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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 4, # 3 December 2004
We publish four times a year (usually) and include information on all aspects of Italian vegetables, herbs and flowers: selecting, growing, harvesting and storing and cooking. We would be happy to receive and if space permits, publish your experiences in these areas.
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1. Privacy Policy
2. What's New
3. Catalogs
4. Christmas Gifts
5. Trials
6. Growing tip.
7. Reader Comments & tips.
8. Price Changes
9. Discounts
1. Privacy Policy. A number of people on their order forms asked me not to sell or divulge their personal information: address, telephone numbers, email addresses, etc. I want everyone to understand that I take privacy very seriously. I never disclose any customer information to anyone under any circumstances.(except of course the inadvertant screw up in the July 2003 newsletter. ) I have been bothered by too many telemarketers, received too much junk email to do that to anyone else. I don't even keep credit card numbers: a number of customers who reordered and told me to use their credit card number on file were surprised when I told them I do not keep them on my computer, nor do I have access to them from the credit card authorizing service.
2. What's New. There will be a lot of new arrivals this year. By January, in addition to a new fava bean(cascine) there will be 15 or so new flowers, winter radish, scozobianca & scorzonera, a yellow tomato, borage & camomile, and some other items. The following new items will be available both on line and in the catalog: a new cucumber[lungo verde ortolani], asparagus seed, leeks, a very exciting looking spring onion, vanguard bean, a new frilly endive, and many others. I think it will be a pretty good year. Some of the new items will only be available on the web site. Availability of these is uncertain, so they are only online where I can not shut off ordering if I can not get restocked. Online only should include a sicilian basil, a cuke recommended by some customers, Costuluto Genovese tomato, perhaps Sorrento tomato, a number of flowers and probably some other items. So, make sure you check through the web site. New stuff should be posted on the web site by 15 December.
3. Catalogs will go out sometime around 15 December. If you have changed your address over the past year, please let me know and provide the new address.
4. Christmas Gifts. Give a gift of seeds. If you have a friend who is a gardener and likes things Italian, give them a gift of seeds. You could do one of the gift boxes (20 packs of seeds). You could send off some of the neat Rigamonti Pietro kitchen tools (cheese grater, herb grater, tomato machine to the gardener/cook. Even better, you could send out a gift certificate. They are available in $15, 25 & 50. Gift certificates can be personalized (as in 'A gift for _____ from _______. I include a catalog with each certificate. Best of all, there is no shipping charge. As long as I get the order within 8 or so days before Christmas, I can pretty much guarantee that it will get there before Christmas.
5. Fall trials were a bit of a disaster. I fell from a ladder and broke quite a few bones in my arm; was out of action pretty much for ten weeks while the bones grew back. Weeds, woodchucks & wet weather finished off most of the fall trials (woodchucks really love frilly endive and puntarelle chicory). Fortunately, this year I did 'customer trials'. A number of experienced growers trialed a wide variety of crops. Some excerpts are below. You can also go to the web site for more complete reports. Here is the link for the trial garden: http://growitalian.com/trial_garden_results.htm
From Tim Wilcox, Amherst, Massachusetts. Tim is a former grower, currently a student at Hampshire College, Amherst, MA & these were grown on the Hampshire College Farm.
43-2 Onion, Borettana Around 140 Days from seed.
Harvested 3rd week in August from 3/28 planting (5/5 transplant). Harvested 1st week in September from 4/13 planting. If growing for fresh bunching or pickling, probably around 120 days. This variety attains quite a large size while remaining flat, some specimens up to 3" in diameter and ¾ pound but only ¾" tall. It has white flesh tinged with green, and only one layer of flaky yellow skin. It has a very strong flavor and will make you cry a lot.
43-1 Onion, Piatta of Bergamo Growing times same as above.
This variety is stunningly beautiful, the skin being of a unique carmine-brown color, becoming brighter in the inner layers. The small onions (1 ½" diameter) have many layers of tightly wrapped skins, and thus they are suitable for winter storage. The flesh is extremely pungent. This variety contained a fair degree of impurity, with some color and shape variation (some of them were not flat).
