4/29/11
Tomatoes
Here are a few descriptions and pictures of the tomato starters I have available. Take a look and if you see a few you're interested in let me know and I'll set them aside. Something to keep in mind with heirloom variety; they are not disease resistant so you may want to consider planting a few more than you initially anticipate since there is a good chance you'll loose a few to disease and pests.
Mr. Stripey has a sweet, mild flavor that makes it perfect for sandwiches, salads and mixed with basil for a wonderful pasta sauce. The fruit matures in about 56 days and the plants feature small, dark green leaves. Considered to be in the beefsteak family.
Black Krim The Black Krim is highly regarded for its excellent, yet bold taste, and medium to large size. This tomato can vary in color ranging from a reddish brown hue towards the bottom of the fruit, then darkening to greenish-dark purple shoulders. Just a pinch of salt is needed to enhance the flavor, since this tomato already has a slight salty taste. Black Krim tomatoes are extremely tasty, and will add not only great flavor, but visual interest to your salads. These tomatoes are also great for slicing and cooking.
Red Cherry produces round and scarlet-red tomatoes. The plant is very productive and fruits are borne in clusters on the indeterminate vines all summer. The min size fruit, 1" diameter, is very sweet and has a nice taste, good for salad.
Red Beefsteak has vigorous indeterminate vines that will need to be staked to hold the HUGE 10 oz to 2 lb tomatoes. Even though the fruits are so large, beefsteak is still an abundant producer. Flat, solid, meaty, juicy and bright red beefsteak does not disappoint hard core tomato lovers. Beefsteak makes an excellent slicer. This tomato I'm told has a rich sub-acid flavor. 
Purple Cherokee An old Cherokee Indian heirloom, pre-1890 variety; beautiful deep dusky purple-pink color, superb sweet flavor, and very large sized fruit. Try this one for real old-time tomato flavor.
Yellow Pear This extremely old variety makes a vigorous plant, which bears enormous numbers of bright yellow, bite-sized fruit. The flavor is deliciously tangy. Perfect for summer party hors d'oeuvres. 
Mexican Husk (Tomatillo) Flavor is a distinct lemon-herb grassy tang when the vegetable is dark green in color. If allowed to ripen to a dull yellowish green the flavor is sweeter with just a hint of pineapple overtones. You can eat the tomatillo raw like a tomato or even an apple. You may find the flavor to be too tart when raw but when mixed with avocado into a guacamole or with green chile in a favorite salsa recipe, awesome.
Delicious The huge, meaty fruits are frequently 2 to 3 pounds each and deliver excellent flavor with very little cracking. Delicious holds the world's record (over 7 pounds) for the largest tomato ever grown.
Great White Beefsteak This variety is typically considered the largest and finest of the white tomato varieties. Sturdy plants prolifically produce huge creamy white tomatoes that often weigh up to 2 lbs. When totally ripe, the fruit will have a yellowish hue on the blossom end and a very smooth creamy white texture over the rest of the fruit. Fruits are very mild and have a wonderful sweet flavor. Fruits have a large amount of juice in them and very few seeds making this a difficult variety to save seeds from. If you're interested in making a unique tomato juice that has a fabulous taste, this would be the variety for you! The fruits are also great sliced and put in sandwiches, on vegetable trays or in cooking! Plants are very heavy in foliage which helps prevent against sun scald. This variety does extremely well in hot climates in that is not only drought resistant but also crack resistant.
Roma tomatoes are determinate tomatoes that are plum-shaped, and can be found in red, yellow and orange varieties. They feature a very meaty inside with very few seeds which makes them perfect for canning, and making sauces. Roma tomatoes are also great in salsa, pizza sauce, and creating dried tomatoes.
Chocolate Cherry as irresistible as a chocolate covered cherry, but without all of the guilt. These cherries have both skin and flesh shaded an attractive combination of port wine and chestnut with a comparably delicious and multifaceted flavor. The super productive, indeterminate plants produce trusses of 1 inch round fruit nonstop. We've found them enjoyable harvested fully mature, or even picked several days before they're fully ripe, then allowed to finish indoors.
Black Zebra Jagged green stripes decorate the 4 ounce, deep burgundy fruits. The mahogany-colored flesh is sweet and juicy, carrying flavors which are remarkably rich, and complex. A stabilized cross of Green Zebra and an unidentified black tomato.
Plant Starters4/2/11
With the expense of supplies, soil, seeds and time I will charge a small fee, undecided but probably around $2.00 per plant, depending on what it is. That is a lot less than the plants you can purchase at the store or nursery and these are heirloom seeds. If you would like something besides tomato let me know and I'll start more seed. I have a lot of other plants available this is just what I've started for spring. Tomatoes:
Mr. Stripey
Black Krim
Red Cherry
Red Beefsteak
Purple Cherokee
Yellow Pear
Mexican Husk (Tomatillo)
Delicious
Great White Beefsteak
Roma
Chocolate Cherry
Black Zebra
Other:
Golden Acre Cabbage
Waltham Broccoli
Green Onions
Snowball Cauliflower
Green/Red Bell Pepper
Banana Pepper
Anaheim Chile
Santa Fe Red Chile
Buttercrunch Lettuce
Red Salad Bowl Lettuce
Giant Noble Spinanch
Cilantro
Basil
Flat Leaf Parsley
Chives
Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
3/11/11
Welcome to the World of SEEDS
A few days ago I compiled a list of plants that I would like to grow. I then set out to establish where I would get them from and what sort of cost I was looking at, boy was I in for a treat! I had this image in my mind of walking into a gardening store, or hardware or greenhouse, heading over to the "seed" section and picking my vegetables. Hardy HAHA, as if it could be that easy!First, you have to decide the type of seed you want. Will it be organic, hybrid, heirloom or standard; have you considered GMO's, growth hormones, pesticide resistance? Once you decide the type of seed you want it's now time to figure out the strand of seed. You can't just go pick a bag of corn seed. Does that corn grow in this region? What type of taste and color and purpose does it have? There must be 200 different types of tomato! Some are better for canning, maybe salsa maybe marinara; some are better eaten fresh, all have different tastes, others grow at different times of the year. I found that by narrowing down my "type of seed" I was able to narrow down my strand of seed - but not by much.
I've chosen heirloom as the type I'll try and grow, for one big reason. You can use heirloom seeds again. Scientists have genetically modified our seeds not to re-pollinate. Heirloom seeds have not been genetically modified. You can save heirloom seed and use it the following year. If you go into Lowe's and buy packs of seed, (for most plants) you will get one season out of it and you'll have to buy seed again the following year. One of the reason I am learning to garden is to cut expenses not increase them. Heirloom seeds seem to be a little more unique, they are the oldest seeds available. They are also known for their high quality in taste, color and production.Now that I've picked my type, strand and flavor I can find a trusted source to purchase them from and focus on when to plant, where to plant and what to plant it next to.
If you are getting ready to plant a garden there are a few things that have helped me start. First, I created a spreadsheet. On the left side I listed all the plants I wanted, across the top I labeled categories. As soon as I get close to finishing mine I'll post it as an example.
Frost Dates for Utah
Utah State University This is a link to their garden extension. Invaluable information.
Companion Planting Chart
