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Maybe wake up the Gardening sub-forum ??
A long read; my apologies in advance ...
Retired from pharmacy and also from growing for the masses.
I don't miss pharmacy, but still vastly enjoy gardening.
Now I grow just for me and mine.
This winter effort was highly productive but most plants are done now, and all grow-outs have been harvested for seed.
Springtime is starting to take a peek in my area, and most all summer seedlings are now either in the ground or in the greenhouse.
The bee population seems to be ready for warm weather, already making themselves visible in large numbers. Some good stuff right there ...
Looking forward:
What are your big five veggies for the 2023 summer season?
I have twenty-nine varieties of veggies (and several types of each) going on this year.
Five of my favorite variety of summer veggies are :
Tomatoes
Squash/Pumpkin/Gourd
Peppers
Melons
Legumes
My babies under those five for this year :
Tomato
Amana Orange - These huge (can reach two pounds) light red/orange beefsteak slicers are great sliced and grilled. A mild tropical type of flavor and a very good keeper for a large tomato.
Cherokee Purple - This medium sized Tennessee heirloom is a solid producer that overall stores poorly. Once harvested the clock starts ticking fast. This tomato has very good texture and flavor.
Black Cherry - As far as cherry tomatoes goes it's either Italian Ice or Black Cherry for me. Both are tasty solid producers throughout the grow season. This year it's Black Cherry.
Squash - Summer
Caserta Zucchini - High producing compact plant with thin green/grey skin and white flesh with a nutty flavor. Best picked small and keeps well for a summer squash.
Golden Zucchini - This blonde beauty is fantastic in sautés and pairs well with pork dishes. A terrible keeper but a heavy producer from its "rolling" bush growth pattern. Because of its taste I grow this one each and every year.
White Bush Patty Pan - This heirloom has the best of most worlds. Compact plant, heavy yields, and near insect resistant. Delicious creamy flesh that keeps well. Perfect in soups, grilled, sautés, baked, etc. Another squash I grow every year.
Squash - Winter
Blue Hubbard - I grow this huge (about twenty-five pounds) heirloom strictly for pies. I think it is where this squash shines best. This beauty has an outstanding shelf life and I could never grow enough of it because it always sold out at market. My avatar is of an immature blue.
Pink Banana Jumbo - Not to be confused with Georgia Candy Roaster which can reach up to 60 pounds and bland tasting IMO. Nope, Pink Banana Jumbo only reaches about twenty pounds, but I would harvest them at about twelve to fifteen pounds for best sugar/water ratio. Once properly cured it is very sweet, thick and meaty, great in soups or baked in chunks with a bit of brown sugar. Another good keeper.
Pumpkin - Gourd
Big Max - Each year I grow "Dill's Atlantic Giant" for my own personal effort to grow a monster.
The monster is impressive in size, but horrible in taste.
Although Big Max reaches one hundred pounds, it is full of flavor. It is great for canning, pies, stews/soups and anything else where pumpkin is welcomed. The large plump seeds are also great baked and salted.
Galeux D' Eysines - This unattractive French heirloom has warts on the outside, and thick, firm orange flesh on the inside. A super keeper that is great for baking and can easily replace potato in soups. A very slow germinating plant with a medium yield. You can harvest in fall and if stored well, can make it right through winter. I've harvested this baby in early September and sliced it open in April still looking firm and fresh! Its storage capabilities are up there with other long shelf-life squash/pumpkins like Lakota, Choctaw, etc.
Luffa - Grown solely for the sponge although some cultures enjoy eating this gourd in infancy stages. Very long germination times and slow to unravel and run. Once flowers set, it fills with baby gourds. A very prolific harvest for those with patience and a long grow season.
A perfect prepper sponge.
Peppers - Hot
Ciliegia - Ping pong sized balls of fire fantastic stuffed with mozzarella and grilled. These were grown year-round for several restaurants, and did quite well at market. An easy to grow plant.
Malaqueta - These small red missiles make a good sauce and pairs very well with chicken dishes. High yields per plant.
Bangkok Upright - perfect way to fire up a pico de gallo salsa and good preserved in a vinegar brine. This is a fast-germinating seed for a pepper.
Peppers - Mild / Medium
Sweet Chocolate Bell - I'm not sure why it's called sweet... it is spicy but mild. A super seller at farmers market and always in high demand in the restaurant sector. Great on salads and keeps its brown color when sautéed or stuffed with diced sausage/tomato/onion and baked.
Ancho - A slow starter out of the gate but can really produce under the right setting. This pepper makes a perfect mole, sauce, or can be roasted, stuffed with cheese then battered and fried.
