I don’t know if we’ll be able to keep this up, with the list getting longer and longer! But since you gardeners are so eager to know what’s available for your vegetable gardens, I will do my best to keep you updated. Remember, now is a great time to be prepping your garden (adding a layer of compost, weeding etc.), but for the most part you should only be planting out things that can tolerate the cold soil. This means you should wait to plant out things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, cucumbers, squash, beans — all of these like WARM soil. Now, if you are able to provide warm soil, with a greenhouse or season extenders like cold frames, walls-o-water, cloches and the like – then feel free to go to it.
Now that I have put the disclaimers out there, let me tell you that the first tomatoes are here! Yes, we have 8 varieties in 4″ sizes at $1.49 – Oregon Spring, Brandywine, Beefsteak, Big Beef, Roma, Celebrity, Early Girl, and Sun Gold. These are all great tomatoes for different reasons: Oregon Spring and Early Girl are early ripeners; Celebrity has great yields and is a favorite with home canners; Brandywine is a classic favorite heirloom with great flavor; Roma is the favorite sauce tomato – low in joice and high in pulp; Beefsteak and Big Beef are both larger sized tomatoes with great flavor and yields; and of course Sun Gold is the hands-down winner of several of our Tomato Fest tastings. It is a sunny yellow cherry tomato with a sweet fruity taste – kids love it.
Everything else we have is good to go now in the early garden. These will all tolerate cool soil and spring temperatures. We’ve got rhubarb starts, horseradish, asparagus, strawberries (bareroot and in pots), artichokes, onions, cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, pea starts, Swiss chard, collards, beets, spinach, celery and lots of lettuces.
And another reminder about Carl Grimm’s class here on Saturday: Carl is a Natural Gardening Specialst with Metro, and will be talking here at 10 AM. He will have lots of information on how to garden sustainably and organically, and especially how to incorporate beautiful edible plants into your landscaping. If you don’t want to designate a section of your garden for edibles, or don’t like the aesthetics of a vegetable garden, there are certainly ways to grow some of your own food anyway. Carl will have suggestions for how to do it! Class is free, call us to register: 503-649-4568.