42-23 Onion, Long of Florence 100 days
Seeded 3/28, transplanted 5/5, harvest period 3rd week of July-last week of August. This onion produces the most beautiful green tops of any onion I have ever seen. If direct seeded, it could be thinned out and used for spring scallions. They do not grow to a very large size, becoming elongated rather than thick. The largest was around 1 ½ " diameter and 6" tall. Very sweet flavor, good for salads.
43-22 Onion Tropea rossa tonda (round of tropea) Same as above, only a little later, maybe 120 days. This onion, which I am sure would attain a much larger size if wintered over in a warmer climate, grew to medium size for me, but was of excellent eating quality, full of sweet milky juice.
108-2 Parsley Gigante di Napoli 50 days from transplant
Seeded in trays 3/30. Transplanted 5/25. Harvestable by the latter part of July. This is one amazing parsley. Huge dark green leaves with thick petioles resembling celery! Incredible flavor! Optimum size is attained by harvesting regularly. By October, my plants have started to put out many smaller leaves instead of big ones. I will never grow any other type of parsley.
From Kim Quade in Wisconsin. She did some tomato trials. Her experience with the Sorrento was very positive as was her trial with Palla di Fuoco.
Pomodoro Sorrento~ Seed started 4-4-04 Germination~within5-6 days
2nd set of leaves by 4-18-04 First tomatoes~Mid Sept. 04
Healthy, pest resistant plants, sturdy. Fruits are large, uniform in size, and have a pinkish flesh. They have a very good tomato flavor.
Pomodoro Palla Di Fuoco~ Seed started 4-04-04 Germination~5-8 days
2nd set of leaves by 4-12-04 First tomatoes~Middle of Sept.
Healthy, pest resistant plants. The plants were heavy, and tipped my cages. I just left them laying down, so as not to break the stems. Excellent round, flavorful tomato. Some of the tomatoes weighed in at two lbs!
Pomodoro Costoluto Fiorentino Seed started 4-4-04
Germination~5-6 days 2nd sets of leaves by 4-16-04
First tomatoes in Sept. 04 These have been a favorite of mine, because of their unique shape and flavor. The plants also tipped the cages, because of the strong winds and heavy vines and fruits. Tomatoes weighing in at 2 lbs or more!! These many lobed fruits are quite juicy, like a beefsteak, and every one seemed to have brown scabbing on the bottom of the tomato forming a round ring, and in the top some scabbing. I have had this same thing happen from other Costoluto varieties. ( Costoluto Genovese from Shepards' Seeds White Flower Farm) I will still plant this variety.
Pomodoro Red Pear Selezione Speciale
Seeds started 4-4-04 Germination~4-5 days
2nd set of leaves by 4-15-04, but have noticed these plants are very much smaller than all the other tomato starts. They seem to be more delicate, and a different color. First tomatoes, in Sept. 04
These have been my absolute favorite and I will plant these again!! These plum type tomatoes are HUGE, and meaty without being mealy like some roma types tend to be. The color is deep red, and the insides although there are some seeds, are more meaty than anything. To me, this would be the ideal tomato to grow, if there were no others available. It is so versatile. And with the size, can be sliced for a grilled tomato and cheese pannini, or used on pizza, with basil, or canned. ( I will send some photos when we get a new computer) These have been on our table everyday since ripening, for fresh, and for sauce. Also for salsa. I had quite a few weigh in at over two lbs! Extremely large fruits, and everyone that I shared a plant with were also having good luck with them. I also plan to dehydrate some of these for use this winter.
