Friday, February 19, 2010

Chires Baby Corn

"I have been looking for a good baby corn ever since I traveled to Southeast Asia and tasted the tiny ears almost daily, picked fresh and put into stir-fries and soups. This variety produces up to 20 tiny ears on its multi-stalked plants; pick just after the silk shows at the tips of ears, or let mature for popcorn!"
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Aunt Ada's Italian Beans

55-60 days. HEIRLOOM "This seed came to Colorado from Italy with the Botanelli family circa 1900. 6 ft. vines with a prolific set of small 3 in. flattened pods. In summer, we can hardly let a meal go by without including this delectable green bean. The taste is best if picked when the outline of the beans are bulging in the green pod, and steamed about 15 to 20 minutes; it's like a small buttery snap lima bean. When we shared this variety with friends, they said it was the best green bean they'd ever eaten!!! The unusual square brown seeds can also be used as soup beans."
Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds

Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash

50 days.(C. pepo) "An old favorite heirloom, this is one of the oldest types of squash dating back to pre-Columbus times and has been popular ever since. Easy to grow and good tasting."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Costata Romanesco Italian Zucchini

55 days.(C. pepo) "Long, slender fruit, ribbed, pale greenish-yellow, striped with dark green, very firm and flavorful flesh, a unique Italian heirloom, tasty."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Canasta Lettuce

50-60 days. "Red-tinged summer Batavian head. Uniform, crisp, sweet, and free of tip burn. Our vegetable gardener at Camphill Village trialed it alongside other recommended summer heading lettuces and found it the longest standing and sweetest tasting of all. This strain has been grown biodynamically at Raphael Garden in California for 16 years."
Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds

Boothby Blonde Cucumber

63 days. "HEIRLOOM from the Boothby family of Livermore, Maine. 6 inch fruits with yellow-white tender skin and black spines. Rich sweet flavor."
Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds

Marketmore Cucumber

55-58 days. "Multiple disease tolerant variety developed by Dr. Henry Munger from Cornell Univ. Dependable set of even 8-9 in. dark green fruits throughout the season. Resistant to Scab, tolerant to Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV), Downy Mildew (DM), and Powdery Mildew (PM)."
Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds

Mekti Painted Serpent Melon or Armenian Cucumber

Very long fruit with dark green and pale green stripes, excellent flavor, a rare Armenian-type cucumber that is actually a melon, very unique and is a great selling item at farmers’ markets everywhere.

Suyo Long Cucumber

65 days. "Long, ribbed, dark green fruit can grow to 18". They are very mild, sweet and burpless. One of my personal favorites for fresh eating. This productive heirloom comes from northern China and is very attractive."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

White Wonder Cucumber

60 days. "A great yielder. Creamy-ivory, 7"-long fruits, delicious and great for pickles or slicing. W. Atlee Burpee introduced this heirloom in 1893 after they received it from a customer in New York."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Telegraph Improved Cucumber

"60 days. Smooth, straight, dark-green fruit, to 18" long. Flesh is very crisp, tender and mild, superb flavor. Very few seeds, vigorous high yielding vines, great for greenhouse production; also good cultured outdoors. This is an excellent English heirloom variety, intro. around 1897."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Richmond Green Apple Cucumber

70 days. A unique heirloom from Australia and is still popular there. The fruit are the size of a lemon but are of a beautiful light green color. For eating these are excellent, very mild, sweet and juicy. Hard to find and really fun to grow."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Poona Kheera Cucumber

60 days. "Cream/light green fruits, very delicious flesh, crisp, juicy, sweet and mild, one of my favorite varieties. Fruit shaped like a potato, with skin turning brown as they ripen. One of our best varieties for disease resistance and very hardy. Vines produce early and with very heavy yields. A wonderful heirloom from India that has become our most "asked for" cucumber."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Long de Chine Cucumber

"Types of Long China cucumbers have been mentioned in France since the 1860’s. Long, bright green-colored fruit are mild and tasty. They are the sweet oriental type that so many people enjoy. Vines produce well, and this variety is still commercially grown in Europe."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Delikatesse Cucumber

"60 days. 10"-long, unique fruits are pale green with small warts. Superb taste, excellent for slicing or pickling; bears abundantly. A rare variety from Germany."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Crystal Apple Cucumber

"Small 3" oval fruit are a bright, creamy white, about the size of a small apple, and sweet, mild and very tender. This variety has become almost extinct in America after being introduced here from Australia around the year 1930 from Arthur Yates and Co. But this type of cucumber is likely to have originated in China. The small fruit are so tender you can eat them skin and all."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Chinese Yellow Cucumber

"Beautiful, yellow-orange cucumber from mainland China, the young fruit is green. 10" fruit are as crisp as an apple. Very mild and delicious, great for slicing or for pickles. This was our largest yielding variety ever - just a few plants produced hundreds of cucumbers! Our favorite cucumber for 2003. A very rare Chinese heirloom."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Golden Midget Watermelon

70 days "A beautiful miniature watermelon that weighs around 3 lbs. It's easy to tell when they are ripe, as the rind turns a lovely golden yellow when ready for harvest, a very beautiful contrast with the salmon-pink colored flesh. The taste is sweet and refreshing. Very early, matures in just 70 days. Developed by the late Dr. Elwyn Meader, UNH, in 1959. Unique."

