Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Anybody have any new items this season? I have a few new varieties, but I think only one actually new thing that I'm planting - Radish Pods, which are what they sound like, radishes gone to seed! Something used in Indian (and probably other) cooking, and it sounds like something to try.

I have a lot of new tomato varieties - about the same number as old types:

Barossa Fest Dwarf
Burracker's Favorite
Coorong Pink
Kelly Green Dwarf
Kelloggs Breakfast
Pink Oxheart
Summer Sunrise Dwarf
Sunset Falls
Sweet Sue Dwarf

And the old faithfuls, and some old ones I will try again, in earthboxes:

Amish Gold Slicer
Arkansas Traveler (grew years ago)
Big Beef
Green Zebra
KBX (grew years ago)
Sweet Carneros Pink

Cherries

Green Tiger
Porter (sort of a large cherry)
Sunsugar
Sweet Treats

Only 5 new peppers this year - I'm up to 13 that I simply have to grow every season!

Aji Dulce
Black Pearl
Jyoti
Ristra cayenne
White Habanero

Oldies

Aleppo
Big Jim
Chocolate Habanero
Fresno
Gold Bullet
Hanoi Market
Jalafuega
Lombak
Superchili
Superthai
Thai Dragon
Thai Nippon Taka
Thai Vesuvius

And one new eggplant - Shiva - with 4 oldies - Neon, Ichiban, Hari, and Green Beauty.

More new beans this season, to add to Blauhilde and Blue Lake pole:
Carminat
Monte Gusto
Whitner White
Edamame - Beer Friend

And to try next to my favorite okra - Emerald - I have Gold Coast and Jing Orange. I'll see how they compare.

For Sweet melons, which usually don't do well here, I have Athena and Hale's Best. I'll find out...

Bitter Melon - Green Giant I had to try a rough variety, as the ones from the Northern regions stop in the middle of summer.

No new herbs, so far, but it's still early! And no new greens, either.


Anybody else have their gardens mapped out yet, and have anything new they are trying?

And here's a trade list I posted on some gardening forums I frequent. If anyone sees anything they would like, let me know.

Peppers

Ancho Mexican - many
Ancho Masquetero - 8
Aurora - 10
Bueno Mulato Purple - 10
Bulgarian Carrot - 10
Costeno Amarillo - 10+
Fish Pepper, super variegated - 8 (2014)
Fresno - many
Gold Bullet Bush habanero - 10+
Habanada - 10
Jalapeño Craig's Grande - 10+
Kashmiri - many (2014)
Korean 4" - 10
Maui Purple - many (saved in 2013)
Orozco Orange - 10+
Phuljadi - 10+
Prik Chi Fa - many
Puya - 10+
Ring of Fire - 10
Sandia - 10+
Santa Fe Grande - many
Thai Dragon OP - 10+
Thai Nippon Taka - many (saved 2015)
Trinidad Scorpion - many
White Bullet - many

Tomatoes

Black Beauty - 6
Black Cherry - saved - many (2013)
BKX Black Krim Potato leaf - 14
Black Vernisage - 10+
Chocolate Chestnut - 8
Creole - 9
Gary O'sena - 10 (2011)
LA Gulf State - 4
Large Barred Boar - 6
Maglia Rosa - 10+
Pink Tiger - 10+
Premo - 8
Porter - 10+ (2014)
Purple Bumblebee - 10

Brassicas

Cauliflower - Amazing Taste
Cabbage - Mix
Cabbage - Savoy, January King 3
Kohlrabi - Azure Star
Komatsuna - Natsu Rakuten
Komatsuna - from Sample Seed
Minutina
Misome
Mizuna
Shogoin
Tatsoi

Other greens

Lettuce - Black Seeded Simpson
Swiss Chard - Perpetual Spinach
Swiss Chard - El Dorado
Swiss Chard - Pot of Gold
Swiss Chard - Rainbow

Herbs

Basils:
Aromata
Blue Spice
Dolce Fresco
Hoary
Holy Kaprao

Misc. Herbs:

Chervil
Cilantro - several sources
Epazote, Green
Epazote, Red (saved)
Moroccan Coriander
Parsley, Flat-leaf
Perilla, Green
Perilla, Red

Well, given that we got snow on Tuesday, I'm not planting anything soon.

This year, we're going to plant a new large grow box in the backyard, which seems to actually be better for heat-loving plants. We don't get quite as much sun back there, but the plants are protected from cold winds at night, and that seems to make a huge difference. Plus I can set up a plastic dropcloth greenhouse back there. I'm going to try putting the peppers in the driveway, in hopes that they actually fruit this year (last year, I got a total of 5 peppers across 6 plants).

We're also rototilling the strawberry beds, so we should have strawberries this year.

BTW, I planted "blue-gold berries" cherry tomatoes last year, and they were huge (if late) producers. I think we picked four baskets off of one plant, stretched out from August through October.

Good luck with the grow box, Fuzzy. Those cold nights are probably the reason for your pepper problems.

I'm not going to be planting early, despite the fact that this winter, esp. the February, has been very warm. 70° and 78° two days this last week, and, though it got lower, it was still higher than normal.

I am debating on a garden. Didn't look at it at all last year and it was a total mess all summer. This summer we're away 2.5 weeks in July so not sure if it will be worth it.
So might just be living vicariously through you guys.

Dave:

Any recommendations on building/filling raised garden beds?

Funny you should ask that now, Fuzzy, as a gardening forum I am on recently started a thread about raised beds. I think you can go on this w/o joining, as guests are listed at the bottom, in the "on forum" list.
http://organicgroup.freeforums.net/thre ... ng-tending

What size are you thinking of? Just 10 or 12 inches deep, or will you have to more than one strip of wood for all of the sides? What kinds of tools do you have access to? Sounds like a strange question, but even this simple project can be made easier with a bunch of tools, esp. if you are making some deep beds

Not sure what you will want to fill them with. Depends on what you will be planting, of course, and what you have access to. And if you will be filling a lot, maybe get a load of topsoil delivered, mix with a little peat in each bed, and stir some perlite into the upper 6 or 8" of the beds, for drainage. One thing you will want to do with all of them is to line them with hardware cloth - 1/4 - 3/8", to prevent critters from burrowing in. This will allow the beneficial insects and worms through, and allow drainage.

I'm going up to fill some pots for my early peppers, then putting them to soak tonight. All the reast waits until 4-1, but it will be here before we know it!

Dave,

Based on experience, it needs to be at least 14" deep. I have access to a tablesaw and various hand tools. I've been thinking of going with cedar boards; I looked into cinderblocks and pressure-treated wood, and there's toxics concerns in both cases. I need to measure again how much space I want to use.

Pressure treated wood is not as bad as it used to be, as the chromium and arsenic are gone - only a copper compound, so some people use it, but I haven't.

One relatively inexpensive jig that will help when connecting boards side to side, to make wider ones, is a doweling jig. And use some Gorilla Glue, as it is waterproof, and has a long open time.