Monday, August 8, 2011

OurTop 5 Garden Heirloom Picks For 2011

#1 Pick Roman Stripped Tomato

Choosing Heirlooms to grow in your garden can be a bit overwhelming with all of the unique varieties available. Our top 5 picks for 2011 were based on performance, quality and flavor. The Roman Stripped Tomato was perfect in every way. It beat all other Roma type tomatoes grown at Thyme Square Gardens. This is my choice tomato for canning and freezing.

.#2 Pick Butternut - Waltham

This butternut squash just kept going and will provide a whole lot of food for the table this year. They are packed full of sweet dark orange flesh. It is a wonderful winter squash that will keep well and had no garden pests. 


#3 Pick Lemon Cucumbers

 The Lemon Cucumber took off very early in the season to beat the cycle of the cucumber beetles. They were heavy producers for putting up plenty of pickles. Once the heat began to reach into the triple digits and we became overwhelmed with drought the cucumbers were exhausted. I believe if we had a normal growing season with normal temperatures they would have gone on well into the season.

#4 Purple Calabash Tomato

Still remaining in my top 5 choices is the Purple Calabash Tomato. This southern heirloom still remains our favorite for sweet and juicy flavor. Even now in August in the worse drought in Texas history, this tomato is still trying to survive. I'm hoping for more when the weather cools down.

#5 Native Cornfield Beans

The Native Cornfield Beans will put a whole lot of food on the table this year. This dry bean was a very heavy producer and was the first to be harvested out of 3 other varieties we grew. They are a delicious bean cooked and beautiful as well with colors ranging from white to purple to golden yellow and black.

Heirlooms are our heritage and we should protect them. They are the seeds that have been passed down through generations of families and farms. They are the seeds for future generations. Visit some Heirloom Seed Companies when planning your next garden.

Happy Gardening!
Pammy

6 comments:

  1. Your garden is your art!

    Take good care,

    Karen

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  2. I am loving those tomatoes!
    I try to pass on the importance of heirloom seeds to the kids I garden with. I think they get it :)

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  3. So glad ya'll came by!! =D Makes my day!!! ~ Pammy

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  4. Purple Calabash - "you sure is ugly" but wow what a taste. Pammy I've grown this tomato in my potager for some years now and I just love it!

    Tyra /Köksträdgården

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  5. Hi Tyra!! How fun that this tomato is being grown all the way in Sweden!! FUN!!! So glad you came by ;)

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  6. I am very late seeing your blog but wondering if you have a mixture of the native corn field bean seeds for sale. They are similar to the ones my mother had and no one in the family seems to have any of her seeds.I would like to have a god mixture like she had. When I look at the seed catalogs they are only sold as single name. Thank you.

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