Attend a Free Tomato Webinar!

This is the week when a new, on-line, “everything tomatoes” course, Growing Epic Tomatoes, opens registration. Throughout the week, Joe Lamp’l and I will host a series of free webinars (they are all the same, so you only need to attend one of them) to share lots of great information on successfully growing the vast majority of gardeners’ favorite summer crop - tomatoes, of course!

Here is where you can sign up for one of the free webinars (they will cover the same territory, so just sign up for the one that best fits your schedule). Each will last about an hour, with lots of really useful content, information about the on line class, and time for your questions; Joe and I will be live on each one. Below is more info on the 5 key takeaways from the webinars.

Joe and I have developed a great friendship and rapport, based on a shared love of gardening, we are having a wonderful time putting the new course together, and we look forward to mining our combined 80 plus years of gardening to bring you an informative, enjoyable and fun hour. Be sure to sign up for a webinar at the link at the beginning of this blog - we’ll see you at one of them soon!

Germination and plant characteristic update on all of my 2020 created hybrids

our beautiful magnolia that was hit hard by a low of 24 degrees last night. there are quite a few browning petals.

This will be a short blog for me. I just transplanted the seedlings of my new F1 hybrids (lots of you are trying some of them out this year) to get a sense of plant habit (indeterminate or dwarf), and true leaf shape. This is really a confirmation on success of the cross.

Remember - you only have to plant one of the hybrid plants - the fun will be in seeing what the tomatoes are like. You can save lots of seed if you want to explore how the hybrid segregates and mixes traits in future years - with the crosses involving dwarfs, that is where the fun really begins!

Indeterminate X Indeterminate hybrids

Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom F1 - 5 seeds planted, 4 seedlings, all indeterminate and regular leaf - confirmed successful cross.

Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart F1 - 5 seeds planted, 2 regular leaf indeterminate (successful cross), 2 potato leaf indeterminate (Striped Sweetheart, uncrossed), and 1 unclear. Anyone who received this should grow the regular leaf plant if they want to see what the hybrid looks like, and can add the potato leaf if they want to experience Striped Sweetheart itself.

Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World F1 - 5 seeds planted, 4 seedlings, all regular leaf indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Blue’s Bling X Polish F1 - 5 seeds planted, 4 seedlings regular leaf indeterminate and 1 unclear - confirmed successful cross.

Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F1 - 5 seeds planted, 4 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross

Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Indeterminate X Dwarf hybrids (and one Dwarf X Dwarf hybrid)

Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Moby’s Cherry F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 seedlings, all regular leaf and indeterminate - confirmed successful cross.

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart F1 - 4 seeds planted, 4 seedlings, 3 of which are regular leaf indeterminate and 1 is unclear. Confirmed successful cross.

Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F1 - 4 seeds planted, 4 seedlings, 3 of which are regular leaf indeterminate and 1 is unclear - confirmed successful cross.

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob F1 - 5 seeds planted, germination failure to date.

Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F1 - 3 seeds planted, 3 seedlings, all indeterminate and regular leaf - confirmed successful cross.

Dwarf Mr Snow X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F1 - 5 seeds planted, 5 indeterminate regular leaf seedlings - unusual result and likely error in noting which fruit was crossed which way (see the next one) - it is a successful cross, but….

Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum F1 - 4 seeds planted, 4 what appears to be dwarf seedlings, regular leaf - this could indeed be the Mr Snow X Mocha’s Plum cross, and the one above is the Don’s Double Delight X Mocha’s Plum cross. We shall see!

The good news is that only one of the new crosses failed (so far) to germinate - and only one of the new crosses is partially successful (some germinated seed will grow the hybrid, and some the female parent).

All of the new F1 hybrid seedlings, just transplanted so that 3 or 4 or 5 seedlings are in one 3.5 inch pot.

Now I am off to replant the new hybrid that failed to germinate, as well as 29 other varieties (not all tomatoes - zinnia, dahlia and basil will be planted as well) - this will complete my 2021 seed planting. Watch for more updates!

tulips showing their unhappiness with last night’s mid 20s

More germination results - lots of them! - as transplanting continues

The red bud is on the cusp!

It was a pretty damp day, but mild, which made it perfect to continue the transplanting process. In yesterday’s blog, I began reporting on my germination results. Below is the data collected today.

Indeterminate varieties

• Green Giant T20-20 - 100%, all potato leaf

• Lucky Cross T20-4 - 91%, 20 potato leaf, 1 regular leaf

• Little Lucky T20-18 - 100%, but 8 regular leaf, 14 expected potato leaf.

