Welcome to 2021. It’ll be a good one.

I have a strong suspicion that we’ll be in lockdown until the winter…so I’d recommend taking advantage of planting a vegetable garden this year. Not only will it keep your brain and body busy, it’ll give you the utmost satisfaction that you helped something grow, and you got to eat it. Right then.

Tomatoes:

-orange icicle: Sweet, rich and flavorful with strong citrus overtones. Sweet, orange, icicle-like fruits that are like an extra long paste tomato. This variety also makes a lovely orange ketchup and a superb salsa. Seeds from the Ukraine.

-cheroke purple:  An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre- 1890 variety; beautiful, deep, dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very-large-sized fruit.

-amish paste: Giant, blocky, Roma type tomatoes have delicious red flesh that is perfect for paste and canning.

-martino’s roma:  Determinate. The paste-type fruit is dry-fleshed and very meaty with few seeds. Great for sauces, salsas and pastes.

-blue beauty: Fruits are modest beefsteak-type slicers, weighing up to 8 ounces. Gorgeous, deep blue-black with red.

-black vernissage: 2 oz ‘black’ tomato, perfect for salads and snacking.

-black cherry: Beautiful black cherries look like large grapes; sweet but not too sweet.

–chocolate pear: pear-shaped in a gorgeous brown-purple. Sweet and perfect.

-yellow pear: Very sweet, 1½” yellow, pear-shaped fruits have a mild flavor, and are great for fresh eating or for making tomato preserves.

-chardonnay: 1 1/2″ yellow blush, grows extremely well, very sweet and my favourite baby tomato

-blue cream berry: super-sweet cherry, prolific, delicate but complex flavour; another favourite

-yellow brandywine: delicious large fruit, large potato-leaf plants, better tasting than pink brandwine; an heirloom speciality

-beefsteak: massive fruit, 1-2 lbs, deep red flesh, old-fashioned flavour, meat and firm

-sunrise bumblebee: one ounce of sweetness, luminous swirls of reds and oranges, part of the artisan series

-white tomesol: An amazing heirloom that is bursting with fragrance and natural goodness that’s hard to beat. One of the best tomatoes we have tasted, being both sweet and rich. The cream colored fruit is beautiful, smooth and weighs about 8 ounces each. The vines set heavy yields of this rare treasure. It’s sure to become a favorite of gourmet growers.

Tomatillos: Deep green fruit; a standard, richly-flavored type. Huge yields.

Peppers:

-black hungarian jalapeno: Unique, black-colored fruit that are the shape of a Jalapeno. They are mildly hot and have a delicious flavor. The tall plants have beautiful purple flowers that make this variety very ornamental.

-tesuque chili:  Fruits ripen fairly early, with medium-sized, thin-walled fruits mainly used for drying; makes a fantastic and authentic red chili powder! Heat is variable but fruits are often very hot. Good yields on rather small, well-branched plants. The traditional chili pepper cultivated for generations at the historic northern New Mexico Pueblo of Tesuque.

-poblano: 3- to 6-inch heart-shaped fruits are usually of gentle heat, at around 2000 scovilles. Used green, after roasting and peeling, it is the classic pepper for chili rellenos. Dried, the fruits turn a rich dark red-brown and may be ground into an authentic red chili powder. Plants reach 2 feet or so and require a long season.

-sante fe grande: Spicy, 4” peppers, glowing gold in color and quite warm; makes pretty pickles and salsa. Ornamental plants give heavy yields over the entire summer, making this a perfect choice for home or market gardens. Introduced in 1965.

–estaceno: A genuine Northern New Mexico chili. Pods are thin walled and hot; size varies, up to 10”. Use green in chili verde or salsa, or dry them to dark red for chili powder. Named for the Espanola Valley village of Estaca.

-tabasco: This famous heirloom was introduced into Louisiana in 1848 and became the main ingredient in Tabasco Pepper Sauce. This pepper is very hot and has a delicious flavor. The plants grow up to 4’ tall and are covered with small, thin peppers.

-paprika: A lovely drying pepper that comes from Matrafured, Hungary. It has been grown there since the 1800s when it was brought from Leutschau (Slovakia). The medium-hot paprikas have great flavor, are terrific for drying, and make a delicious spicy powder. 

Not Spicy:

-king of the north:  Early, good-sized peppers of a heavy yielding habit. The variety thrives in the cooler summer weather so prevalent in New England and yields crisp bells, green ripening to red, right up until frost.

–corno di Toro Giallo: The traditional favorite in Italy. Long 8-inch tapered, bull-horn shaped golden-yellow peppers are sweet and spicy. They are great fresh or roasted. Large plants yield well. Among the best peppers you can grow and so delicious. Pure Italian seed.

-corbaci: A unique and wonderful sweet pepper. Very long 10-inch fruit are curved and twisted, very slender, like a Turkish scimitar. This rare heirloom from Turkey has a very rich flavor, perfect for pickling or frying.

-red mini bell: Tiny, red bell peppers are only about 1-1/2” tall and wide; they have thick red flesh that is very sweet. 2’-tall plants produce loads of these little winners, and early, too. Great for stuffing.

