New Year = New Experiments

Snow snow snow! Everything is covered in a good 8 inches here, and the temps have been awfully frosty.

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by Jessica WalliserJanuary 14, 2010
The Italian heirloom "Chioggia Guardsmark"
Photo by Jessica Walliser

Snow snow snow!Ā  Everything is covered in a good 8 inches here, and the temps have been awfully frosty.Ā  Even the chickens’ teeth are chattering!Ā 

I walked past the veggie garden this morning on my way back from the chicken coop and peeked over the fence for a bit of dreaming.Ā  Now that the seed catalogs are rolling in, I’m thinking about what fun things I’m going to try this year.Ā 

A friend was telling me about a ā€˜new and improved’ version of my favorite beet—an Italian heirloom called ā€˜Chioggia’. I can’t imagine how they could possibly improve on it, but I’m going to have to give it a try.Ā 

Apparently, there is improved bolt tolerance and the beets are more consistent in size with the new version.Ā  It’s called ā€˜Chioggia Guardsmark’ and since I’m always up for a good experiment, I think I’m going to try it side-by-side with good old ā€˜Chioggia’ and see the difference myself.Ā 

I have also been considering going back to growing melons.Ā  It’s been a long time since I’ve grown them.Ā  I’ve always had trouble with them for some reason.Ā  Either it’s been too wet or they don’t set good fruit.Ā 

I’m going to get a few different single-serving sized varieties from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.Ā  ā€˜Tigger’ maybe, and/or ā€˜Alvaro’ for starters.Ā  I’ll see what strikes my fancy when ordering time comes in a few weeks.Ā  I’ll need to grow them vertically in order to have enough room for everything I want to grow.Ā  That means I’ll need to devise some sort of trellis to anchor to the fence for support.Ā  Hmmmm … any suggestions?Ā 

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I’ve been leafing through the Territorial Seed Company’s catalog too (and dog earring lots of pages!).Ā  I’m curious about the ā€˜Bordeaux’ spinach they carry.Ā  It has red stems and they tout it as being a ā€œsweet, subtle flavorā€ā€”two words I have never heard when describing spinach.Ā  The seeds aren’t any more expensive than traditional varieties either, so I may have to give it a try.

Another experimental (for me) veggie I plan to try is a cuke named ā€˜Rocky’.Ā  It’s a mini-cuke that’s seedless and only about 2-3 inches long when mature.Ā  It produces early and hopefully will become my new salad/snacking cucumber.Ā  I’ll always grow ā€˜County Fair’ and ā€˜Marketmore 76’ for my pickles, but I prefer seedless varieties for snacking.Ā 

It’s going to be a fun year!

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