More germination results - lots of them! - as transplanting continues

The red bud is on the cusp!

It was a pretty damp day, but mild, which made it perfect to continue the transplanting process. In yesterday’s blog, I began reporting on my germination results. Below is the data collected today.

Indeterminate varieties

• Green Giant T20-20 - 100%, all potato leaf

• Lucky Cross T20-4 - 91%, 20 potato leaf, 1 regular leaf

• Little Lucky T20-18 - 100%, but 8 regular leaf, 14 expected potato leaf.

• Sungold (hybrid, new seed, from Johnny’s) - 100%

• Egg Yolk T20-126 - 100%

• Mexico Midget T19-144 - 80%

• Red Brandywine T18-11 - 100%

• Nepal 6585 (from my friend Charlie) - 100%

• Don’s Double Delight T20-1 - 90%

• Cancelmo Family Heirloom T20-15 - 100%

• Dester T20-3 - 44%

• Speckled Roman T12-68 - 72%

• Blue’s Bling T20-24 - 96%

• Black Cherry T20-127 - 100%

• Fruit T20-125 - 100%

• Peak of Perfection T20-9 - 48%

• Anna Russian T14-2 - 95%

• Dr. Wyche’s Yellow T15-75 - 27%

• Druzba T15-77 - 100%

• Yellow Oxheart T13-16 - 100%

• Ester’s Mortgage Lifter 7203 - 100%

• Hugh’s T14-27 - 100%

• Abraham Lincoln T19-113 - 100%

• Magnus T15-52 - 67%

• Giant Syrian T13-138 - 100%

• Kellogg’s Breakfast T12-74 - 60%

Of all of the indeterminate varieties I’ve transplanted so far, the big disappointments from 2020 saved seed are Brandywine T20-16 (16%), Polish T20-7 (36%), Dester T20-3 (44%), Peak of Perfection T20-9 (48%), and the high level of clear crosses (regular leaf seedlings) with Little Lucky. Ferris Wheel for whatever reason always seems to come out as a mix (some potato leaf, some dwarfs). Anyone who received seeds of the above from me can now match my results with theirs.

Dwarf varieties

• Dwarf Tanager T20-37 - 80%

• Dwarf Perfect Harmony T20-38 - 100%

• Dwarf Strawberry Lemonade T20-39 - 100%

• Dwarf Mr. Snow T20-40 - 75%

• Dwarf Chocolate Lightning T20-41 - 45%

• Rosella Purple T20-43 - 44%

• Dwarf Hazy’s Dream T20-44 - 100%

• Dwarf Wild Spudleaf T20-45 - 100%

• Tasmanian Chocolate T20-46 - 40%

• Summertime Green T20-56 - 5%

• Rosella Crimson T20-58 - 96%

• Sweet Scarlet Dwarf T20-59 - 0%

• Dwarf Golden Gypsy T20-60 - 100%

• Dwarf Firebird Sweet T20-61 - 96%

• Dwarf Beryl Beauty T20-66 - 100%

• Dwarf Walter’s Fancy T20-79 - 100%

• Dwarf Gloria’s Treat T20-95 - 100%

• Dwarf Emerald Giant T20-96 - 100%

• Dwarf Sweet Sue T20-97 - 43%

• Capri Show Stopper 3499 - 33% (one seed of my last remaining 3 from Patrina - but it is dwarf!)

The big disappointments are Dwarf Sweet Sue, Tasmanian Chocolate, Dwarf Chocolate Lightning, Rosella Purple, and the dismal Summertime Green and Sweet Scarlet Dwarf. I’ve replanted all from different years of seed saving. I still suspect insufficiently dry seed before storing away.

Overall, I have to be really happy with results so far. Out of 40 indeterminate varieties, there were issues with only 4. And out of 20 dwarf varieties, 6 didn’t go well.

In my next transplant report, I hope to confirm leaf shape and plant habit with all of the new F1 hybrids (many of which were sent out to some of you to try. I will have results from replants of the failures from initial planting, and in a few weeks, results from an additional 20 dwarfs.

Aside from a few plantings of herbs and flowers and some tomatoes (the flat to be used as a demo for Joe’s filming for our course), the vast majority of my seed planting is done, and remarkably, lots of transplanting as well (up to 1000 seedlings!).

I hope those who received seeds from me find the data in this and the previous blog helpful.

One more bit of interesting information - days to germination vs years seeds saved.

• 2020 saved tomato seeds - the vast majority germinated in three days - with 3 types germinating in 2 days, 6 in 4 days, 2 in 6 days.

• 2019 saved seeds - 2 in 3 days, 1 in 4 days, 1 in 5 days

• 2018 saved seeds - 1 in 3 days

• 2015 saved seeds - 1 in 4 days, 2 in 5 days

• 2014 saved seeds - 2 in 4 days

• 2013 saved seeds - 1 in 4 days, 1 in 6 days

• 2012 saved seeds - 1 in 6 days

• 2009 saved seeds - weak germination in 14 days

• 2004 saved seeds - one variety, no germination

• 2003 saved seeds - no germination after 14 days for 3 varieties

A very long overdue update. Garden progress, Social Networking thoughts, Germination Data and a Big New Project

Where should I start? It’s late March, our magnolia began to unfurl today, transplanting is underway, straw bales are being prepared, and that’s just a partial list of all of the things I’m juggling right now.

Garden Progress

My seed flat planting dates and types of seeds planted:

Flat 1 - planted February 24 - 20 types of lettuce, three types of spinach, rhubarb, Feaster Family mustard, Little Rhody collards, two types of chard, 4 types of beets, 15 types of daylily seeds, and a few flowers - cardinal flower, larkspur and seeds saved from a shrub seen during our spring hikes.

Flat 2 - planted February 25 - 27 types of indeterminate tomatoes, 4 types of F2 seeds saved from new hybrids I created a few years ago (and grew out last year), 19 types of dwarf tomatoes. For the most part, these plantings will support spring seedling sales, and some will end up in my straw bales as well.

Flat 3 - planted February 26 - 13 cells of eggplants, 21 cells of peppers, 1 cell of ground cherry, 14 types of indeterminate tomatoes and 1 type of dwarf tomatoes. There are some interesting things in flat 3, including some rare peppers and some new family heirlooms, as well as some older tomato seeds. The eggplants and peppers and a few of the tomatoes and the ground cherry will be part of my spring seedling sales, with a few winding up in my garden.

Flat 4 - planted March 13 - all tomatoes, including all of the new F1s I created last year (17 types), 26 cells of indeterminate tomatoes, 5 types of dwarf tomatoes, and 2 types of determinate tomatoes. I hope to grow all of the new F1s, and in this flat are a few other new family heirlooms, some older varieties that need growing, and more for my seedling sales.

Flat 5 - planted March 23 - 5 cells of eggplants, 5 cells of peppers, the 9 tomatoes in the 3 seedlinked seed collections I am curating, 19 cells of dwarf tomatoes, 11 types of indeterminate tomatoes and 1 determinate tomato. This is another really interesting mix, with some replants of varieties that didn’t appear to germinate well, some additional dwarf varieties - some of which I will grow, and many for seedling sales.

I will plant a flat 6 about 4-5 days before Joe Lamp’l’s first visit to my garden (April 6). Why is Joe visiting? I’ll discuss that in the final section, below! In that flat will be a zinnias, basil, and some more tomatoes.

Transplanting

I started moving clumps into 3.5 inch pots about a week ago so that they would be able to hold a bit more prior to transplanting to individual posts. I moved the lettuce as clumps on March 25. I also started transplanting tomatoes into individual pots on March 25, and got lots more done today.

Start of germination data

I was concerned that seed I sent out may have germination issues, based on some banter with Instagram gardening friends. In truth, a few varieties are not showing the quality I typically achieve. I will have much more data in the next few days, but here is the first:

• Andrew Rahart’s Jumbo Red T19-13 - 100%

• Aker’s West Virginia T19-16 - 95%

• Brandywine T20-16 - 16%

• Ferris Wheel T20-5 - 72%, but 3 seedlings are dwarf, and 3 seedlings are potato leaf.

• Polish T20-7 - 36%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Stump of the World T20-12 - 85%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Cherokee Purple T20-11 - 97%

• Cherokee Chocolate T20-13 - 96%

• Casey’s Pure Yellow T20-14 - 92%

• Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom T20-10 - 100%, and 1 of the plants are regular leaf

• Cherokee Green T20-8 - 91%

• Microdwarf X Indeterminate F2 T20-26 - 97%, including 19 indeterminate, 7 dwarf type and 3 not yet sure.

• Fuzzy determinate X Indeterminate F2 T20-25 - 100%, including 11 short fuzzy plants, 8 tall fuzzy plants and 11 normal stem and leaf indeterminate plants.

• Suzy F2 T20-28 - 100% including 22 regular leaf indeterminate, 3 potato leaf indeterminate, 1 potato leaf dwarf and 4 regular leaf dwarf.

• Blazy F1 20-29 - 100%, including a very wide variety of seedlings - indeterminate regular and potato leaf, regular or yellow leaf color, and regular and potato leaf dwarfs, regular color and yellow color. This was expected!

