as Carolina Amethyst and available from a few companies), cream to lavender to gold (which I named Fire Opal - it is one of the favorites of my work on this line - and I am sending seeds to Southern Exposure Seed Company in hopes of their future release of the variety), cream to gold (which I call White Gold), chartreuse to black purple to red (which I call Royal Purple), and the toughest to consistently achieve, cream to orange red to red (which I called Candy Corn - I need to go back to the drawing board to find this one). I also have a chartreuse to orange red color change that was only observed once and I need to do some work to see if I can find it again.

Fire Opal did the best this year of all of them, with plenty of elongated cream bell peppers that changed to lavender, then to gold - plenty of seed was saved.

Royal Purple - I planted P19-30, F10 generation, which is from P14-41, which is from 549, which is from 528, which is from P11-6, which is from P10-47, which is from P08-18, which is from P07-19, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. This year’s seed, F11, is T20-16.

Royal Purple performed as hoped - the chartreuse bell peppers quickly went dark purple, then to red, and seed was saved.

Carolina Amethyst - I planted P19-29, probably F13 or F14 generation, which is from P18-9 or P18-13, from P17-13 or P17-16. P17-13 is from P16-7, and P17-16 is from P15-1. P16-7 is from P15-1. P15-1 is from P14-4, which is from P13-10, which is from P12-5, which is from P11-10, which is from P09-28, which is from P08-14, which is from P07-16, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. Saved seed from this year is P20-15, which is probably F14 or F15 generation.

I had lots of cream to lavender bell Carolina Amethyst fruit, but often rotting set in prior to the final change to red. I did save enough seed. This is the most advanced of my selections.

White Gold - I planted P19-33, F10, which is from 588, which is from 553, which is from 532, which is from P11-2, which is from P09-36, which is from P08-30, which is from P07-29, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. Seed saved this year is F11, P20-14.

I was delighted right at the start of this work to find a cream colored bell pepper that ripened gold, instead of red - it did as I had hoped this year, and I’ve got lots of saved seed.

My Bouquet from this year, showing foliage that is more purple than I hope, but pretty characteristic fruit. Back to the drawing board!

Bouquet - planted P19-8, which is from P18-6, and I have to dig out my garden journals to confirm what the origin vial for that one is. Like its sister variety Gemstone below), it goes back to P02-30, seed from a pepper obtained from a local arboretum. The goal for Bouquet has always been dark green foliage, white and violet flowers, and slender peppers that range from cream to deep lavender, to orange then on to red. There remains a lot of variation in this line and I often plant dozens of plants. I noted right away that the foliage in P19-8 was too purple, but the fruit from many of the seedlings I planted were in line with my expectations. I still am not happy with Bouquet as a variety that is ready, and will return to the drawing board next year. Seed from the main plant is saved as P20-3, but I planted lots more plants and have seeds saved from all of them. There remains variation in leaf color, whether the fruit is slender or cone, and produced singly or in clusters.

Gemstone variant that had green foliage, but with typical fruit type. In a away, this is a combination of my goal for Bouquet in leaf type and fruit color, with the clusters of cones in Gemstone. It could end up being a newly named variety.

Gemstone showing it’s characteristic stuff.

Gemstone - I planted P19-1, which is from P17-11, which is from P12-34 or P13-31, which is from P12-34, which is from P11-161, which is form P10-12, which is from P09-12, which is from P08-38, which is from P07-1, which is from P05-1, which is from P04-6, which is from P03-6, which is from P02-30, saved from fruit at a local arboretum.

Right away I selected and named a very dark purple leaf plant with purple flowers and cone shaped peppers that moved from cream to lavender, fading to ivory violet, then to orange and red - produced in clusters. I’ve been working on Gemstone from the beginning and the plant this year was true to type - though 1 seedling had green foliage (which I will describe in the next paragraph). Seed is saved as P20-2.

The one green leaf seedling, shown above and saved as P20-4, is a lovely specimen, with green leaves, lavender flowers, and clusters of cone shaped multicolor peppers. It needs a name, and repeat growing to see what I’ve really got here.

Variegated Sweet Pepper (two selection) - I planted P19-20, from P18-11, and P19-22, from P18-15. Both P18 came from P17-32. In 2017, I was touring the Raulston Arboretum gardens with my friend Ralph, who volunteers there. He showed me a pepper growing in their test garden with variegated leaves and peppers - I took one pepper, waited for a few months and saved seeds, hoping it was ripe enough for the seeds to germinate.