• Sungold (hybrid, new seed, from Johnny’s) - 100%

• Egg Yolk T20-126 - 100%

• Mexico Midget T19-144 - 80%

• Red Brandywine T18-11 - 100%

• Nepal 6585 (from my friend Charlie) - 100%

• Don’s Double Delight T20-1 - 90%

• Cancelmo Family Heirloom T20-15 - 100%

• Dester T20-3 - 44%

• Speckled Roman T12-68 - 72%

• Blue’s Bling T20-24 - 96%

• Black Cherry T20-127 - 100%

• Fruit T20-125 - 100%

• Peak of Perfection T20-9 - 48%

• Anna Russian T14-2 - 95%

• Dr. Wyche’s Yellow T15-75 - 27%

• Druzba T15-77 - 100%

• Yellow Oxheart T13-16 - 100%

• Ester’s Mortgage Lifter 7203 - 100%

• Hugh’s T14-27 - 100%

• Abraham Lincoln T19-113 - 100%

• Magnus T15-52 - 67%

• Giant Syrian T13-138 - 100%

• Kellogg’s Breakfast T12-74 - 60%

Of all of the indeterminate varieties I’ve transplanted so far, the big disappointments from 2020 saved seed are Brandywine T20-16 (16%), Polish T20-7 (36%), Dester T20-3 (44%), Peak of Perfection T20-9 (48%), and the high level of clear crosses (regular leaf seedlings) with Little Lucky. Ferris Wheel for whatever reason always seems to come out as a mix (some potato leaf, some dwarfs). Anyone who received seeds of the above from me can now match my results with theirs.

Dwarf varieties

• Dwarf Tanager T20-37 - 80%

• Dwarf Perfect Harmony T20-38 - 100%

• Dwarf Strawberry Lemonade T20-39 - 100%

• Dwarf Mr. Snow T20-40 - 75%

• Dwarf Chocolate Lightning T20-41 - 45%

• Rosella Purple T20-43 - 44%

• Dwarf Hazy’s Dream T20-44 - 100%

• Dwarf Wild Spudleaf T20-45 - 100%

• Tasmanian Chocolate T20-46 - 40%

• Summertime Green T20-56 - 5%

• Rosella Crimson T20-58 - 96%

• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf T20-59 - 0%

• Dwarf Golden Gypsy T20-60 - 100%

• Dwarf Firebird Sweet T20-61 - 96%

• Dwarf Beryl Beauty T20-66 - 100%

• Dwarf Walter’s Fancy T20-79 - 100%

• Dwarf Gloria’s Treat T20-95 - 100%

• Dwarf Emerald Giant T20-96 - 100%

• Dwarf Sweet Sue T20-97 - 43%

• Capri Show Stopper 3499 - 33% (one seed of my last remaining 3 from Patrina - but it is dwarf!)

The big disappointments are Dwarf Sweet Sue, Tasmanian Chocolate, Dwarf Chocolate Lightning, Rosella Purple, and the dismal Summertime Green and Sweet Scarlet Dwarf. I’ve replanted all from different years of seed saving. I still suspect insufficiently dry seed before storing away.

Overall, I have to be really happy with results so far. Out of 40 indeterminate varieties, there were issues with only 4. And out of 20 dwarf varieties, 6 didn’t go well.

In my next transplant report, I hope to confirm leaf shape and plant habit with all of the new F1 hybrids (many of which were sent out to some of you to try. I will have results from replants of the failures from initial planting, and in a few weeks, results from an additional 20 dwarfs.

Aside from a few plantings of herbs and flowers and some tomatoes (the flat to be used as a demo for Joe’s filming for our course), the vast majority of my seed planting is done, and remarkably, lots of transplanting as well (up to 1000 seedlings!).

I hope those who received seeds from me find the data in this and the previous blog helpful.

One more bit of interesting information - days to germination vs years seeds saved.

• 2020 saved tomato seeds - the vast majority germinated in three days - with 3 types germinating in 2 days, 6 in 4 days, 2 in 6 days.

• 2019 saved seeds - 2 in 3 days, 1 in 4 days, 1 in 5 days

• 2018 saved seeds - 1 in 3 days

• 2015 saved seeds - 1 in 4 days, 2 in 5 days

• 2014 saved seeds - 2 in 4 days

• 2013 saved seeds - 1 in 4 days, 1 in 6 days

• 2012 saved seeds - 1 in 6 days

• 2009 saved seeds - weak germination in 14 days

• 2004 saved seeds - one variety, no germination

• 2003 saved seeds - no germination after 14 days for 3 varieties

A very long overdue update. Garden progress, Social Networking thoughts, Germination Data and a Big New Project

Where should I start? It’s late March, our magnolia began to unfurl today, transplanting is underway, straw bales are being prepared, and that’s just a partial list of all of the things I’m juggling right now.