I am disappointed with the low germinations of 2020 saved Brandywine and Polish, and think that higher humidity in our house (we had windows open and didn’t use the AC all summer) occasionally impacted seed quality.

In my next report, I hope to fill in more of the picture, with another 30 varieties saved in 2020 awaiting transplanting.

Straw Bale Garden plans

I’ve purchased and am half way through preparing 20 straw bales, with plans to purchase another 10, probably tomorrow. 4 of the bales are pushed together for bush beans, 4 pushed together for summer squash, and the other 12 + 10 (new ones) will contain tomatoes. I’ve not yet completely decided which varieties to grow, but the 8 indeterminate heirloom X indeterminate heirloom hybrids I created last year will all get straw bale places. The other new hybrids will be grown in containers.

Social Networking ruminations

Ah, I’ve spent a lot of time pondering my approach for this year. Last year I was really “out there” with my weekly Instagram Live sessions. I really enjoyed them - they were fun, I got to share a lot and got to learn a lot from those who watched and asked questions or posted comments.

But a phone call from Joe Lamp’l a few months ago completely rocked my year. I’ll dedicate the last section of this blog talking about it in more detail, but it is certainly going to be a different year - a different garden - for me. I will be doing the occasional live, and continuing my blog and newsletter, but won’t have the opportunity to be as regular in the live sessions - I won’t have as much time. I will do some specifically in support of my role as Seedlinked seed collection curator, but will sprinkle in some live check-ins as well.

Facebook - yes, I’ve crept back on. I need to, in order to support my new endeavor with Joe. But I’ve been off for a long time, and at this point all I’ve done is register. There are an avalanche of friend requests I’ve not addressed. I’ve filled in no information at all. I will, when the time is right - but my presence on Facebook will be solely to participate with Joe in his garden school for our new course.

Growing Epic Tomatoes - Something New! And….about to Keep Me Busy!

Let me start by using a paragraph that Joe is using to talk about this new course.

“The Online Gardening Academy is committed to bringing you the highest value in online training for some of the most popular and important topics when it comes to gardening. Currently there are 3 courses in the academy: Master Seed Starting, Beginning Gardener Fundamentals, and Mastering Pests, Diseases, and Weeds.

The newest course that we’re excited to announce is launching on May 11th. It’s called Growing Epic Tomatoes, and it’s a course that is being taught by Craig LeHoullier (author of the best selling book, Epic Tomatoes), and Joe Lamp’l, he of Growing a Greener World, the joegardener podcast, and his Online Gardening Academy, of which Growing Epic Tomatoes will be a component course. The course will be a completely comprehensive dive into every thing you need to know and more about growing epic tomatoes, divided into 10 packed modules.”

I’ve always wanted to create a tomato growing gardening course, but though I am strong in the content part, the production, filming and other supporting aspects was a real weakness for me. The collaboration between Joe and I will be pretty magical, I think. Anyone who has listened to our podcast chats or watched the GGW episode know that we have a really comfortable rapport, and share a depth and detailed approach for clarity and knowledge.

Joe and his crew’s first trip to my garden happens in early April, and this is the first of several, in order to capture every single aspect of tomatoes that you can think of. It will be busy, packed, great fun, and I will finally be practicing - and demonstrating - what I preach (even the bits that I haven’t done so well - pruning! staking! topping!).

Stay tuned for more details - Joe and I will soon be co-hosting a live webinar where all will be revealed. The webinar will be repeated live over a series of days so that all that have interest will have an opportunity to attend one. The dates of the webinars will be widely posted once we have the dates and times.

In the meantime, enjoy spring, happy gardening, and watch my blog and Instagram feeds for news!

Some guidance on growing out different types of seeds sent out over the past few months

It’s nasty outside, but Koda is happy on his bed.

By now (or if not yet, very soon), coin envelopes of seeds will be in the possession of many of you. I’ve sent a vast variety of seeds this time. They fall into a number of categories: my favorite heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties (all released varieties), new indeterminate X indeterminate hybrids I created last year by crossing some of my favorite heirlooms, new indeterminate X dwarf hybrids I created last year to create new Dwarf Tomato Project families as starting points, and F2 generation seeds from 2 new Dwarf Tomato Project families created from my hybrids 2 years ago that have yet to be explored. Below I will discuss guidance for dealing with each of these categories.

1. Released varieties - either indeterminate heirlooms or Dwarf Tomato Project varieties. These are for you to grow and enjoy. There is no need to keep detailed data, return saved seeds to me or report back - unless you wish to. I am always happy to hear about how they performed for you. Examples of this category are samples of Cherokee Purple (only a few generations removed from seed sent to me in 1990 by J D Green as an unnamed variety - how did this compare to your expectations or other seed sources for the variety, as an example question I’d love answered), or Dwarf Tanager - a newer, orange fruited release from our Dwarf Tomato Project. In many cases, I shared varieties with you that I hoped would work well based on your goals.

2. New Indeterminate X Indeterminate hybrids I created last year. An example is Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom F1 (that is what the packet label would say). There is also likely a number code, such as T20-132. That means it is saved seed from a Tomato grown in 2020, and is the 132nd variety I saved seed from that year. You will find but a very few seeds in the packet, as all of the seeds came from the fruit that formed when pollen from a regular leaf heirloom parent was applied to an emasculated flower of a potato leaf variety, resulting in a tomato. Once the saved seeds are gone, that hybrid is gone and I would have to recreate it. You only need to grow one plant, as all seeds in the packet of a hybrid should be equivalent. The goal is to find out about the characteristics of a new hybrid between two great tasting heirlooms. All should be indeterminate and regular leaf (the dominant trait when a regular and potato leaf variety are crossed). Do not grow out any potato leaf seedlings you get, as they would indicate an unsuccessful cross (I test grew them all last year and the regular leaf seedlings indicated successful crosses). They should be vigorous, high yielding, and show colors related to the dominant traits in the cross. I am most curious as to the quality of the tomatoes - flavor, yield, plant health - and size and color. I’d love to hear back from everyone who received seeds in this category. I am growing all of them myself, so we can have fun comparing notes. If you wish, this can be the starting point of new variety development. If you save seeds and grow them out, segregation into different combinations will be observed. 75% of the seedlings will be regular leaf, 25% potato leaf. *** Distinguishing Dwarfs from Indeterminates - added due to a great question on Instagram - It is quite easy to distinguish the dwarf seedlings very early on. They are half of the height of indeterminates and have a thicker stem. They also have differently shaped cotyledon leaves but it is a subtle characteristic that is not as easy to use as the stem thickness and height.. I’ve done a video on this which can be found here. *** Fruit colors, sizes and flavors will similarly segregate into all kinds of combinations. As an example, Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom - I would expect the hybrid to be a large pink or red tomato (depends upon the skin color of Lillian’s Yellow - if clear, the hybrid fruit should be pink, but if yellow, the hybrid fruit should be red). I would hope the flavor to be excellent, but that hypothesis is something this project will explore - and either confirm, or surprise. Saved seeds would give potato or regular leaf seedlings of red, pink, chocolate, purple, yellow, perhaps even white, in addition to other combinations. Feel free to play with and explore these in future years. They can be a start to your own new variety, but it will take half a dozen or more generations of regrowth and reselection to nail down your goals. Unless my plants fail, I will not need any seed returned - it is yours to play with in the years ahead.

3. New Dwarf Tomato Project families from Indeterminate X Dwarf F1 hybrids created last year. An example is Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry F1. I carried out these crosses by adding pollen from an indeterminate regular leaf heirloom to an emasculated flower on a Dwarf variety. Seeds were saved after the developing tomato from the cross ripened, and in some cases with very small fruited or meaty varieties, few seeds were harvested. Your packets, therefore, contain only a very few seeds, but you only need grow one plant from each packet. The resulting plant will be regular leaf and indeterminate, thus confirming success of the cross. The resulting tomatoes will be somewhat of a mystery, as some of the crosses were very “wide” morphologically. In the Blue’s Bling (indeterminate, large purple fruit, regular leaf variegated foliage) X Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry (dwarf growth, round small purple fruit with strong antho coloring on the shoulders), I expect the hybrid to be medium small fruited, regular leaf, indeterminate pink in color. The flavor and other characteristics of the hybrid is of curiosity only, as the true objective is the results of growing out saved seed. Given this, save plenty of seeds to take forward for exploration. Saved seed will produce 75% indeterminate and 25% dwarf plants. You are free to grow out indeterminate seedlings, as they will likely provide some interesting results as the characteristics of each parent combine. The resulting dwarf seedlings are the main interest, however. One possible, though perhaps needle in a haystack, result of this cross could be delicious medium to large purple tomatoes with strong antho coloring on a variegated dwarf plant. Each new family I sent out will be similarly fascinating to work with. I am growing them all, and unless I have crop failure on any of them, there is no need to send back saved seeds. But I would appreciate reports and returned seeds once you get into dwarf hunting and growing in future seasons.

