Favorite vegetable varities

[copper2]

I think I'll get them from heirloom seeds! Thanks so much!!

 

[Peaches Lee]

Found some websites. You can see from the pictures the difference in color, depending on soil. Some are snow white others are lemon yellow.

http://www.anniesheirloomseeds.com/great-white-tomato-organic/

http://www.totallytomato.com/dp.asp?pID=00323

http://heirloomseeds.com/great-white-tomato.html

This last one has good reviews, but I wouldn't recommend buying seeds from them:

http://www.rareseeds.com/great-white/

If you want to order but aren't sure where to get them from- when I worked on an organic farm we got all (hundreds!) of our tomatoes from Totally Tomatoes and we had extremely good germination/survival rate. Almost all the seeds sprouted and hardly any of them ever died. Totally Tomatoes is known for being reliable so that's who I'd go with personally!

Also some of the reviews compare Great White to fruity taste like pineapple or citrus?? Apparently a lot of people think so, but I didn't. I don't really know how to describe their taste, but they were dense and juicy. If you've ever tried the Cherokee Purple I mentioned above, they taste similar.

Have you had problems with rareseeds.com?

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Have you had problems with rareseeds.com?

Rareseeds has a huge variety of options and they do a lot for rescuing old varieties of plants on the brink of extinction. My problem with them is a while ago on their facebook page they posted some bogus study linking GMOs to autism, with a link to a video saying 50% of babies will be autistic in the future. Now not only did none of it have any evidence, the tone of the person speaking was basically: "autistic people are a burden on society and they will never be happy or able to do anything on their own." As an autistic person myself, I found it very upsetting/off-putting so I decided not to get seeds from them.

On the other hand, they do have so many heirloom varieties, and I must admit that no one is perfect. So if they have something you want, I don't have any problem with people buying from them. It's just I'm not really comfortable with it myself, that's all. Maybe I should have made that clearer. It's more of an ethical thing than anything based on their seeds' quality.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Rareseeds has a huge variety of options and they do a lot for rescuing old varieties of plants on the brink of extinction. My problem with them is a while ago on their facebook page they posted some bogus study linking GMOs to autism, with a link to a video saying 50% of babies will be autistic in the future. Now not only did none of it have any evidence, the tone of the person speaking was basically: "autistic people are a burden on society and they will never be happy or able to do anything on their own." As an autistic person myself, I found it very upsetting/off-putting so I decided not to get seeds from them.

On the other hand, they do have so many heirloom varieties, and I must admit that no one is perfect. So if they have something you want, I don't have any problem with people buying from them. It's just I'm not really comfortable with it myself, that's all. Maybe I should have made that clearer. It's more of an ethical thing than anything based on their seeds' quality.

Thank you for the explanation. Facebook seems to make a lot of people unhappy, glad I don't have it, the old "ignorance is bliss" thing I suppose.

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Yeah, I wouldn't have gone to their facebook if I knew it had their personal views. I thought it would just be updates on sales, seeds, etc.

Back on topic, I grew some "love-lies-bleeding" amaranth a couple years ago. It is usually grown as an ornamental but you can eat the seeds and use them as a grain like quinoa. As an ornamental it was great, very unusual, a deep red color with long trailing flowers (someone told me they looked like giant red dreadlocks LOL). I put it in a tomato cage so it wouldn't flop over. So it was my favorite flower. But it was not my favorite plant as an edible (my original reason for getting it), the seeds were so tiny no one could figure out how to harvest them.

Also, the last few years I've been growing Connecticut Field pumpkins. They did really well for me, unlike other pumpkins. They get to a normal jack-o-lantern size. Sometimes the bottom stays green and only the top is orange, but that doesn't really matter to me. We use them to feed to our flock, since pumpkin seeds can help expel intestinal parasites. Also its fun to see ducks make a mess. After the seeds are all out of it, we fill the pumpkin with water and they like to play with it.

For potatoes, my favorite so far are ordinary russets from the grocery store. They produce pounds and pounds of potatoes. I tried growing seed potatoes- golds, reds, even blues/purples and never had any luck with them. The plants grow but they don't make tubers. So I just use old sprouted potatoes from the store. I think what the store sells as "Russets" are really "Burbank Russets" but I may be mistaken. More people should grow potatoes! I wonder why they don't? I mean, you could eat potatoes with every meal since there's so many ways to use them.

 

[copper2]

There Russet Burbanks! I grew potatoes this year I grew Kennebec, red lasoda, and Yukon gold, I don't have a favorite let I'm going to grow rarer ones next year

 

[RustyHen]

For Tomatoes My favorites are Oregon Spring, and Cherokee Purple, and Sweet Baby Girl if I can find it for a cherry tomato. The Oregon Spring is great for our area early, but tasty and sweet.
This year I tried Russian Banana fingerling potatoes, I scrabbled a few last night for supper, wonderful!

 

[Arielle]

Quote:
Try tomato growers. com!! Only tomatos, eggplants and peppers ( and tomatillos!) I purchased seed 3 seasons ago, and had great luck with most of the 25 packets even at 3 years. Only a couple didnt sprout at this age; ALL sprouted the first year planted.

I had a hard time reducing the number to 25-- Soooooooo many choices.

 

[Arielle]

Quote: I can understand why you felt that way . . . and why you chose to buy elsewhere . . .. many options out there these days.

THe reality is that the rate of autism, across the whole spectrum, is growing and no ne really knows why. THere has been a lot of finger pointing over the years but no real proof if any definite cause. IT is likely that many causes are behind the increase. Including too much screen time!! I think the quoted number is 1/63 are autistic. . . not far from 1/50. . . . . you are not alone!!

FOr myself, the heritage types are calling to me. GMO's can have there place but I do think they should be labeled with the specific change so a buyer/grower can use a variety that the need for their area and specific needs. FOr me I am looking to find varieties that can help me provide food for my family, my livestock. . .. so that is many hybrids and trialing the old type seed too.

 

[lazy gardener]

I purchased seed 3 seasons ago, and had great luck with most of the 25 packets even at 3 years. Only a couple didnt sprout at this age; ALL sprouted the first year planted.

I planted 9 year old seed this spring, with good success. It had not been stored well, either: shuffled back and forth between bedroom and front foyer in a cardboard box.