-lipstick:  A delicious pepper with 4” long tapered, pimiento type fruits that are super sweet. This fine pepper is early and ripens well in the North. A flavorful favorite with thick, red flesh.

-etiuda:  Blocky, thick-walled orange fruits are crisp, very sweet and juicy. These mandarin-orange bells can reach up to a half-pound in weight, and are lavishly produced on tall plants. Originally a Polish commercial variety.

-oda: Very strong, compact plants crank out tapered, pointed bells from early summer on. The fruits are the loveliest shade of plum purple, ripening to a lustrous red-brown. Crisp, juicy, thick-walled fruits are very sweet.

-banana wax: sleek, tapered fruit, reaching 6-7″, ripens to red-orange, good for salads, being stuffed or pickled.

-california: The standard green bell pepper. A nice size with very good yield; a popular old-time variety.

-zulu: This impressively ‘eggplant black’ colored bell pepper is crisp with thin flesh. It has an amazing piquant aftertaste of spicy zip minus the nip of a hot pepper, and this sweet pepper is sure to please even the toughest critic! Zulu pepper would be a great addition to salsa and salads. A beautiful pepper from Poland.

Cucumber:

-chicago pickling: heirloom from 1888, thin skins, 7″, prolific and disease resistant

-boston pickling: An old heirloom dating back to 1880. Vigorous vines give large yields of smooth green fruit. It is excellent for pickles; very crisp and good quality. A very popular variety at the turn of the 20th century.

-tendergreen burpless: Burpless slicing type, free from bitterness, that has been popular for over 80 years! Fruits are medium-dark green, 7-12 inches in length, and quite plump and smooth compared to Japanese long slicing types. Excels as a slicer, because each fruit yields so many slices of uniform diameter, but the tender skin makes great pickles as well. 

-beit alpha: delicious, sweet, does not need peeling, burpless, high yields, tender

-richmond green apple: heirloom from Australia, size of a lemon, mild, sweet, juicy, fun to grow.

Broccoli:

-waltham: Standard type, produces 4-8” green heads that are nicely flavored. Compact plants also produce some side shoots. Introduced in 1954.

Cabbage:

-glory of Enkhuizen :Introduced in 1899 by Sluis & Groot in Enkhuizen, Holland. Has medium-large, hard round heads. An early, excellent-keeping variety that is a good producer and good for kraut.

-brunswick: A large drumhead cabbage, very cold hardy. A fall/winter type cabbage, stores very well.

-red express: Newly released open-pollinated red cabbage, the first in many years! Specifically bred for Canada and northern tier of USA. Compact plants, extra early production of solid, split-resistant oval heads to only 2-3 pounds.

-violacea di verona: A vintage heirloom cabbage that originated in the region of Verona in Northern Italy, with stunning, lightly savoyed violet and green leaves that get more vibrant as the cool fall and winter weather set in. Medium sized round heads mature 120 days from seeding. With violet colored wrapper leaves and yellow-green inside leaves, they are an ideal choice for a fall/winter harvest. It is frost hardy, and in warmer areas can be harvested until New Year.

Cauliflower:

-purple: Beautiful, brilliant purple heads weigh 2-3 lbs and are of a fine, sweet flavor. The heads cook to bright green. Insect-resistant variety that is easier to grow than many white varieties; rich in minerals.

-amazing:  It is a classic American favorite and can be harvested either at the “baby head” size or when fully mature at 10”. Brilliant white, self-blanching heads are covered by large abundant wrapper leaves that protect them from sun, heat and cold; easy to grow in the North or South. It keeps well in the field and heavy bearing, so pick as needed and prepare for a large harvest.

Melon: 

-collective farm woman: This heirloom from the Ukraine was collected in 1993 by Seed Savers Exchange. Very popular on Island of Krim in the Black Sea. Melons ripen to a yellowish-gold and the white flesh has a very high sugar content, a favorite among heirloom gardeners and growers alike. Ripens early, even in Russia, and tolerates comparatively cool summers—known to do well in Canada.

-golden jenny: Short vines just go wild producing these succulent, sweet 2 lb. beauties.

-blacktail watermelon: One of the earliest watermelons we know of; superb for the North, but it also grows well in heat and drought. The flesh is red and deliciously sweet. Fruits have a dark rind and weigh 8-12 lbs each.

-early silver line: Beautiful, oval-shaped yellow fruit weight 1-2 lbs with silver stripes and white flesh.

Squash:

-jack-be-little pumpkin: This tiny, cute pumpkin weighs just 8 ounces; flat and ribbed. These are highly popular and a top-selling fall crop. The flesh is good to eat, and the skin is bright orange.

-butternut: An old favorite. Good yields with excellent-tasting, rich, orange-colored flesh.

-spaghetti:  This is American strain of this popular Japanese squash, with stringy flesh that is used like spaghetti. Introduced to America before 1920.

-lemon zucchini: shape, size and colour of a lemon, huge yields, best resistance to insects

-early straight neck zucchini: AAS Winner from 1938, uniform lemon-yellow, club-shaped fruit; firm flesh is of excellent quality, tasty.

Herbs:

basil, lemon basil, cinnamon basil, thai sweet basil, blue spice basil, lettuce basil, parsley, oregano, peppermint, spearmint