Garden Progress

My seed flat planting dates and types of seeds planted:

Flat 1 - planted February 24 - 20 types of lettuce, three types of spinach, rhubarb, Feaster Family mustard, Little Rhody collards, two types of chard, 4 types of beets, 15 types of daylily seeds, and a few flowers - cardinal flower, larkspur and seeds saved from a shrub seen during our spring hikes.

Flat 2 - planted February 25 - 27 types of indeterminate tomatoes, 4 types of F2 seeds saved from new hybrids I created a few years ago (and grew out last year), 19 types of dwarf tomatoes. For the most part, these plantings will support spring seedling sales, and some will end up in my straw bales as well.

Flat 3 - planted February 26 - 13 cells of eggplants, 21 cells of peppers, 1 cell of ground cherry, 14 types of indeterminate tomatoes and 1 type of dwarf tomatoes. There are some interesting things in flat 3, including some rare peppers and some new family heirlooms, as well as some older tomato seeds. The eggplants and peppers and a few of the tomatoes and the ground cherry will be part of my spring seedling sales, with a few winding up in my garden.

Flat 4 - planted March 13 - all tomatoes, including all of the new F1s I created last year (17 types), 26 cells of indeterminate tomatoes, 5 types of dwarf tomatoes, and 2 types of determinate tomatoes. I hope to grow all of the new F1s, and in this flat are a few other new family heirlooms, some older varieties that need growing, and more for my seedling sales.

Flat 5 - planted March 23 - 5 cells of eggplants, 5 cells of peppers, the 9 tomatoes in the 3 seedlinked seed collections I am curating, 19 cells of dwarf tomatoes, 11 types of indeterminate tomatoes and 1 determinate tomato. This is another really interesting mix, with some replants of varieties that didn’t appear to germinate well, some additional dwarf varieties - some of which I will grow, and many for seedling sales.

I will plant a flat 6 about 4-5 days before Joe Lamp’l’s first visit to my garden (April 6). Why is Joe visiting? I’ll discuss that in the final section, below! In that flat will be a zinnias, basil, and some more tomatoes.

Transplanting

I started moving clumps into 3.5 inch pots about a week ago so that they would be able to hold a bit more prior to transplanting to individual posts. I moved the lettuce as clumps on March 25. I also started transplanting tomatoes into individual pots on March 25, and got lots more done today.

Start of germination data

I was concerned that seed I sent out may have germination issues, based on some banter with Instagram gardening friends. In truth, a few varieties are not showing the quality I typically achieve. I will have much more data in the next few days, but here is the first:

• Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red T19-13 - 100%

• Aker’s West Virginia T19-16 - 95%

• Brandywine T20-16 - 16%

• Ferris Wheel T20-5 - 72%, but 3 seedlings are dwarf, and 3 seedlings are potato leaf.

• Polish T20-7 - 36%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Stump of the World T20-12 - 85%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Cherokee Purple T20-11 - 97%

• Cherokee Chocolate T20-13 - 96%

• Casey’s Pure Yellow T20-14 - 92%

• Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom T20-10 - 100%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Cherokee Green T20-8 - 91%

• Microdwarf X Indeterminate F2 T20-26 - 97%, including 19 indeterminate, 7 dwarf type and 3 not yet sure.

• Fuzzy determinate X Indeterminate F2 T20-25 - 100%, including 11 short fuzzy plants, 8 tall fuzzy plants and 11 normal stem and leaf indeterminate plants.

• Suzy F2 T20-28 - 100% including 22 regular leaf indeterminate, 3 potato leaf indeterminate, 1 potato leaf dwarf and 4 regular leaf dwarf.

• Blazy F1 20-29 - 100%, including a very wide variety of seedlings - indeterminate regular and potato leaf, regular or yellow leaf color, and regular and potato leaf dwarfs, regular color and yellow color. This was expected!

I am disappointed with the low germinations of 2020 saved Brandywine and Polish, and think that higher humidity in our house (we had windows open and didn’t use the AC all summer) occasionally impacted seed quality.

In my next report, I hope to fill in more of the picture, with another 30 varieties saved in 2020 awaiting transplanting.

Straw Bale Garden plans

I’ve purchased and am half way through preparing 20 straw bales, with plans to purchase another 10, probably tomorrow. 4 of the bales are pushed together for bush beans, 4 pushed together for summer squash, and the other 12 + 10 (new ones) will contain tomatoes. I’ve not yet completely decided which varieties to grow, but the 8 indeterminate heirloom X indeterminate heirloom hybrids I created last year will all get straw bale places. The other new hybrids will be grown in containers.

