What it took to fill the pantry for winter…
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Vegetable / Flower variety break down with Reviews on what we grew this year.
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Our focus in the filed this year was more focused on vegetable production than hemp yet together they made a great team. Our over all growing area this year was about 35k sq ft of raised beds with close to 40k sq ft of flowers.
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Here’s what we grew:
- 200 tomato plants, 6 varieties
- bonny best (baker creek), nice 8oz rounds with heirloom appeal
- paul Robeson (baker creek), nice 8oz rounds with heirloom appeal
- speckled roman paste (TrueLove Seeds), a little prone to cracking down the sides but incredible look and taste if harvested at the right time.
- Quadro (Commonwealth Seed), plump round kinda like an over sized grape tomatoe, tend to crack down the side if your not on top of it.
- San Marzano (TrueLove Seeds), elongated with a bulge to one end, very firm, great texture, had problems with Blossom end rot at first then they took over to produce, also prone to cracking if not picked frequently enough.
- Brad Atomic (baker creek), very productive, aggressive growth, didn’t live up to the hype on looks or taste though, will not grow again.
- Cherokee Purple (baker creek), heirloom, sizes from half LB to 2 LBs, excellent all around, season favorite.
- 400 Pepper plants, 19 varieties
- Lemon Drop (baker creek), capsicum baccatum, peru origin. Hot like a jalapeno, hands down favorite of the season, extreme fruit / sweet taste with the fire when pickled, best pickled in pints not quarts to preserve crunch. We will be growing this whole family of peppers next season chasing these exotic flavors. AJI, baccatum for life…
- Petit Marseillais pepper (TrueLove Seeds), favorite sweet pepper of the season!!! Small to mid size fruit sets, extremely prolific as it changes to orange. Thin wall that delivers incredible taste. No fungal or pest pressure, flat out beast mode on all areas of the grow. Capsicum annuum, from the south of france. We froze nearly 100 sandwich bags of these!
- LipStick (baker creek), short stub green to red, 2 to 4” long, thick wall, semi sweet, bell like. Great red color when fully turned, held up will to our climate.
- Etiuda (baker creek), will not grow again, could not change colors with out the walls rotting with spots. Not suited for our climate I guess. Beautiful fruit if it wasn’t for the fungal issues.
- Sweet Bullnose Pepper (Commonwealth Seed Growers), Bell Style to red, productive, mild issue with blemish as they change color, green bells are productive and market quality, over all well adapted to our climate.
- Chocolate Cake Pepper (Commonwealth Seed Growers), Bell Style with a chocolate color change, mild issue with fungal wall and blemish issue, solid green bells before the change, over all well adapted to our climate.
- Ajvarski (Baker Creek), short stout bell / roaster, good flavor semi sweet, grows well in our southern climate with little to no issues. Thick wall. Beautiful red color.
- Doux D’ Espagne (Baker Creek), Red bell, the ones that survived southern blight are monsters (serious issue on this section of field), trellis would have helped, excellent green peppers, not as prolific on the color change but they survived the humidity with not many fungal issue. Thick wall with lots of crunch, modest avg bell flavor.
- Shishito (Baker Creek ones were lost to frost, TrueLove Seeds made it to the field), fan favorite!!! Excellent pepper in flavor, almost no heat on the green ones while the reds can pack a mild punch. A little disappointed on the heat as I was expecting a pepperoncini style heat. Every once in a while one will surprise you with a kick but over all they have this almost indescribable exotic sweet flavor, not like the aji or super fruit, just delicious. Very prolific, we might have 100 plus jars canned of these off 50 plants or less.
- Pippin’s Golden Honey (TrueLove Seeds), The most exciting pepper to watch grown. Up to 5 different colors you can harvest, starts out Purple, blends Yellow, Yellow shades to cream sunset, Sunset fades to deep orange. Thin wall most of its life while the orange ones thicken up some. Small tear drops, a little larger than a jalapeno. Extremely prolific, zero issue with fungus or pest.
- Peperone friariello (TrueLove Seeds), Frying pepper, Turns nice bright Red, Large plants could have used a trellis, large fruit, held up well in our southern climate with little fungus issues. Avg bell taste.
- Murasaki Sweet Pepper (Kids Seed Co.) sweet pepper that looks like a cayenne, starts out purple, last season turns to red, grew really well in our climate, no fungal issues or pest but the size was a turn off as its too much work to process. We left these in the field and did not harvest any. Moderate red, not bright. Very prolific.
- Trinidad Scorpion, Yellow (Baker Creek), Monster plants with prolific growth, large peppers for super hot’s, grows well in the south.
- Lemon Spice Jalapeno (Baker Creek), Prolific growth as a green pepper but they don’t turn to yellow all that well. We had to can them green because production on yellows was not matching like the lemon drops. As a green they are incredible, large smooth skin, almost perfect with no cracking, no blemish’s, resistant to everything, excellent choice for the south. Large prolific fruit sets.
- Sugar rush peach, mira, violet sparkle, zulu (Baker Creek), lost to frost L We would love to hear reviews on these if anyone grew them, let us know?
