Cold Climate Gardening

I mean, Johnny’s loves me. I happened to be looking at tomatoes online tonight (which is early for me!), and lo, I discovered Valley Girl! Despite anything anyone says to the contrary, I am going to believe this tomato was developed just for me. (I am a girl, and I am living in a Valley.) Assuming it works as advertised, it sets fruit under both extreme heat and extreme cold, matures early, and is crack tolerant. It’s also supposed to be productive and flavorful. And it’s not a tiny tomato. It’s only everything I’ve ever wanted in a tomato! (Hopefully, it will prove itself worthy of that title next year.)

And, in case anyone is wondering, I have …

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Not much.

As is my habit every spring, I test my seeds to see whether they’re still any good, or if I need to buy new ones. This is a very easy thing to do–you stick half a damp paper towel in a little plastic bag, drop in ten seeds (5 if you’re starting to run short, or if they’re big seeds, like squash). Write the date you started them, and wait to see what sprouts.

Almost every year, 10 out of 10 or 9 out of 10 seeds sprout without fail. I though that perhaps that was exclusive to Johnny’s, but my Fedco seeds had the same result.

My one bug-a-boo is Seeds of Change.

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So we got this new (meaning, we’ve never gotten this one before, the company’s actually 9 years old) seed catalog in the mail the other day, and I’ve been elected to post about it. They’re called Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, and you can find them on the internet here. They’re all about rare, organic, old, vegetable seeds. They do have some flowers, but nothing that rare as far as flowers are concerned, nor a very large selection. As far as the vegetables are concerned, though, it was certainly an eye-opener on the diversity within a species!

The first clue that there was going to be some really out of the ordinary stuff in this catalog was in the cucumber section. Now, almost everyone has seen the lemon cukes by now, but they also had pictures for “Mexican Sour Gherkin”, which looks just like a miniature watermelon, and Hmong Red and Chinese Yellow, as well as Poona Cheera which looks sort of like a mix between a sweet potato and a cucumber. In the cucumber section was also where I first noticed the quotes they were putting in (in this case, “Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius–and a lot of courage–to move in the opposite direction.” –Albert Einstein”).

At this point, it was impossible not to start making comparisons between them and Fedco.

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As I’m beginning to get started on my seed order this year, I remember that I meant to post on potatoes. Last year, due to the fascinating varieties offered by Fedco, I ordered my potatoes from them instead of Johnny’s. Most of you probably know that Fedco is divided into several distinct branches; the seeds ship from Fedco Seeds, the potatoes from Moose Tubers. Well, much to my disappointment, I am not nearly so happy with the potatoes as I have been with my seeds from Fedco, and will be ordering my potatoes from Johnny’s this year (last year prices were almost exactly the same, and I trust they haven’t changed).

I don’t recall ever getting a less than perfect …

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That is, if I am even capable of writing something short. Brevity just isn’t my thing.

The first frost is probably on its way tonight, as evidenced by the heaps and heaps of flowers I cut and brought in. Oh, and the still, clear night air, and the rapidly approaching chill. This is slightly late for our first frost, but I am certainly not complaining, particularly since last night was the first night I slept under a real roof in over 4 weeks. (As Mom mentioned earlier, I’ve been sleeping out in a tent in the front lawn as we undergo renovations.) A light sheet carelessly tossed might protect tomatoes, but they don’t protect delicate little girls! At 43 degrees of the last morning we were out, we could already see our breath inside of the tent. I wasn’t cold (except for sometimes my nose) as I had 4 blankets and one heavy duty sleeping bag, plus the tent, but nonetheless I wasn’t eager to experience frost first hand.

At any rate, as the gardening season for us has basically come to a close, I figured I ought to write a post.

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People who have been reading a while might remember this post of mine from a while back. Well, today we have a very similar story. Once again, it begins with me coming back from shopping–which is odd, because I actually very rarely go out shopping, only about once a month when I go out to clean my grandmother’s house. From the way my stories always go, you’d think I did nothing but shop. And once again I was informed I’d received a letter from Fedco’s.

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Our nasty, hot sticky weather–high 90s for days and days on end, coupled with so much humidity the hill across the street was covered in a white haze–has finally broken. Quite dramatically. Now we’ve been getting days where the warmest it gets is into the low 60s. There was no transition at all; it is as though someone has just flipped a switch.

I thought it might make some of my hot weather loving plants pout, but so far I haven’t seen any sign of it. My tomatoes are not only blooming, some of them have green tomatoes the size of golf balls on them!! This is the best I’ve ever done with tomatoes so far. I had potted them …

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