Plants for My Summer Garden
The first weekend in May is an important weekend for gardening in Seattle because Seattle Tilth and the Master Gardener Foundation of King County both hold awesome plants sales. Tilth has an amazing selection of locally-grown organic vegetable starts and the Master Gardener plant sale features gorgeous perennials, many of which are raised by local Master Gardeners. Both sales are major fundraisers and the proceeds go to benefit gardening education. Plus, they are only 2.1 miles apart, which means there is really no excuse not to hit both!
I’m planning on buying perennials at the Master Gardener sale and most of my warm season crops at the Tilth sale (you can check out which vegetable and herb varieties they are offering online). Here’s my long shopping list:
Purple peacock broccoli
Perfection fennel
National Pickling Cuke
Walla Wall Sweet Onion
Deep Purple Scallions
Little Bells pepper
Jimmy Nardello pepper
Beaver Dam pepper
Klari Baby Cheese pepper
Early Jalapeno
Bulgarian Carrot pepper
Fish pepper
Long Red Narrow cayenne
Golden Zucchini
Eight Ball summer squash
Trombocino summer squash
Table Queen acorn squash
Zeppelin delicata squash
New England Pie pumpkin
Sungold cherry tomato
White Currant tomato
Jaune Flamme tomato
Green Zebra tomato
Mexican Purple tomatillo
Hi Willi, your plant list looks long and luscious. I put in most of my warm crops last week. I still have another pole bean tower to do and more bush beans. Then, it’s watermelon, pumpkins (in July) and cantaloupes. Bear wants watermelons this year, and I’ve had little luck with them in the past. I’m going to do some research on them.
Hope your garden is growing well. I just ate my first pak choi and red chard in a stir fry. Yum.~~Dee
April 28th, 2010 at 10:43 am.-= Dee @ Red Dirt Ramblings´s last blog ..Dear Friends and Gardeners, April 26, 2010 =-.
Do you mind sharing- what is your budget for buying all of these starts? I’ve been doing a lot of seed starting on my own to save money, but sometimes I wonder at the end of the day if (as a newer gardener) if it’s worth all the trouble & time. I also wonder if I’d be happier with my crop if I bought starts that were more established?
April 28th, 2010 at 11:32 amThanks for sharing your list, I can’t wait to get the last of my veggies and herbs for the season. I always know that gardening season is in full swing when it’s time for the Tilth plant sale!! Yipee! btw, I’m going to try some of your suggestions from your “some like it hot” talk, those fairy tale eggplant pictures won me over completely!
April 28th, 2010 at 5:23 pmmmmm…Zepplelin delicata. I was so completely overjoyed the first time I pulled one out of the oven and bit into it’s soft caramel sweetness. These are a magnificent treat.
April 28th, 2010 at 10:03 pmI have been counting down for the tilth sale for months! Here is my list:
Green Grape Tomato
Prinape Borghese Tomato
Borrettana Cipollini (onion)
Early Jalepeno
Gypsy, Healthy, and Roumaninan Rainbow peppers.
I already have a few tomatoes: sun gold, taxi, and san marzanos.
As you can see from my list, I am going to give some peppers a try for the first time. I eat so many of them that it seems that they are worth a try. Also, I read frequently that they are one of the worst for pestisides if not grown organically.
I have “gro therm” in my garden this year. Have you used this or anything similar? It seems to be keeping my basil and tomatoes happy, which I planted two weeks ago.
Happy Gardening!
April 28th, 2010 at 11:13 pm.-= Lara Alexander´s last blog ..Waffle Iron Panini =-.
Dee–My mom always says that her grandpa grew great watermelons. He protected them with a cloche in early spring and then kept them super well watered. A great veggie gardener I know in Seattle uses one of those water spikes that you attach to a liter bottle to keep her melons happy. Also, last year I planted all my cucurbits in a well rather than a hill. This allowed me to keep them well watered early in the season and then as they grew I backfilled the well around their stems. Worked great!
Jenny–I only start a few plants at home, mainly because I don’t have a great space to do it (my tomatoes are on the floor in my living room right now, which is not exactly lovely). I try to spend less than $100 on starts, though this year I’m spending a bit more because a bunch of my herbs bit the dust over the winter and I installed a new strawberry bed. Hope that helps
Justine–Yay for eggplants. I’m going to try some new ones this year. I’m hoping to find starts for this green one because I didn’t get my act together enough to order seeds.
Sputnik–I hear you! I love delicatas and they grow so well. We always get 6 to 8 per plant!
Lara–That looks like a great list. I’ve grown everything on it except for the Roumanian Rainbow peppers. They are all fabulous varieties!
April 29th, 2010 at 1:32 pmSugar pumpkins…scary! I think I’ll just stick with delicata squash this year. My marriage will thank me!
May 3rd, 2010 at 8:35 am.-= Lorene´s last blog ..Celebrate May Day… =-.
I went to the Tilth sale in hopes of brining home some Green Zebras, too. I didn’t see any, and the person I asked for help said that variety didn’t actually make it this year. I understand, of course, but I was disappointed. It’s the only variety that I really wanted to grow that I didn’t start from seed. Bummer! Maybe you had better luck than me & found some. I bought a lime green salad tomato instead, which I am substantially less excited about.
Oh well, they will top my list for my ’11 garden.
May 26th, 2010 at 11:12 pm