Heirloom Tomato Seeds from WinterSown
A couple weeks ago I found out about Winter Sown on Annie’s Kitchen Garden. Wintersown will send you free heirloom tomato seeds for nothing more than a self addressed stamped envelope. They have a list on their website and you choose 6 kinds that you would like and some alternates (in case they don’t have the ones you want). I was super excited when I looked through their list because they had Tumbling Tom as one of their options and Principe Borghese as well. I was hoping to find Tumbling Tom tomatoes because I want to try growing them in hanging baskets on my front porch. Principe Borghese are superb drying tomatoes, so I was hoping to find these to dry for winter use.
I sent off my SASE last week and I received my seeds on Monday. When I opened up my envelope I was delighted to not only find my first 6 choices of seeds, but some of my alternate choices as well and some cucumber and parsley seeds.
They also included a brochure with directions on how to save your own seeds and they encourage you to send in your saved seeds so they can give them to others. What a great idea! I have saved tomato seeds for a few years, it’s super easy. This summer I saved a few from some farmer’s market tomatoes. I made sure to ask if they were heirloom plants. I’ll have to save a bunch and send in my extras this fall.
What seeds did I receive?
Cherokee Purple ~ Deep, dark rose-tone beefsteak, known for great flavor, most fruits over a half pound, IND, about 80 DTM
Cold Set ~ Canadian saladette has red fruits up to four ounces, fast and early, DET, about 65 DTM
Tumbling Tom ~ Loads of red cherries on dwarf plants are perfect for pots or hanging containers, DET, about 70 DTM
Costoluto Genovese ~ Italian heirloom has ribbed fruits, about 5 – 7 ounces, IND, 90 DTM
Roller Coaster Cherry Tomato Mix ~ Delicious and colorful blend made from varieties of cherry, pea, currant, wild types and rarities; 10+ seeds per pack, IND, 70 – 85+ DTM
Azoychka ~ Lemon-yellow beefsteaks can weigh about a half-pound, yummy early cropper, IND, 70+ DTM
Principe Borghese ~ great drying tomato, DET, about 75 DTM
White Beauty ~ Creamy white, meaty and delicious, most about a half pound, IND, 85 DTM
Kitchen Herb: Parsley
Marketmore Cucumber
I’m super excited about trying all these different kinds of tomatoes. I really want to grow San Marzano as well, but those may have to wait till next year. I’ll be starting these seeds in a month or two and I’ll probably give all the extra plants to my mom. I’ll keep you posted on how they do.
What are you favorite tomato varities? Have you ever saved seeds from you tomatoes?
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Adding Asparagus
I’m hoping to add a few new things to the edible gardens this summer here at Chiot’s Run. The one I am most excited about is the asparagus patch. I know asparagus takes up a lot of space, which is at a premium here, but I really love it so it’s worth the space. Asparagus is a long lived plant, so once you put in a patch it will produce for many many years. I have slightly acidic soil which isn’t the best for an asparagus patch, but since I’m planning on giving them a raised bed of their own I shouldn’t have any trouble.
I’ve been leafing through a few catalogs trying to decide which kind to purchase and where to install the dedicated asparagus bed. I’m considering Nourse Farms, I ordered my blueberry and strawberry plants from them last year and was very impressed with the quality of plants and the shipping. They don’t have heirloom asparagus, I can get those here if I decide to go that route.
Anyone have any great suggestions for types or where to order from? or tips & tricks for growing great asparagus?
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Another Reason to Go Local
If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time you know I’m a dedicated localvore. I try to eat as locally as possibly for health, economic, and environmental reasons. The main reason we eat locally is for our health and safety. When you read about tomatoes, spinach, peppers, some peanut butter is tainted with salmonella, and that high fructose corn syrup contains mercury, it makes you really want to know where your food is coming from. I’m surprised more and more people aren’t searching out locally grown and raised products the more we hear about tainted food.