I planted them in 2018 and grew out three plants with variegated foliage - the peppers on two of the plants were frying pepper shaped, green with white stripes fading to all red - and they were sweet! One other plant had the same foliage type and unripe pepper stripes, but ripened orange.

I grew plants from the red one, and from the orange one for this year’s garden. Each, red and orange, grew as hoped - both on green/white variegated, pretty plants with plenty of elongated green peppers with white variegation, one ripening red, one orange. Seeds are saved as P20-1 and P20-5.

Rocoto - I planted P19-15, which is from seed from a friend last year. Germination is always poor for Rocoto, but I managed to get one plant that lives on in a grow bag in my garage, still blooming and with a few peppers. The season wasn’t long or hot enough for a good crop to form, so I am hoping to keep it alive until the spring. The lovely purple flowers and fuzzy stems and leaves are distinctive - in the ripe peppers, the seeds are black.

Pinata - I planted P19-13, which is from P15-23, which is from P14-37, which is from NuMex Pinata packet. Pinata is my favorite Jalapeno type pepper, unusually ripening from cream to yellow to orange to red. My plant this year showed some purple shading in the leaves, worrying me that I had a cross. The peppers persisted to show some purple coloration, and seemed more chartreuse than cream to start, but eventually they did go from yellow to orange to red, and tasted correct. Seed is saved as P20-6. I do think there is a bit of a cross that happened here in the P20-15 seed and may go back to the drawing board on this one.

Eggplants - All work was focused on continuing my work dehybridizing Orient Express F1, as well as a few selections from a surprise bee-induced cross of the white variety Casper. As with the peppers, the eggplants were located in self watering containers or grow bags in my gravel driveway. They did better than the peppers, but, again, getting them to reach the ripe stage (turning golden colored) was not as easy here as it was in Raleigh. I did manage to get seeds from everything, but it remains to be seen how well they will germinate.

Midnight Lightning - I planted E19-3, which would be F9 generation, probably from E18-3, likely from E17-2, which is from E14-1, which is from E12-8. I also grew E19-5, F6 generation, which is from E12-8, which is from E11-1, which is from E10-3, which is from E-8-8, which is from Orient Express F1, 46.

I loved the hybrid Orient Express for its earliness and productivity, so started saving seeds in 2008 to see what sort of things would appear upon dehybridization efforts. I was delighted to find three distinct types - one that looked like the hybrid - long, black purple, with foliage that had significant purple blushing. I gave that one the working name of Midnight Lightning. One was even more slender, white with distinct lavender shading, the foliage much more medium green. That became Twilight Lightning. One was in between the two, more of a medium purple, on a plant with a bit of purple shading - that became Skinny Twilight.

Midnight Lightning has proven to be the most stubborn to stabilize - my two plants this year had the correct foliage color, and one of them produced the correct shape and color fruit. The other had the correct color but was less slender, more of a teardrop. Seed is saved as E20-6 and E20-7.

Green Ghost - I planted P16-10, which is from E14-12, which is from E12-24, which is from E11-12, which is from E10-10, which is from E09-4, which is from E07-1, which is from Casper, 13.

This and Mardi Gras are from growing out a clearly crossed seedling saved from Casper - the stem was purple instead of light green. Green Ghost was named for a very pale green eggplant midway between slender and tear drop shaped. It grew as I hoped this year and is saved as E20-10.

Twilight Lightning - I planted P19-1, which is from E16-3, which is from E13-16, which is from E12-11, which is from E11-8, which is from E10-1, which is from E08-8, which is from 46, Orient Express F1.

I grew three plants and the fruit was as expected on each plant - saved seed is E20-3, E20-4 and E20-8 - all slender white fruit that heavily blush with lavender, and white flesh.

Skinny Twilight - I planted P19-7, which is from E17-1, which is from E14-24, which is from E13-4, which is from E12-2, which is from E11-17, which is from E10-1, which is from E08-8, which is from 46, Orient Express F1.

Two plants were grown, each true to type, with slender medium purple fruit with a pale green background, and green flesh. Seeds were saved as E20-2 and E20-9.

Mardi Gras - I planted E19-4, which is from E18-2, which is from E17-8, which is from E16-6, which is from E14-18, which is from E12-35, which is from E11-10, which is from E10-10, which is from E09-4, which is from E07-1, which is from Casper, 13.

This is a selection from the Casper inadvertent cross that showed a pale green tear drop shaped fruit with distinct purple streaks and stripes - clearly something different and unique. I named it after the color of Mardi Gras beads. It grew true to type this year and seed is saved as E20-5.