- Cucumbers
- Chicago Pickling (baker creek) pretty standard pickler, we had a major issue with slugs at the beginning, the one that survived produced extremely well. Would grow again. Held up well to our climate with little issue. Lasted about 85
- China Jade (baker creek) English style with jagged pokey skin, extremely prolific, monster yields, Lasted about 90 days.
- Telegraph Improved (baker creek) Tradition English, excellent flavor, Lasted 80 to 90 days. Not as prolific as the jade but good yields. Will grow again.
- Adam Gherkin F1 OG (Johnny’s) AWESOME!!! Favorite cucumber ever. Grew in the green house late season, its quick like 45 days, we got a few harvest then it was done but worth every minute of it. Prolific in the short time, tons to can, incredible fresh snacking cuke, incredible pickled. All around AWESOME!!!
- Jibai Shimoshirazu (baker creek) similar to a marketmore, great yielder, quick to set fruit, well adapted to the south.
- Quirk F1 (Johnny’s) AWFUL, do not ever buy or grow these! They were nearly a buck a seed, greenhouse variety that we grew in the farmers friend tunnel and they were complete shit!
- Flowers
- Dahlia Unwins Mix (baker creek) short, nice, fairly easy to grow.
- Amaranth Love-Lies-Bleeding Red (baker creek) extremely hard to get started, slow to grow but once established its beautiful. Eye catching in the garden.
- Borage (kids seed co.) prolific, great flower, hard to save seeds as it drops them to the ground fast which germinate on their own and can become weeds. Great for dedicated areas to flowers for self-seeding. Not so good in transition grow beds.
- Cilantro (kids seed co) great flowers, attracted tons of Beneficial’s
- Nasturtium (kid seed co) prolific, beautiful, didn’t produce see for some reason tho.
- Milk weed butterfly weed (baker creek) the orange aphid got them as do they with the wild stuff L
- Polar Bear Zinnia (baker creek) freebie, awesome addition to colored zinnia mixes, prolific, goes ALL season.
- Cosmos Sea Shells (Baker Creek) slow to go but once established they flower till frost and are massive.
- Aster-China Giant Perfection mix (baker creek) these were tough to grow, hard time sprouting, hard time taking off I the ground, incredibly beautiful flowers but we will not grow again. Plants to get very big, 18” x a few inches.
- Sweet Alyssum (Sow True Seed) Painted Carpet mix, excellent! This is a great companion to hemp in the greenhouse, pollen source for pirate bugs along with others, little slow to grow but will really take off in the heat. Seeds are super tiny sow on top of the soil is crucial to germinate. Beautiful flowers.
- Persian Carpet Zinnias (Sow True Seed) Incredible flower, a bit taller than we were expecting and not a good companion under hemp like we expected. They are very prolific and will really grow in to a space, can reach 18 to 24” and spread even more. Carpet for sure just not short like alyssum.
- Motherwort Chinese (baker creek) not too impressive, will cut you once it flowers so be careful. Meh
- Nasturtium Bloody Mary (baker creek) amazing flower, prolific, great addition to the cool weather in spring as you head out of frost territory, didn’t transition to summer and never set seed like all the nasturtium for some reason.
- Candy Cane Zinnia Mix (Baker Creek) Hands down the flower of the season!! These are stunners! 5 colors that just wow you all season long, seeds have been saved and we will be growing this till we die!!
- Buckwheat Rose Red Soba (baker creek) Spectacular!! Never set seed for some reason though, if allowed they will get HUGE, were talking 4 foot high and wide in the greenhouse. Well grow again, LOVE!!
- Buckwheat Rose Takane Ruby (baker creek) Pretty awesome! Did not set seed either, something about this red buck stuff that it doesn’t seed well idk?
- Catnip (baker creek) Prolific, spreads to an area really well, great for a pollinator garden area. This will be in the garden for a while
- Pearl Yarrow Double Diamond (bake creek) carpet like growth, spreads well like alyssum. Little slow to go but once establish it takes off. Beautiful, will grow again.
- Sweet Alyssum Dwarf rainbow mix (baker creek) Incredible colors and beautify. Show stopper!!
- Yarrow Colorado Mix (baker creek) WOW Stunning cut flower bouquet, awesome fern like bush, a little slow but bulks out once established. This will be in the garden for a long time to come.
- Yarrow Polish Pastels Mix (baker creek) same as above, just an awesome addition to the farm. A key ingredient in our salve making too.
- Bee Balm Lemon (baker creek) Reeks of lemon, The smells are incredible and useful for salve making, we didn’t grow enough of this, super fast grower once the weather warms but almost impossible to sprout before hand. Grows like johnshon grass. Well be platning a long row of this next year. Season favorite!!!
- Cockscomb Dwarf Coral Garden Mix (baker creek) Unique!! Unlike any other flower, a bit slow to go, not too tall but this is a must have to any flower area. Just Whoa! This will bring you joy on appearance and touch. Grow some.
- Much more misc but this is the core of seed we were excited about. Review on hemp to come as that matures more.