Social Networking ruminations

Ah, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering my approach for this year. Last year I was really “out there” with my weekly Instagram Live sessions. I really enjoyed them - they were fun, I got to share a lot and got to learn a lot from those who watched and asked questions or posted comments.

But a phone call from Joe Lamp’l a few months ago completely rocked my year. I’ll dedicate the last section of this blog talking about it in more detail, but it is certainly going to be a different year - a different garden - for me. I will be doing the occasional live, and continuing my blog and newsletter, but won’t have the opportunity to be as regular in the live sessions - I won’t have as much time. I will do some specifically in support of my role as Seedlinked seed collection curator, but will sprinkle in some live check-ins as well.

Facebook - yes, I’ve crept back on. I need to, in order to support my new endeavor with Joe. But I’ve been off for a long time, and at this point all I’ve done is register. There are an avalanche of friend requests I’ve not addressed. I’ve filled in no information at all. I will, when the time is right - but my presence on Facebook will be solely to participate with Joe in his garden school for our new course.

Growing Epic Tomatoes - Something New! And….about to Keep Me Busy!

Let me start by using a paragraph that Joe is using to talk about this new course.

“The Online Gardening Academy is committed to bringing you the highest value in online training for some of the most popular and important topics when it comes to gardening. Currently there are 3 courses in the academy: Master Seed Starting, Beginning Gardener Fundamentals, and Mastering Pests, Diseases, and Weeds.

The newest course that we’re excited to announce is launching on May 11th. It’s called Growing Epic Tomatoes, and it’s a course that is being taught by Craig LeHoullier (author of the best selling book, Epic Tomatoes), and Joe Lamp’l, he of Growing a Greener World, the joegardener podcast, and his Online Gardening Academy, of which Growing Epic Tomatoes will be a component course. The course will be a completely comprehensive dive into every thing you need to know and more about growing epic tomatoes, divided into 10 packed modules.”

I’ve always wanted to create a tomato growing gardening course, but though I am strong in the content part, the production, filming and other supporting aspects was a real weakness for me. The collaboration between Joe and I will be pretty magical, I think. Anyone who has listened to our podcast chats or watched the GGW episode know that we have a really comfortable rapport, and share a depth and detailed approach for clarity and knowledge.

Joe and his crew’s first trip to my garden happens in early April, and this is the first of several, in order to capture every single aspect of tomatoes that you can think of. It will be busy, packed, great fun, and I will finally be practicing - and demonstrating - what I preach (even the bits that I haven’t done so well - pruning! staking! topping!).

Stay tuned for more details - Joe and I will soon be co-hosting a live webinar where all will be revealed. The webinar will be repeated live over a series of days so that all that have interest will have an opportunity to attend one. The dates of the webinars will be widely posted once we have the dates and times.

In the meantime, enjoy spring, happy gardening, and watch my blog and Instagram feeds for news!

Some guidance on growing out different types of seeds sent out over the past few months

It’s nasty outside, but Koda is happy on his bed.

By now (or if not yet, very soon), coin envelopes of seeds will be in the possession of many of you. I’ve sent a vast variety of seeds this time. They fall into a number of categories: my favorite heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties (all released varieties), new indeterminate X indeterminate hybrids I created last year by crossing some of my favorite heirlooms, new indeterminate X dwarf hybrids I created last year to create new Dwarf Tomato Project families as starting points, and F2 generation seeds from 2 new Dwarf Tomato Project families created from my hybrids 2 years ago that have yet to be explored. Below I will discuss guidance for dealing with each of these categories.

1. Released varieties - either indeterminate heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties. These are for you to grow and enjoy. There is no need to keep detailed data, return saved seeds to me or report back - unless you wish to. I am always happy to hear about how they performed for you. Examples of this category are samples of Cherokee Purple (only a few generations removed from seed sent to me in 1990 by J D Green as an unnamed variety - how did this compare to your expectations or other seed sources for the variety, as an example question I’d love answered), or Dwarf Tanager - a newer, orange fruited release from our Dwarf Tomato Project. In many cases, I shared varieties with you that I hoped would work well based on your goals.