I know that the peanut butter I grind at the health food store isn’t tainted with salmonella. I know that the peppers and tomatoes I pick in my garden aren’t full of bacteria or pesticides either. I know that the pastured beef and chicken from my local farm are not filled with hormones, chemicals, antibiotics and other weird stuff.
Daphne Miller, MD is a family physician and associate professor at the University of California San Francisco, she wrote this great article on Civil Eats. Give it a read, I’m sure you’ll be heading to the health food store for your next jar of freshly ground peanut butter! Here’s a quick quote from her article:
Who knows. Perhaps this latest outbreak of salmonella, along with a will for change, is finally the catalyst we need. We will become a much healthier nation if our community health programs and community food systems team up, if our family doctors and family farmers link arms and, most importantly, if the two Toms, our Secretary of Health and our Secretary of Agriculture, take each other out for lunch and discuss ways to collaborate—hold the chicken satay, please.
Do salmonella outbreaks make you consider eating more locally or growing your own? If you already eat locally or grow your own, what are your reasons?
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Cinderella Pumpkin ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’
The Cinderella Pumpkin ‘Rouge Vif d’Etampes’ is a beautiful French heirloom pumpkin. It first became available in the U.S. in 1883. It is a deep orange pumpkin with pronounced ribs and is quite flat. I can see why Cinderella used it as a coach to get to the ball, it truly is a lovely pumpkin!
I bought this one at our local farmer’s market this past fall. The lady that runs the farm said they make the best pumpkin pies, and since Mr Chiots and I love pumpkin pies I bought it.
This pumpkin was so beautiful I was reluctant to cut it up. It graced our dining room for the past several month. This past Saturday I decided it was time; the momentous occasion was Mr Chiot’s birthday. So out came the butcher knife and that was the end of our beautiful pumpkin.
Carving a whole pumpkin is a bit of a task. It’s definitely much easier to use a can opener to get your pumpkin purée, but this is much tastier and it’s local!
So into the oven it went. After it was baked and cooled I got out the old Squeezo
I ended up with a huge bowl of pumpkin purée, much more than I would have been able to purchase canned for $3. I only needed 30 oz for my recipe, so I’ll freeze the rest for soup or muffins or perhaps another pie (the pets are also enjoying some of it mixed with butter).
I settled on a recipe from Use Real Butter because it called for freshly ground spices and cream. I happened to have some cream I skimmed from our local milk and pastured eggs from the local farm, so besides the spices it’s almost an all local pie. It has a lighter more custard like consistency than most pumpkin pies, and the freshly ground spices just put it over the top. It’s been a big hit here at Chiot’s Run. I’ve used freshly roasted pumpkins in pies before, and I must say, this is by far the best tasting pumpkin purée I’ve ever had.
I also love that her recipe is crustless. I’ve always made my pumpkin pies sans crust, there’s just sometime about that soggy crust I don’t like. I would much rather have a few crushed gingersnaps on top of my pumpkin pie that a soggy crust underneath.
I made sure I saved the seeds from this pumpkin so I could try to grow a few in my gardens. How great would these be gracing my front hillside! I am in the habit of saving seeds from things I buy as long as they are heirloom open pollinated plants. I even made up my own seed packets to put them.
Anyone else saving seeds from things they buy to grow in their gardens?
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Nature’s Fingerprint
During the gardening season I took tons of photos because I knew in the dead of winter when everything was covered by a blanket of snow, I would enjoy looking through all my beautiful garden photos.
Since this is what I’m seeing out my window at the moment, I’ve been spending some time every day looking through all of my photos from the summer. I came across this gem the other day. The intricacy of nature is amazing, something I have noticed even more as I garden.
I noticed the pollen pattern on this zucchini blossom while I was pollinated one day. It’s like it has it’s own fingerprint. Amazing.
This is a little curly that the squash/pumpkins vines put out to grab onto stuff.
The center of an echinacea bloom, how vibrant!
An Asian Lilly loaded with pollen.
A double hollyhock blossom getting ready to burst into bloom
What intricacies do you notice in nature?
