Echinacea ‘Cheyenne Spirit’
photo courtesy AAS
Not only do I love getting the new garden catalogs for the year, I love to learn about the new varieties that are available. Even though I have my favorites that I will forever plant year after year at My Urban Farmscape, I can’t wait for the season to begin so I can try something new. I have already started my seed sowing calendar and have realized that it’s almost time to start the majority of my veggie, herb and flower seeds. It’s this time of year when my family learns to deal with my obsession and continuous conversations with them (and sometimes, well mostly, with myself) about what gardening or plant related thoughts are in my head.
Really, just this morning I blurted out, “I need to get those seeds planted in the next few weeks if they are going to bloom this year.”
My husband’s eyes glazed over as he asked, “What are you talking about?”
“This Echinacea ‘Cheyene Spirit’ is absolutely beautiful, and I need to find a place grow a big patch of it, just a few feet, maybe five along the fence, and it should bloom the first year when planted from seed, but I have to get it sowed by the middle of this month. Oh my! Look at all the colors, red, pink, yellow, orange, purple and white which will grow really good in that hot sunny spot next to the house. Oh! The bees and butterflies will LOVE them, I can see that late summer cut flower bouquet now..…..” I realized he wasn’t listening, but continued to talk out loud to myself. “It’s also one of the 2013 All-American Selection winners!”
Tomato ‘Jasper’
photo courtesy AAS
My excitement continued with another 2013 AAS winner that was bred by Johnny’s Selected Seeds. A bright red cherry tomato ‘Jasper’, an F1 hybrid which is also certified organic. Nice! An intermediate growing cherry tomato needing to be staked which should produce fruit 90 days from sowing seeds. Johnny’s and AAS described the flavor having a “sweet, rich taste”. I think that I need to try this one. I’m sure I can fit it in somewhere.
Now thinking about tomatoes reminded me about the grafted tomato plants available from Burpee. I called out to my husband, “Can you believe they are grafting tomatoes like they graft fruit trees?!” No response. I have found this to be very interesting, reading about it for the past few years and decided this is the year to buy a few plants. Simply put, an heirloom variety is the plant on the top, so you get the delicious heirloom flavor, but the roots are from a hybrid that will provide increased disease resistance. Wow! The original pink Brandywine will be my first choice. You can purchase these directly from Burpee.com or possibly your local garden retailer.
Burpee’s ‘Bumper Crop’ grafted tomato
photo courtesy Burpee
I came across a new heirloom pickling cucumber ‘Miniature White’ from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Not only is the flesh a creamy white, but the skin is also a creamy white. That should look nice against the green foliage. I thought that this may make an interesting addition to the garden as they say it is a high producer and grows good in a container. I was even more excited when I read about it seldom growing more than 3 feet! A true bonus for any Urban Farmscape. I became distracted wondering what color container I should plant it in and decided to go outside and rummage around the garage. I could always paint it if I didn’t have the right color. Orange? Maybe purple. That would really stand out. Not too many purple things in the garden. I don’t know. I decided to go in and ask my husband what color he thought would look good. I don’t know if he’ll respond, but I know that at least he’ll smile.
My Urban Farmscape 