What: Our spring plant sale fundraiser!
Where: Bret Harte Elementary School
When: April 11th and 25th 9-11
Below you'll find information about this year's variety offerings.
Note: limited quantities of sold out varieties may be available to purchase the day of the plant sale.
Reserve your plants in advance and/or arrange alternate pick up dates!
Sungold 57 days. Indeterminate. Resists F1, TMV. To quote one customer, “Without these little babies, there’s no summer.” Small fruits averaging 8.2g, borne in prolific clusters, ripen very early to a rich apricot color and keep producing till frost. A perfect combination of deep sweetness with a hint of acidic citrusy tartness, so good that for almost a decade it took away our incentive to trial cherry tomatoes because no others could match it. In a field replete with choices, we are drawn to Sungold like candy. Many get eaten out of hand in the garden. Nikos plants several at her garden entrance to be enjoyed by all who visit.
Quart after quart grace the table, yet we rarely reach surfeit July through September. Once a year Emily makes a pure Sungold tomato sauce: “It’s a sweet and sprightly delicacy that pairs nicely with fresh shell beans. Too sweet to eat in quantity, but it’s a wonderful treat!” Very prone to split so pick early when rains are forecast. Seldom diseased, we find that stripping diseased leaves results in new healthy growth and prolongs harvest. Brix 8. (Fedco)
Early Girl 52 days. Indeterminate. Resistant to Fusarium Wilt 1, Fusarium Wilt 2, Root Knot Nematode, Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Verticillium Wilt. My favorite red tomato. Super early, super productive, and super flavor and texture. Dependable large harvests of flavorful, solid 4 to 6 oz. fruit. Disease resistance is good, contributing to its excellent performance in almost any climate. Nice productivity throughout the season, usually the first and last tomato to ripen in my garden. A proven variety for delicious, early tomatoes. (Tomato Growers)
Pork Chop 75 days. Indeterminate. Low acid! This tomato is a beautiful lemon yellow when ripe with a sweet flavor that has a refreshing citrus component. The 8 to 12 oz. yellow tomatoes start off with thin green stripes that ripen to yellow at first and progress to a golden orange. This is another great variety from Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms. (Tomato Growers)
German Mammoth Gold SOLD OUT 85 days. Indeterminate. This variety is well named for its huge 2 lb. beefsteaks that are deep golden with red streaking. The coloration is distinctive from other bicolored tomatoes in that this variety is almost orange with more extensive red streaking, making for a very colorful fruit. High sugar and high acid provide excellent flavor. Heirloom variety from the 1800's. (Tomato Growers)
Chef's Choice Pink 75 days. Indeterminate. Resistant to Alternaria Stem Canker, Fusarium Wilt, Root Knot Nematode, Tobacco Mosaic Virus. ALL AMERICA SELECTIONS WINNER. Potato-leaved plants produce impressive yields of 12 to 16 oz. beefsteak tomatoes with deep pink sweet, meaty flesh and an irresistibly good taste. These fruits have a perfect acid-to-sugar ratio resulting in flavor that is reminiscent of heirlooms. However, these hybrid plants are easier to grow and yield early harvests of delicious, crack-resistant beefsteak tomatoes. (Tomato Growers)
Green Zebra 77 days. Indeterminate. Resistant to Late Blight. Susceptible to SEPT. A most unusual beast in the tomato menagerie, this zebra starts out green with darker green stripes, softening and blushing yellow and apricot when it ripens. It might have remained a mere curiosity but for its delicious sweet rich flavor. Small-medium 4–5 oz fruits are emerald green inside. Perfect exteriors hold up under adverse conditions and don’t crack. “The perfect salad tomato,” says Anne Elder. (Fedco)
Sugar Baby SOLD OUT 54 days. Determinate. Extremely early harvests of super-sweet tomatoes on compact plants make this variety a wonderful addition to anyone's garden. These 1 to 2 oz. tomatoes will likely be among the first of the season, and their sweet, delicious flavor is sure to be a delight. Plants are small, but very productive. Determinate. 54 days. (Tomato Growers)
Darkstar SOLD OUT 75 days. Indeterminate. Resistant to Early Blight, Late Blight. This new hybrid heirloom type combines the flavor of heirlooms with the productive quality of a commercial variety. The attractive, dark purple fruit weigh 7 to 10 ounces, and have deliciously sweet and tangy flesh. And Darkstar is resistant to Late Blight. The strong, 6 – 7 foot tall indeterminate vines will produce over a long period of time, with great productivity. (Tomato Growers)
Pink Berkeley Tie Dye SOLD OUT 68 days. Compact Indeterminate. Here is a tomato variety with a name and appearance we old hippies can love. Tie-Dye is not only the best of all the “Boar Series” released by talented breeder Bradley Gates of Wild Boar Farms in Napa, CA, but it is also by far the best of all the new tomatoes we’ve tried. Tie-Dye has real flavor.