2. New Indeterminate X Indeterminate hybrids I created last year. An example is Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F1 (that is what the packet label would say). There is also likely a number code, such as T20-132. That means it is saved seed from a Tomato grown in 2020, and is the 132nd variety I saved seed from that year. You will find but a very few seeds in the packet, as all of the seeds came from the fruit that formed when pollen from a regular leaf heirloom parent was applied to an emasculated flower of a potato leaf variety, resulting in a tomato. Once the saved seeds are gone, that hybrid is gone and I would have to recreate it. You only need to grow one plant, as all seeds in the packet of a hybrid should be equivalent. The goal is to find out about the characteristics of a new hybrid between two great tasting heirlooms. All should be indeterminate and regular leaf (the dominant trait when a regular and potato leaf variety are crossed). Do not grow out any potato leaf seedlings you get, as they would indicate an unsuccessful cross (I test grew them all last year and the regular leaf seedlings indicated successful crosses). They should be vigorous, high yielding, and show colors related to the dominant traits in the cross. I am most curious as to the quality of the tomatoes - flavor, yield, plant health - and size and color. I’d love to hear back from everyone who received seeds in this category. I am growing all of them myself, so we can have fun comparing notes. If you wish, this can be the starting point of new variety development. If you save seeds and grow them out, segregation into different combinations will be observed. 75% of the seedlings will be regular leaf, 25% potato leaf. *** Distinguishing Dwarfs from Indeterminates - added due to a great question on Instagram - It is quite easy to distinguish the dwarf seedlings very early on. They are half of the height of indeterminates and have a thicker stem. They also have differently shaped cotyledon leaves but it is a subtle characteristic that is not as easy to use as the stem thickness and height.. I’ve done a video on this which can be found here. *** Fruit colors, sizes and flavors will similarly segregate into all kinds of combinations. As an example, Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - I would expect the hybrid to be a large pink or red tomato (depends upon the skin color of Lillian’s Yellow - if clear, the hybrid fruit should be pink, but if yellow, the hybrid fruit should be red). I would hope the flavor to be excellent, but that hypothesis is something this project will explore - and either confirm, or surprise. Saved seeds would give potato or regular leaf seedlings of red, pink, chocolate, purple, yellow, perhaps even white, in addition to other combinations. Feel free to play with and explore these in future years. They can be a start to your own new variety, but it will take half a dozen or more generations of regrowth and reselection to nail down your goals. Unless my plants fail, I will not need any seed returned - it is yours to play with in the years ahead.

3. New Dwarf Tomato Project families from Indeterminate X Dwarf F1 hybrids created last year. An example is Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry F1. I carried out these crosses by adding pollen from an indeterminate regular leaf heirloom to an emasculated flower on a Dwarf variety. Seeds were saved after the developing tomato from the cross ripened, and in some cases with very small fruited or meaty varieties, few seeds were harvested. Your packets, therefore, contain only a very few seeds, but you only need grow one plant from each packet. The resulting plant will be regular leaf and indeterminate, thus confirming success of the cross. The resulting tomatoes will be somewhat of a mystery, as some of the crosses were very “wide” morphologically. In the Blue’s Bling (indeterminate, large purple fruit, regular leaf variegated foliage) X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry (dwarf growth, round small purple fruit with strong antho coloring on the shoulders), I expect the hybrid to be medium small fruited, regular leaf, indeterminate pink in color. The flavor and other characteristics of the hybrid is of curiosity only, as the true objective is the results of growing out saved seed. Given this, save plenty of seeds to take forward for exploration. Saved seed will produce 75% indeterminate and 25% dwarf plants. You are free to grow out indeterminate seedlings, as they will likely provide some interesting results as the characteristics of each parent combine. The resulting dwarf seedlings are the main interest, however. One possible, though perhaps needle in a haystack, result of this cross could be delicious medium to large purple tomatoes with strong antho coloring on a variegated dwarf plant. Each new family I sent out will be similarly fascinating to work with. I am growing them all, and unless I have crop failure on any of them, there is no need to send back saved seeds. But I would appreciate reports and returned seeds once you get into dwarf hunting and growing in future seasons.

4. Seeds of two new Dwarf Tomato Project families - Suzy F2 and Blazey F2 - In 2019, I crossed Dwarf Sweet Sue with Peach Blow Sutton to create the Suzy family. I grew the F1 seed last year and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized pink tomatoes with some yellow. Seeds saved, the F2 generation, are what I sent out, and you got plenty to work with. Similarly, in 2019 I crossed Dwarf Blazing Beauty with Honor Bright to create the Blazey family. I grew the F1 seed last year, and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized scarlet tomatoes. Lots of seed was saved, and some of you received good sized packets. The goal of Suzy is to create matte-skinned (there are none in existence yet), tasty dwarfs, either potato leaf or regular leaf, with excellent flavor no matter the color (which could be, at least, red or pink or yellow or white). The goal of Blazey is to create unique yellow-leaf (as in the parent Honor Bright) dwarfs with either regular or potato leaf foliage, with great flavor, no matter what the color (which could be limited to red or orange, but could also hold surprises). In both cases, sow lots of seeds - 75% will be indeterminate, 25% will be dwarf (if you plant 24 seeds, you should get, on average, 6 dwarfs). Since each cross carries the recessive trait of potato leaf, 25% of the dwarfs in your grow out should be potato leaf. With Blazey, the yellow leaf trait will express at 25% as well, so this may be worth planting in greater number. I would love to know how these do for you - and receiving back some saved seeds from any promising dwarf plants that you choose to grow out. I will be planting some of each and selecting a few dwarfs to grow myself and report on my results.

