Steve's Garden 2013 10
East Bethesda, Maryland late September 2013. Cheese pepper grown from Baker Creek Seeds. I discovered Baker Creek while roaring through Petaluma CA in a rented Mustang. The sign said "Seed Bank", and it was. All banks should be seed banks, no more money banks. Out of 60 seeds I tried germinating in February 2013 only one produced a viable plant. I nursed that sucker along until May when I put it into the ground with no expectations of success. If you can get your hands on this one go for it; it's a killer roasting pepper, very meaty and sweet. Postscript. At the end of Fall 2013 I saved and dried quite a few seeds from this heirloom pepper. In February 2014 I got a very high germination rate and expect to be harvesting delicious peppers in few months. In the garden every year is different. Last year I was harvesting around 80-100 Sun Gold cherry tomatoes almost every day from late June through September. This year I'm getting only 8-10. I got a blast of BIG heirloom tomatoes in July; Mortgage Lifter, Cosmonaut Volkov, Neves, Argentine, ugly but delicious Vorlon from Bulgaria and the star of the show Amana Orange (by far the tastiest big one I've ever grown...). Last year Early Girl was a sugar bomb, this year a bore as were the highly touted Bloody Butcher variety; what works one year in one garden may manifest itself very differently in another place, another time. Other highlights this year were yellow summer squash, lemon thyme, lemon verbana, one precious Savoy cabbage, sweet red Texas Torpedo onions, yellow cippolini onions, Rioja Spanish garlic, "cheese" (shaped) sweet red roasting peppers, red and orange mini bell peppers, hot "fish" peppers from the Chesapeake region, Thai Dragon red peppers (not just hot but very flavorful...), Mammoth dill from California, crazy good oregano from Sicily and over 20 varieties of delicious lettuces (Little Gem, Red Sails, Outredgeous, Gentilina, Oak Leaf, Flame, Red Velvet, Rubin, Speckles, Flame, Sunset, Tango, Bon Jardin, Butter Crunch, etc.). Growing flavorful basil in Maryland is about as difficult as finding a cheap cold glass of beer in Baltimore Town. I grew (and mostly gave away...) Boloso, Genovese, Large Leaf from California, purple Violetto, Classico, Ararat from Armenia and a very unique and wonderful lemon flavored gem from Iran given to me as seed by a neighbor in 'the Chelsea". Flops included raddichico (last year awesome, this year hardly any that didn't bolt...), cilantro (quickly went to seed and turned purple/black yikes!), Mammoth yellow peppers (never turned yellow nor grew Mammonth but fell off the plant limp and green...), Jimmy Nardello peppers (great name but no flavor), Bordeaux Spinich, cute but weakly flavored "greek" bush basil, mostly sour strawberries, delicious but out of control mint and cucumbers (some kind of beetle infestation...). My front yard farm "store" (everything is free...) was a success in terms of doing the hang with our way cool neighbors and assorted folks traveling down our street. We've been rewarded with many new friends, thumbs up, right ons, travel tips, countless recipes, "marketing" advice, many bottles of good red wine, home grown produce, dinner invitations, gardening hints, political commentary, personal histories, memories of musical performances, neighborhood news, delicious homemade pesto, delicious summer squash soup, fiery hot pepper ketchup and more. Better still there's a sizable contingent of neighbors who have started growing their own vegetables and herbs including some things I never thought of planting.
Steve's Garden 2013 10
East Bethesda, Maryland late September 2013. Cheese pepper grown from Baker Creek Seeds. I discovered Baker Creek while roaring through Petaluma CA in a rented Mustang. The sign said "Seed Bank", and it was. All banks should be seed banks, no more money banks. Out of 60 seeds I tried germinating in February 2013 only one produced a viable plant. I nursed that sucker along until May when I put it into the ground with no expectations of success. If you can get your hands on this one go for it; it's a killer roasting pepper, very meaty and sweet. Postscript. At the end of Fall 2013 I saved and dried quite a few seeds from this heirloom pepper. In February 2014 I got a very high germination rate and expect to be harvesting delicious peppers in few months. In the garden every year is different. Last year I was harvesting around 80-100 Sun Gold cherry tomatoes almost every day from late June through September. This year I'm getting only 8-10. I got a blast of BIG heirloom tomatoes in July; Mortgage Lifter, Cosmonaut Volkov, Neves, Argentine, ugly but delicious Vorlon from Bulgaria and the star of the show Amana Orange (by far the tastiest big one I've ever grown...). Last year Early Girl was a sugar bomb, this year a bore as were the highly touted Bloody Butcher variety; what works one year in one garden may manifest itself very differently in another place, another time. Other highlights this year were yellow summer squash, lemon thyme, lemon verbana, one precious Savoy cabbage, sweet red Texas Torpedo onions, yellow cippolini onions, Rioja Spanish garlic, "cheese" (shaped) sweet red roasting peppers, red and orange mini bell peppers, hot "fish" peppers from the Chesapeake region, Thai Dragon red peppers (not just hot but very flavorful...), Mammoth dill from California, crazy good oregano from Sicily and over 20 varieties of delicious lettuces (Little Gem, Red Sails, Outredgeous, Gentilina, Oak Leaf, Flame, Red Velvet, Rubin, Speckles, Flame, Sunset, Tango, Bon Jardin, Butter Crunch, etc.). Growing flavorful basil in Maryland is about as difficult as finding a cheap cold glass of beer in Baltimore Town. I grew (and mostly gave away...) Boloso, Genovese, Large Leaf from California, purple Violetto, Classico, Ararat from Armenia and a very unique and wonderful lemon flavored gem from Iran given to me as seed by a neighbor in 'the Chelsea". Flops included raddichico (last year awesome, this year hardly any that didn't bolt...), cilantro (quickly went to seed and turned purple/black yikes!), Mammoth yellow peppers (never turned yellow nor grew Mammonth but fell off the plant limp and green...), Jimmy Nardello peppers (great name but no flavor), Bordeaux Spinich, cute but weakly flavored "greek" bush basil, mostly sour strawberries, delicious but out of control mint and cucumbers (some kind of beetle infestation...). My front yard farm "store" (everything is free...) was a success in terms of doing the hang with our way cool neighbors and assorted folks traveling down our street. We've been rewarded with many new friends, thumbs up, right ons, travel tips, countless recipes, "marketing" advice, many bottles of good red wine, home grown produce, dinner invitations, gardening hints, political commentary, personal histories, memories of musical performances, neighborhood news, delicious homemade pesto, delicious summer squash soup, fiery hot pepper ketchup and more. Better still there's a sizable contingent of neighbors who have started growing their own vegetables and herbs including some things I never thought of planting.