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Re: seed varieties



where do you live ?

when posting these favourites - please add your location or zone so that we
can tell if they would work in our area ! 

Also please include common names for those of us not familiar with all the
botanical names - Thanks 

At 05:35 PM 10/01/99 -0800, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>
Laura Sabourin
Feast of Fields Inc
Biodynamically Certified Organic Farm http://www.ragdolls.net/farm.eht
Ragenesque Ragdoll Cattery http://www.ragdolls.net
R R # 1
St Catharines, Ontario L2R 6P7


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