|
| |
Seeds from Italy News
Vol 1, # 3. Deember 2001
We publish four times a year and include information on all aspects of Italian vegetables: selecting, growing, harvesting and storing and cooking. We would be happy to receive and if space permits, publish your experiences in these areas.
This newsletter is sent out to all people who purchased seeds from Seeds from Italy as well as anyone who requested a catalog and included their email address. I still am having problems with the automatic
subscription/unsubscription, so if you want to unsubscribe, simply send me an email: send to
bmckay@growitalian.com in the subject line just put unsubscribe. Conversely, if someone you know wishes to subscribe, do the same but put subscribe in the subject line. There may be some duplicates; I have tried to clean up my email list, but may have missed a few of you. Let me know if you get two and I will fix it.
Previous newsletters are on the web site.
Contents of Vol 1, # 3
1. What is new-credit cards, new items in stock, new items for January arrival;
mini-orto.
2. Fall Trials: brassicas (cauliflower, kale & broccoli), radiccio & escaroles, wild
arugula, and fennel
3. Growing basics: Starting tomato transplants
4. Recipe. Lentils with escarole.
1. WHAT'S NEW.
a. 2002 Catalogs are almost ready. We should mail them out just before Christmas. Anyone who received a catalog after the beginning of November received the 2002 catalog (although not the one that has information for credit card ordering). You will not receive another catalog; if you happened to loose yours or for some reason need another one, drop me a note and we will send another out to you.
b. New items in stock. The following new items are in stock. Tomato, Red Pear sel
Franchi; cucuzzi (serpente di sicilia); greek basil and red basil; wild celery; capers, coriander and cima di rape
novantina; For beans we have trionfo violetta (purple pole); santa anna (green french pole type), rocquencourt (yellow French bush); new radiccios include Palla rossa 3 and
chioggia; chicory, catalogna brindisina; round of nice (tondo nizza zucchini; peppers include drop of gold
(goccia d'oro), padrone (from spain), topepo rosso (christmas pepper) and cayenna (long hot
chilli). New cucumbers include 1/2 long of puglia (small cuke/melon type), parigi (a
pickler); We have a new fennel, montovano.
c. New Items ARRIVING IN MID JANUARY. Lamon (a borlotto from the venice region) and meraviglia venezia (yellow pole
roma). We should also have fava beans in 1/2 pound boxes. Will also have rosemary seed, a new carrot, pariser market (small round), another
fennel-montebianco, misticanza, all endive & escarole; cucumber viritis (a long European type), celery, dorato 2; celeriac, bianco del
veneto; zuchini bolognese; tomato lilliput (cherry and Reduna (a cluster tomato). Should also have a mixed pack of squash (four winter squash and a few summer squash). I am sure there will be more, so check the web site.
d. Credit cards. We will finally be taking credit card orders. We have received approval for credit cards and just have to get the site set up (easier said than done). However, it should all be up and running by the middle of December.
e. Mini-orto. We have a new product which will make a great gift for a gardener, the
mini-orto (mini-garden). You get two packs of seeds (your choice) packed in a clear acrylic box along with a recipe sheet. Some suggestions are a tomato & a basil, arugula &
misticanza, two basils, & so on. They look stunning. They make great gifts for gardening friends. Cost is essentially the cost of two packs of seeds and my cost for the box($5.00 for the two packs and thirty-five cents for the box for a total of $5.35. You should be able to see a photo of one on the web site store under specials.
2. FALL TRIALS.
Brassicas. The surprise of the brassica trials was cauliflower violetta di
sicilia. I had thought it would be something like the brocco-flower things you see in the supermarkets. What a surprise. In 70 days you get a deep purple 4-5 inch head that looks like a broccoli. It has a really nice mild flavor and is good both raw and cooked. It will hold for weeks without going to flower, although after 3 weeks or so the color changes from deep violet to light purple. It holds up well to cold weather and in fact is still doing well in the garden as I write (8 December w/ 6 inches of snow on the ground). The best part of this was that
when you cut the main head, you get a pretty good production of side shoots, just like an open pollinated broccoli. It is a fairly small plant and you can space them at 14 or so inches.
