Your 2007 Vegetable Garden?

[Luc_H]

I have the usual stuff this year:
Cucumbers
yellow wax beans
basil
carrots

recurring every year:
black raspberry (Rubus occidentalist)
autumn raspberry
OP strawberry
Oregano
English thyme
lemon balm
Paulared apples
rosemary
red currants

new this year
Hysope
rainbow chard
Brussel sprouts
wild Canadian Ginger

heirloom tomatoes:
Amish Paste OP
Sungold select OP
Stupice OP (extremely early and robust.. already have 3, 1 inch fruits)
Tomatito de Jalapa OP (wild living tomato in the Andies mountains today)
Mémé Beauce (seed were found in an old 100 year abandon house in Beauce, Québec. The plant has been cultivated in Québec for probably 200+ years)
Calabash Purple OP (apparently a species cultivated in Europe around the 15th century).

[KYHeirloomer]

Luc,

Can I ask why you follow the names of your heirlooms with "OP?"

By definition, all heirlooms are open pollinated, and shouldn't have to be identified that way.

I'm really intrigued by that Meme Beauce. Can you tell me more about it? Doesn't seem right that 100 year old seed would germinate.

I know some Canadian heirloom-growers who might be interested in getting seed from you, though.

[Luc_H]

Hi KYH,

Yes I know I wrote OP (open pollinated) but I just copied the titles I had and included the OP.... (I know it's redundant for heirlooms)

I have tried to find a reference for Mémé Beauce but they are all in French because of the locality in Québec.
This is the only reference I found in English: Canadian Heirlooms: Questions - Growing Tomatoes Forum - GardenWeb
The nursery guy told me that if I kept only of flower (the top one) on this plant, the fruit can grow to 1Kg (2lbs) as per the mention on the link above.
French references allude to the story that the seeds were found when an old house was reclaimed by a carpenter. The Beauce is one of the founding regions of the NewWorld (Québec).

My seeds won't be useful next year because the plants I bought are planted close together and will cross pollinate so Mémé Beauce seeds may not hold authentic to the next generation. I purchase many tomatoes this year to try them to decide on a few next year. I will collect seeds and see what new cross pollinated plants come out. Who knows maybe I will create my own line!! (joke)

I should not get credit for these seeds. If you want the reference, I can PM you the person's e-mail addy. Luckily the growers you mentioned are in Canada. (I know for a fact that shipping plant material from Canada to USA is a very difficult task due to the new terrorism laws on imports so this guy may not have a license to ship and I do not know who can)

PM me...
Luc

[cookie jim]

Hi Mudbug;Good thread. I'm like shell as far as space goes. I have a small wood porch about 10 yards long howdever it has to also serve as a place for lounge chair,garbage can and a bbq grill. I went to the dollar store and found some large oblong containers on sale for $3.75 a piece.Then went to a farmers market where I got soil,a six pack of cherry tomatoes and a six pack of habanero peppers. Since then I just got some oregano and a carnation plant. I have room for 2 more containers which I will have basil,lemon basil thym and as KYH suggested a pot of rosemary. I wish I had rose bush,I have a recipe for a Thai rose salad, I made it before and garnished it with a perfect rose on the dish.I was trying to impress a lady friend... SCORE..lol. Any way I hope you all have great success with your gardens,I'm envious...good cookin..cookie

[cookie jim]

bubbamom; may I suggest a pesto sauce for all that unused basil. If you need a recipe post on the recipe thread for it...good cookin ...cookie

[foodnfoto]

Our garden was planted pretty late this year owing to our wait for a new shed to be delivered-what's the point of planting when positioning the shed would crush everything.

Anyway, we now have it in, everything is up and lovely and the cutworms are no where to be seen.

Tomatoes-have to use VF varieties as the ground fungus and virus or whatever it is seems to be really bad around here.

Eggplant
Crookneck yellow squash
Radishes
Mesclun
Oak leaf romaine
Kentucky Wonder beans
Lots of sunflowers-I love to watch the bird eat them

And Okra-two big rows
Neighbors who walk by always ask what it is--not a real popular item in upstate NY

I transplanted my rhubarb and it seems to be doing much better now that the dogs aren't trampling it everyday. But how long before I get nice long stalks? It's been short and stumpy with skinny little stalks for two years now. I've been feeding it nice compost, but is there something better?

The herb garden is doing great but the horseradish is starting to take over. The lemongrass is bushy and beautiful, and of course, there are the usual suspects-basil, thyme, rosemary, sages, oregano, parsley, tarragon, dill, fennel, chives and cilantro.
I'm also growing cloves, marjoram, wormwood, flax, stevia, lemon verbena, lemon balm and southernwood.

I can't seem to get my oregano to winter over. I covered it with straw last fall to protect it from the cold, but still it did not come back. What gives?

[SnowfallDesigns]

I picked my first two banana peppers yesterday! I've had several strawberries and my tomatoes are looking awesome - still green, but about half of my 11 plants have something on them. My blackberries and blueberries aren't quite ripe and it doesn't seem that the birds have gotten to them...yet...

I got my pumpkins planted this weekend - hopefully it isn't too late, I guess we'll see if I have full size pumpkins by Halloween! I have Jack-be Littles and Jack-o'-Lanterns planted.

Oh, and my oregano and mint is doing some wonderful producing!

This is my first time growing carrots - can anyone tell me how you know when they are ready? Do you have to start digging them up to check??

[allie]

I added to my herbs this past weekend. The nursery had everything 50% off and I picked up some cilantro, flat leaf parsley, and dill. We also planted 2 cherry tomatoes and 2 beefsteaks here at home. We have over 20 tomatoes growing at our friend's house so I don't think we'll suffer a shortage this summer!

I still want some mint but the nursery was sold out of it. I haven't been able to find it locally. Maybe I'll have to wait till next year for it.

[Whitey Ford]

I have raspberries (perrennial) red leaf lettuce and arugala, a few types of tomatoes, including a yellow roma, Italian pole beans, basil, rosemary and French tarragon. Getting some thyme from my mom one of these days. Hesitating on the yellow squash because last year critters ate them up when they were about two inches. Also have some mulberry trees that attract Cedar Waxwings.