Snow snow snow ! Everything is cover in a good 8 inches here , and the temps have been terribly frosty . Even the wimp ’ tooth are chattering !
I walked past the veg garden this morning on my way back from the volaille chicken coop and peek over the fencing for a routine of dreaming . Now that the seed catalogs are rolling in , I ’m suppose about what fun things I ’m going to seek this year .
A Quaker was telling me about a ‘ new and meliorate ’ translation of my favorite common beet — an Italian heirloom call ‘ Chioggia ’ . I ca n’t imagine how they could possibly improve on it , but I ’m going to have to give it a endeavour .
Apparently , there is improved bolt tolerance and the beets are more consistent in size with the newfangled rendering . It ’s called ‘ Chioggia Guardsmark ’ and since I ’m always up for a good experiment , I think I ’m going to try it side - by - side with good old ‘ Chioggia ’ and see the difference myself .
I have also been considering going back to growing melon vine . It ’s been a long fourth dimension since I ’ve grown them . I ’ve always had problem with them for some reasonableness . Either it ’s been too wet or they do n’t set good yield .
I ’m blend to get a few different single - serving sized varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds . ‘ Tigger ’ perhaps , and/or ‘ Alvaro ’ for entrant . I ’ll see what attain my fancy when enjoin time comes in a few weeks . I ’ll need to grow them vertically for have enough room for everything I require to grow . That means I ’ll ask to organise some sort of trellis to cast anchor to the fence for support . Hmmmm … any suggestions ?
I ’ve been leaf through the Territorial Seed Company ’s catalog too ( and dog earring lots of pages ! ) . I ’m curious about the ‘ Bordeaux wine ’ spinach plant they sway . It has cherry root word and they tout it as being a “ sweet , subtle flavor”—two words I have never heard when describing prickly-seeded spinach . The seeds are n’t any more expensive than traditional variety either , so I may have to give it a try .
Another experimental ( for me ) veggie I project to try is a cuke named ‘ Rocky ’ . It ’s a miniskirt - cucumber that ’s seedless and only about 2 - 3 inches long when ripe . It produces early and hopefully will become my novel salad / snacking cucumber . I ’ll always grow ‘ County Fair ’ and ‘ Marketmore 76 ’ for my pickles , but I favour seedless form for snacking .
It ’s going to be a fun year !
« More Dirt on Gardening »