4. Seeds of two new Dwarf Tomato Project families - Suzy F2 and Blazey F2 - In 2019, I crossed Dwarf Sweet Sue with Peach Blow Sutton to create the Suzy family. I grew the F1 seed last year and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized pink tomatoes with some yellow. Seeds saved, the F2 generation, are what I sent out, and you got plenty to work with. Similarly, in 2019 I crossed Dwarf Blazing Beauty with Honor Bright to create the Blazey family. I grew the F1 seed last year, and it resulted in an indeterminate plant with lots of medium sized scarlet tomatoes. Lots of seed was saved, and some of you received good sized packets. The goal of Suzy is to create matte-skinned (there are none in existence yet), tasty dwarfs, either potato leaf or regular leaf, with excellent flavor no matter the color (which could be, at least, red or pink or yellow or white). The goal of Blazey is to create unique yellow-leaf (as in the parent Honor Bright) dwarfs with either regular or potato leaf foliage, with great flavor, no matter what the color (which could be limited to red or orange, but could also hold surprises). In both cases, sow lots of seeds - 75% will be indeterminate, 25% will be dwarf (if you plant 24 seeds, you should get, on average, 6 dwarfs). Since each cross carries the recessive trait of potato leaf, 25% of the dwarfs in your grow out should be potato leaf. With Blazey, the yellow leaf trait will express at 25% as well, so this may be worth planting in greater number. I would love to know how these do for you - and receiving back some saved seeds from any promising dwarf plants that you choose to grow out. I will be planting some of each and selecting a few dwarfs to grow myself and report on my results.

5. Miscellaneous - some of you are doing continuing work on dwarf tomato project families or named varieties - please continue on, record results, return some saved seeds. Others are working on my peppers or eggplants from dehybridization work - again, data is important, as are returned seeds. Thanks as always for your contributions!

MOST OF ALL - have fun! I am delighted to be collaborating with so many of you on some rather unique little mini-projects!

Marlin getting a nice morning hug from my Sweet Sue

Listening to music, watching the rain, thinking of gardening

Gorgeous day on our Blue Ridge parkway walk earlier this week

We are in for a rainy stretch, and the forecast calls for wet and 40s for the next week and a half. Following that, the 50s appear, which will trigger emerging spring bulbs and the swelling of tree buds. We are a just a bit over one year since moving here, and last year was filled with the joy of seeing all that emerged, grew, blossomed in our various gardens. Though we know a bit more what to expect, it will be no less welcome, and thrilling.

Now that I laid out (in the three prior blogs) what I hope to grow, it gets down to the nitty gritty - getting my planting and seedling areas ready, finding packets of seeds and getting seed into potting mix, especially for the early greens and slow flowers. Yesterday I made my first purchase of seed starter/transplanting medium, and 10 2.8 cu ft bags sit waiting in the garage.

View of Looking Glass Rock from our Blue Ridge hike earlier this week.

Retirement (and the inevitable, delightful ambiguity it brings) and COVID (the ambiguity from which is not delightful) mean a coming year with no clear definition yet. I know that there are scheduled Zooms (and surely will be more as requests come in). I know there will be a minimum of 20 straw bales and a yet-to-be-determined number of grow bags making up this year’s garden, as well as the two raised beds. I know that I will be deeply involved with a new project (which I am not ready to reveal - stay tuned!). And…..the book. Will this be the year that the Dwarf Tomato Project book gets written?

All I know is that time is flying by, the year will be busy, Sue and I are delighted with our three dog, two cat menagerie, we miss seeing our daughters, and there will be lots to share and discuss - many hikes to make, meals to make, veggies to pick and eat and cook with. I am glad that you are along for the ride! I expect that all of you who asked for seeds or books have them in hand. I can’t wait to hear of how things go for you (be sure to share on Instagram, blog comments or emails). Mostly - be safe, and be well!

Sue, Koda, Marlin, and show and ice on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Wrapping up my initial 2021 garden plans - peppers and eggplants - and a few more tomatoes

Ice seen on the mountainsides during a mid January walk on the Blue Ridge parkway (brrrr!)

This is the third and final 2021 planning series of blogs, focusing on peppers and eggplants. The two previous covered tomatoes, and everything but tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Note I said “initial” garden plans in the title - with thousands of options, I always reserve the right to make changes (and seeing what does and does not germinate always modifies my plans).

Sweet Peppers

I am going to focus on the usual set of sweet bell peppers from the last few years - final refinements to some dehybridization projects. From my work with Islander hybrid (aka Blue Jay), I will grow, all from seed saved last year, my current selections of Carolina Amethyst (already released, so just because I love it), Fire Opal, White Gold and Royal Purple. I will also grow out my work with dehybridizing the Stokes Chocolate Bell hybrid from quite a few years ago. It is currently boringly called “Chocolate Bell” but when I deem it ready it will get a more clever, enticing name. Finally, I will regrow my friend Darrel’s selection from one of my favorite sweet peppers, Orange Bell, first received in a SSE transaction decades ago. The working name is Orange Blocky Bell, and it will be from 2019 seeds.

My sweet peppers were a bit of a disaster last year, so I hope to do better with them by planting them in grow bags (not self watering containers) in a sunnier spot in the yard.

Hot Peppers

A nearby gardening friend sent me some fascinating sounding peppers in the super hot category. My curiosity means they will get spots in my garden. These are Pockmark Peach, Pink Tiger X Peach Bhut, Purple Orange Ghostly cross, and Count Dracula. I will probably also grow a Jalapeno, such as Pinata.

Eggplants

The focus here will also be on tidying up the dehybridization work from Orient Express hybrid. My three named selections, Midnight Lightning, Twilight Lightning and Skinny Twilight, are all in pretty good shape and will be grown from 2020 saved seed. I will also grow Mardi Gras, selected from a bee-produced cross involving Casper, which seems pretty much stable at this point.

Though they did slightly better than the sweet peppers, I will give the eggplants the grow bag treatment in a sunnier spot as well.

Late Addition Tomatoes

I received some treasured family heirlooms over the last months, and want to get them into the garden plans for this year. A variety currently named Bing (1920s), from Josh B (in my collection as tomato 7333), and a variety currently called Aunt Gladys (Melnick/Hall heirloom, #7262), and a version of Mortgage Lifter that the SSE sent me from its collection (Estler strain, #7203 in my collection) will all find a spot.

I will likely also be adding in some dwarf varieties, either from ongoing work, or released varieties I’ve yet to grow.

Seedlings to sell locally

My next task is to develop my locally available seedlings list. I probably won’t blog that, but will create a Word doc that I can send to local gardeners. I’ve got the first 10 bags of Metro Mix 360 ready to pick up at a local Ag supply store. 2021 Gardening is clearly underway!

From one of our January hikes in the Pisgah National Forest

What to grow in 2021? Part 2 - the non-tomato, pepper and eggplant choices

Pansies planted from seed in late 202, getting some sun in late January. Looking good!

In my last blog, I took a stab on my tomato plans for 2021. My next blog will cover my pepper and eggplant decisions. However, we derived much joy - both culinary and aesthetic - from all of the other crops that graced last year’s garden. I just went through boxes and boxes of seed packets and made some decisions about what I hope to include in this year’s garden

First - what to skip in 2021

Though they really did well, I am strongly considering skipping the following: carrots (the Trader Joe bags of rainbow carrots are just fine, and to our palate, carrots are one of those crops that don’t taste appreciably better when home grown), sweet pod peas (for the pods - they take up lots of room, take lots of time and don’t yield nearly enough), and melons (I don’t have the proper location, they take up lots of room and time, and the local farmers market and produce stand provides plenty). I will likely reduce the amount of greens as well (chard, collards, kale, mustard). My goal is to increase those things we loved, and excelled, and eliminate or reduce either the failures or “planted too much of”s. We are going to give Sweet Peas (grown for the flowers) a pass this year as well - I’ve not got the timing or location down yet. Beets - they did great last year, but we didn’t eat as many of the greens as we did previously, they take space and time, and as with carrots, beets are beets, whether home grown or purchased at a farm stand, to our palate. (don’t get angry with me, home grown carrot and beet addicts!). I grew quite a few cosmos, dahlia and an old fashioned petunia last year, and we are going to give them a pass.

New for 2021

Rhubarb - I have some Victoria variety seeds from Victory and will give them an early start indoors. This will be my first attempt, and just want to try a few plants here and there. We love strawberry rhubarb crisp!

Spinach - I had a few plants from an Asheville nursery that did great, so want to grow a few varieties from seed. I have Nobel and Space from Johnny’s and will get some seeds planted indoors soon.

Flowers - I’ve got seeds of Larkspur and saved seeds from last year’s Cardinal Flower that are soon to get indoor planted. Three types of pansies, three types of coleus and Rocket snapdragons are up and growing nicely.

Peas - I will plant them thickly and early, but not for the peas - for the pea shoots, to use in stir fries and salads. Lovely sweet pea flavor is addictive! I’ve got packets of Little Marvel, Frosty and Recruit to plant.

Repeats

Sugar Snap Peas - the tall growing version. We loved them last year but didn’t plant nearly enough. They will go in early and all of our fence trellis area will be used.

Pole Beans Monte Gusto (a wax pole from Johnnys) and Fowler Pole - after the Sugar Snaps die back they will be replaced with some of each.