Not only flavor but also amazing early productivity, size, disease tolerance, and is it ever a looker. In a jungle among some 15–20 other varieties, this beefsteak accounted for at least half of our early ripe full-sized tomatoes for two years in a row. Fruits usually bi-lobed, averaging about 9 oz, the color of port wine with metallic green stripes. They have an engaging tanginess, almost as if lightly salted. The spiciness is just what you might expect from this striped beauty. (Tomato Growers)
Mountain Magic SOLD OUT 69 days. Resists LB, V, F1-3 with tolerance to EB. Compact Indeterminate. NC State University’s emeritus professor Randy Gardner would be at the top of any list of elite plant breeders. Gardner, who “retired” in 2008 after 32 years, is still adding to his impressive oeuvre of 22 superb tomato varieties, most bearing his signature prefix ‘Mountain.’ He was among the first to take up the heirloom challenge to breed flavor into his hybrids, and he is among the first to combat LB.
Mountain Magic, with grape tomato in its parentage, does both. Even in CR’s unstaked unpruned overcrowded tomato jungles, his unblemished round crack-free two-bite red fruits stand long. Almost all were marketable, growing in clusters of 7 or 8, 10–11 to the pound. As for production: rousing. During a 15-day period beginning Aug. 31, 2012, he harvested 106 fruits—all but three perfect—from a single plant. Juicy with a rich sprightly flavor that pleased and refreshed! Bryan O’Hara sums it up: “Holy winner! Great vigor and disease resistance, high yields, great sweet flavor…you’ve got a great one.” (Tomato Growers)
Ping Tung Long 70 days. Named after its town of origin in Taiwan, this slender violet-purple eggplant becomes at least 12 inches long and has an excellent, mild flavor and tender white flesh. Produces continuous, large harvests despite summer heat and humidity. (Tomato Growers)
Roxanne Italian 72 days. A delicious Italian specialty! Vigorous plants yield abundant 5 to 6 inch beautiful, glossy rich purple fruits streaked in white. Fruits are elongated with plump rounded bottoms and have no thorns on their calyxes to snag your fingers when harvesting! Texture is tender but firm with a creamy delicate flavor and few seeds. Perfect to slice thickly, brush with olive oil, then grill or roast until soft and succulent, top with grated cheese and enjoy throughout the harvest season. (Renee's Garden)
Bademjan 70 days. Bademjan (eggplants) are used in Iran in a variety of ways, from Dolmeh (stuffed eggplant) to stews like Gheymeh Bademjoon to dishes like Kashke Bademjoon and Mirza Ghasemi.
