[mudbug]

...now getting into some of the heirloom and foreign veggies (mostly Oriental and European varieties.

From your post at Want to start a garden...

Would love for you to share what specific varieties...! (what about chilies... as "The Chile Queen" implies?)

You may be extremely interested in the following two sources, both have free catalogs.

Evergreen Seeds
They have the most comprehensive selection I've seen so far of Asian Vegetables. Eight varieties of Bitter Melon alone (and two of them are white)!







Not to mention 33 varieties of Chinese Cabbage, 7 varieties of Pak Choy (Bok Choy) and eight varieties of Yardlong Bean (Asparagus Bean)!

Baker's Creek Heirloom Seeds
Fabulous selection and total shipping no matter how much you order is $1.25. (How rare is that?) They have many quality links for Heirloom information as well.

If you're interested in browsing customer reviews of mail order companies, check out the following:
Garden Watchdog: Gardener's Buying Guide and Plants by Mail.

Did you know there is a Julia Child Heirloom Tomato?



Have you grown soy beans? They are by far my favorite garden vegetable to grow and eat. Especially since you can't find them fresh at the stores!

[marmalady]

Oh, God, Cchiu, now I have to remember what I've done - let's see - mostly oriental greens, baby bok choy, mizuna, garlic chives, stuff like that. I'm not a big bitter melon fan. We have Asian supermarkets here that carry all the seeds and even some seedlings in the spring, so I'm pretty lucky on that front.

Tomatoes - I order seeds from The Cook's Garden www.cooksgarden.com They have heirlooms, and lots of European varieties, too. I also buy seedlings from this totally funky place here - The New Jersey Botanic Gardens; they're absolutely awesome in the varieties of tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and annuals/perennials - I have done major damage to my pocketbook there!!! I also get a catalog called "Totally Tomatoes", which has an amazing selection from all over the world - even Russia! I just checked their website, but they don't have one anymore.

Peppers - I usually plant seedlings, and have planted them all!!! The big thing I learned is you have to watch your length of time to harvest - lots of peppers need a long, hot growing season, more than we have in NJ, so I wasn't too successful with some of the Mexican varieties. But I did get a good crop of ancho chiles, pasilla, and guajillo, and of course, jalepeno. If you like jalepenos on the hot side, watch what you buy. Texas A&M has messed with the jalepeno to get a 'milder' one; tastes like a green bell pepper - what a sacrilege!!! Oh, and one year I grew a Datil pepper, a little tiny thing about the size of a pea, and round. Being the macho chili queen that I am, when my hubbie challenged me to eat one while in the garden, of course I did; the distance between the garden and the house never seemed so long!!!! I have NEVER eaten anything so hot in my life! Also grew a Japanese chili, which was quite nice - can't remember the name, but it meant 'hawk's claw' cause that's what it looks like. There's a nursery here in Jersey that ships seedlings; I'll try to find the address for you, they have an amazing variety, too!

And tomatillos are fun, too; they're a pretty plant, but sort of large and somewhat viney.

Hope this helped.

[mudbug]

Wonderful marmalady, are there any vegetable varieties you've always wanted to grow but haven't for whatever reason?

I learned about the long growing season about peppers myself a few years ago when I first started, didn't think anything was going to come from this plant that just kept getting bigger and bigger, then finally, late in the season, baby peppers started to emerge!

About the Datil pepper, haven't tried that particular variety but it's true, the more tiny, the more hot they are!

You may enjoy browsing the Chili Head's Varieties Database: scroll down the left hand side and click on a letter. It's extremely comprehensive.

You may also like visiting the Chile Pepper magazine web site.

Do you know what varieties of veggies you'll be growing this year?

[marmalady]

I've always wanted to grow strawberries, but they seem like there's a lot of fuss and bother with the plants; wanted to do raspberries (we do have a lot of wild bushes on the property) and a small fruit tree or two, but we have so many critters, I'm not sure how I'd manage.

As to what I'll put in this year, outside of tomatoes, I haven't given it much thought - been too busy getting my ducks in a row before my new gig opens! Probably some bush beans, green and yellow, and the usual summer squash/zucchini - I love the pattypan squashes! And oriental cucumbers. Oh, well, here I go!