Greens - I will get seeds of various heirloom lettuce, collards, and mustard, and some Chard Bright Lights planted soon - these will go into my raised and elevated beds.

Zinnia - we had several types last year, but this year I am going with Thumbelina. Last year’s varieties were a bit too tall, with flowers a bit too large.

Cucumber - I LOVE Diva, but it did not like growing here (we were warned by some growers at the farmers market that it struggles here). I am trying a new Johnny’s hybrid, Unagi. I think I will grow it on the metal trellis against our fence.

Bush Beans - I am going to go with some favorites from last year - Marbel, Fowler and Jade, planted in straw bales. They were a spectacular success in 2020.

Summer Squash - Zucchini Dunja and Goldmine, Cousa type Magda, and Zephyr will be my choices, direct seeded into straw bales.

Basil - Though I love Genovese, the downy mildew loves it as well. I will plant some seeds of Gecofure, Devotion and Prospera indoors soon to get an early start. A friend send some Caramel Chianti seeds, which I will try as well.

I think that’s about it - it certainly is enough! Currently, our two raised beds have greens (they are really getting battle tested during this cold winter), and garlic, both of which planted in the fall. I’ve not yet decided what will go into them, but lettuce, spinach, and bush beans are all candidates for the summer.

A birthday walk for Sue, with Marlin and Koda, at DuPont Forest on January 22.

Let's get the 2021 garden season rolling. Early thoughts and ideas...starting with tomatoes

January 8 light snow - yep, it’s winter!

Those big “2020 garden year in review” blogs were monsters to write, but serve as a nice garden diary that I will be sure to look back on. After that last one, in late December, all sorts of things happened - Christmas, New Year, and both our birthdays. With that all out of the way (and an appropriate amount of extra poundage that will get dealt with in the coming warmer days of gardening and hiking), it’s time to think about what to grow - and how to grow it - for the coming year.

Before I start to ponder lists and decisions, today was a big milestone day - all seed requests that came in between mid 2020 and last week are now fulfilled. I’ve sent so many packets of seeds around the world that awaiting reports and results in late summer will be loads of fun. More big news - Mike Dunton at Victory Seed Company released more of our new Dwarf Tomato Project varieties, bringing the number to 134 varieties. The project continues on still, with some really exciting releases to come.

I also hope to restart the Friday Instagram Live sessions in mid February. They were so much fun to do last year and answering all of your garden questions in a sort of flash session was a great challenge. I’ve also got some Zoom webinars scheduled and sprinkled throughout the year. If any of them are open attendance, I will be sure to let you know and provide the appropriate link so that you can check them out.

OK - now on to the options for the garden this year

Tomatoes - too many options, ruthless decisions necessary

Last year I went overboard with my 133 plants. I lost control, the tomato jungle became a tomato mess, and the season was cut short by disease and critter attacks. But….was it ever fun! 63 quarts canned, mostly from the indeterminate large fruited types, superb flavors, and much was learned about gardening here in Hendersonville.

Growing indeterminates in straw bales worked well, so I will repeat that format and layout. I need to pay closer attention to staking, pruning and topping. 12 straw bales mean 24 indeterminate varieties.

My current top choices for the 24 indeterminate tomatoes will be started with all of the new hybrids I created last year. The first 8 are indeterminate X indeterminate. The next 9 are indeterminate X dwarf, or dwarf X dwarf (#16 below). #18-24, finishing off the straw bales, are top flavor indeterminate heirlooms.

1. Don’s Double Delight X Cancelmo Family Heirloom

2. Ferris Wheel X Striped Sweetheart

3. Cherokee Chocolate X Stump of the World

4. Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Green Giant

5. Blue’s Bling X Polish

6. Cherokee Purple X Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

7. Cherokee Green X Caitlin’s Lucky Stripe

8. Blue’s Bling X Little Lucky

9. Blue’s Bling X Dwarf Mocha Cherry

10. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Speckled Heart

11. Cancelmo Family Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

12. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Buddy’s Heart

13. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

14. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob

15. Lucky Cross X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

16. Dwarf Mr. Snow X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

17. Don’s Double Delight X Dwarf Mocha’s Plum

18. Lucky Cross

19. Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom

20. Cherokee Purple

21. Polish

22. Cherokee Green

23. Green Giant

24. Brandywine

In front of each straw bale will be a container with a dwarf of some sort, or a determinate variety (to use as an example of determinate growth habit). Last year I grew out 4 new hybrids - Dwarf Sweet Sue X Peach Blow Sutton (the Suzy family), Dwarf Blazing Beauty X Honor Bright (the Blazey family), a purple and green striped micro dwarf with an heirloom indeterminate (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom), and a compact determinate extremely fuzzy leaf variety (Fuzzy) crossed with an indeterminate heirloom (either Cherokee Purple or Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom). The grow bags next to each of the dozen straw bales will hold seedlings from these new hybrids.

There is a tomato that I grew way back in Pennsylvania, 1991, the year after I received the variety that I named Cherokee Purple. It is a variety from a fellow seed saver and amateur plant breeder named Tad Smith called Price’s Purple. Having the same color as Cherokee Purple, the plant of Price’s Purple is potato leaf. The last time I grew it was 2004, so I hope to see if I can germinate the 17 year old seed and grow a plant in my 2021 garden.

Another mystery I am working to solve is the Dwarf Tomato Project candidate Capri Show Stopper, named by Patrina in 2012 from the Pesty family as a nice flavored pink. We did a bit of work on it the past few years and what we now have is an indeterminate that produces either pink or yellow/red bicolored tomatoes. I am returning to the seed Patrina sent me to see if I can find the dwarf that she selected and named.

I may grow a few cherry tomatoes near the deck again - probably Sungold F1 (from new seed purchased from Johnny’s), and Egg Yolk. I will certainly keep them in better control.

Of course, there are loads of tomatoes I’d love to grow that are not included in my plans. The varieties I distributed in the dozens of seed shares I just sent off were made with this in mind; I will be doing a lot of vicarious gardening this year.

Walking on the Blue Ridge Parkway (the section near us is closed)

2020 Garden Year in Review - Everything Except the Tomatoes

Finally, here is information on the remainder of my gardening efforts in 2020 - herbs, peppers, eggplants, flowers, beans, peas, cucumbers and squash.

I can always think of more things - more info, more data, more pics - to add to these mammoth blogs, but at some point, find it better to post them a bit incomplete…then add and edit as things come to mind. Enjoy - you will all now have a pretty complete picture of my first garden in Hendersonville!

Peppers - I decided to grow peppers in either self watering containers or grow bags. I chose my gravel driveway for placement, which was not the best decision. Though the plants eventually caught on when the temperature of the days (and especially nights) rose, I had significant rotting prior to ripening to the final color. All in all, it was a disappointing season, though I did manage to get what I hope are good seeds saved from each.

Much of what I grew are from my Islander dehybridization work, an effort to dehybridize a Stokes Chocolate Bell hybrid begun years ago, work on a few of my ornamental hot peppers, and some miscellaneous varieties. All are described below.

Chocolate Bell, in its green stage, characteristic color and shape

Chocolate Bell - I planted P19-35, which is F9 generation, which is from 559, which is from 523, which is from P11-14, which is from P10-35, which is from P09-39, which is from P08-7, which is from P07-18, which is from 230, the hybrid purchased from Stokes in 2007. Seed saved this year, F10, is P20-13.

When growing Chocolate Bell F1 from Stokes in 2007 I loved the large size, blocky shape and sweet flavor when it passed from dark green to brown. I saved seed and have been working to get that sort of result ever since. Though this year’s plant was off to a promising start, weather and location made ripening of the fruit to the chocolate stage without rotting difficult. Yet I did save seed from a mostly chocolate specimen and did advance the generation - let’s see what I get next year from F10 seed.

Fire Opal - I planted P19-25, F11 or F12 generation, which is from P17-12, which is from P15-4 or P14-3 - P15-4 is from P14-3 - P14-3 is from P13-9, which is from P12-4, which is from P11-7, which is from P10-50, which is from P08-28, which is from P07-25, which is from P06-3, which is from 364, Islander F1, purchased in 2005. Saved seed is F12 or F13 generation P20-17.

My favorite bell pepper for color was Islander, also known as Blue Jay, hybrids offered at high price by Johnny’s and by Stokes back in the mid 2000s. Using Islander, I started growing plants from saved seed and noted five distinct types - cream to lavender to red (like the hybrid - I named this Amethyst, and it is now known as Carolina Amethyst and available from a few companies), cream to lavender to gold (which I named Fire Opal - it is one of the favorites of my work on this line - and I am sending seeds to Southern Exposure Seed Company in hopes of their future release of the variety), cream to gold (which I call White Gold), chartreuse to black purple to red (which I call Royal Purple), and the toughest to consistently achieve, cream to orange red to red (which I called Candy Corn - I need to go back to the drawing board to find this one). I also have a chartreuse to orange red color change that was only observed once and I need to do some work to see if I can find it again.

Fire Opal did the best this year of all of them, with plenty of elongated cream bell peppers that changed to lavender, then to gold - plenty of seed was saved.

