Viewing comments posted by Newyorkrita

This is my first season growing Sunstripe, which I grew myself from seeds I purchased at Park Seeds. I love to pick these when they're young and slice them thin to eat raw, adding them to a mixed salad of tomatoes and cucumbers and squash. Sunstripe is about the prettiest summer squash I grow. I find the taste tender and mild. I love them and will be growing them again next season.

This is my first year growing Lemon Boy, which I bought as seedling plants this spring. The plants have grown well and have shown no disease. They have been loaded with green tomatoes. As soon as those started to get ripe, there was a succession of nice yellow tomatoes to pick.

Lemon Boy must be named for the color because when you slice it open, it is always a nice bright lemon yellow. Never orange. So it is truly a yellow tomato.

Taste is good but mild.

I posted about Golden Egg when I grew it in 2013. Here it is, 2015, and I am still growing Golden Egg. It is such a pretty summer squash.

Everyone I have given these to try has loved them. And I feel the same. I am sure I will be growing Golden Egg for years to come.

I bought one plant of Jaune Flamme this spring as I had read that this tomato was known for great flavor. Now that I have been eating the first of the ripe fruits, I can say that it has outstanding flavor. Sweet and complex, not easily described, but the taste simply bursts in your mouth.

They are on the smaller side, but the plant is a large one and is so absolutely loaded with green tomatoes that I know I will have plenty.

So far this is my favorite tomato this year. I usually would rather grow hybrids than heirlooms, but I will have Jaune Flamme in my garden again next year for sure.

My first year growing Sunray as this spring I really wanted to plant some yellow tomatoes. I bought Sunray and Jubilee both, and truthfully they are so similar that I will only be growing one or the other next spring. I cannot taste any difference.

The Sunrays have a mild flavor, slightly sweet.

This is my first year growing Carolina Gold. The plants are simply loaded with green tomatoes set, and now some have been ready for picking. What I found interesting is that the fruits set later than the Lemons Boys that are growing next to them, but now have caught up, and I am picking ripe fruit from both currently.

First time successful growing Basil From seed. I tried last spring and nothing at all came up. This summer I started seeds in reused veggie cell flats and I was successful getting seedlings.

My do they grow slowly and stay small. Now that I have planted them out in big pots I am hoping they start to grow quickly.

This is my first year growing San Marzano. I simply had to try it because of the people recommending it in the Fruit and Veggies Forum. I compare it to Roma, maybe slightly larger but similar taste, at least when fresh. Very dry. No seeds. I will have to use these for stewed tomatoes this year and see how they turn out.

In my opinion, they work well for fresh salsa if you mix them with some more juicy, slicer-type tomatoes.

This spring when I was buying my seedling tomato plants, I purchased the variety "Beefsteak" instead of the "Beefmaster" I had intended to buy. So this is my first year growing this one.

I am impressed with the large tomatoes I have picked, although I find that the size is variable. The plants themselves are productive, with little disease and minimal yellowing of the bottom leaves.

Flavor is excellent, although I realize taste is a very subjective thing, but I do very much like them and will probably grow them again next season.

Snow Bunting is aptly named as the flowers are a clean, clear, stark white. Golden throats can be seen inside when fully open. New for me this spring as I planted it last fall. I expect this snow crocus to multiply well.

A lovely early-blooming species of snow crocus. I planted about 50 Gypsy Girl bulbs late last fall. I do love the golden yellow coloring and the really striking purple stripes along the outside of the blooms.

In my garden Gypsy Girl blooms after my earliest blooming yellow species crocus, Fuscotinctus.

One of the Margo Reed intros growing in my garden, Nuclear Meltdown grows on tall scapes. I wish it were a late or later season bloomer but it is mid season. Still, the yellow golden backround with red eyezone cascade flowers are appealing, so here in my garden it stays.

Later Dude is listed at 36-inch scape height, but it has never bloomed that tall in my garden, and I have had it for many years. It is lovely: pale lemon or off-white blooms and plenty of them. Listed as fragrant, but my nose cannot sniff out any scent.

I have Cayenne and Better Late Than Never, both intros by Jim Murphy, growing very near each other in one of my late bloomer daylily beds. Both are reddish and have the same flower form. Other than the fact that Cayenne has shorter scapes than Better Late Than Never, I could not see any difference in the two blooms.

Listed as a rebloomer, Cayenne has never rebloomed for me.

Alchemist was one of my very first Jim Murphy intros. I had decided to expand my mostly nice andfull, round shapes with something daring and, for me, very different. Alchemist is a deep purple cascade flower. I wanted late bloomers, but unfortunately it never bloomed late for me, so after a few years it left my garden.

But, really, not blooming late here was its only fault. Otherwise, it would have stayed.

I can see how Tree Turtles received its funny name as the scape is rather tall. Still, the idea of a turtle up in a tree is quite funny to me.

Added Tree Turtles to my late-blooming daylily bed as I was always looking for blooms to extend the bloom season. It is a lovely flower, fuller in shape than most of my Woodhenge intros. Not an extra late bloomer, but blooms late enough to extend the season.

The only place I have ever seen Amadeo for sale is Parks, so early this spring I ordered 6 plants. Can't get them locally and I did want to try them. I don't think they turned out to be any earlier setting or more productive than the more easily found Classic, and both are the deep purple fruited types you would find at local supermarkets. Personally, I can't tell any difference in the flavor from Classic, and Amadeo did not appear to be any more productive, so I think I will not be growing it again next year and will stick to the varieties that are easily found locally.

I do love the small-fruited Asian-type eggplants, and Little Fingers is no exception. Purple, smaller-sized eggplants and plenty of them. Started producing early. They are the perfect size to pick for grilling. Slice in half and grill or cut in sections for kabobs.

I decided to grow Black Beauty this year to compare it to Classic, which I grew last year and this year also. Both produce the standard-looking, deep-purple eggplant fruits one would be used to finding at the supermarket.

I could not taste any difference between the two varieties. They tasted exactly the same to me. I would say Black Beauty is less productive. I picked fewer fruits from those plants.

As usual, Burpless was the star of the cucumber show again this year. Out of all the varieties I grow or have tried in the past, Burpless always outdoes all the others. Larger cucumbers than any others that taste mild and sweet even picked at the larger sizes. Always plenty of production, plus the disease resistance is the best of any variety that I have grown in my garden.