5. Miscellaneous - some of you are doing continuing work on dwarf tomato project families or named varieties - please continue on, record results, return some saved seeds. Others are working on my peppers or eggplants from dehybridization work - again, data is important, as are returned seeds. Thanks as always for your contributions!

MOST OF ALL - have fun! I am delighted to be collaborating with so many of you on some rather unique little mini-projects!

Marlin getting a nice morning hug from my Sweet Sue

Listening to music, watching the rain, thinking of gardening

Gorgeous day on our Blue Ridge parkway walk earlier this week

We are in for a rainy stretch, and the forecast calls for wet and 40s for the next week and a half. Following that, the 50s appear, which will trigger emerging spring bulbs and the swelling of tree buds. We are a just a bit over one year since moving here, and last year was filled with the joy of seeing all that emerged, grew, blossomed in our various gardens. Though we know a bit more what to expect, it will be no less welcome, and thrilling.

Now that I laid out (in the three prior blogs) what I hope to grow, it gets down to the nitty gritty - getting my planting and seedling areas ready, finding packets of seeds and getting seed into potting mix, especially for the early greens and slow flowers. Yesterday I made my first purchase of seed starter/transplanting medium, and 10 2.8 cu ft bags sit waiting in the garage.

View of Looking Glass Rock from our Blue Ridge hike earlier this week.

Retirement (and the inevitable, delightful ambiguity it brings) and COVID (the ambiguity from which is not delightful) mean a coming year with no clear definition yet. I know that there are scheduled Zooms (and surely will be more as requests come in). I know there will be a minimum of 20 straw bales and a yet-to-be-determined number of grow bags making up this year’s garden, as well as the two raised beds. I know that I will be deeply involved with a new project (which I am not ready to reveal - stay tuned!). And…..the book. Will this be the year that the Dwarf Tomato Project book gets written?

All I know is that time is flying by, the year will be busy, Sue and I are delighted with our three dog, two cat menagerie, we miss seeing our daughters, and there will be lots to share and discuss - many hikes to make, meals to make, veggies to pick and eat and cook with. I am glad that you are along for the ride! I expect that all of you who asked for seeds or books have them in hand. I can’t wait to hear of how things go for you (be sure to share on Instagram, blog comments or emails). Mostly - be safe, and be well!

Sue, Koda, Marlin, and show and ice on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Wrapping up my initial 2021 garden plans - peppers and eggplants - and a few more tomatoes

Ice seen on the mountainsides during a mid January walk on the Blue Ridge parkway (brrrr!)

This is the third and final 2021 planning series of blogs, focusing on peppers and eggplants. The two previous covered tomatoes, and everything but tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Note I said “initial” garden plans in the title - with thousands of options, I always reserve the right to make changes (and seeing what does and does not germinate always modifies my plans).

Sweet Peppers

I am going to focus on the usual set of sweet bell peppers from the last few years - final refinements to some dehybridization projects. From my work with Islander hybrid (aka Blue Jay), I will grow, all from seed saved last year, my current selections of Carolina Amethyst (already released, so just because I love it), Fire Opal, White Gold and Royal Purple. I will also grow out my work with dehybridizing the Stokes Chocolate Bell hybrid from quite a few years ago. It is currently boringly called “Chocolate Bell” but when I deem it ready it will get a more clever, enticing name. Finally, I will regrow my friend Darrel’s selection from one of my favorite sweet peppers, Orange Bell, first received in a SSE transaction decades ago. The working name is Orange Blocky Bell, and it will be from 2019 seeds.

My sweet peppers were a bit of a disaster last year, so I hope to do better with them by planting them in grow bags (not self watering containers) in a sunnier spot in the yard.

Hot Peppers

A nearby gardening friend sent me some fascinating sounding peppers in the super hot category. My curiosity means they will get spots in my garden. These are Pockmark Peach, Pink Tiger X Peach Bhut, Purple Orange Ghostly cross, and Count Dracula. I will probably also grow a Jalapeno, such as Pinata.

Eggplants

The focus here will also be on tidying up the dehybridization work from Orient Express hybrid. My three named selections, Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight, are all in pretty good shape and will be grown from 2020 saved seed. I will also grow Mardi Gras, selected from a bee-produced cross involving Casper, which seems pretty much stable at this point.