Variable sizes and shapes of this eggplant are used in different ways: stout and chubby eggplants for stuffing, long and tender eggplants for charring and scraping out for Mirza Ghasemi, and more. (Truelove)
Sweet Banana 72 days. Profuse harvests of 5½ to 6 inch long, tapered peppers that are wonderful fried or cut up into salads. Light green at first, they turn yellow and orange, and finally ripen to red. Compact plants. (Tomato Growers)
Early Jalapeño 65 days. Hot 3x1" sausage-shaped blunt fruits mature early, especially suited for northern regions. Characteristic brown netting appears as fruits ripen from dark green to dark red. Staffer Emily Skrobis finds Early Jalapeño super productive and dependable: “Its heavy fruit set means I can pick early for batches of summer salsa and leave plenty to ripen to make a sweet spicy hot sauce.” Packing the seed makes us teary-eyed! From Jalapa in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. 4,000–6,500 Scoville units at maturity (Fedco)
Hidalgo Serrano 75 days. Slightly hotter than a jalapeño, its “bright fruity hot flavor lingers in the front of the mouth and makes your taste buds tingle all over,” said one seed producer. Extremely prolific 3–3½' plants yield dozens of light green fruits that ripen to bright scarlet. The 2½–3 x ½" fruits, as fat as your ring finger but only as long as your pinky, have thin walls, a long seed cavity and classic serrano heat. They are perfect for fresh salsa, pickling and hot sauces. Originated in the mountainous regions of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. 3,000–17,000 Scovilles. (Fedco)
Resilient Shishito SOLD OUT 65 days. An open-pollinated selection of the ever-popular shishito. The folks at Wild Mountain Seeds have been selecting for plants that produce early crops with larger fruits that will fill up your skillet or market pints fast. After three seasons of trials here in Maine, we’re sold: they are early, prolific and delicious! Light green, thin walled and mostly mild—just like Takara, but about twice the size. Blister them in hot oil and sprinkle with salt for something to nibble on while you cook dinner. (Fedco)
NuMex Joe. E Parker Anaheim Chile 75 days. NuMex Joe E. Parker' is the ideal pepper for roasting, stuffing, or canning, in addition to using fresh. This pepper has thick walls, uniform, 6"-8"-long fruit, with few seeds and big yields! Very productive plants. Peppers turn red when mature. 500-2,500 Scoville heat units (mild). (Botanical Interests)
Ají Dulce Seasoning Pepper 90 days. Sweet, smoky seasoning pepper especially popular in Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. This is a mild habanero without the heat. Ají is an important ingredient in Puerto Rican sofrito (sauce), but is also eaten in salsas, salads, and roasted. For a sharper flavor, use the green fruits, and for softer flavors, use them when ripened red. (Truelove)
Pimiento Arrugado Spice Pepper 74 days. [Lowland Northeastern Ecuador] (pale green > orange > red) Like a mild, heatless habanero. Very low heat – barely detectable! – even milder than Aji Dulce, with great flavor. 1½ in. x 2½ in. fruits, on 45 in. plants. Fruits often have purple blushing at the tops. Young plants have some of the largest leaves we’ve seen on any peppers! (Southern Seed Exchange)
Super Zagross Beit Alpha/Persian 54 days. Green smooth thin-skinned fruits are juicy, refreshingly cool, enjoyably mild and almost completely free of the bitterness common in American slicers. Zagross sustains its cropping power, so the cukes will keep coming as long as you keep harvesting. Customer Elaine Carlson of Cape Porpoise, ME, makes succession plantings two weeks apart for 6 months of good eating. (Fedco)
Painted Serpent Armenian 55 days. Also known as Armenian Cucumber or Snake Melon, native to Armenia and brought to Italy in the 15th century. William Woys Weaver says, “This is one of the oldest of our heirlooms, yet one of the most neglected by our gardeners,” often exhibited but seldom eaten. Yet its flavor surpasses that of cucumbers, excelling in salads and stir-fries without bitterness or burps.