Royal Purple - I planted P19-30, F10 generation, which is from P14-41, which is from 549, which is from 528, which is from P11-6, which is from P10-47, which is from P08-18, which is from P07-19, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. This year’s seed, F11, is T20-16.

Royal Purple performed as hoped - the chartreuse bell peppers quickly went dark purple, then to red, and seed was saved.

Carolina Amethyst - I planted P19-29, probably F13 or F14 generation, which is from P18-9 or P18-13, from P17-13 or P17-16. P17-13 is from P16-7, and P17-16 is from P15-1. P16-7 is from P15-1. P15-1 is from P14-4, which is from P13-10, which is from P12-5, which is from P11-10, which is from P09-28, which is from P08-14, which is from P07-16, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. Saved seed from this year is P20-15, which is probably F14 or F15 generation.

I had lots of cream to lavender bell Carolina Amethyst fruit, but often rotting set in prior to the final change to red. I did save enough seed. This is the most advanced of my selections.

White Gold - I planted P19-33, F10, which is from 588, which is from 553, which is from 532, which is from P11-2, which is from P09-36, which is from P08-30, which is from P07-29, which is from P06-3, which is from Islander F1, 364. Seed saved this year is F11, P20-14.

I was delighted right at the start of this work to find a cream colored bell pepper that ripened gold, instead of red - it did as I had hoped this year, and I’ve got lots of saved seed.

My Bouquet from this year, showing foliage that is more purple than I hope, but pretty characteristic fruit. Back to the drawing board!

Bouquet - planted P19-8, which is from P18-6, and I have to dig out my garden journals to confirm what the origin vial for that one is. Like its sister variety Gemstone below), it goes back to P02-30, seed from a pepper obtained from a local arboretum. The goal for Bouquet has always been dark green foliage, white and violet flowers, and slender peppers that range from cream to deep lavender, to orange then on to red. There remains a lot of variation in this line and I often plant dozens of plants. I noted right away that the foliage in P19-8 was too purple, but the fruit from many of the seedlings I planted were in line with my expectations. I still am not happy with Bouquet as a variety that is ready, and will return to the drawing board next year. Seed from the main plant is saved as P20-3, but I planted lots more plants and have seeds saved from all of them. There remains variation in leaf color, whether the fruit is slender or cone, and produced singly or in clusters.

Gemstone variant that had green foliage, but with typical fruit type. In a away, this is a combination of my goal for Bouquet in leaf type and fruit color, with the clusters of cones in Gemstone. It could end up being a newly named variety.

Gemstone showing it’s characteristic stuff.

Gemstone - I planted P19-1, which is from P17-11, which is from P12-34 or P13-31, which is from P12-34, which is from P11-161, which is form P10-12, which is from P09-12, which is from P08-38, which is from P07-1, which is from P05-1, which is from P04-6, which is from P03-6, which is from P02-30, saved from fruit at a local arboretum.

Right away I selected and named a very dark purple leaf plant with purple flowers and cone shaped peppers that moved from cream to lavender, fading to ivory violet, then to orange and red - produced in clusters. I’ve been working on Gemstone from the beginning and the plant this year was true to type - though 1 seedling had green foliage (which I will describe in the next paragraph). Seed is saved as P20-2.

The one green leaf seedling, shown above and saved as P20-4, is a lovely specimen, with green leaves, lavender flowers, and clusters of cone shaped multicolor peppers. It needs a name, and repeat growing to see what I’ve really got here.

Variegated Sweet Pepper (two selection) - I planted P19-20, from P18-11, and P19-22, from P18-15. Both P18 came from P17-32. In 2017, I was touring the Raulston Arboretum gardens with my friend Ralph, who volunteers there. He showed me a pepper growing in their test garden with variegated leaves and peppers - I took one pepper, waited for a few months and saved seeds, hoping it was ripe enough for the seeds to germinate.

I planted them in 2018 and grew out three plants with variegated foliage - the peppers on two of the plants were frying pepper shaped, green with white stripes fading to all red - and they were sweet! One other plant had the same foliage type and unripe pepper stripes, but ripened orange.

I grew plants from the red one, and from the orange one for this year’s garden. Each, red and orange, grew as hoped - both on green/white variegated, pretty plants with plenty of elongated green peppers with white variegation, one ripening red, one orange. Seeds are saved as P20-1 and P20-5.

Rocoto - I planted P19-15, which is from seed from a friend last year. Germination is always poor for Rocoto, but I managed to get one plant that lives on in a grow bag in my garage, still blooming and with a few peppers. The season wasn’t long or hot enough for a good crop to form, so I am hoping to keep it alive until the spring. The lovely purple flowers and fuzzy stems and leaves are distinctive - in the ripe peppers, the seeds are black.

Pinata - I planted P19-13, which is from P15-23, which is from P14-37, which is from NuMex Pinata packet. Pinata is my favorite Jalapeno type pepper, unusually ripening from cream to yellow to orange to red. My plant this year showed some purple shading in the leaves, worrying me that I had a cross. The peppers persisted to show some purple coloration, and seemed more chartreuse than cream to start, but eventually they did go from yellow to orange to red, and tasted correct. Seed is saved as P20-6. I do think there is a bit of a cross that happened here in the P20-15 seed and may go back to the drawing board on this one.

Eggplants - All work was focused on continuing my work dehybridizing Orient Express F1, as well as a few selections from a surprise bee-induced cross of the white variety Casper. As with the peppers, the eggplants were located in self watering containers or grow bags in my gravel driveway. They did better than the peppers, but, again, getting them to reach the ripe stage (turning golden colored) was not as easy here as it was in Raleigh. I did manage to get seeds from everything, but it remains to be seen how well they will germinate.

Midnight Lightning - I planted E19-3, which would be F9 generation, probably from E18-3, likely from E17-2, which is from E14-1, which is from E12-8. I also grew E19-5, F6 generation, which is from E12-8, which is from E11-1, which is from E10-3, which is from E-8-8, which is from Orient Express F1, 46.

I loved the hybrid Orient Express for its earliness and productivity, so started saving seeds in 2008 to see what sort of things would appear upon dehybridization efforts. I was delighted to find three distinct types - one that looked like the hybrid - long, black purple, with foliage that had significant purple blushing. I gave that one the working name of Midnight Lightning. One was even more slender, white with distinct lavender shading, the foliage much more medium green. That became Twilight Lightning. One was in between the two, more of a medium purple, on a plant with a bit of purple shading - that became Skinny Twilight.

Midnight Lightning has proven to be the most stubborn to stabilize - my two plants this year had the correct foliage color, and one of them produced the correct shape and color fruit. The other had the correct color but was less slender, more of a teardrop. Seed is saved as E20-6 and E20-7.

Green Ghost - I planted P16-10, which is from E14-12, which is from E12-24, which is from E11-12, which is from E10-10, which is from E09-4, which is from E07-1, which is from Casper, 13.

This and Mardi Gras are from growing out a clearly crossed seedling saved from Casper - the stem was purple instead of light green. Green Ghost was named for a very pale green eggplant midway between slender and tear drop shaped. It grew as I hoped this year and is saved as E20-10.

Twilight Lightning - I planted P19-1, which is from E16-3, which is from E13-16, which is from E12-11, which is from E11-8, which is from E10-1, which is from E08-8, which is from 46, Orient Express F1.

I grew three plants and the fruit was as expected on each plant - saved seed is E20-3, E20-4 and E20-8 - all slender white fruit that heavily blush with lavender, and white flesh.

Skinny Twilight - I planted P19-7, which is from E17-1, which is from E14-24, which is from E13-4, which is from E12-2, which is from E11-17, which is from E10-1, which is from E08-8, which is from 46, Orient Express F1.

Two plants were grown, each true to type, with slender medium purple fruit with a pale green background, and green flesh. Seeds were saved as E20-2 and E20-9.

Mardi Gras - I planted E19-4, which is from E18-2, which is from E17-8, which is from E16-6, which is from E14-18, which is from E12-35, which is from E11-10, which is from E10-10, which is from E09-4, which is from E07-1, which is from Casper, 13.

This is a selection from the Casper inadvertent cross that showed a pale green tear drop shaped fruit with distinct purple streaks and stripes - clearly something different and unique. I named it after the color of Mardi Gras beads. It grew true to type this year and seed is saved as E20-5.

Straw bale bean garden in front, straw bale squash garden behind

Marbel in the straw bale bean garden, showing the lovely pink flowers and long slender pods

Nice crop of Marbel coming along from seeds planted in a large container

Beans - This was a very successful venture. Whether growing pole varieties against my fence on strings or a trellis, or bush varieties in straw bales, we had our best bean season in decades. The increased heat and critter damage in Raleigh really impacted success there. Hendersonville, and my yard, proved to be just the ticket for a return to lots of beans with our meals. I also succeeded in reinvigorating a former cherished variety thought lost for good; read all about it below.

Marbel - I recall growing and loving Marbel in the late 1980s, acquiring it from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It is a filet bean, meant to be picked and eaten when long but very slender. If allowed to fatten up strings need to be removed before eating. The color is a dark green with lovely distinct dark violet stripes. The stripes fade when the beans are cooked. I last grew it in 1990. Over the last 30 years, it vanished from seed catalogs.