6. GROWING TIPS. Growing arugula & salad mixes (misticanza). These should be eaten young & tender. Consequently, you need a lot of plants. The easiest way to do this is to broadcast seed in beds. Prepare a bed (I grow in three foot rows, so I just take a section of the row) by digging & raking smooth the surface. The size depends on how much salad you eat. For me and my wife, I have a 1x3 section of arugula[she does not eat arugula or endive], a 1 x 3 section of endive mix & a 2 x 3 section of lettuce mix. Add some fertilizer. Hold the seeds between your thumb & forefinger & drop them, trying to get each seed about an inch apart. Don't fixate on spacing however; anything will work. Run your rake lightly over the area so as to cover the seeds lightly and also space them a bit more regularly. Tamp down the area; water well. I usually water once or twice a day for the 3-5 days it takes for the seed to germinate. The plants will grow quickly and choke out most weeds. Begin cutting when they are 3-4 inches high. You should be able to cut for 2-3 weeks before the plants get too big (or you have cut them all). To have salad mix all summer, succession plant every 2-3 weeks.
7. Reader Comments & Tips.
Comments from Tucson. Rio Grande tomato has a reputation for doing well when it is extremely hot. A customer from Tucson confirms this: "I wanted to let you know how the Rio Grande tomato is doing out here in Tucson, Arizona. I am very impressed, it is a strong plant, and the fruit is large and producing very, very well. It is slower than other tomatoes, but I have not had any problem with sun scald or blossom end rot, which is affecting all but the Rio Grande's. The vines are still setting fruit so it looks like I will have tomatoes for quite awhile. With the heat in Tucson often going over 100 degrees I do go out and "tickle" the plants to coax them to drop their pollen early in the morning. It seems to be working. They definitely do like the heat. I am waiting for the first ones to ripen but they are starting to blush pink, so pretty soon!"
Comments from West Los Angeles. "Hi, Bill -
I'm checking in with a brief report from Ocean View Farms, a community
garden in coastal zone 10, West Los Angeles.
Attached are a few shots of my harvest thus far. It's been a great tomato
year. We've had an unusually warm spring and summer, free of the coastal fog
and dew that brings on verticillium and fusarium virus which usually dooms
our tomato harvests at OVF.
Winners in fecundity and size were Marmande VF tomatoes (36 anos). Although
for some reason they are not smooth, but grew in rounded bulges like babies'
bottoms, which doesn't affect the flavor but is somewhat unaesthetic and
makes slicing hard.
Winners in taste were Red Pear - very silky and non acidic, late ripening
and surprisingly heavy and low on the vines, so the wire cages crashed over
sideways, where I simply left them. (pear tomatoes) The jury's still out on Palla di Fuoco, which are still green on the vine.
Parisian Market carrots were disappointing. Few and small and tough and not
worth the bother. (cukes)
Cucumbers Beth Alpha were prolific, but slightly bitter and way too many
seeds. I preferred the old standby pickling ones and the Armenian. [MY NOTE-WE CONVERSED REGARDING THESE SINCE THEY ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITES. SEEMS SHE WAS PICKING THEM TOO LARGE. THESE NEED TO BE PICKED WHEN FIVE INCHES OR SO]
Pole beans were massively prolific and tasty while young. I gave them away
in buckets just to keep up."
8. Price Changes. This will be my fifth year doing on line sales and prices have remained pretty much constant. However, I am going to have to raise prices this year. The fall of the dollar against the Euro over the past two years has reached the point that I can no longer absorb it [it has dropped about 40% against the Euro from its high point]. So, effective the new catalogs (the end of December) the price for regular packs is going from $2.50 to $2.65. Beans & peas will stay at their current price of $2.65 and there will be no change for Franchi Special selections or for certified organic seed [$2.95 & $3.25 respectively.)
9. Discounts. More or less all along, what I have done is that if you buy 10 packs of seeds, you get a free pack of regular seeds. This has caused lots of problems. On line, you have to select a coupon which gives the discount; some people can not find the coupon - it is a bit hard to find. Some people ordering from the catalog take a free pack for every ten packs they order. In short, there has been some considerable confusion. I am going to just do the discounts automatically; if you order more than $30. worth of seeds, you will get the price of a single pack [$2.65] discounted from your total; for more than $60, the price of two packs [$5.30].
Good Growing.
Bill McKay
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