Slender slightly fuzzy flexuous fruits delicately coil like a serpent with alternate light and dark green stripes. (Fedco)
Canary Winter Melon SOLD OUT Named after the color of its mature fruit, the vines of 'Canary Yellow', also known simply as 'Canary', are vigorous and relatively productive. The fruit are pear-shaped, average four to six pounds each, have tough, bright light-yellow skin that is slightly wrinkled with sweet, pale green flesh. A popular old European "winter melon" variety. That is, their late maturity date, combined with the fact that they have thick, tough rind, allows the melon to keep well into winter. (Victory)
Tromboncino 60 days. Also known as zucchini rampicante although a Cucurbita moschata, unlike other zucchinis. Tender, mild, sweet and nutty when harvested as summer squash at 8–12".
“Out-tastes 95% of the Zuke pack,” declared grower/breeder Relentless. Customer Nancy M. of Grand Marais, MI, concurred: “Tromboncino ROCKS! We absolutely love it and now feel no need to grow any other kind of summer squash.”
Delicious steamed, grilled or sliced raw in salad. Italians use it in gnocchi and to stuff ravioli. When the green-tan fruits grow very long, they are good baked as winter squash. As might be inferred from its alias, its vines are rampant and should be trellised. (Fedco)
Spineless Beauty Zucchini SOLD OUT44 days. Some zucchini varieties have spines that scratch your arms as you try to harvest the fruit. Not Spineless Beauty. Picking will be a breeze, and yields are impressive. The vigorous vines and proven adaptation will help you have the success that so many gardeners have enjoyed when growing Spineless Beauty. The dark green fruit are best harvested before they reach 8 ½ inches in length. (Tomato Growers)
Clarimore Middle Eastern Zucchini SOLD OUT 40 days. This delectable zucchini variety is the type particularly prized in Persian and Lebanese cuisine. These distinctive light pastel green squash have exceptionally smooth, tender skins and a uniquely creamy, succulent interior flesh. Their nutty sweet flavor lends itself to a wide range of cooking possibilities. Clarimore is obediently compact in habit, making it easy to harvest from the vines. This well-bred, disease-resistant early variety produces reliable and substantial yields in all climate zones. (Renee's)
Naked Bear Pumpkin 105 days. Naked Bear's smaller, but more abundant fruit produce higher seed yields than those of traditional hulless pumpkins. Harvest for flavorful pepitas. The semi-hulless seeds are excellent for roasting and snacking, and can be pressed for oil. Uniform and avg. 2–4 lb., its light orange fruits with gold flecking also make attractive ornamentals. From our experience, Naked Bear will yield a crop even under strong disease pressure. (Fedco)
Autumn Frost Winter Squash 100 days. Uniquely ribbed, round fruit ripens to dark tan with a frosted overlay. Fruit is similar in taste to a butternut, with superior quality, rich flavor and a shelf life of up to 4 months after maturity, allowing for a supply of high-quality fruit throughout the winter season. Also adds a nice variety to fall displays. Intermediate resistance to powdery mildew. (Territorial)
Profumo di Genova Italian Basil SOLD OUT Our latest Italian import has been carefully bred for clean, bright basil flavor, an elegant compact shape and good disease resistance. Fancy European greengrocers offer pots of dense, leafy Profumo di Genova at the front of their market stalls so cooking gardeners can take it home and and enjoy a regular supply of its spicy fragrant leaves. Grow this luscious basil in your own garden this season for abundant harvests of delicious leaves. (Renee's)
Thai Basil 60 days. In our 2019 basil trials, this outstanding culinary and ornamental strain of Thai basil left us breathless. Sporting the same purple stems and flowers of standard Thai, but displayed upon a strong bushy umbrella form with wide and beautifully ample flowers. Flowering Thai voluminously produces large broad leaves, more akin to Sweet Basil, with excellent savory-sweet anise flavor. Perfect to edge any path or pleasure planting, its bouquet habit and bounty for cooking make it ideal for near-house easy access. (Fedco)
