Best Seeds for a Bigger, Better Garden
(Page 4 of 7)
December 2008/January 2009
By Barbara Pleasant
9. Simple Storage
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The easiest way to eat from your garden all winter is to grow plenty of vegetables that store well just as they are — garlic, potatoes, grain corn, sweet potatoes, onions and winter squash, for example. Varieties of garlic, onions, potatoes and sweet potatoes grow better in some climates than others, so it’s a good idea to look to regional seed companies to see which varieties they recommend.
Not so with go-anywhere winter squash. “I know we have a disproportionate number of winter squash, but it’s gonna get worse,” says Rose Marie Nichols-McGee, president of Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany, Ore. “I’m caught between the new hybrids and heirlooms, and with winter squash, the heirlooms really shine.”
10. Beans That Can Take the Heat
Last summer, the I-Dig-My-Garden online forum hosted by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds came alive when people started discussing prolific, heat-resistant yard-long beans (Vigna unguiculata), particularly the ‘Red Noodle’ variety. Long popular for early summer planting in Texas and Oklahoma, and resistant to Japanese beetles as well as high heat, these vigorous, long-vined cousins of blackeyes keep setting pods in heat that causes other snap beans to abort their blossoms. Limas are enjoying a popularity spike, too, especially ‘Fordhook 242’ and ‘Henderson Bush.’
11. Creative Collections
Why buy a packet of one type of lettuce seeds when you can have six varieties for the same price? Most seed companies sell pre-blended lettuce mixtures; rainbow mixtures of beets, carrots, radishes and chard are easy to find, too. The seeds in many of the mixtures created by Renee Shepherd are color-coded to help you tell the varieties apart.
12. Garden-worthy Grains
At Bountiful Gardens in Willits, Calif., grains for the garden are flying off the shelves. “People want to be self-sustaining. It’s the only way we can keep the future secure for our kids,” says office manager Carrie Perkins. Gardeners who want to grow their own nutritious grains for grinding into flours can try wheat, spelt or triticale (a wheat/rye cross), but Perkins says that a lot of people are looking for wheat alternatives, too. “Amaranth is pretty in the garden, good to eat, and the greens are good for eating or composting,” she says.
13. One-cut Lettuce
Delicate baby lettuce is thrilling, and crunchy heads make for endlessly interesting salads. But how much time do you spend picking, cleaning, chilling and serving your beautiful greens? Enter what growers are calling “one-cut” lettuce — varieties that can be harvested and cleaned intact, then prepared for the table with a single cut made about 1 inch above the crown. Voila! A perfect cluster of leaves falls away, ready to swish through cool water and spin dry. ‘Sargent,’ an oak leaf variety, is easy to handle this way.
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