It’s that time. I’m getting excited. The greenhouse is at 34C right now.

TOMATOES

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.

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

chardonnay: sweet, yellow, cherry-sized; prolific

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.

blue beauty: Fruit is modest beefsteak-type slicer, weighing up to 8 ounces, and the flavor is as good as its outstanding antioxidant content! Gorgeous, deep blue-black shoulders make this unique among slicing types; fruit holds well on the vine. Sunburn and crack resistance are a welcome bonus.

moneymaker: red, not too sweet, early fruit, golf-ball sized fruit.

bonny best: Medium-sized fruit is round, red, meaty and loaded with flavor. A good producer that makes a fine slicer too. Becoming hard to find due to modern, flavorless hybrids.

purple bumblebee: Slightly elongated little cherries with the most outrageous striping in lime green and bronzy-purple! Crack-resistant fruit is produced all season long on plants that are unfazed by temperature extremes. The flavor is complex but sweet.

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

mortgage lifter: 85 days. Large, smooth, 1-lb pink fruit has a delicious, rich, sweet taste. This variety has become very popular in recent years and was developed by M.C. Byles of Logan, West Virginia. After crossing varieties for 6 years and selecting the best, he introduced this beauty that he named Mortgage Lifter in the 1940s, after he sold plants for $1 each and paid off the $6000 mortgage on his house.

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.

PEPPERS – HOT

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.

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.

thai: (bird’s eye chili) Grow to a foot high, spicy taste, perfect for adding to thai/asian cuisine, can be dried and used in all cooking.

PEPPERS – SWEET

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.

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.

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.

purple bell: high yields; 4″, deep onyx colour, compact plant

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.

MELONS:

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

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

SQUASH:

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

CUCUMBERS:

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

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

muncher: no pollinators required; 6-8″ long; strong vine; can be pickled or eaten right out of the garden.

early fortune: this is a super dependable garden cucumber that is sweet and almost never bitter. Slicing-type fruit grows 7 to 8 inches long, 2 inches in diameter.

BROCCOLI

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

CABBAGE

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

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.

purple: 70 Days. Beautiful, brilliant purple heads weigh 2-3 lbs and are a fine, sweet flavor. The heads cook to bright green. Insect-resistant, it is also easier to grow than many white varieties, and it is rich in minerals. 

HERBS:

blue hyssop, borage, catnip, cilantro, curly parsley, italian parsley, lavender, chamomile, genovese basil, blue basil, cinnamon basil, thai basil, lettuce basil, siam basil, purple basil, dill, lemongrass and mint.

FLOWERS:

New thing this year. Going to try multi-coloured petunias, bright orange calendula, and blue salvia for annuals. Perennials will be blue centaurea, multi-coloured digitalis, lupins, multi-coloured aquilegia and monarda.

All plants are non-gmo, heirloom, organic. All come in in 4″ pot or larger. Plants are $3.50 each.