Monday, March 1, 2010

72 Seedlings?!

DSC_1000_3302Insanity struck me yesterday.  I started 72 seedlings of mostly heirloom tomatoes and peppers.  All the seeds are mail ordered through Baker Creek except for the Serranos I picked up at Floyd’s (Where else?).  I’ve grown tomatoes from seed before with great heartbreak.  I’ve plucked up enough courage to give it another go.  Here’s the list:

Tomatoes (all heirloom):

image Carbon (purple)– Winner of the 2005 “Heirloom Garden Show” best-tasting tomato award.image Henderson’s Pink Ponderosa – Huge size, some over 2 lbs.; a meaty pin-red beefsteak introduced by Peter Henderson & Co. in 1891. image Mule Team (red) – Medium sized plants produce perfect 8 0z. red globes that have very little cracking, making this a good choice for market growers.  The fruit have a sweet but acid flavor; a good all-around standard red variety.  Good resistance to heat and disease.image Arkansas Traveler (pink) - A medium sized pink tomato that is smooth and a beautiful rose color.  Tolerant to heat and humidity, crack and disease resistant.  Good flavor, an excellent hillbilly favorite.imageAl Kuffa (red) – Early tomato produces 3-4 oz fruit on compact, dwarf vines that yield till frost.  Mild tasting from Iraq.

Peppers:

imageBlack Hungarian – Heirloom, unique, black colored fruit that are the shape of jalapeños.  Mildly hot with delicious flavor.  Tall plants with purple flowers.  Rare & colorful.

imageSerrano – Hot peppers grown successfully in 2009.  Lake Valley seed purchased at Floyd’s.

DSC_1004_3306I don’t have room for all of the plants IF the seeds successfully sprout.  I’ll be giving away healthy seedlings to relatives and neighbors.  Chives seeds will be sewn among the tomatoes when they are planted out in the garden to prevent pests and harvest as needed.  Nasturtiums will be planted at the base of the fruit trees to repel borers. These are some ides I want to try from a book I purchased at Baker Creek along with my seeds – Carrots Love Tomatoes.

In case anyone reading  this doesn’t know, Floyd’s is a local hardware store.  It’s great.  You can buy gardening stuff (seeds and seed starting kits), plumbing junk, canning supplies, crickets, and ammunition.  They have everything.  I wish they would consider bridal registries.  Very practical.

image

Note:  Pictures of the vegetables were lifted from the Baker Creek website.  Their service was great and quick; so go there and order something OR move next door and reap the benefits.

6 comments:

Rowena said...

I am rooting for you! Especially for the peppers of which I fail all the time. My tomatoes just started poking their heads out of the potting soil....so exciting to start from seed! Now let's just hope that it's a nice and sunny spring instead of all wet and no sun (like last year...grrrrrr!). Glad to be back on the gardening scene!

MAYBELLINE said...

I'll take the rain any day over the sun.

Maureen said...

Luckeeee.....I've been looking for Arkansas Traveler seeds for years! I'll have to remember Baker Creek for next years planting (they are currently sold out...sigh)

DJK said...

I'll trade you some Naga Jolokia seeds for some o'dem Hungarian seeds!

MAYBELLINE said...

*DJK - Sorry I'm out of Black Hungarian seeds. I gave them to an Hungarian work associate. I purchased them from Baker Creek.

DJK said...

Ok, thanks anyway! I love growing new things....hence the Naga Jolokia.