Yes, a chile relleno.
Topepo Rosso - This Italian heirloom has a very thick wall with a medium spice level. A fast-growing plant with a high yield harvest. I enjoy this fresh or pickled. Most restaurant clientele would stuff this and lightly fry. Topepo is perfect dried too.
Melons
Zatta - This one will never win a beauty contest in fact; it's sometimes called at market "Bruto Ma Buono" (ugly but sweet)... and sweet it is. This heirloom OP variety is referred to by Thomas Jefferson back in the late 1700's. A delicious and easy to grow melon with a small seed cavity.
Charentais - This French heirloom is full of fragrance and chock full of flavor. A very bright orange flesh with a high sugar content. Compact vines with a medium yield per plant.
This was one of two melons (Zatta is the other) that would be sold out BEFORE harvest.
IMO the best of cantaloupes.
Napoletano Verde - (some growers call this Valenciano Precoce) plain jane looking and a short keeper but superb thick and juicy white flesh. I grow this Italian heirloom every year.
Asahi Miyako - A Japanese super sweet seven-pound hybrid watermelon. A fast grower with solid fruit sets. This melon just about laughs at any pests.
Grey Belle - This sweet heirloom watermelon grows to about nine pounds with a small seed zone and it's very juicy. This melon is easy to grow but likes to run far if you allow it.
Legumes
Hildora - A delicious heavy producing stringless French bush bean. Golden plump pods very popular at market and delicious sautéed with bacon and onion.
Pardina Lentil - I love lentil. This is a fine nutty flavored Spanish lentil that stores very well. A super producer that takes up very little space. I grow this every year and sometimes year-round in the greenhouse... yep, I love lentil.
Supermarconi - A great tasting Italian climber very flat and tender. Supermarconi produces very high yields but be forewarned, this plant is an impressive climber! Park a chair next to these plants because you will have solid shade in no time flat.
And that's it, my big five for 2023.
Some honorable mentions growing this year too:
Stowell's Evergreen Corn - One of the best roasting varieties IMHO... sweet, white, delicious.
Paris Cucumber - This variety makes perfect tasting pickles. A very high yield of baby cucumbers that hold their crunch very well after pickling.
Beauregard Sweet Potato - High yielding and probably the sweetest of sweet tators. Plants take off quickly... from slip to greens in no time.
Sooooooooooo...
What are your big five for this year?
A long read; my apologies in advance ...
Retired from pharmacy and also from growing for the masses.
I don't miss pharmacy, but still vastly enjoy gardening.
Now I grow just for me and mine.
This winter effort was highly productive but most plants are done now, and all grow-outs have been harvested for seed.
Springtime is starting to take a peek in my area, and most all summer seedlings are now either in the ground or in the greenhouse.
The bee population seems to be ready for warm weather, already making themselves visible in large numbers. Some good stuff right there ...
Looking forward:
What are your big five veggies for the 2023 summer season?
I have twenty-nine varieties of veggies (and several types of each) going on this year.
Five of my favorite variety of summer veggies are :
Tomatoes
Squash/Pumpkin/Gourd
Peppers
Melons
Legumes
My babies under those five for this year :
Tomato
Amana Orange - These huge (can reach two pounds) light red/orange beefsteak slicers are great sliced and grilled. A mild tropical type of flavor and a very good keeper for a large tomato.
Cherokee Purple - This medium sized Tennessee heirloom is a solid producer that overall stores poorly. Once harvested the clock starts ticking fast. This tomato has very good texture and flavor.
Black Cherry - As far as cherry tomatoes goes it's either Italian Ice or Black Cherry for me. Both are tasty solid producers throughout the grow season. This year it's Black Cherry.
Squash - Summer
Caserta Zucchini - High producing compact plant with thin green/grey skin and white flesh with a nutty flavor. Best picked small and keeps well for a summer squash.
Golden Zucchini - This blonde beauty is fantastic in sautés and pairs well with pork dishes. A terrible keeper but a heavy producer from its "rolling" bush growth pattern. Because of its taste I grow this one each and every year.
White Bush Patty Pan - This heirloom has the best of most worlds. Compact plant, heavy yields, and near insect resistant. Delicious creamy flesh that keeps well. Perfect in soups, grilled, sautés, baked, etc. Another squash I grow every year.
Squash - Winter
Blue Hubbard - I grow this huge (about twenty-five pounds) heirloom strictly for pies. I think it is where this squash shines best. This beauty has an outstanding shelf life and I could never grow enough of it because it always sold out at market. My avatar is of an immature blue.