Notes to the Seed Savers Exchange and Johnny’s led to receipt of samples of seeds from each, held in cold storage. The SSE seed was actually seed I saved and sent to them in 1990! Germination was very good, especially with the SSE sample, and I planted them in three locations - rear of the raised bed, a large container, and in the straw bale bean garden. We had plenty to eat and plenty to let grow to maturity for seed saving. I am sharing a sample with Mike at Victory in hopes he will carry them in his catalog in the future. It remains my favorite bean.

Painted Lady on a trellis from Gardeners Supply

Painted Lady Scarlet Runner - I planted a row of the large, distinctive seeds of this runner bean as a trial for the trellis sent to me by Gardeners Supply. The beans germinated and grew well and the bicolored scarlet and white flowers were lovely - and did draw Hummingbirds. I did not eat the large flat beans, but saved a good amount of seeds. Next year I will plant a wax pole bean on this trellis.

Fowler pole bean to the left and right of the metal trellis

Fowler Pole - I planted two part rows of Fowler Pole Bean, a variant found among Fowler Bush Bean by my friend Jeff Fleming, and now available from Victory Seeds. Yield was excellent, and rather than eat them, I used this year’s planting to save lots of seed (which I did). I will try again next year to grow beans for us to eat.

Tom Wagner family heirloom bean

Tom Wagner mystery seed - At a February Organic Seed Alliance I attended, well known tomato breeder Tom Wagner (he of Green Zebra) was walking around passing out a single seed of an heirloom bean with a request to “grow it and see if you can save some seed”. I planted it in a container, it germinated, and I nurtured it until a nice set of pods developed - about 3 inches long and somewhat flat. The beans in side were more round than elongated and a pale tan color. I am not sure if it is a bean to eat as a pod, or to shell and eat the seeds - either green, or dried. I’ve got plenty of seed to experiment with, though!

Wando shell peas, along with some squash and bush beans

Sugar Snap peas growing up strings on a self-made trellis

Peas - I grew Wando shell pea and the original, vining Sugar Snap peas, direct seeding into a new strip garden I created against a fence and trellis. Sugar Snap grew tall and well, but I didn’t plant nearly enough - the few gatherings were delicious. Wando is a shorter growing shell pod type - the yield was fairly good and we had a few good sized servings of sweet, tender peas. I will likely skip the shelling peas next year, but will likely significantly increase the size of my Sugar Snap planting.

Other varieties of beans- Along with Marbel, I planted rows of Jade and Fowler in the straw bale quartet prepared for beans, direct seeded. Jade is a favorite due to its heavy yield, length and quality. Fowler is important in that it is the first variety that I requested upon joining the Seed Savers Exchange in 1986. I grew them less for eating this year than expanding my seed supply - in fact, I planted 10 seeds in a large container and got a nice yield of seed.

I did a second planting in the straw bales, consisting of a three color blend from seed packets I collected at an event a few years ago (green, yellow and purple), as well as a replanting of Marbel, and a few other packets that Victory Seeds sent me. The second planting did well until sun exposure declined significantly later in the summer, so we got but a few servings of delicious beans.

Healthy summer squash plants - Zephyr on the left, Raven zucchini on the right, showing its distinct leaf shape and coloring - grown in straw bales from directly planted seeds.

Zephyr squash coming along

Raven zucchini, Magda and Zephyr summer squash, and a golden zucchini

Summer Squash - As with the beans in straw bales, the summer squash was outstanding, bordering on overwhelming.

Zephyr - I’ve loved this summer squash since first growing it just after it was released from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I did particularly well this year, showing its tendency to vine away from center. Yield was heavy, plant health excellent.

Raven - This is a very dark green zucchini that didn’t yield quite as well as Zephyr, but did just fine.

Magda - Cousa squash (with pale green, white flecked skin) is my second favorite of the summer squash, just behind Zephyr. Plant heath, yield, flavor were all excellent.

Other crops

Cucumbers - This was not a success due to early demise due to a combination of downy mildew and cucumber mosaic virus.

Diva - I love Diva - it is the best tasting cucumber I’ve grown. I planted some seeds in the middle of the squash bale - they germinated, grew up the tomato cage trellis, and began to set fruit. Then, alas, disease hit with just a few harvested. I need to change my cuke strategy for next year.

Raised bed, which saw beets, beans, lettuce, chard, and various greens throughout the season. Right now it has kale, collards and garlic, which will hopefully live through the winter.

Greens - Various types of greens from various sources were switched in and out of several planting areas.

Collards, Kale, Swiss Chard -

lettuce in the raised bed coming along nicely

Lettuce - I am really lucky that my friend Jeff is a lettuce aficionado. Each year he sends me up to 20 packets of his saved seed. It is always sad when the heat comes and the lettuce bolts, but our spring salads are wonderful…once one eats tender, sweet home grown lettuce, the grocery store version is like cardboard.

All kinds of goodness here, including the rare Marbel beans and Zephyr summer squash

Beets from our raised bed

Beets - I started several types of beets, including those with golden flesh, in the spring, transplanted into plugs, and then they went into the front of a new raised bed. We had plenty of greens and a nice yield of perfect beets.

Carrots - Rainbow Mix - I direct seeded carrots into the elevated planter. They germinated well, were thinned, and we ended up with a heavy yield of beautiful, tasty, colorful carrots. This was my first success with carrots in my 40 years of gardening.

Basil - I started quite a few seedlings of prospera, devotion, gecofure and Genovese basils. The first three have been bred recently for tolerance to downy mildew. All did fine, but the Genovese did go down to disease first. I tucked a basil plant in each bale between two tomato plants, and also had it in two large containers. We had plenty!

Flowers from seed - sweet peas, zinnias, roselle, hibiscus, dahlias, columbine, morning glory, petunia, cosmos

Having a set of real, genuine sunny garden spaces at our new house was a thrilling prospect. We took full advantage, buying some new perennials, sowing flower seeds to tuck all sorts of colors in all sorts of sizes here and there around our yard.

A rare sight - my very few sweet pea blossoms

I started sweet peas early and transplanted against a new trellis from Gardeners Supply that I was testing. Alas, sweet peas struggled with our weather, and after just a few blossoms, they were pulled, and I need to rethink timing and location.

Much more successful were other flowers from seeds - I had various older packets of zinnias and dahlias which germinated and sized up quickly - they provided lots of cut flowers and color. I planted two types of dahlia from a few remaining seed packets, one of which had reddish foliage. Though they are not the best cut flowers, their enthusiasm makes them useful to add splashes of color. A friend shared some tubers of larger flowered, taller dahlias with me and they were outstanding.

My idea of growing Grandpa Ott’s morning glory up a string trellis on our shed did not go too well. The plants got lost among pachysandra and canna.

I seeded some columbine after stratifying in the freezer for a few days - some from seed saved years ago on a visit to a Glendale Springs garden, some from a new packet of McKana’s Giants. I ended up with about 20 nice healthy seedlings which were planted into our front garden. Next spring should be lovely to look at in that area.

Roselle and other hibiscus (all collected in the wild) were mixed. I didn’t have them in quite the correct location. I loved the look of the roselle plant, but didn’t get a good harvest of the calyxes. The taller hibiscus were simply not in a location that allowed for flowering - too much shade. All plants are still alive in containers in my garage.

Finally, I had a packet of old fashioned petunias, seeded some and they grew into vigorous healthy plants with a nice mix of colors. They found good use in a few of our edge gardens.

Most exciting was watching the existing plantings bloom - tulips, daffodils, a gorgeous magnolia, a lavender and outstanding deep red rhododendron, mature redbud and dogwood (salmon colored) trees, gladiolas, butterfly bush, forsythia, hydrangea, lilac, deep red monarda, lots of phlox (both white and pale purple), rubdeckia, coral bells, astilbe - so much unexpected, joyous color!

As I write this blog in December, I am dreaming of next March with our redbud in full bloom!

2020 Garden Year in Review - Dwarf Tomato Project research work

Now it is time to dig into my work on the various yet-to-be-released, Dwarf Tomato Project varieties in development. Deciding what to work on is always a challenge - we’ve accomplished so much, yet so much remains to play with!

I will start to candidates with names, then go to general families, which contain yet to be named possibilities. - there are 12 of these

Dwarf Tanager - a lovely bright orange tomato

Dwarf Tanager - planted 6866, F7 generation seed, which is from 6810, which is from 6259, which is from 5104, which is from T13-82, which is from T12-186, which is from 3536, Fancy F1, created by Sherry Long by crossing a Sunny orange fruited selection with Orange Pear. It is a very complex family with lots of different colors from our work. My saved seed from this year is T20-37, F8 generation seed.

