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What I Liked in the Garden

I'll add my experiences and likes to Cliff's recitation.  I have good luck
with many new heirlooms and some varieties that I trial for various seed
houses.  One was Bright Lights Swiss chard.  I loved it--juicy, tasty
leaves, colorful stems and it took the heat.  I also grew the heirloom
equivalent--Five Color Silverbeet from Seed Savers Exchange.  The same
wonderful flavor and heat-tolerance was there, but the hybrid Bright Lights
had more vibrant color.  Of course, you can't save seed from it.
Tomatoes--I've discussed my favorites here before ad nauseum, but to refresh
memories or for those who were not on the list........
Gurnsey Island--heirloom from New Zealand--1-3 oz., striped with green and
tastes just like Brandywine.  Any who want seeds, email me.
Schimmerg Stoo--also a NZ heirloom, although, I found that it originates
from the Isle of Mann.  Hollow, ruffled and striped red, orange, green and
amber.  Lovely flavor--about 3-5 oz.
Striped German--heirloom beefsteak, yellow with red streaks.  My absolute
fave...I grow it every year.  Makes the best BLT's and hamburgers.
Lettuce--Forellenschuss, cos type with maroon splotches.  Seeds from Seed
Savers Exchange.  They sell the seeds.  Held up to the heat, very tender and
sweet.
Red Oakleaf--I plant every year because it's heat tolerant, tasty and
gorgeous to look at. 
Watermelon--Moon & Stars!!!  This was the first time I planted it, and boy
did it produce.  I planted three seeds and got 18 melons, ranging in size
from 13# to 31#.   Most averaged about 24#.
Sugar Snap peas--I always plant the original, because it produces more pods.
Have some in the garden now.
Pole Beans--King George, another NZ heirloom I got from a friend in
Wellington.  They are still producing.  Pods are cream with rose streaks.
Very sweet and nutty flavor and productive.
Eggplant--Neon, from Johnny's Selected Seeds.  It's gorgeous--vibrant, neon
pinkish-purple.  The fat fruit are so tender and free from bitterness that
you don't need to peel them!

I live in an area where we can grow something in the veggie garden nearly
year-round.  Right now I have in the ground 2 Carnival tomatoes (planted on
Labor Day and laden with over 150 fruit--all green still), King George pole
beans, Sugar Snaps, Yellow Crookneck squash (very nutty in the cool fall),
Packman brocolli, Jade Cross Brussels sprouts, garlic, bunching onions,
Elephant garlic, cilantro, 100 strawberry plants, Peacock purple kale,
Russian Banana Fingerling, Cranberry and All Blue potatoes and mesclun.  We
do get freezes here; last night it hit 33 degrees.  I cover everything with
floating row covers and set milk jugs full of hot water between sensitive
plants.

My SQ FT beds are ringed with concrete blocks--the kind with the two holes
in each.  I filled all the holes with good soil, and that is where all the
strawberry plants are.  I grew about 10 last spring that way and they did
very well.  So in late Oct., I planted 100 Chandler strawberries in all the
holes.  They are growing well and will take freezes.
That's what's growing here in Zone 9b, 50 miles south of Houston, TX, along
the Gulf of Mexico.
Doreen Howard
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