Round Midnight Purple Basil SOLD OUT 65 days. This lustrous purple basil lures you from across the garden with its broad dark lightly ruffled gently serrated leaves wafting a swooning aroma of allspice, nutmeg and light musk. Noting the 12–14" stature and well-branched uniform habit, you bend to pluck a tender leaf. Savory with mild pungency, the flavors dance on your tongue. As weeks follow, Round Midnight slowly reveals spikes of purple flowers. Seduction complete. Tested for fusarium. (Fedco)
Reyhan Sabz Persian Basil 70 days. This special green basil from Iran has been long-missed and desired by those of us in the US! Milder than many of the basils available in the US, one of its main functions in Iranian cooking is that it is enjoyed as a fresh herb, thanks to its citrusy and pleasant flavor and texture. (Truelove)
Lemon Queen 70 days. Luxuriant 8" blooms with lemon-yellow petals surrounding striking solid brown centers. Although it can grow up to 10' tall in rich soil, its powerful stems do not lodge. Likes high fertility; makes shorter stems and narrower petals in average soil. Not early; bloomed for Donna Dyrek in late August. (Fedco)
Mardi Gras Blend 70 days. Mardi Gras blend combines attractive yellows and deep reds to produce flowers that are 5 inches wide with a brilliant display. Multiple branches with strong stems create an explosion of color. Ideal for cut flowers. Flowers reach 2 to 3 feet in height. (Tomato Growers)
Tomatillo: De Milpa SOLD OUT 70 days. This pretty purple-blushed tomatillo is so named because it is traditionally grown in the Milpa, a cleared field where corn, beans, squash, and often many other crops are grown intercropped together in Mexico and Central America. Fruits are about 1.5” in diameter and have a slightly sharper flavor, which is preferred for some Mexican dishes. (Truelove)
Pole bean: Rattlesnake 73 days. Popular in the Southwest because it can survive on summer monsoon rain alone and copes with variable conditions. Produces a steady harvest of 7-8" slightly flattened pods that are green with purple streaks. Harvest early for very sweet tasty snap beans, or allow to mature for delicious dry beans. (Native Seed Search)
Okra: Bhindi 60 days. Indian Okra, or Bhindi, is often a darker green pod that stays tender longer, is shiny and smooth, and easy to pick. This variety was initially grown for our catalog by Nital Vadalia-Kakadia who says:
"My mother-in-law has been growing them for many many years and she saves the seeds each year. She gave me some and I grow them in my backyard each year as well. Bhindi is one of my family's favorite vegetables. It is cooked in many different ways: stuffed, fried, and sauteed, and they all taste fabulous! It is also special to me because it reminds me of my mother's and aunt's kitchen growing up, and the aroma of the Bhindi cooking in spices is just unbeatable!!"
Also known as Lady Fingers. (Truelove)
Loofah 110 days. Loofahs are members of the gourd family, originally from China. These handsome trailing vines can be grown on a fence or trellis or allowed to ramble at garden edges. Growing loofahs look like wrinkly big cucumbers. At seasons end, when dry and mature, the rinds are simply peeled, revealing their sponge-like fibrous interior. Loofahs make marvelous skin scrubbers for stimulating circulation and improving skin tone in the bath or shower. Home grown Loofahs make wonderful holiday gifts! (Renee's)
Dutchman's Pipe/Pipevine This plant is toxic! Dutchman's Pipe is the only host plant for the beautiful iridescent black and blue Pipevine Swallowtail butterflies that can be seen along the American River in spring and summer. It is a rhizomatous vine that prefers part shade and moist conditions. Slow to establish, practice some patience for a few years after transplanting while the plant gets situated. Propagated from the mother plant in the school garden. Bring the magic of caterpillars and butterflies into your garden!
Salvia x 'Amistad' Semi-shrubby sage hybrid with vibrant purple flowers and a long bloom period. Prefers at least afternoon shade in our climate. See description from San Marcos Growers for more information. These plants were propagated by garden volunteer Dennis from his own yard and donated to the plant sale. Thank you Dennis!!