Calabrese broccoli. This was another standout. Very nice flavor with a 4-5 inch main head. However, the side shoot production is absolutely amazing. I planted some in the spring. Usually with broccoli (even open pollinated ones) I cut the main head, then collect side shoot production for a month or two. These, when I cut the main head, not only produced a huge quantity of side shoots from the main stem, but they actually set secondary stems which in turn produced a good quantity of side shoots. The ones from the spring planting are still producing. I set some out in August for a fall crop, and they too are still going strong. If you are going to leave them in the ground after you cut the main head, definitely increase
the distance between plants. I think I recommend 16 inches on the package label; increase this to 24 inches, since they really spread. Taste and texture of these is really outstanding. You get a nice mild broccoli taste, very tender shoots, and even the stalks are tender; I have eaten the secondary stalks without peeling the skin (try that with a supermarket broccoli). Also, the stalks have no hollow spaces in the middle. Sales of this last year were not all that good; it is too bad since it is one of the better broccolis I have ever grown.
Kale, cavolo nero. Put 5 week old transplants out toward the middle of July. Here in zone 5b (southern New England), that is about 80-85 days before the expected first frost. If you are going to direct seed, put them out a few weeks earlier. Plants were set out on sixteen inch centers. They took about 65 days to produce a fair quantity of leaves. Leaf production continued more or less until the first frost at which point they stopped making much new growth, although they survived quite well. These were somewhat smaller than other tuscan kales I have grown in the past, but they made up for this with an even sweeter taste; also, there is less ribbing than seed from other companies. If your only experience with kale has been the supermarket variety, you are in for a real treat. This stuff tastes GOOD. Best taste comes after the first frost. As of this date, the weather has been fairly warm (lowest so far is 19 degrees) and they are doing quite well. I assume that these are like most tuscan kale and are very cold hardy; last winter I harvested kale by digging through the snow and taking off leaves. Without protection they will last until mid January at least. With a bit of protection they will last through the winter.
Radiccio and escaroles. For radiccio, I trialed treviso, rossa verona and red orchid. The escaroles trialed were full green heart(verde a cuore
pieno) and blond heart(bionda a cuore pieno). All were set out in mid July, 5 week transplants, spaced 16 inches apart. The radiccios were ready about the beginning of October, the escaroles by mid September. So the radiccios are about 80 days; the escaroles more like 60-65 days. The treviso grows a bit oddly, so if you try it, do not be surprised. It makes lots of outside leaves and you think there is no head; however, if you look inside, you will see a really nice head forming. Both the verona and red orchid headed up very nicely. The outside of the head is not very impressive, but once you pull off the outer leaves, you have a beautiful deep red head. They need cold weather to color up well, so do not pick them until nights cool off (preferably after the first frost or two). The standout for me was the Red Orchid. From the photo on the packet, I was prepared to be unimpressed. I was impressed. The entire leaf was an incredibly deep red. Taste was just a bit bitter (as it should be), but not overly so. All of them hold up well to cold weather (they survived 19 degrees). Last night (7 December) I had the most amazing salad with red orchid, misticanza (all lettuce mix), wild
arugula, and a little endive from the misticanza (4 stagioni mix). Even my wife was impressed.
The escaroles were another treat. I grew up on a farm and we used to grow escarole as a fall crop. I remember my mother cooking them (in soups, beans, etc.) but did not really remember the taste. The store bought escarole I have eaten did not overly impress me. This stuff did. Both are reasonably large plants, about 65 days, and are fairly mild; I did not blanch mine and they were still very sweet. They were planted 16 inches apart, which is plenty of space. They held up well to frosts, although a few of the outer leaves showed some tip burn after the 19 degree night. They were nice in a salad, but the treat was escarole with lentils. I also introduced my wife to escarole with chicken soup. She is not a fan of bitter
things, but even she was impressed.
WILD ARUGULA. Wild arugula (rucola selvatica) is fairly easy to grow. It takes about 55 days to mature. To plant, prepare a bed with a fine surface. Thinly scatter the seeds (they are tiny, so go slow.) Try and get them a inch or so apart. Rake lightly, tamp down the soil and water until they emerge which should take 4-10 days, depending on the weather. You can grow them all year from early spring through late fall. They are smaller than regular arugula with a thinner leaf with very deep lobes. They are also a bit more cold hardy, although regular arugula will take some incredibly low temperatures and survive. Taste
is a bit more peppery than regular arugula, but they do not seem to get 'hot' as they get older like regular arugula does. Pick by either pulling the entire plant(my preference) or cutting the leaves (they will
regrow). While they are a bit more trouble to grow and pick (mostly because of the smaller size), they are worth it. If you pull the entire plant, make succession plantings every three weeks or so to have a steady supply of young tender plants. This gives you the best quality.
