Hit the Dirt; Successful Variety Review

Hello and welcome to another edition of hit the dirt. Now that my gardens have shifted down into slow gear while the glories and frustrations of this past season are still fresh in my mind I like to take the time to reflect on those Fridays I planted this year which I found to be outstanding in one way or another. And since most other avid gardeners I know also seem to love nothing more than to swap stories about specific varieties of crops. I thought perhaps some of you out there might like to hear what did well for me this year. Broccoli is a crop I love to grow so I do early mid and late season plantings. This year I must have trialed over a dozen varieties and three favorites that come to mind are early green and dandy early. The first two I have grown before and seem to be consistent producers of good sized main heads as well as abundant side shoots later on dandy early which I tried for the first time this year proved itself to be in their class. All three seem to be very early producers and grew well in my gardens in both spring and fall. The Dandy early plants were somewhat shorter and stockier with a bigger

main head than the others. Unfortunately I've only seen seed for dandy early in Thompson and Morgan's catalogue and I find their prices to be outrageously expensive. Peas are another of my favorite crops. I enjoy the snow snap and shell types so I grow a number of varieties of each. Once again this year in my gardens the daybreak Shelby dwarf white sugar snow and the sugar and snap seem to get the most rave reviews. DAYBREAK is the earliest of the shell peas I know of and this taste is quite good. Comparing favorably with the later maturing varieties I've grown. What is more I found that I do not have to stick to short vines if I grow them in wide rows which I find to be a plus towards white sugar snow and sugar and snap both rank high on my list for earliness and flavor. The overall yield might not be as much as some of the taller vine varieties of these types. In the potato patch this year we did manage to keep on top of the potato beetle onslaught

which from my chats with other growers seems to have hit particularly heavy throughout much of Maine this year and two varieties which we tried for the first time this year. Karole a yellow flesh hater and Elba a white flesh variety came through for us with fairly abundant yield of nice large tubers of excellent texture and flavor. I am eager to see how well these two varieties Karole and Elba keep in my root cellar this winter. Turning to sunflowers this year we trial a couple of dwarf varieties. Well I enjoy the tall mammoth types for the bold the statics. When it comes to seed production I haven't had much luck getting them to ripen consistently in my garden and the wind which funnels through my place always knocks them over. So we decided to try to wharf Russian and sunspot both for our IDs alleged to have full sized heads on quick maturing short plants of the two toward Russian seem more to my liking. Growing to about five feet in height

the plants were vigorous and bloomed far earlier than any of the other five varieties in the garden. The dwarf Russians are tall enough to stand out with their big sunny yellow faces but short enough to avoid much of the wind damage. Plus they are practically a sure bet for mature and full size heads even in very short season locales. The sunspot sunflowers were even more dwarf maturing at only about three feet in height. I found them to be less vigorous growers with smaller seed heads which matures later than a dwarf Russian though not as late as the mammoth varieties. The long dry spell we had this summer was a bit of a challenge for those of us who cannot water our gardens for the most part. My crops withstood the dryness OK. But the heavy rains which immediately followed really provided a test of my tomato beds. Such extremes in moisture sets the stage for cracking of the fruit. The dryness causes the tough skin to form on the tomatoes and then a period of wetness well's the fruit more than the top and skin can expand resulting in cracks. But I notice that the paste for

varieties I grew are a lot less prone to cracking probably because the fruits have a much lower water content. Heinz 2 6 5 3 and principally bogus say our two paced Fridays which once again put in stellar performances even with the stresses of this past summer both are prolific bearers which seem to consistently ripen a good sized crop early which of course is a key to tomato success down East. I find both Hinds 2 6 5 3 and principally Borges a make a nice sauce and the principle is good for drying. As for good sandwich tomatoes I have my neighbor to thank for this year's favorite. A variety called Delicious is a very popular one. But all the catalogs seem to stress the huge size fruit and that is not an attribute I specially prize in a tomato. So I hadn't gotten around to trying it yet but this neighbor who happens to like growing crops like the big dinner plate values and the gigantic pumpkin is particularly fond of the delicious tomato.

He gave me some seed and asked me to start a few plants for him in my greenhouse. I didn't grew a few extra for our own garden and a bit to my surprise I found the name to be quite fitting as the fruits of those plants were among the best flavored tomatoes I have grown here in Maine. And for you fans of large vegetables the delicious tomatoes regularly weighed in at more than a pound apiece with a single slice from one covering an entire sandwich. They are not the earliest of the tomatoes but this year we harvested quite a few ripe ones off our plants. So you can be sure there will be at least two gardens growing delicious tomatoes in my neighborhood again next year. Well that is all I have time for this week. But tune into next week's when I will continue this garden variety review. See you then. And happy growing.