Wilson's Sweet Watermelon

85 days "Very unique spotted rind, with very crisp, sweet red flesh that bursts with rich, old-time watermelon flavor! One of the best melons I’ve tried in the last few years. Truly a winner! It used to be grown commercially, and was offered by several seed companies in the 1960s, but has since become nearly extinct. A great variety for home and market gardeners, as it produces 15-to 20-lb fruit that keep well."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

White Wonder Watermelon

80 days "Beautiful, snow-white flesh is so pale it’s almost transparent! The flavor is unique, fruity, and so delicious. The small, round 3-8 lb icebox-sized fruit are very refreshing and perfect for gourmet growers wanting to target high-class markets. These will add contrast to any display and are sure to bring attention at farmers’ markets. White-fleshed watermelons were common in the 1800s, but due to corporate agriculture, these genetic treasures are about to be lost. That is a shame, as white-fleshed varieties date back hundreds of years and were developed in Africa from wild strains. This early variety is not for shipping as it cracks easily, but you will enjoy their unique crispness, fresh from the garden."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Orangelo Watermelon

85 days "Beautiful, deep orange flesh; very sweet, excellent, almost tropical flavor! The best-tasting of ALL orange varieties we tried -- the favorite of many who tried it at our place. High yields. Very resistant to wilt and insects; strong healthy vines. These will sell at roadside stands & markets!"
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Katanya Watermelon

60-70 days "Dark green fruit have beautiful rosy red-colored flesh that is extra flavorful, crisp and sweet. This is an icebox type melon with small to medium-sized fruit that are produced in abundance on healthy vines. This is a Russian variety from Katanya, a Russian woman who lives in Northern Illinois. Fairly early, and one of the best smaller melons we have tasted."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Black Seeded Ice Cream Watermelon

90 days A sweet-flavored, pink-fleshed watermelon that has a pale greenish cream-colored rind. It is an old variety that was popular in the 19th century. 1881 D.M. Ferry said, "Medium size, scarlet flesh, and very sweet; a good variety for main crop." In 1927 Henry Field's catalog stated, "Round shaped melons with thin, ivory colored skin. Pink-meated and of fine quality. It will keep late into the winter. Very prolific; matures very early."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Black Diamond Yellow Fesh Watermelon

90 days This rare variety of Black Diamond has light yellow flesh with a deep black-green rind. The taste is very sweet. Can grow to very large sizes.

Astrakahanski Watermelon

This Russian variety is named for the city of Astrakhan, located on the Volga river near the Caspian Sea. Round 10"-12" fruit have dark green rind with light mottling and streaks. The pink flesh is very delicious and sweet; great for short-season areas.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Petit Gris de Rennes Melon

85 days. Dense 2 lb. fruit have orange flesh that is superbly sweet, flavorful and perfumed. This variety is early and well adapted to cool climates. The fruit weigh around 2 lbs. and have a grey-green rind. This fine French variety is of the best quality, and is the favorite melon of the French melon expert and author Bruno Defay. Rare in the USA. Our #1 requested market melon, specialty growers love them because they command top prices! We continue to receive rave reviews about this melon. Order early.

D'Alger Melon

Another colorful ancient French Cantaloupe (possibly from Africa) it is definitely one of the oldest. Ribbed fruit are dark green (almost black) with silver splashes. As they get ripe they turn yellow with near red splashes. The flesh is highly perfumed and very smooth and creamy. Compact vines, quality French seed, from Bruno Defay. Pre-1800 Heirloom.
Baker Creek Heiloom Seeds

Amarillo Oro Melon

100 days. "Beautiful, golden-yellow oblong fruit grow to 15 lbs. and have sweet, creamy white flesh. A pre-1870 European heirloom winter type. Good shipper."
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Anans Melon

100 days. Sweet and juicy white flesh. A rare white muskmelon, fruit are around 5 lbs. An old 1800’s heirloom.

Isreal Ogen Melon

An excellent tasting early melon from Israel. Flavorful green flesh, good yields, a beautiful melon! Very fragrant.

Swan Lake Muskmelon

A small and beautiful honeydew type. This variety has superb, sweet melting flesh that ranges in color from white to pale salmon. Attractive fruit are prefect for marketing, or for the home gardener who wants a great 2-3lb melon. Pretty, smooth yellow skin.

Tigger Melon

The fruit are vibrant yellow with brilliant fire-red, zigzag stripes, (a few fruit may be solid yellow), simply beautiful! They are also the most fragrant melons we have tried, with a rich, sweet intoxicating aroma that will fill a room. The white flesh gets sweeter in dry climates. Small in size the fruits weigh up to 1 lb. - perfect for a single serving. The vigorous plants yield heavily, even in dry conditions. This heirloom came from an Armenian market located in a mountain valley.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Golden Gopher Melon

85 days. "HEIRLOOM from the Univ. of Minnesota in the 1930s. 6 in. fruit with deep-orange flesh. Resistant to Fusarium Wilt. Our golden gopher was grown for a large CSA where the members commented on the great flavor and helped to save the seed. Upon ripeness, the fruit of this melon slips from the vine when pulled. (If they are not ripe, they will not slip.) Around the beginning of August, begin to check the melons and when they start ripening, pick the melons each day. Otherwise, the tendency of this variety is to pop open when over-ripe. One of the sweetest melons ever, so it is well worth attentiveness to the harvest."
Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seeds