Viewing comments posted by farmerdill

An open pollinated melon that is a week or earlier than the original honey dew. 100 day DTM. Green flesh has good flavor and melon holds up well. Season is too long for northern growers. Many modern hybrids are up to a month earlier.

Deep green 4-5 lb very uniform heads. At 78 days it is a bit late as a spring variety. It is doing well, though, heading up in early June. I will plant again for fall- winter harvest for which it may be more suitable. These heads are worth waiting for, though.

A 52 day hybrid with resistance to Powdery Mildew,Papaya Ringspot virus, Scab, Watermelon Mosaic Virus, Zucchini Mosaic Virus, and some tolerance for Angular leaf spot,Cucumber Mosaic Virus and Downy Mildew. Downy Mildew is a major problem under my conditions. The plant is very vigorous, altho it is showing signs of infection, is growing faster than the mildew is advancing. Very nice , dark green, 8-9 inch slicer.

This is an early bean, the first to come in this year. It is not really vigorous, 4-5 inch round pods, but less per plant than Amethyst, Bronco or Cabot. It produces here, but sparsely. On the 4 point scale I would grade it C-.

Good beet, but takes a long time to bulb up. Listed at 80-85 days for full size beets. Longest season beet I have ever grown. Has some heat resistance , which came in handy with our late spring heating up. Not really suited to this climate, as I prefer beets to come on in mid spring and the vacate the space for summer crops.

Early and productive, Mediterranean type hybrid. Good performer here.

This hybrid white variety from Bejo is a 2016 AAS winner. It is an early and reliable perfomer The best variety I have grown to date.

A second early Grano type hybrid from DP Seeds. Large size, light red skin, pink flesh. Performed well here. Short day , overwintered , harvested in early May.

Small bush type blackeye pea developed by the Virginia truck Experiment Station, Norfolk. Compact vine with top set. Peas are much smaller than the California blackeyes. Easy to grow, yields well. Newer more compact version of Princess Ann.

An early maturing hybrid Vidalia type that is the earliest among those that I have grown. Large uniform onions average 4 inches in diameter. Zero bolting among 500 plants but I did get a half dozen that separated into clusters. Made good scallions . Overall an excellent Vidalia type.

This variety was developed as part of the Eastern Broccoli Project at Cornell University. The goal was to develop a broccoli that would perform well in the eastern states. Burney meets those expectations in my trial. Vigorous plants, large uniform domed heads which are compact and dense. It is the best overall producer among the many varieties that I have tried. A+ on this one. One drawback for home gardeners, No side shoots.

Very mediocre performer prone to powdery mildew. Not suited for this climate.

Really good producer of excellent flavored peas. Long slender pods with 10 peas to the pod. Plants are stiff which helps them maintain an upright position. An afila type that I can heartily recommend.

An unusual cabbage collard. very loose head compared to the green cabbage collard. Yellow green rather than the standard dark green. Much more tender and better flavor. An outstanding collard.

As the name implies, this is a heading collard. The heads are loose, but have the appearance of a cabbage head. They head best when temps are in high 20's low thirties. Easy to grow in zone 8 or higher. Transplant in September-October. In my opinion much superior flavor to the Georgia types.

Grew Wade in the late 50's, popular in central Virginia at that time. Very competitive with Topcrop which was also popular at that time. Seems to have disappeared from the market, but in my memory a better producer than Burpee's Stringless Greenpod which it was replacing.

I grew Bibb letuce back in Virginia, but don't remember it tasting this good. This variety is superb (Ferry Morse seed). I usually grow mostly Cos and iceberg types but this blows them out of the garden. Great flavor, crisp and really really tender. Grows well here in winter early spring.

Smooth spade shaped leaves, deep green. Good resistance to Downy Mildew. Performs well here, but not quite as vigorous as my favorite Red Kitten.

Dark green long standing smooth leaf cultivar that does well here in Georgia. More reliable than savoy leaf types. Resistant to Downy Mildew.

A long season (90 day) icebox size triploid. In 2005 this was my first attempt at growing a seedless type. Germination was difficult and only two hills were successful. Fruit set was limited and the melons were exceptionally attractive to raccoons. Never got to cut a melon. I notice that they are back on Ferry Morse seed racks this spring.