Orange tomatoes are always welcome, particularly if they have outstanding flavor. We have Dwarf Perfect Harmony (from the Harmony family), Loxton Lad and Loxton Lass from the Rosy family, and Dwarf Blazing Beauty and Dwarf Orange Cream from the Tipsy family. Dwarf Tanager seems to about ready for release and will be a nice addition. It is a nice looking potato leaf dwarf with medium to medium large, smooth oblate bright orange tomatoes, and orange flesh. Mike at Victory has the latest generation, so it could be soon, or may be next year. My plant got off to a good start, but was in the part of the driveway that was a bit sun starved. It ripened quite late for me and disease and worm damage was beginning to go a bit out of control. The little I got to taste was excellent, a solid 8 out of 10.

Dwarf Strawberry Lemonade - this will be a great addition to our pink dwarf releases

Dwarf Strawberry Lemonade - planted 6864 (F6 generation), which is from 6802, which is from 6271, which is from 4644, which is from T12-186, which is from 3536 - Fancy F1. Seed I saved this year, F7 generation, is T20-39.

There is a bit of instability remaining in this one - I got what was expected, but Mike saw some variation in color. It was another variety that was in a somewhat poor location in my yard, but despite this, yielded heavily, was of really nice size, and tasted delicious - perhaps a bit better than 7.5. The pink tomatoes were oblate, quite meaty, on the sweet side and were medium to medium large in size. We are fortunate to have some really fine pink colored tomatoes coming from our project.

round version of dwarf Mocha’s Cherry

plum shaped Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry, not yet ripe, showing strong antho

The two shapes of Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry, round on left, plum on right, showing ripe purple color with the strong antho shading

Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry - planted T19-155, F4 generation, which is from T18-72, which is from T17-62, which is from T16-160, which is Anthy F1 - Saucy Mary X an antho pink cherry, crossed by me. I grew three plants from T19-155. All were purple small fruit with significant antho on the shoulders making the tomatoes look dark bluish black. The foliage had violet shading as well. Two of the plants gave small elongated oval tomatoes, and one was nearly round. The two oval selections are saved as T20-47 and T20-48, and the round selection is saves as T20-84, all F5 generation seed. It is not the best flavored series, but when totally ripe they are in the 7 range to my palate. They are gorgeous and prolific!

Mike at Victory also grew out this seed lot of Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry and observed more uniformity that I did - he also loved the flavor. For me, both T20-47 and T20-48 were quite compact in height - among the shortest of the tomatoes from our project. The round one, T20-84, was super prolific and gorgeous, ripening to purple with the heavy black blue antho shoulders. The round one will end up being Dwarf Mocha’s Cherry, and the elongated one Dwarf Mocha’s Plum (at least that’s my plan!).

Dwarf Idaho Gem - planted 6867 F6 generation, which is from 6805, which is from 6270, which is from 4644, which is from T12-186, which is from 3536, Fancy F1. I saved seed as T20-73, F7 seed.

This one certainly struggled - poor location, disease, late fruit set, then blossom end rot and worm damage. I managed to pick 2 medium sized oblate fruit when still quite green - it ripened to a bright yellow, but I didn’t taste it. Mike has seed of this and found continuing variability. When that is fixed, we will have a nice yellow - I consider this to be a regular leaf “cousin” to Dwarf Goldfinch, out of the same family.

Dwarf Laura’s Bounty - planted 6403, F7 seed, which is from 6180, which is from 5866, which is from 5650, which is from 5335, which is from T12-41, which is from 3534 - Leggy F1. Saved seed from this year is F8 generation, T20-77.

This is another stubborn variety. Last year I grew it, the color was correct (bright orange), and deer ate all of the fruit and stunted the plant - no seed saved. This year the plant looked great, it produced well….but it was a fat pink medium sized tomato - it showed as Dwarf Melanie’s Ballet, from the same family. We are back to the drawing board with this one.

enormous potato leaf foliage in Worry family potato leaf selection

Dwarf Modern Roman - planted 6903, F6 seed, which is from 6604, which is from 6136, which is from 5774, which is from T15-128, which is from T15-94, Worry F1, my cross between Speckled Roman and Wherokowhai. Saved seed is F7 generation T20-89.

Here we have another stubborn variety that is proving to be a bit of a challenge to bring to stability. The goal is a solid scarlet red paste tomato, size and shape of one of the parents, Speckled Roman. What I ended up with is the version that looks exactly like Speckled Roman, which is Stony Brook Speckled. The result shows the challenge of eliminating stripes in varieties where there is a striped parent. Once we get this one right, it will be a great addition to our project, with huge gorgeous potato leaf foliage.

Dwarf Kodiak King - planted 7058, F6 generation, which is from 4326, which is from T09-95, which is from 2530, which is from T08-2, which is from 2183, which is Grizzly F1, created by Patrina by crossing New Big Dwarf with Grozny 91. Saved seed from this year is F7 generation T20-90.

It is good to see Grizzly family releases finally reaching completion. Dwarf Snakebite is a nice medium large pink that is now available and was described in my previous update blog. Kodiak King is the red selection. It struggled for me, flowering quite late and the fruit suffering from late season worm attack. I did manage to pick a few partially green tomatoes that ripened scarlet red, so seed saving happened, but tasting and photography did not. It is ready to send along to Mike for commercial release in the next year or two.

Dwarf Stony Brook Speckled - planted 6899, F6 generation, which is from 6605, which is from 6136, which is from 5774, which is from T15-128, which is from T15-94, Worry F1, my cross between Speckled Roman and Wherokowhai. Saved seed is F7 T20-109.

This is a fine variety, producing lots of Speckled Roman colored, flavored, shaped and sized fruit on a potato leaf dwarf. It is ready to send on to Mike at Victory for eventual release. It will be good to get some additional, nice sized paste varieties in our project release roster.

Dwarf Stony Brook heart - a nice potato leaf partner to Dwarf Speckled Heart (regular leaf, different family)

Dwarf Stony Brook Heart - planted 6901, F6 generation, which is from 6607, which is from 6137, which is from 5774, which is from T15-128, which is from T15-94, Worry F1, my cross between Speckled Roman and Wherokowhai. Saved seed is F7 T20-91.

Dwarf Ann’s Dusky Rose Plum - planted T19-56, F4 generation, which is from T18-58, which is from T17-49, which is from T16-160, which is Anthy F1. I planted two plants, one of which showed more antho in the foliage. One plant produced pink paste with no antho saved as F5 generation T20-80, and one plant produced deep pink past tomatoes with significant antho on the shoulder, saved as F5 seed T20-93. One issue with this line has been seedlessness of some of the better tasting selections. The one most worth pursuing will be T20-93, the purple/pink plum with antho.

Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - yummy heart shaped bicolor

Gloria’s Treat showing shape and interior, front left

Dwarf Gloria’s Treat - planted 6979, F6 generation, which is from 5276, which is from 4380, which is from T12-141, which is from 3422, which is from 3468, which is Ivalde F1. Seed from this year is saved as T20-95, F7 generation seed.

The Ivalde family is such fun - there are 8 distinct color/leaf type/fruit shape combinations. Dwarf Gloria’s Treat is the potato leaf, heart shaped, yellow/red bicolor version. It was one of the absolute best of my Dwarf Project plants from last year, and I feel that it is ready to send to Mike at Victory for release within the next year or so. Fruit size is medium to medium large, productivity and plant health is excellent, and the flavor is really superb - at least an 8 out of 10.

Dwarf Liz’s Teardrop

Dwarf Liz’s Teardrop - I planted two leads for this challenging, stubborn variety (due to many of my attempts being seedless!) - T16-24, F3 generation, and 6597, F5 generation. Both of these do intersect - 6597 is from T17-66 which is from T16-24, which is from 5748, which is from T15-95, Steamy F1, created when I crossed Sungold hybrid with Dwarf Pink Passion. Seed saved from T16-24 is F4 seed T20-101, and from 6597 is F6 generation T20-100.

I was pleased that there were sufficient seeds in fruit of each selection grown to proceed next year. Both showed the desired small teardrop shape. Productivity is amazing, flavor is very good - on the sweet side, in the 7 to 7.5 range. Since T20-100 is a more advanced generation, that is the one to move forward with.

Finally are broader Dwarf families that we are selecting from - there are 7 of these

front right in this pic shows one of the Scotty yellow leaf potato leaf plants

Ripening fruit from Scotty T19-51 normal color regular leaf with delicious large pink blunt hearts with gold stripes

Ripe Scotty T19-51 reg color regular left, at the right, showing pink with gold stripes - also in the bowl are Dwarf Liz’s Teardrop (in front of the Scotty), and Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob (front), and Dwarf Moby’s Cherry (in the center)

Scotty family - I planted a number of these - T19-51, T19-52 and T19-53. Scotty T19-51, F4 generation, is from 6702, T19-52, F4 generation, is from 6702, and T19-53, F3 generation, is from 6697. 6702, is from T17-58. 6697 is from T16-161. T17-58 is from T16-161. T16-161 is Scotty F1, which I created by crossing Surprise with Dwarf Scarlet Heart. I ended up planting four plants from T19-51, and one each from T19-52 and T19-53.

The four plants from T19-51 are potato leaf normal color, saved as T20-49, yellow leaf regular leaf, saved as T20-52, potato leaf normal color, saved as T20-62, and regular leaf normal color, saved as T20-75. T19-52, potato leaf yellow leaf, is saved as T20-64. T19-53, potato leaf yellow leaf (check this), is saved as T20-82.