Straw bale bean garden in front, straw bale squash garden behind

Marbel in the straw bale bean garden, showing the lovely pink flowers and long slender pods

Nice crop of Marbel coming along from seeds planted in a large container

Beans - This was a very successful venture. Whether growing pole varieties against my fence on strings or a trellis, or bush varieties in straw bales, we had our best bean season in decades. The increased heat and critter damage in Raleigh really impacted success there. Hendersonville, and my yard, proved to be just the ticket for a return to lots of beans with our meals. I also succeeded in reinvigorating a former cherished variety thought lost for good; read all about it below.

Marbel - I recall growing and loving Marbel in the late 1980s, acquiring it from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It is a filet bean, meant to be picked and eaten when long but very slender. If allowed to fatten up strings need to be removed before eating. The color is a dark green with lovely distinct dark violet stripes. The stripes fade when the beans are cooked. I last grew it in 1990. Over the last 30 years, it vanished from seed catalogs.

Notes to the Seed Savers Exchange and Johnny’s led to receipt of samples of seeds from each, held in cold storage. The SSE seed was actually seed I saved and sent to them in 1990! Germination was very good, especially with the SSE sample, and I planted them in three locations - rear of the raised bed, a large container, and in the straw bale bean garden. We had plenty to eat and plenty to let grow to maturity for seed saving. I am sharing a sample with Mike at Victory in hopes he will carry them in his catalog in the future. It remains my favorite bean.

Painted Lady on a trellis from Gardeners Supply

Painted Lady Scarlet Runner - I planted a row of the large, distinctive seeds of this runner bean as a trial for the trellis sent to me by Gardeners Supply. The beans germinated and grew well and the bicolored scarlet and white flowers were lovely - and did draw Hummingbirds. I did not eat the large flat beans, but saved a good amount of seeds. Next year I will plant a wax pole bean on this trellis.

Fowler pole bean to the left and right of the metal trellis

Fowler Pole - I planted two part rows of Fowler Pole Bean, a variant found among Fowler Bush Bean by my friend Jeff Fleming, and now available from Victory Seeds. Yield was excellent, and rather than eat them, I used this year’s planting to save lots of seed (which I did). I will try again next year to grow beans for us to eat.

Tom Wagner mystery seed - At a February Organic Seed Alliance I attended, well known tomato breeder Tom Wagner (he of Green Zebra) was walking around passing out a single seed of an heirloom bean with a request to “grow it and see if you can save some seed”. I planted it in a container, it germinated, and I nurtured it until a nice set of pods developed - about 3 inches long and somewhat flat. The beans in side were more round than elongated and a pale tan color. I am not sure if it is a bean to eat as a pod, or to shell and eat the seeds - either green, or dried. I’ve got plenty of seed to experiment with, though!

Wando shell peas, along with some squash and bush beans

Sugar Snap peas growing up strings on a self-made trellis

Peas - I grew Wando shell pea and the original, vining Sugar Snap peas, direct seeding into a new strip garden I created against a fence and trellis. Sugar Snap grew tall and well, but I didn’t plant nearly enough - the few gatherings were delicious. Wando is a shorter growing shell pod type - the yield was fairly good and we had a few good sized servings of sweet, tender peas. I will likely skip the shelling peas next year, but will likely significantly increase the size of my Sugar Snap planting.

Other varieties of beans- Along with Marbel, I planted rows of Jade and Fowler in the straw bale quartet prepared for beans, direct seeded. Jade is a favorite due to its heavy yield, length and quality. Fowler is important in that it is the first variety that I requested upon joining the Seed Savers Exchange in 1986. I grew them less for eating this year than expanding my seed supply - in fact, I planted 10 seeds in a large container and got a nice yield of seed.

I did a second planting in the straw bales, consisting of a three color blend from seed packets I collected at an event a few years ago (green, yellow and purple), as well as a replanting of Marbel, and a few other packets that Victory Seeds sent me. The second planting did well until sun exposure declined significantly later in the summer, so we got but a few servings of delicious beans.

Healthy summer squash plants - Zephyr on the left, Raven zucchini on the right, showing its distinct leaf shape and coloring - grown in straw bales from directly planted seeds.

Raven zucchini, Magda and Zephyr summer squash, and a golden zucchini

Summer Squash - As with the beans in straw bales, the summer squash was outstanding, bordering on overwhelming.

