Viewing comments posted by Weedwhacker

This is a nice, bushy plant that starts setting fruit early in the season. Light green 2 to 2-1/2-inch peppers change to orange and then red, grow pointing upward, and are about as hot as a cayenne pepper -- wearing gloves when cutting these little firecrackers up is strongly advised! This variety makes a nice ornamental and is very suitable for growing in pots. The peppers can be used to make hot sauce, and they also dry nicely and can be used for making your own crushed peppers and "cayenne" pepper.

This is a beautiful heirloom squash with very vigorous vines. They reach a top size of about 12 pounds, and store very well. The flesh is fine grained, sweet, and actually improves in storage as it becomes less watery. Great for any recipe that calls for winter squash or canned pumpkin. The seeds are nice and large and can be easily roasted for snacks.

Pole bean type. This bean originated in Russia and was obtained by Nellie Chernoff, of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1952. The pods are yellow and are said to taste similar to mushrooms when cooked. Of note, the pods tend to open ("shatter") when dry.

A little aggressive in a cultivated area (I transplanted a few milkweed plants from the woods edge to my perennial garden), but easy to pull out if there are too many and well worth the trouble for the benefit to butterflies and bees. Milkweed is the sole host plant for Monarch butterflies, as well as Milkweed Tussock Moths, and crucial to their survival. The flowers are also fragrant, and the pods can add interest to dried flower arrangements. Many types of insects visit the flowers for the nectar.

I originally purchased seed for this plant from Pinetree and have enjoyed it in my garden ever since then; it completely dies back in my zone 4b-5a garden, and then pops back up every spring, as well as self-sowing quite prolifically. A great plant for naturalizing with ferns, forget-me-nots, and other plants that enjoy partial shade.

This is a hybrid variety that produced quite a few squash in my garden, but seemed more prone to blossom-end rot than other types that I've grown. I like the golden zucchini types because it's so easy to spot them and pick before they get too large, and also because the skin never seems to have any bitterness.

These make great decorations and are also edible! Just cut off the top like you would a big pumpkin, use a melon baller to remove the seeds and stringy pulp, add some butter and seasonings of your choice to the inside -- or stuff with whatever you like, as you would an acorn squash -- and then bake for 30-45 minutes, until tender.

Amaranth leaves can be eaten like spinach and the tiny seeds used like grain for cooked cereal, popped like popcorn, roasted or sprouted. The seeds can also be used as a "meal" for making traditional dishes, including beverages. Red dye is produced from the flower clusters, leaves and stems. The flower heads can be used dried or fresh for flower arrangements, or left on the plants for the birds to enjoy; the flowers are also attractive to bees and butterflies.

The tomato I grew, from a "gift packet" received with other seeds, was called "Umberto," but after doing a bit of research I believe this is the same as "King Humbert." This is an old Italian heirloom, probably best used for making paste or sauce. My plants grew very large and were loaded with tomatoes, which were actually more of a pinkish-red color, as compared to other red varieties. The tomatoes are fairly small but very meaty, and although I did mainly use them for roasted tomato sauce, the flavor as a fresh tomato was quite good. Our weather was not very good this year and it still yielded a lot of tomatoes... I would definitely try growing this again.

Large, thick-walled, jalapeno-type peppers. Moderately hot, heat seems to be somewhat variable. Excellent producer in my northern garden, this is a variety that I have grown every year for at least 8 years. Great for adding to salsa, making "poppers," and pickling. Green turning to bright red when ripe.

This open-pollinated variety has mildly spicy, wrinkled, thin-walled, light-green fruit that turns red when mature. The plants produce abundant amounts of 3- to 4-inch long peppers, which are excellent for pickling. About 72 days to maturity, these are ready to start picking at just about the same time as my hot banana peppers and jalapenos. Although they become somewhat softer (less crisp) when mature, the peppers do seem to become a little hotter at that stage. I highly recommend these for anyone that likes pickled peppers!

This native of Eurasia is a seriously invasive, non-native species in our area. It seems important to note that there are chemicals in the leaves, stems, and flowers that can cause skin rashes, burns, and blisters, especially in the presence of sunlight. Please use caution if you are thinking about growing this plant.

This is a hybrid, medium-hot pepper, about 8 inches long, that starts out green and turns red. Very productive in my northern garden, and one of the varieties I grow every year. Excellent for adding just a bit of heat to any dish -- I love to dice up both red and green peppers and add to sweet corn, for my own "Mexicorn." Also good raw in a salad. About 73 days to maturity.

This variety grows very well in my northern garden and is excellent for greens as well as the brightly colored roots. Considerably sweeter than my "old standby," Cylindra.

This variety is large and somewhat irregular in shape, pink in color when ripe and with excellent flavor and texture (as long as it isn't allowed to become over-ripe). The fruit is thin-skinned and needs to be handled with care when picking. A very reliable performer in my northern garden.

This is my 4th year of growing this variety. The plants are vigorous and always give me a good amount of medium-size tubers. The potatoes have red skin with an attractive yellowish interior and are excellent whether you boil them, bake them, mash them, or fry them. They don't have a long storage time, but this is never a problem for us -- they don't last long enough here to go bad!

I've been growing and saving seed from "Blue Peter" beans (aka "African Blue") since the mid 1980s, when I obtained seed from the Seed Savers Exchange. The vines grow very long for me, up to the top of my 8-foot trellis and halfway back down again. For the best flavor, pods should be picked before the beans start to fatten, and should be cooked just until tender; they don't hold up well to long cooking times. If kept picked they keep producing all season long and freeze well if blanched just until they turn green.