By Nida Angeliadis
The first month of the year is a great time to search through seed catalogs and determine what to plant in the coming summer. I have some old favorites that I plant every year, but then I always like to add some new things as well. Hopefully, with the completion of my new raised beds, I’ll have more planting space that can be covered to extend the growing season.
Many years ago, in an issue of “Martha Stewart Living,” they did an heirloom tomato taste test, which at the time was a somewhat revolutionary idea. That article had a panel of judges rank the top 10 best tomatoes. Not the ones that have a long shelf life or look pretty, like in the supermarket, but the ones that tasted best.
Since reading that article, I always plant Green Zebra, Brandywine, and my all time favorite Cherokee Purple tomatoes in my garden. This year, in addition to the usual Super Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes that I grow, I’m adding Sunrise Bumble Bee and Indigo Cherry Drops tomatoes (see photos left). I’ve also noticed that more and more varieties of Eastern European seeds are being offered in catalogs. They tend to be more cold tolerant, so I’m going to try the Ukrainian tomato Weisnicht, supposedly a great slicing tomato with excellent flavor.
I also grow spinach and arugula every year, along with some type of lettuce mix. I noticed it’s hard to find certain specialty lettuces in stores or markets here, so this year I plan to plant an Early Treviso Raddicchio (right), a red mini Romaine Truchas, Quarantina Broccoli Raab, and a Rapini Broccoli Raab. My favorite pepper for stuffing is a Poblano. They are usually mildly spicy, but can vary from pepper to pepper quite a bit. This is going to be my first year trying to grow a Poblano and additionally an Anaheim pepper variety. The remaining spaces will be filled with beans, radishes, peas, beets, carrots, and anything else that I can squeeze in. Happy Ordering!
Nida Angeliadis, is a member of GCW
and a garden alchemist.
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