Though they did slightly better than the sweet peppers, I will give the eggplants the grow bag treatment in a sunnier spot as well.

Late Addition Tomatoes

I received some treasured family heirlooms over the last months, and want to get them into the garden plans for this year. A variety currently named Bing (1920s), from Josh B (in my collection as tomato 7333), and a variety currently called Aunt Gladys (Melnick/Hall heirloom, #7262), and a version of Mortgage Lifter that the SSE sent me from its collection (Estler strain, #7203 in my collection) will all find a spot.

I will likely also be adding in some dwarf varieties, either from ongoing work, or released varieties I’ve yet to grow.

Seedlings to sell locally

My next task is to develop my locally available seedlings list. I probably won’t blog that, but will create a Word doc that I can send to local gardeners. I’ve got the first 10 bags of Metro Mix 360 ready to pick up at a local Ag supply store. 2021 Gardening is clearly underway!

From one of our January hikes in the Pisgah National Forest

What to grow in 2021? Part 2 - the non-tomato, pepper and eggplant choices

Pansies planted from seed in late 202, getting some sun in late January. Looking good!

In my last blog, I took a stab on my tomato plans for 2021. My next blog will cover my pepper and eggplant decisions. However, we derived much joy - both culinary and aesthetic - from all of the other crops that graced last year’s garden. I just went through boxes and boxes of seed packets and made some decisions about what I hope to include in this year’s garden

First - what to skip in 2021

Though they really did well, I am strongly considering skipping the following: carrots (the Trader Joe bags of rainbow carrots are just fine, and to our palate, carrots are one of those crops that don’t taste appreciably better when home grown), sweet pod peas (for the pods - they take up lots of room, take lots of time and don’t yield nearly enough), and melons (I don’t have the proper location, they take up lots of room and time, and the local farmers market and produce stand provides plenty). I will likely reduce the amount of greens as well (chard, collards, kale, mustard). My goal is to increase those things we loved, and excelled, and eliminate or reduce either the failures or “planted too much of”s. We are going to give Sweet Peas (grown for the flowers) a pass this year as well - I’ve not got the timing or location down yet. Beets - they did great last year, but we didn’t eat as many of the greens as we did previously, they take space and time, and as with carrots, beets are beets, whether home grown or purchased at a farm stand, to our palate. (don’t get angry with me, home grown carrot and beet addicts!). I grew quite a few cosmos, dahlia and an old fashioned petunia last year, and we are going to give them a pass.

New for 2021

Rhubarb - I have some Victoria variety seeds from Victory and will give them an early start indoors. This will be my first attempt, and just want to try a few plants here and there. We love strawberry rhubarb crisp!

Spinach - I had a few plants from an Asheville nursery that did great, so want to grow a few varieties from seed. I have Nobel and Space from Johnny’s and will get some seeds planted indoors soon.

Flowers - I’ve got seeds of Larkspur and saved seeds from last year’s Cardinal Flower that are soon to get indoor planted. Three types of pansies, three types of coleus and Rocket snapdragons are up and growing nicely.

Peas - I will plant them thickly and early, but not for the peas - for the pea shoots, to use in stir fries and salads. Lovely sweet pea flavor is addictive! I’ve got packets of Little Marvel, Frosty and Recruit to plant.

Repeats

Sugar Snap Peas - the tall growing version. We loved them last year but didn’t plant nearly enough. They will go in early and all of our fence trellis area will be used.

Pole Beans Monte Gusto (a wax pole from Johnnys) and Fowler Pole - after the Sugar Snaps die back they will be replaced with some of each.

Greens - I will get seeds of various heirloom lettuce, collards, and mustard, and some Chard Bright Lights planted soon - these will go into my raised and elevated beds.

Zinnia - we had several types last year, but this year I am going with Thumbelina. Last year’s varieties were a bit too tall, with flowers a bit too large.

Cucumber - I LOVE Diva, but it did not like growing here (we were warned by some growers at the farmers market that it struggles here). I am trying a new Johnny’s hybrid, Unagi. I think I will grow it on the metal trellis against our fence.

Bush Beans - I am going to go with some favorites from last year - Marbel, Fowler and Jade, planted in straw bales. They were a spectacular success in 2020.

Summer Squash - Zucchini Dunja and Goldmine, Cousa type Magda, and Zephyr will be my choices, direct seeded into straw bales.

Basil - Though I love Genovese, the downy mildew loves it as well. I will plant some seeds of Gecofure, Devotion and Prospera indoors soon to get an early start. A friend send some Caramel Chianti seeds, which I will try as well.

