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We’ve watched in anticipation this spring to see if any owl was on the hunt for a new home and would decide to move in to our owl house we built and installed last summer. Doesn’t look like any takers yet, but here’s hoping. Maybe an owl couple will have a fight and mom will move out on the dad and find solace in our sweet little abode. I could lend a sympathetic ear if she wants to vent about her owlish hubby. … just sayin’ !
>I feel like it is the perfect storm for gardening…end of freeze possibilities, perfect weather, and a long weekend. That sent everyone to the nurseries to clean them out of vegetables and other plants. Luckily I had already hoarded away some tomatoes that were passalongs from fellow gardener Jen for both the school garden and my garden. I rounded them off with a few others I found before Easter, as I knew my Easter weekend would not be spent gardening. I’m pretty much going out on a limb this year with varieties I have never tried before.
So my post-Easter workout was to clean out both my vegetable garden and the preschool vegetable garden to ready them for warm season veggies. So here it is, straight from the home office in Austin TX, the 2010 vegetable list for Bonnie’s Garden (descriptions are mostly taken from seed catalogs unless obviously a first person description of my experiences):
Hale’s Best Canteloupe: My first venture backl into melons in two years, as my last crop produced beautiful melons with absolutely no sweetness. But i”m willing to give it a second try with this popular variety
Described as a beautiful oval melon deep green skin with golden netting. The flesh is an appealing salmon color, aromatic and sweet.
Brandywine Tomato: Everyone should try this variety once. They’re huge and juicy. Take forever to ripen but worth the wait…and just plain cool looking. I grow mine next to a trellis so when they get huge I can just lean them over and let them continue to climb. Indeterminate
Early Girl Tomato: Dependable large harvests of flavorful, solid 4 to 6 oz. fruit. Disease resistance is good, contributing to its excellent performance in almost any climate. A proven variety for delicious, early tomatoes. Indeterminate.
Sweet Tangerine Tomato: 6 oz. bright orange fruits, very sweet and flavorful. Sets a heavy crop, even in hot weather. Determinate.
Italian Heirloom Tomato: Later maturing. Meaty, orange-red 1/2 lobed fruits. Ideal for slicing. Superb flavor. Indeterminate.
Green Zebra Tomato: A unique and delicious salad tomato. 3 oz. green fruits ripen to amber-green with darker green stripes. The light green flesh is very flavorful, sweet yet zingy. This one is a real taste treat. Indeterminate.
Mule Team Tomato:A great choice for a ‘main crop,’ all-purpose tomato. Vigorous plants bear plenty of 8 to 12 ounce round, bright red tomatoes with excellent flavor and texture. Not only are harvests very abundant, but production continues right up until frost. Heirloom variety. Indeterminate.
Kellogg’s Breakfast Tomato: Lovely pale-orange color on 1 lb. beefsteak type fruit. Tomatoes have very good flavor and are quite meaty with few seeds. Juice has the same bright color as orange juice and is delicious. Heirloom variety. Indeterminate.
Yellow Pear Tomato: these miniature pear-shaped tomatoes are 1-3/4 to 2 inches long and clear yellow in color. They are delightfully sweet, considered by many as ‘garden candy’. Baskets of these are as pretty as can be. Tall plants bear large and continuous harvests. Indeterminate.
Aunt Gerdie’s Gold Tomato: Indeterminate heirloom yellow. 1-2 pound fruit with rich gold color is not overly sweet or juicy. One of the best tasting yellows. Outstanding flavor carries hints of melon.
Aunt Ruby’s Tomato: Heirloom beefsteak variety. Slightly flattened, 1 pound fruit that ripens to a pale greenish-yellow (“lime jello green”) with a slight pink blush that extends to the inside. Superb, fruity sweet and slightly spicy taste.
Sweet Baby Girl Tomato: A major seed company set out to find a cherry tomato that was extra flavorful and sweet on a productive, but more manageable plant. The result is Sweet Baby Girl, and it does indeed have incredible harvests of tomatoes on healthy, compact plants. Dark red fruit has great, sweet flavor and grows in long clusters. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus. Compact indeterminate.
Sweet Havana Pepper: 5″ blocky lobed thick-walled sweet fruits. Prolific yields.
Armenian Cucumber: I’m usually a soyu cuke girl, but this year I am trying this variety. Catalog: This unusual and attractive 12-18″ cuke is always sweet and crispy, even when fruit is large. Thin skinned with deep ridges it is perfect for the fresh market. Handle carefully to avoid bruising. Botanically, a close relative of the honeydew melon. Thrives in hot weather.
Lemon Cucumber: The 3-4″ round and lemon yellow cucumbers are tender and sweet, excellent for salads and pickling. Normal-sized vines yield heavily and for a long time.
I’m still hoping to add Thai eggplant (if I can find plants or seeds), a few tomatillas, and some zucchini.
Let’s hope they all live up to their descriptions.
Kiss of Sun 