As far as the T19-51 source plants, the best by far is T20-75, a very prolific, quite early variety with medium to medium large heart shaped pink tomatoes with gold stripes - flavor is a solid 8. The foliage is regular leaf, normal color. T20-49 is a good sized pink oblate, quite early, prolific - and as large as 8 ounces, pink with faint stripes. It ranked 7.5 in flavor. It has potato leaf, normal colored foliage. T20-52 has regular leaf, yellow colored foliage, fruit went from white to pink, heart shaped, flavor not recorded or tried due to its poor location and late season fruit damage by worms. T20-64 has yellow colored potato leaf foliage, and the heart shaped fruit ripened white to pink, flavor 7.5.

The T19-52 plant, saved as T20-62, was normal color potato leaf plant with medium sized pink slight hearts with faint stripes, flavor 7.5 - it was very similar to T20-49.

The T19-53 plant, saved as T20-82, was a yellow foliage colored potato leaf plant with medium to medium large oblate fruit that ripened from white to scarlet, with a flavor of 7.5.

The mail question is in, aside from the large pink gold striped delicious heart, what to pursue. I’d like to get a yellow leaf variety released, but the flavor could be better. It is also a bit alarming for gardeners to see the yellow foliage, and many who have worked on this line fear that the plants are diseased!

Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob - upcoming release from the Hearty family

Hearty family - I focused on a chocolate with stripes lead, 4936, which is an F3 selection from the Hearty family sent to me by Vince Lavallo. Hearty was created by crossing Berkeley Tie Dye Heart with Dwarf Purple Heart. I grew two plants, and F4 seeds were saved as T20-50 and T20-65, both F4 generation. The tomatoes were identical on each plant. Fruit size is medium, the plants are prolific and very tasty - chocolate with green stripes. This one will go to Mike D at Victory for grow out and hopefully release within the next year or so, as Dwarf Chocolate Heartthrob.

Another view of one of the Acey variegated potato leaf selections

Acey dwarf showing variegated foliage

Acey family - I planted two different vials - 6939 and 6941, both F4 generation selections named Michelle’s Ace by the project volunteer who selected them and sent me seeds. Both were reported to have regular leaf variegated foliage, with 6939 saladette size, 6941 oblate and larger, up to 4 ounces. Both came from 6385, which is from T16-101, which is from T15-118, Acey F1, which I created when crossing Variegated with Dwarf Mr. Snow. I found regular and potato leaf seedlings in each planting and grew one of each - so a potato leaf and a regular leaf (both variegated) from 6939, and a potato leaf and regular leaf from 6941 - four different Acey project plants.

6939 seedlings: The potato leaf variegated plant was saved as T20-67, and the regular leaf variegated as T20-105. Health on both were excellent, productivity high. T20-67 produced medium sized oblate ivory colored fruit with a flavor of 8 - essentially Dwarf Walter’s Fancy. T20-105 produced 2 ounce pale yellow fruit with a flavor of 8, very round - and being a regular leaf selection is worth pursuing as Dwarf Michelle’s Ace.

6941 seedlings: The potato leaf variegated plant was saved as T20-76, and the regular leaf variegated as T20-63. Health on both were excellent, productivity high. T20-76 produced medium small pale yellow round fruit, flavor 8 - essentially this is Dwarf Pico’s Pride, just released by Victory. T20-63 produced the same type of fruit - and is also a candidate for Dwarf Michelle’s Ace.

We now need to explore different colors in this line, as both scarlet red and pink have been observed in various selection work.

mini beefsteak shape seen in Teensy pink selection grown in 2020

Teensy family - I planted a pink selection 6890 (F6 seed), which is from a Raleigh dwarf project participant, Ann. I am sure that Ann grew 6613, which is from another dwarf project participant, Justin, JS18-3, an F4 generation. The Teensy family was created when I crossed Summertime Green with Mexico Midget. We are working on various colored cherry tomatoes from this family, with the yellow one the most advanced to date. My plant from 6890 gave an enormous crop of small fruited pink tomatoes that ranged from round to oblate to actual mini beefsteak. Alas, the flavor was not what I hoped for, rating 6.5. This is not really worth pursuing; there are better pink colored selections that need to be progressed.

Sandy family - I planted vial 7000 (F3 seed), which is from T16-97, which is from T15-110, Sandy F1 - a family I created when crossing Variegated with our release Dwarf Sarandipity. My result this year was a regular leaf variegated leaf dwarf bearing lots of chocolate colored, slightly oblate 2-3 ounce saladette tomatoes with vertical greenish stripes. The flavor wasn’t spectacular (I rated it 6.5), but in essence this is a variegated “version” of Dwarf Sarandipity. The F4 seeds are saved as T20-87. It is a pretty tomato and is worth working on for improved flavor in future grow outs.

working name Dwarf Oriole for this regular leaf, large fruited Fancy selection

Fancy family - I planted seeds of a promising, interesting find from last year - a regular leaf very large pale orange selection from the Fancy family that had a blushing rosy center. Seeds were saved as T19-143 an F4 selection - which came from T13-71, which is from T12-186, which is from Fancy F1, which is 3536. Fancy is a very diverse family, made by crossing a Sunny orange selection with Orange Pear, by a Tomatoville member, Frozengirl. Seeds are saved as T20-102, which is F5 generation. We have lots of releases and works in progress in the Fancy family - Dwarf Emerald Isle (still in progress), Dwarf Goldfinch (released), Dwarf Grinch (released), Dwarf Parfait (released), Dwarf Idaho Gem (still in progress), Dwarf Strawberry Lemonade (still in progress), and Dwarf Sunny’s Pear (released) - heart shaped, pear shaped, round and oblate, regular and potato leaf, flesh colors of green, green with orange, yellow, orange, and pink so far. The plant this year was vigorous, healthy, heavy setting - tomatoes were up to very large, pale orange with a rosy center, and delicious - this will become Dwarf Oriole (working name).

Interesting coloring of the fruit from Beauty T19-50.,showing both stripes and mottling

Interior color of T19-50

Beauty T19-59 - light and dark green stripes

Beauty T19-59 internal color

Beauty family - I continue to work on additional green fleshed Beauty selections (the single release to date is Dwarf Beauty’s Kiss, which is mottled green with purple). I planted T19-50 and T19-59. T19-50 (which is F5 generation seed) is from T11-152, which is from 3088, which is from 2731, Beauty F2. T19-59 (F6 generation) is from T12-179, which is from 3366, which is from 3088, which is from Beauty F2 2731.

T19-50 produced F6 seed that is labeled T20-78. The productive, healthy plants produced medium large oblate fruit that had light and dark green stripes, some purple mottling in the flesh, and a very good 7.5 flavor score. T19-59 produced F7 seed that is T20-68. The healthy, productive plant produced medium large, smooth oblate fruit that were light and dark green striped and also had a flavor rating of 7.5. I wish I paid a bit more close attention in terms of comparison to Dwarf Beauty’s Kiss - however, both of these seemed to be more distinctively striped and are worth further exploration. What I am trying to do is find a super delicious large light and dark green stripe that were T11-152 and T12-179. These are fun to work with!

Well, that’s all folks - I am not happy with my photography this season, particularly on the experimental dwarf varieties. I did go through my pics again and added quite a few to the above on Dec 20 AM.

Great Christmas Gift for your Gardening Friends - Give a Seed Collection Experience!

Memory Lane - a sampling of tomatoes harvested on July 22

Happy mid December, gardening pals! I continue to work on my 2020 garden update blog series - the second (and last) of the Dwarf Tomato Project work in my garden from last season should be ready to post soon.

But….with the big winter holidays upon us, here’s an idea…

I’ve spoken before about participating in some important veggie trials - I am a curator for three of them, and the program is called the Seed Collection Experience. Check that hot link for more info - you can choose slicing, paste or cherry tomatoes. There are great collections by other curators as well!

A fun way you can do this right now is by highlighting what great last minute gifts these make for garden lovers! We've updated our gift purchasing experience so that folks are now able to "deliver their gift" themselves on the date(s) they choose. They can even print off a little card talking about the collections they are gifting if they prefer to give a physical gift.

Here’s the great gift idea - there is a special holiday offer going Saturday Dec 12 - Thursday Dec 31 that you should be aware of. All Collections are 20% off when a purchaser enters any of the following coupon codes at purchase. You can use codes CBN20, Craig20, Meg20, EFN20 or OSA20 (the codes refer to the curators) - any codes will work for any collection!

To find out more, you can listen to a Seedlinked member, Bjorn Bergman, who was recently interviewed about Seed Collections on Margaret Roach's A Way to Garden podcast/radio show. It is a very informative half hour, well worth spending.

So - the last two garden update blogs (Dwarf Tomato Project, and everything else I grew) should be published by Christmas. I am caught up pretty much on emails. I hope to begin fulfilling seed requests very soon!

Stay safe, stay well…and enjoy your holidays!

Snow from mid January, just after we moved in…hoping to see just a bit of this soon (we still love snow!)