I think that’s about it - it certainly is enough! Currently, our two raised beds have greens (they are really getting battle tested during this cold winter), and garlic, both of which planted in the fall. I’ve not yet decided what will go into them, but lettuce, spinach, and bush beans are all candidates for the summer.

A birthday walk for Sue, with Marlin and Koda, at DuPont Forest on January 22.

Let's get the 2021 garden season rolling. Early thoughts and ideas...starting with tomatoes

January 8 light snow - yep, it’s winter!

Those big “2020 garden year in review” blogs were monsters to write, but serve as a nice garden diary that I will be sure to look back on. After that last one, in late December, all sorts of things happened - Christmas, New Year, and both our birthdays. With that all out of the way (and an appropriate amount of extra poundage that will get dealt with in the coming warmer days of gardening and hiking), it’s time to think about what to grow - and how to grow it - for the coming year.

Before I start to ponder lists and decisions, today was a big milestone day - all seed requests that came in between mid 2020 and last week are now fulfilled. I’ve sent so many packets of seeds around the world that awaiting reports and results in late summer will be loads of fun. More big news - Mike Dunton at Victory Seed Company released more of our new Dwarf Tomato Project varieties, bringing the number to 134 varieties. The project continues on still, with some really exciting releases to come.

I also hope to restart the Friday Instagram Live sessions in mid February. They were so much fun to do last year and answering all of your garden questions in a sort of flash session was a great challenge. I’ve also got some Zoom webinars scheduled and sprinkled throughout the year. If any of them are open attendance, I will be sure to let you know and provide the appropriate link so that you can check them out.

OK - now on to the options for the garden this year

Tomatoes - too many options, ruthless decisions necessary

Last year I went overboard with my 133 plants. I lost control, the tomato jungle became a tomato mess, and the season was cut short by disease and critter attacks. But….was it ever fun! 63 quarts canned, mostly from the indeterminate large fruited types, superb flavors, and much was learned about gardening here in Hendersonville.

Growing indeterminates in straw bales worked well, so I will repeat that format and layout. I need to pay closer attention to staking, pruning and topping. 12 straw bales mean 24 indeterminate varieties.

My current top choices for the 24 indeterminate tomatoes will be started with all of the new hybrids I created last year. The first 8 are indeterminate X indeterminate. The next 9 are indeterminate X dwarf, or dwarf X dwarf (#16 below). #18-24, finishing off the straw bales, are top flavor indeterminate heirlooms.

1. Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom

2. Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart

3. Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World

4. Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant

5. Blue’s Bling X Polish

6. Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

7. Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe

8. Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky

9. Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha Cherry

10. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart

11. Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

12. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart

13. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

14. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob

15. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

16. Dwarf Mr. Snow X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

17. Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

18. Lucky Cross

19. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

20. Cherokee Purple

21. Polish

22. Cherokee Green

23. Green Giant

24. Brandywine

In front of each straw bale will be a container with a dwarf of some sort, or a determinate variety (to use as an example of determinate growth habit). Last year I grew out 4 new hybrids - Dwarf Sweet Sue X Peach Blow Sutton (the Suzy family), Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Honor Bright (the Blazey family), a purple and green striped micro dwarf with an heirloom indeterminate (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom), and a compact determinate extremely fuzzy leaf variety (Fuzzy) crossed with an indeterminate heirloom (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom). The grow bags next to each of the dozen straw bales will hold seedlings from these new hybrids.

There is a tomato that I grew way back in Pennsylvania, 1991, the year after I received the variety that I named Cherokee Purple. It is a variety from a fellow seed saver and amateur plant breeder named Tad Smith called Price’s Purple. Having the same color as Cherokee Purple, the plant of Price’s Purple is potato leaf. The last time I grew it was 2004, so I hope to see if I can germinate the 17 year old seed and grow a plant in my 2021 garden.

Another mystery I am working to solve is the Dwarf Tomato Project candidate Capri Show Stopper, named by Patrina in 2012 from the Pesty family as a nice flavored pink. We did a bit of work on it the past few years and what we now have is an indeterminate that produces either pink or yellow/red bicolored tomatoes. I am returning to the seed Patrina sent me to see if I can find the dwarf that she selected and named.

I may grow a few cherry tomatoes near the deck again - probably Sungold F1 (from new seed purchased from Johnny’s), and Egg Yolk. I will certainly keep them in better control.

Of course, there are loads of tomatoes I’d love to grow that are not included in my plans. The varieties I distributed in the dozens of seed shares I just sent off were made with this in mind; I will be doing a lot of vicarious gardening this year.

Walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway (the section near us is closed)

2020 Garden Year in Review - Everything Except the Tomatoes

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 family heirloom bean

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.

Zephyr squash coming along

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 from our raised bed

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!