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Re: seed varieties



First let me tell you what I do so you'll know where I am coming from.
I've worked for a CSA before on a very part-time basis. I grow almost all
my non-carbo plant needs (the main carbo veg I grow is potatoes :-) I grow
and sell cut flowers and have done a few subcriptions informally here and
there but haven't looked to really push that end of things so far.

I love your typical annual type vegies and here are some of my faves:

Cubanelles: I encourage all my CSA farmer friends round here to grow
these. They are always the first sweet "peppers" in, they come in well
before any bells. (I don't like bells much.) Cubanelles are not
super-sweet but they're sweet enough for eating fresh in a salad. They are
also good for frying. I have grown several varieties of cubanelle and have
been uniformily impressed. Oh just for the record they are NOT hot. They
are much more prolific than bells. Though each fruit is slightly smaller
than your average bell there are many more of them and I get several good
flushes a season. They can be eaten as soon as they are firm all over
(pale green) but will ripen to that typical flame orange-red. They are
elongated rather than squat.

Nardellos: Absolutely terrific cooking Italian pepper. I start harvesting
when they are mostly red with perhaps some spots of brown remaining.
(They ripen green to brown to deep red.) They are so sweet it's amazing
though they resemble a twisty overgrown Cayenne. At the height of the
summer I let them predominate my pastas. That is, I sautee oodles of them
and add ya know some garlic and onions and basil or some basil and some
tender beans or some portobellos  and then I just grate some nice salty
hard cheese and you're talking delish. Note: Nardellos are too thin
fleshed to be very good for fresh eating.

I grow a lot of chilies for chilies rellenos and moles but I think those
are perhaps too "speciality" for your average CSA.

Krantz russet potatoes are hands down my fave russet. Russets always had a
bad rap with me till I ate these. They're basically really just best baked
but oh my are they heavenly. (Unfortunately they are all gone now and I've
had to move onto the Butte russets.) Like the other russets I have tried
they aren't the heaviest yielder though you do get some nice lunkers so
that might be an issue for some CSAs.

Carola is an exceptionl, imho, yellow fleshed good yielding waxy potato
which deserves to replace both Yukon Gold and Yellow Finn (imNso :-)

Copra and Blanco Duro onions have always performed well for me. Not too
much bolting and consistenly store pretty well and taste good and oniony.
I really adore the allium family as a whole. 
I dig the whole tribe of delicatas, from The delicata to her sisters the
'sweet dumpling' and the 'sugar loaf'. I never cared for winter squash
till I tried these. See it was the 80's and I was working prodce at an
orgo co-op and I figured I had to taste everything so I could sell it and
so I duly took home a delicata and the rest is history. All of the
delicata tribe make exquisite squash soup and squash stuffed ravioli. 

I do NOT care for golden beets. Their color is gorgeous but I find them
dull in taste. I do love Chioggas which are cross between your basic white
sugar beet and your basic red garden beet....

I grow a lot of overwintering vegies cause my climate is perfect for this.
I guess unless you're doing a winter CSA these aren't so great for you but
if you're curious let me know and I'll wax poetic on my faves here.

I love my German extra hardy garlic (orginally from Johnny's who buys it
from some grower in NY state and I've been guessing which grower that
is...used to live in Ithaca :-) and I love my Korean Red Garlic--huge very
hot heads just a treasure for the eyes and the garlic lover...originally
from Territorial... Garlic seems to becoming a fad out there. So many new
stiff neck varieties...I think there is probably a lot of redundant
cross-reference going on...i.e., same basic thing going by several names.
I'm just working on getting the Northeast Portland series of garlic going
:-)

I could go on but I guess I will stop and mention some flowers since I
grow more flowers than annual vegies.

I have been increasing my perennial offerings year after year. I think
perennials are the cat's pajamas and allow for some very unusual cuts. I
think that using perennial flowers in your CSA could be a good way to get
some less-frequently disturbed garden beds going  (perennials, esp. when
they're cut do have to be replanted every 2-5 years on average depending
on kind).... I tell you having a field of flowers with somewhere between
30-60% perennials is a HUGE insect attracter...way more than in a solely
annual vegie production field where you harvest many vegies before
they go to flower.

So, really I've more to say about perennial varieties but as far as
annuals I like Rocket snaps and Blue Point Zinnias.... I tried trachelium
this year and it was a winner. Absolutely useful and admired by customers
to no end...We'll see if it makes it through the winter or if it rots out
and I have to grow it as an annual. Buplereum griffithi is a wonderful
filler with intriguing looks and colors. 

I groove to S. horminum as a filler type too. 

It's funny someone mentioned liking Didiscus. I grew and disliked it
immensely. The blue was too pale and actually I prefer carrots gone to
flower better :-) (I also sell some leeks I let go to flower :-)  Many
umbell vegies have nice bouquet filler type flowers as a matter of
fact...(Not that a leek is an umbell, no siree, just that I am jumping
back and forth...:-) 

N. damascena is a good old reliable for us. Easy as it is to grow here
people just clamour for it and I have to admit it's fetching....

Well, if you are interested in hearing me swoon over my fave perennials
let me know... And, if you've any not-run-of-the-mill annual flowers you
grow lemme know.

:-)
eliza


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