Spring is in full fling! It feels like only yesterday, tomatoes and peppers were planted. Oh wait, I did just plant them, three – four weeks ago. In a desperate grab at reaping a summer harvest I sowed squash seeds at the Wrigley Village Community Garden. Tender seedlings were mysteriously weeded. Big fail, but it happens.
There’s still time to sow early maturing seeds like, Summer Squash – Straita de Italia (50 days) and Cucumber – Homemade Pickles (55 days) that will yield a bumper crop in no-time. For good measure, scatter seeds that take a little longer to mature like Winter Squash – Early Butternut and Delicata (70-80 days) and Edamame – Butterbean (85 day).
Below is a sampling of the seeds I am cramming into my Long Beach, CA garden (USDA Zone 10/Sunset Zone 24).
Sow where it’ll grow:
Bean Bush- Tavera
Bean Pole – French Duet, Trionfo Violetto
Corn – Sugar Pearl
Cucumber – Homemade Pickles, Armenian Burpless, Bush Slicer, Straight Eight
Edamame – Butterbean
Melon – Lil’ Loupe
Summer Squash – Straita de Italia, Yellow Crookneck, Scallop Sunny Delight, Peter Pan, Starship, Golden Scallopini Bush, Black Beauty
Watermelon – Icebox Rainbow Sherbert
Winter Squash – Early Butternut and Delicata
Some seeds are better off started indoors or in a hobby greenhouse and then transplanted into the garden. From Potty Pots to soil blocking there are various ways to start seeds.
Indoor sowing:
Chard – Scarlet Charlotte, Neon Glow
Cilantro – Slow Bolt
Dill – Bouquet
Lavender – White Ice
Leek – American Flag
Onion – Yellow Granex, Bianca Di Maggio, Flat of Italy
*Seeds used: Botanical Interests, Heirloom Seeds, Reene’s Garden Seeds, and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
Per Random.org #6 wins the sweet Corona Bypass Pruners #3180. I’m looking at you Michele Lujan of The Gardening Greenhorn. Who knew mural shout outs equal garden swag?!
Gardening powerhouse and burgeoning author Jayme Jenkins of the forthcoming Garden Rules: The Snappy Synopsis for the Modern Gardener is sponsoring this week’s giveaway; a $25.00 gift certificate to bomb online store – aHa! Modern Living.
If you’re aren’t already listening, check out Jayme’s podcast Nest in Style and follow her on Twitter: @NestInStyle and @aHaModernLiving
What type of tomatoes are you growing? Leave a comment and you’re entered in this week’s giveaway. Good luck!
*UPDATE*
According to Random.org #10, that’s you Millertime, wins a $25.00 gift certificate to super cool online gardening store aHa! Modern Living. Please email your deets to adriana0804@hotmail.com. Congratulations and thank you to Jayme Jenkins for hosting a fun giveaway!
OK. 1) Why did I have to learn about Jayme’s Amazon Page on YOUR blog? (I just chastised her on Facebook)
2) I have LOST TRACK of the tomatoes I’m growing, but I definitely have a Cherokee Purple, a yellow pear, and some kind of monster with the name “German” in it. (Currently the German tomatoes are 6 feet tall.)
I need to re-sow my squash. The vine borers got it.
I’ve got two volunteer ‘Sweet 100′ cherry tomatoes, a ‘Black Cherry’ tomato, a Japanese ‘Motomaro’ (low acid), and an ‘Early Girl’. We’re going to be swimming in tomatoes pretty soon! Yea!
San Marzano, of course! I’m Italian!
And one yellow teardrop thing I planted as a seedling because I needed some immediate gratification while I wait for my SM to mature from seed.
Love your blog!
Right now, we are growing Roma tomatoes, Yellow Pear and a variety pack of Heirlooms that include Black Krim and Brandywine.
http://nycgardening.blogspot.com/2010/06/you-say-tomato-i-say-tomato.html
Fortunately, I have a greenhouse to protect my tomatoes from Seattle’s uncooperative weather this year. A few are also in the ground — some under hoops; some braving the cool, wet. Unless otherwise noted, they’re all grown from seed.
Here’s the rundown:
Sweetie: Cherry to grow in pots and decorate our edible fence on the back patio.
Oregon Springs: Slicer that puts up with cool, PacNW weather
Gold Nugget: Determinate yellow cherry. Great in pots.
Peron: New slicer this year. Can’t wait to see how it performs.
Saucy Paste: Unsurpassed roma style. Great flavor. Heavy producer. Still enjoying the dried ones from last year.
Ponderosa: A gift from Willi @digginfood
Principe borghese: Another gift from Willi…rumor has it, seed from Italy!
Long Keeper: Fantastic tomato for long storage. What you give up in flavor you get in a fresh tomato that stores for months & months, ripening slowly in cool, dry storage
In The North, Vancouver Island, and Gulf Islands we are sowing our winter brassicaas.
I hope I can started gardening in Vienna! You’re so inspiring!
I’m in SE Wisconsin and this year I’m growing romas, yellow cherry tomatoes, Russian Black tomatoes, a Wisconsin variety whose name escapes me right now, and mortgage lifters, mostly because I liked the name.
In my Long Beach home-based container garden, I’ve got Sugar Snack and Sun Gold cherry tomatoes going. Decided I can’t have enough of a good thing, and started seeds of Zebra and Chadwick tomatoes. They might produce by late Summer, at the rate they’re growing.
This is the first time I have tried container corn, so we’ll see how that goes.
No tomatoes this year, but definitely aspiring for tomatoes in the 2011 garden plan. Right now it is radish crazy at my house. Just wanted to throw in Seeds of Change as a great seed source.
We always love to grow yellow pear tomatoes. The kids eat them by the handful. This year I went back to my favorite brandy wine, and the standard roma’s and early bird. I would love to plant more heirlooms, but got behind on starting my seeds, so had to plant generic seedlings from the big box store.
Oh, no–someone won the shears?! Rats! LOL
Well, here’s what I’m growing this year…how are the ones you ‘adopted’ doing?
Ace 55
Boxcar Willie
Cherokee Chocolate
Yellow Jubilee
Bush Beefsteak
New Big Dwarf
Brad’s Black Heart
German Red Strawberry
Black Sea Man
Jersey Devil
Limmony
Wisconsin 55
Healthkick
Black Plum
Bloody Butcher
Chico III
F3 Seeds Campari
Green Zebra
Indian Stripe
Japanese Black Trifele
Purple Russian
Roma Striped
San Marzano
Tigerella
Black Cherry
Cherry Chocolate
Dr Caroline
Matt’s Wild Cherry
Sausalito Cocktail
Snow White
Texas Wild Tomato
Red Robin Tomato
OSU Blueberry
Black Pear
Pink Thai Egg
Yellow Pear
Phil’s Fantastic
Limbaugh’s Potato Top
Pineapple
Stump of the World
Cuor di Bue
Monkey’s Ass
Tsar Kolokol
You know I’m not kidding, right?
Hey! You’re the winner!