FENNEL. This year I grew fennel, bianco perfezione. I direct seeded them from early spring, making succession plantings every four or five weeks. (You can do fennel from transplants, but you have to be careful since they resent having their roots disturbed and if this happens, they tend to go to seed. For transplants, put 2-3 seeds in a cell, cut any extra seedlings with a scissors to minimize disturbance. Do not repot. Put out five week transplants, being careful not to disturb the root) I put 2-3 seeds 1/2 inch deep every six inches, kept well watered until they emerged and thinned to one. Plants were ready in 75-80 days. This plant makes a fairly small bulb (3 inches long, 1 1/2 wide) which is incredibly tender with little or no stringiness. Taste was mild. They were great raw and we still had them at Thanksgiving.
They held up quite well in mid-summer with only a few (perhaps 10-15 % going to seed in August). They will take some cold, but not very cold weather. They survived the first 20 degree night, but didn't look all that well afterwards. However, they still tasted pretty good.
3. GROWING BASICS - Starting tomato transplants.
Starting tomato transplants is fairly simple. You need seeds, a growing medium, water, containers and light. DO NOT START YOUR TRANSPLANTS TOO EARLY. If you do not have a lot of space and will not be repotting them into larger containers, then start about six or seven weeks before the date you usually set plants out (typically a few weeks after the last frost date).
Growing medium. For a growing medium, you can either buy storebought mixes which work well or make your own of half finely sifted peat, half finely sifted compost with a handful of lime per bucket of mix. If you have some
perlite, add a few cups per bucket or use some sand with fairly large grains.
Light. Plants need light to grow. You may be able to use a sunny window sill, but all too often this does not provide enough light and you get tall 'leggy' plants. Buy a flourescent light ($12 for a cheap one) They will give you all the light you need. Also buy a
cheap timer ($8.00) so you can give your plants 16 hours light a day, but do not have to go down every day and turn the lights on and off.
Germinating. Put some grow mix in a container at least 2 inches deep. Wet it well. Do not use any fertilizer. Place your tomato seeds every inch or so. Cover with 1/4 inch grow mix or vermiculite. Place the container in a warm place (on the
refridgerator, on top of the furnace, etc). Seeds will emerge in 7-14 days at @ 70 degrees. As soon as they emerge get them under lights; have your light no more than 3-4 inches above the seedlings. TRICK. Instead of moving the height of your lights as the tomatoes grow which is a real pain, set your lights at a fixed height. Put something under your tomato growing container to raise it up to the desired height(use pieces of
styrofoam, old blocks, etc). Give them sixteen hours of light a day. When the tomatoes get to be about two inches tall and have their first set of real leaves, repot them into a larger container. I typically use a 3 1/2 inch pot, but you can use six packs, old coffee cups, etc. To repot, use a screwdriver or something small which will allow you to remove the plant and roots intact. Handle the seedling by the leaf, not the stem. Put it in your new container; bury it almost up to the leaves. Water and keep under lights. You might prepare a weak solution of fertilizer and feed it some. Your plant will be ready to set out in four or five weeks.
REpotting to larger containers. If you have the space, you can repot into larger containers so you have bigger plants (and consequently earlier fruit set). Repot into larger and larger containers every couple of weeks. A typical series would be to a five inch pot, then a six and perhaps an eight inch pot. (Obviously move back your start date if you plan to do this).
Set Out. Do not set your plants out too early. Until the weather warms up, they will not do much growing. Before you set them out, you want to harden them off some. About a week before you set them out, begin putting them outside. For the first day or two, leave them out only a few hours in a spot protected from wind and direct sun. Give them more and more time out. By the end of the first week, leave them out overnight.
Planting. If possible, put them out on a cloudy day without much wind. Plant them at least two inches deeper than the soil level of your pot. Space 12-16 inches if you are training to a single stem, 2 1/2 feet if you are using cages and will not prune. Keep well watered until they take.
4. RECIPE. Lentils with escarole.
Did you know Italians consider lentils to bring luck. Definitely have them on New Years Day. Anyway, first prepare your lentils. Wash them well, pick out any stones, and put about half a pound in a pot and add water to cover the lentils by two inches or so. Add some peeled and chopped carrots, some cut up celery, chopped onions and a few tomatoes(canned do fine). Cook until the lentils are about 3/4 done. Add some salt & pepper. Cut up a small head of escarole in one inch pieces and add to the lentils. Cook until the lentils are done and escarole is cooked.
Bill McKay Seeds from Italy, US Mail Order Distributor of Italian Vegetable Seeds from Franchi
Sementi, spa, Bergamo, Italy. www.growitalian.com |