Zephyr - I’ve loved this summer squash since first growing it just after it was released from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I did particularly well this year, showing its tendency to vine away from center. Yield was heavy, plant health excellent.

Raven - This is a very dark green zucchini that didn’t yield quite as well as Zephyr, but did just fine.

Magda - Cousa squash (with pale green, white flecked skin) is my second favorite of the summer squash, just behind Zephyr. Plant heath, yield, flavor were all excellent.

Other crops

Cucumbers - This was not a success due to early demise due to a combination of downy mildew and cucumber mosaic virus.

Diva - I love Diva - it is the best tasting cucumber I’ve grown. I planted some seeds in the middle of the squash bale - they germinated, grew up the tomato cage trellis, and began to set fruit. Then, alas, disease hit with just a few harvested. I need to change my cuke strategy for next year.

Raised bed, which saw beets, beans, lettuce, chard, and various greens throughout the season. Right now it has kale, collards and garlic, which will hopefully live through the winter.

Greens - Various types of greens from various sources were switched in and out of several planting areas.

Collards, Kale, Swiss Chard -

lettuce in the raised bed coming along nicely

Lettuce - I am really lucky that my friend Jeff is a lettuce aficionado. Each year he sends me up to 20 packets of his saved seed. It is always sad when the heat comes and the lettuce bolts, but our spring salads are wonderful…once one eats tender, sweet home grown lettuce, the grocery store version is like cardboard.

All kinds of goodness here, including the rare Marbel beans and Zephyr summer squash

Beets - I started several types of beets, including those with golden flesh, in the spring, transplanted into plugs, and then they went into the front of a new raised bed. We had plenty of greens and a nice yield of perfect beets.

Carrots - Rainbow Mix - I direct seeded carrots into the elevated planter. They germinated well, were thinned, and we ended up with a heavy yield of beautiful, tasty, colorful carrots. This was my first success with carrots in my 40 years of gardening.

Basil - I started quite a few seedlings of prospera, devotion, gecofure and Genovese basils. The first three have been bred recently for tolerance to downy mildew. All did fine, but the Genovese did go down to disease first. I tucked a basil plant in each bale between two tomato plants, and also had it in two large containers. We had plenty!

Flowers from seed - sweet peas, zinnias, roselle, hibiscus, dahlias, columbine, morning glory, petunia, cosmos

Having a set of real, genuine sunny garden spaces at our new house was a thrilling prospect. We took full advantage, buying some new perennials, sowing flower seeds to tuck all sorts of colors in all sorts of sizes here and there around our yard.

A rare sight - my very few sweet pea blossoms

I started sweet peas early and transplanted against a new trellis from Gardeners Supply that I was testing. Alas, sweet peas struggled with our weather, and after just a few blossoms, they were pulled, and I need to rethink timing and location.

Much more successful were other flowers from seeds - I had various older packets of zinnias and dahlias which germinated and sized up quickly - they provided lots of cut flowers and color. I planted two types of dahlia from a few remaining seed packets, one of which had reddish foliage. Though they are not the best cut flowers, their enthusiasm makes them useful to add splashes of color. A friend shared some tubers of larger flowered, taller dahlias with me and they were outstanding.

My idea of growing Grandpa Ott’s morning glory up a string trellis on our shed did not go too well. The plants got lost among pachysandra and canna.

I seeded some columbine after stratifying in the freezer for a few days - some from seed saved years ago on a visit to a Glendale Springs garden, some from a new packet of McKana’s Giants. I ended up with about 20 nice healthy seedlings which were planted into our front garden. Next spring should be lovely to look at in that area.

Roselle and other hibiscus (all collected in the wild) were mixed. I didn’t have them in quite the correct location. I loved the look of the roselle plant, but didn’t get a good harvest of the calyxes. The taller hibiscus were simply not in a location that allowed for flowering - too much shade. All plants are still alive in containers in my garage.

Finally, I had a packet of old fashioned petunias, seeded some and they grew into vigorous healthy plants with a nice mix of colors. They found good use in a few of our edge gardens.

Most exciting was watching the existing plantings bloom - tulips, daffodils, a gorgeous magnolia, a lavender and outstanding deep red rhododendron, mature redbud and dogwood (salmon colored) trees, gladiolas, butterfly bush, forsythia, hydrangea, lilac, deep red monarda, lots of phlox (both white and pale purple), rubdeckia, coral bells, astilbe - so much unexpected, joyous color!

As I write this blog in December, I am dreaming of next March with our redbud in full bloom!