Monday, January 2, 2012

My 2011 Vegetable and Flower Favourites

Happy New Year!
Don't you just know this will be a wonderful year? I sure do.
The turning of that December page on the calendar means a whole new beginning. Symbolic perhaps.
But that's okay. New beginnings are good-clean slate and all that.


And nowhere is the slate cleaner than in the 2012 garden. Time to start anew. Failures last year? Forget 'em. THIS is the year! May your carrots grow straight and sweet and your tomatoes plump and juicy.
Hope always springs eternal and a true gardener at heart is always optimistic.


There are some very interesting things that I'm going to try to grow in 2012, with the emphasis being on try. I don't for sure know I can grow some of these things.
But try I will.
On the list are rice, cotton (again-haven't succeeded previously), and a whole lot more.


But there definitely are some crops that I tried...and succeeded with in 2011. And liked a whole lot.
Here's the run down of a few of them.  Soon, when my seed and plant listings are up on the website, you'll see I am selling one form or another of quite a few of them.






Stupice - As always. Delicious, sweet and early. I'll say no more




Green Envy was a nice surprise and did very well at my "Tomato Bash" in August. People loved the taste. Oh...it is yummy.


This was a fabulous tomato. Orange tomatoes are my hands-down favourite tasting tomatoes. I think. Well, I'm pretty fond of greens too. But this one was sweet, fruity, early as the name suggests and large. A real winner.


 I question the name, but not the tomato. Dingo Eye? I'm not sure what I expected, but not this very handsome, tasty and large pink. The seed came from a country whose language is not my own, and I had no idea what to expect. I'm happy, though. It's a very good tomato.




Thompson Classic Seedless was rated by many people who tasted it this year as the best tomato they had ever eaten. Ever. I grew it in the hoop house and withheld the water. Sweet, spicy tasting and stunning, stunning. Thanks, Tom Wagner for handing me this seed. This is a truly splendid tomato.




 I liked the Lime Basil a whole lot, something a bit different in basils. Lovely and citrus and makes one heck of an ice cream and pesto. Now I have to try lots of other basils this year-I'm aiming for 50. Grow big or go home. (What a thing for a small farmer to say!)




 I would say it is a toss up between Slim Jim and Ping Tung Long for eggplant of the year. Pictured above is Slim Jim. It is a great little eggplant that grows very well in tight conditions or a container. Lovely mild taste and great production.




The Amish Cockscomb (celosia) was without a doubt the standout flower of the year. How many pictures did I take of this? The colour, the texture and ultimately the size, although at Monticello they were even bigger than mine. I now know there are lots of other colours, and I'm going to grow them in 2012.



 This beautiful, simple marigold made my heart stand still. I had such a hard time locating the seed for this one after I saw a picture of it on the internet. Isn't it so lovely? This is Summer Snowflake, an apt name.




And last, but certainly not least is Molly, the bean. This slim little filet bush bean was tremendous. Look at the plants... just loaded. I sense this one would do well in a container as the plants were small. Very fine flavour, and of course a very fine name!  I love it.


I've got more favourites too. And how about you?


I'd love to hear from other folks about their 2011 or all time garden favourites. Give me some ideas - I'm willing to grow as much as I can!





5 comments:

CallieK said...

My fave tomatoe this year was Una's Heartstock which I got in trade at Seedy Sunday from Urban Tomato http://urbantomato.blogspot.com/

It was the only tomato that did well in a year when nothing grew and produced tonnes of sweet, pink, heart shaped fruit.

Linda said...

That's a good one! I imagine it is the same tomato as Una Hartsock, which is one i grow. Oh-to have one now!
Hope 2012 is a good growing year for you!

Mary Bergfeld said...

I hope you are as successful this year as you were last. I really enjoyed visiting your blog and I will be back to see how your garden grows. Have a wonderful day. Blessings...Mary

Linda said...

Thanks so much, Mary. I hope it is a wonderful year for you too!

florist said...

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