Garden Chat
By Jean Lundquist
Seed money and spring promises
A
s I prepare to start my seeds this month, I have to pause and think as I look over the packets of seeds I’ve purchased so far. I’ve been taken in by seed company promises many times. Only twice have I ever found that the promises made in seed catalogs were kept. One kept promise was made by Farmer Seed and Nursery out of Faribault. Their Green Ice cucumber truly is the best I have ever eaten. It’s a wonderful slicer, not an all-around-good-for-everything cuke. After originally paying $20 for a packet, I was directed to a smaller packet that cost a mere $6. Even with my thrifty ways, I thought it was worth it. Nary a hint of bitterness, and nary a burp. The other promise that I believe was kept comes from Gurney with their Gotta Have It sweet corn. While not nearly as spendy as the Green Ice Cucumbers, it does hold well on the stalk and keeps well in the fridge, extending the delight of a single sowing. The only problem I’ve had with Gotta Have It is that the raccoons love it as much as I do. We’re going to foil their pillaging ideas this year, however, with an electric fence. The charging unit is already in the house. Fencing is work, and an electric fence is way more expensive than no fence. I’m serious about my Gotta Have It sweet corn this year. Still, every year the seed companies throw out a hook, and I rise to take the bait. I bit on a couple of things that sound too good to be true this season. One is Burpee’s SuperSauce hybrid tomato. The catalog arrived early. The cover was 36 • MArch 2013 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
consumed by a picture of a plump, oval, saucy looking tomato. In the corner of the cover, it read: “Shown Actual Size.” I laughed and put the catalog aside. Later, I picked up the catalog again, and measured the tomato: fiveand-a-half inches high, five inches wide. The hype says each tomato weighs two pounds, and one will fill a quart canning jar all by itself. Would Burpee’s lie? OK, they lied about the Super Tasty tomato being the best tasting tomato ever, but I wrote that off to a difference between my soil and theirs. I bit. I bought a packet. I fear if I grow a tomato able to fill a quart jar all by itself, it will frighten me. But I just have to try. The other seed that caught my interest — and my cash — is On Deck sweet corn. I bought some just in case my Gotta Have It fence doesn’t work. On Deck can be grown in planters. I have never had luck growing any vegetable in a container, but this one is bred to be grown that way. I figure I’ll put the pots on the apron of the small shed and move it in each night when the ears start to develop. That will be one way to keep it from the raccoons, without the need of a fence. I can already foresee how this project will go, I fear. The pots will each contain five very heavy stalks of corn and the pot will be heavy with damp soil. It will be work to pull them in each evening and I’ll have to get up early to take them out in the morning before I go to work. It will be hot this summer and I’ll want to sit in the shade, or in the air conditioning, and the night I decide to forego the move inside, the raccoons will strike. But in March, I’m raring to go and I’ve bought the seed already. I’ll close with two tips for you — my own personal promises I expect are the
truth. If you have the chance to grow Orange Pixie Hybrid tomatoes, they will be the closest thing to tomato candy you can get. They are a large cherry tomato, and the least acidic and sweetest I have ever tasted. I got mine from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds. Secondly, if you want to grow peperoncini peppers like the one you get in your salad at Italian restaurants, you need to grow the Greek variety, not the Italian variety. They taste different and they look different. The Greek peppers are shorter, and what you are used to seeing and eating. And FYI, they are pronounced “pepperon-chee-ni.” Now, you can sound smart when you talk about your wonderful peppers. Now, let’s get planting! M
Jean Lundquist is a master gardener who lives near Good Thunder.