Pink Banana Jumbo - Not to be confused with Georgia Candy Roaster which can reach up to 60 pounds and bland tasting IMO. Nope, Pink Banana Jumbo only reaches about twenty pounds, but I would harvest them at about twelve to fifteen pounds for best sugar/water ratio. Once properly cured it is very sweet, thick and meaty, great in soups or baked in chunks with a bit of brown sugar. Another good keeper.
Pumpkin - Gourd
Big Max - Each year I grow "Dill's Atlantic Giant" for my own personal effort to grow a monster.
The monster is impressive in size, but horrible in taste.
Although Big Max reaches one hundred pounds, it is full of flavor. It is great for canning, pies, stews/soups and anything else where pumpkin is welcomed. The large plump seeds are also great baked and salted.
Galeux D' Eysines - This unattractive French heirloom has warts on the outside, and thick, firm orange flesh on the inside. A super keeper that is great for baking and can easily replace potato in soups. A very slow germinating plant with a medium yield. You can harvest in fall and if stored well, can make it right through winter. I've harvested this baby in early September and sliced it open in April still looking firm and fresh! Its storage capabilities are up there with other long shelf-life squash/pumpkins like Lakota, Choctaw, etc.
Luffa - Grown solely for the sponge although some cultures enjoy eating this gourd in infancy stages. Very long germination times and slow to unravel and run. Once flowers set, it fills with baby gourds. A very prolific harvest for those with patience and a long grow season.
A perfect prepper sponge.
Peppers - Hot
Ciliegia - Ping pong sized balls of fire fantastic stuffed with mozzarella and grilled. These were grown year-round for several restaurants, and did quite well at market. An easy to grow plant.
Malaqueta - These small red missiles make a good sauce and pairs very well with chicken dishes. High yields per plant.
Bangkok Upright - perfect way to fire up a pico de gallo salsa and good preserved in a vinegar brine. This is a fast-germinating seed for a pepper.
Peppers - Mild / Medium
Sweet Chocolate Bell - I'm not sure why it's called sweet... it is spicy but mild. A super seller at farmers market and always in high demand in the restaurant sector. Great on salads and keeps its brown color when sautéed or stuffed with diced sausage/tomato/onion and baked.
Ancho - A slow starter out of the gate but can really produce under the right setting. This pepper makes a perfect mole, sauce, or can be roasted, stuffed with cheese then battered and fried.
Yes, a chile relleno.
Topepo Rosso - This Italian heirloom has a very thick wall with a medium spice level. A fast-growing plant with a high yield harvest. I enjoy this fresh or pickled. Most restaurant clientele would stuff this and lightly fry. Topepo is perfect dried too.
Melons
Zatta - This one will never win a beauty contest in fact; it's sometimes called at market "Bruto Ma Buono" (ugly but sweet)... and sweet it is. This heirloom OP variety is referred to by Thomas Jefferson back in the late 1700's. A delicious and easy to grow melon with a small seed cavity.
Charentais - This French heirloom is full of fragrance and chock full of flavor. A very bright orange flesh with a high sugar content. Compact vines with a medium yield per plant.
This was one of two melons (Zatta is the other) that would be sold out BEFORE harvest.
IMO the best of cantaloupes.
Napoletano Verde - (some growers call this Valenciano Precoce) plain jane looking and a short keeper but superb thick and juicy white flesh. I grow this Italian heirloom every year.
Asahi Miyako - A Japanese super sweet seven-pound hybrid watermelon. A fast grower with solid fruit sets. This melon just about laughs at any pests.
Grey Belle - This sweet heirloom watermelon grows to about nine pounds with a small seed zone and it's very juicy. This melon is easy to grow but likes to run far if you allow it.
Legumes
Hildora - A delicious heavy producing stringless French bush bean. Golden plump pods very popular at market and delicious sautéed with bacon and onion.
Pardina Lentil - I love lentil. This is a fine nutty flavored Spanish lentil that stores very well. A super producer that takes up very little space. I grow this every year and sometimes year-round in the greenhouse... yep, I love lentil.
Supermarconi - A great tasting Italian climber very flat and tender. Supermarconi produces very high yields but be forewarned, this plant is an impressive climber! Park a chair next to these plants because you will have solid shade in no time flat.
And that's it, my big five for 2023.
Some honorable mentions growing this year too:
Stowell's Evergreen Corn - One of the best roasting varieties IMHO... sweet, white, delicious.
Paris Cucumber - This variety makes perfect tasting pickles. A very high yield of baby cucumbers that hold their crunch very well after pickling.
Beauregard Sweet Potato - High yielding and probably the sweetest of sweet tators. Plants take off quickly... from slip to greens in no time.
Sooooooooooo...
What are your big five for this year?
