Mid-Atl - Jan 2018 - Brrrrrrrrrr! and Happy New Year

Well I just ordered seeds this evening! I couldn't help myself. Baker Creek Seeds was having a year-end fund raiser for Syria so I was able to justify my purchase.

I'm sticking to growing small-to-medium sized tomatoes this year, but getting different colors - Brad's Atomic Grape, White Currant, Chocolate Pear and German Lunchbox.

Also got some deep purple radishes (Malaga), a red/purple stemmed mizuna (Beni Houshi) a new squash for me (Red Kuri - Hokkaido), small Korean Red Eggplant small Red Express Cabbage, Little Finger Carrot, Hmong Red Cucumber and some cool Fort Portal Jade Beans. 

This seems to be my year for odd color veggies.

What "different" varieties will you be growing this year?

Brrrrrrrr! is right! It got down to NEGATIVE 12 here on the 1st!

I bought Baker Creek seeds when they had the hurricane support promotion. I wasn’t planning on another order from them this year, but I’m seeing some new things that I think were not up on the site last time I looked. The oyster leaf looks fascinating, but I don’t know where I’d put a perennial... Too many seeds, not enough space (and time...)! I got Pine Tree Seeds during their Black Friday sale. And I found last year’s Botanical Interests seed packets for 50 cents at a natural foods store! I still plan on buying a batch of seeds from at least Trade Winds Fruit. I need new bean inocula, I’m excited by the red napa cabbage I’ve seen, I need more spinach seeds, and haven’t purchased all my herb, pepper and tomato seeds yet. 

Your choices sound exciting, Kim! I like new colors, and some of the small varieties (especially cabbages) look like they’ll fit better in the ANSFG. I know it’s months away, but please tell us how they grow.

I’m trying some new beet and carrot types, Tronchunda kale, Hinona Kabu Japanese turnip for pickling, Bau Sin Jai Tsai heading mustard, cucamleon, and a powdery mildew resistant yellow summer squash. I will still lose the plant to the squash vine borers, but if it doesn’t have to struggle with powdery mildew at the same time, maybe I can get a few more squash before it succumbs. I got Kandahar Pendi okra from Baker Creek hoping it will perform better in northly climes than Clemson Spineless #80. I get a few okra from that, but I either need to find something more productive or stop growing okra.

My new bean for the year is Nonna Agnes’s Blue. I will be growing Ugandan Bantu Beans for the third year – there is a bean in this mix that is similar to the beautiful Fort Portal Jade. It is really beautiful. I’m also growing out some fun colors of beans that appeared in 2017’s harvest.

New Peppers: Buena Mulata, Early Jalapeño (I’ve been happily growing TAM, but I want to try making chipotle.), Pasilla basijo, and Zavory
New Tomatoes: Napa Chardonny Blush, Amish Paste, Glacier, Marglobe, Pruden’s Purple, San Marzano, Homestead, Mortgage Lifter, Delicious; Maybe also: Black from Tula, Peacevine cherry, Siberian, and either Dark Galaxy or Cosmic Eclipse

If I can figure out how the day-length thing works with yard long beans, I may try them again. There are hints that there are long and short day varieties, and having the wrong on may have contributed to my lackluster success in 2016.

New plants:
Celery– but in my City Picker sub-irrigated planters because the ANSFG does not get enough sun, and I doubt I water it well enough for good celery.
Saltwort – I keep thinking I‘m going to try this ‘next year’, but it keeps falling off the end of the list
Quinoa –I’m going to plant them along the fence. I don’t expect them to do well, but 50 cents seemed like a good price to just have fun and try something. 
Cocona – an interesting sounding nightshade fruit from Baker Creek
Herbs: Roman Chamomile, Mitsuba, Moldavian Balm Dragonhead, Mountain Mint, Toothache plant (didn’t get this to germinate last year; I’ll try harder this year.), Maybe also Angelica, Anise, Ramps, and Culantro.

Happy New Year!

You two have some interesting new varieties.

I’m going to try the Amish Paste too. Got a question, ever plant pumpkins? Grandson want me to try it. Probably takes 9 squares at least?

floyd1440 wrote:I’m going to try the Amish Paste too.  Got a question, ever plant pumpkins?  Grandson want me to try it.  Probably takes 9 squares at least?

Yes, but I grow them vertically on a Squash Arch. That way it only takes 2-3 squares.

Thank. Don’t think pumpkins will grow vertically as they weigh over 12 lbs. It would be nice if I could though

Floyd, I would still give it a try. Some people grow 10 pounders on trellises. I grow cantaloupe and the nylon netting has never broken.

Dumb question but how high do they grow?

As high as you'll let 'em, lol! Had vines that stretched 25 feet vertically a couple of years ago...