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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 3, # 1 July 2003
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.
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. 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 (typically if you requested a catalog, then ordered). I think I have finally figured out how to get rid of the duplicates so that should not be a problem any more.
I also want to apologize for the delay in publishing this year. The March edition never happened. Things were so crazy that I never had time. Next year I will have it done in advance.
If you have a friend who is interested in all things Italian (at least for vegetables, herbs & flowers, please feel free to forward this to them.
1. Privacy Policy
2. The Past year at Seeds from Italy
3. New Arrivals
4. Seeds for Next Year
5. Spring Trial Garden Results
6. Growing Tips: Saving Space, tomato cages, arugula
7. Fall/Winter Growing
8. Recipe: Cooking with Garlic Scapes
9. Win an Italian Garden
10. Free Seeds
11. Customer Garden Photos and Growing Results
12. For Chefs & Cookbook Writers
13. Customer Comments
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. 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. The Past year at Seeds from Italy. I did some advertising and had some very nice mentions in major newspapers and magazines. The upshot was that business went up by a factor of four. However, staffing remained the same (me). Success is a two edged sword. It meant that during February & March, orders did not go out the next day and in January & April I had some problems with out of stock items. I had some other folks doing the catalogs, and things were not always done to my standards. It may have taken a few days to respond to an enquiry. So, I apologize if anyone was inconvenienced. Next year things will go more smoothly. On the other hand, more people have had the opportunity to try and enjoy Italian seeds. I am still having fun (although 18 hour days seven days a week in February & March got to be tiresome). From the customer feedback I have received, people really appreciate and enjoy these seeds.
3. New Arrivals. I have a bunch of new varieties which are not in the catalog; in fact, most of them are not even on line yet although I should have them up in a week or so. I have lavender, common cress, and a climbing nasturtium in the herb & flower department. For new vegetables I have another fifteen or so items. There are La Spagna bean (climbing pole bean which produces a huge white soup bean) and Meraviglia di Piemonte bush bean (yellow bean with red stripes, turns yellow when cooked)and
dolico-dall'occhio. This is a bush bean, and has a long slim pod with creamy black eyed seeds. I have a 'white' (actually very light green) zucchini from Sicily and a big leaf basil from Naples
(Napoletano bolloso-blistered from Naples) which is said to be very aromatic, unlike most large leaf basils. Have a new
artichoke-Grosso Romanesco and some new cima di rapes and another chard-bionda da taglio which is a lighter green version of my favorite thin stem chard, liscia verde da
taglio. I also have a red celery from Northern Italy and yellow corno di torro peppers. For chicory there is
Galantina, sometimes called asparagus chicory. It has huge thick stems and tiny (almost non-existent leaves). A number of customers had requested I bring it in. I also have another treviso type.
All of these are out in the trial garden and I will have a report this fall (if I can keep the woodchucks out).
4. Seeds for Next Year. Right now I stock 300 or so varieties. That is only 60% or so of what Franchi Sementi carries. In addition, I am developing sources at other Italian seed companies for seed that Franchi Sementi does not carry. I am especially interested in varieties from southern Italy and Sicily. For next year I am pretty sure I will be able to bring in fava beans again; I think I have come up with a way to satisfy US Dept of Agriculture requirements for importing
favas. I have high hopes of being able to bring in some garlic bulbs from Italy. I am also told that in October I will be able to get seed for agretti
(aka Roscana, Barba di Fratte) and should have that. I will probably add another thirty or forty items. In the past, I most typically have added those items that customers requested. So, if you have something that you want and I do not show it, let me know and I will see if it is available.
5. Spring Trial Garden Results. It was a tough year to grow in New England. It rained all through April, May & most of June. Nevertheless, did get in some lettuce and cima di rape trials.
a. Lettuce. Grew out Rossa di Trento, Rougette Montpellier (aka red
parella) and Radichetta. Montpellier is a small green butter head with lots of red on top. It would make a beautiful baby lettuce. Was one of the earliest to mature, the first to bolt. Soft texture and very nice taste. Definitely not a lettuce for summer but excellent for spring and fall. The Rossa trento is a very large heading type, light green with lots of red. Very soft texture and nice taste. It was ready about two weeks after the Montpellier. Good resistance to bolting. The Radichetta was the real surprise. It is described as a 'country' or 'wild lettuce'. It is a loose leaf and has the shape of an oak leaf lettuce. It has a fairly thick stem and a really great lettuce taste. Texture is quite firm, almost like an romaine. You can actually cook it; I made a chicken soup and used that instead of escarole and it was outstanding. It is very early; best of all, it seems unwilling to bolt. I left some out to see how long it would take to go to seed. After every other lettuce had gone to seed, it just kept growing. I finally cut them when they were sixteen inches tall and really huge because I needed the space for other things.
b. Cima di rape quarantina and sessantina. If you know any Italian, you would assume that the names (40 & 60) had something to do with how long they take to mature. Maybe that is so somewhere in Italy, but not in New England. This was one of the coldest and wettest springs I can remember and I did not plant much of anything until late April. The cima di rapes went out on 22 April, planted an inch or two apart. They germinated in three days. The thinnings are really nice in salad. The quarantina was ready in 32 or so days, even with the cold; I suspect that if the weather were warmer, they would be ready in 27 or 28 days. It was 8-10" high with a fairly small head. Really nice taste. If you grow
quarantina, pick it as soon as the head forms. Even in cold weather, it will send up flower stalks in a couple of days and if the weather is hot, even quicker. The Sessantina was ready in 36-37 days (so much for the 60). It has bigger leaves, a slightly larger head and thicker stalks. It will not bolt quite as quickly, but you still should pick it as soon as the head forms. They will store relatively well in the
refridgerator, so do not leave it in the ground. (when they send up flower stalks, the stem toughens up although the leaves are still edible.) Right now I have some
novantina, folgia d'olivo and rapa senza testa up and growing. More on those in the next newsletter.
6. Growing Tips: Saving Space. Most gardeners never seem to have enough space. I have previously spoken about using transplants for many things to make more efficient use of your existing space. Another technique is to interplant. Plant some fast maturing varieties close to some of the slower maturing varieties. By the time your slower maturing varieties are getting big, you will have already harvested the quick growing items. For example, if you plant beets, you typically plant in rows 12 inches apart. But, beets are slow to germinate (7-8 days) and take sixty five or so days to mature. Why not seed a three or four inch band of arugula in between the beet rows. The arugula will be up in 3 days. It will be ready to harvest in 30 days. By day 40 (when the beet tops are getting quite large), you will have harvested all of the
arugula. You could also plant some radish in between rows. Other candidates to interplant are the lettuce & escarole mixes, romanesca cutting endive, spadona cutting chicory, cima di rapa
quarantina, etc. Late maturing crops you can interplant include squash, eggplant, broccoli & cabbage, kale, etc. Right now in the trial garden I have some cultivated arugula growing around the sicilian zucchini and inbetween some beets.
Tomato Cages. These have always been a problem for me. I favor the five foot high ones made out of concrete reinforcing wire. My wife thinks they are ugly so I have tried a number of alternatives. Using tripods like in Italy and pruning to a single stem, putting a pipe every five feet, heavy wire on the top and bottom of the pipes, then train the tomatoes to grow on strings tied to the wire, letting them flop, etc. I still prefer the concrete wire cages, but can not place them in my wife's line of sight. This year I am trying
vegi-cages which are a green plastic coil. I got a bunch of them thinking that if they work out, I would put them up on the web site for sale. They look good. They store well. The question is, do they work. I have some out with tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers. Will report later on this year although as of this point in time I am not especially impressed; it may be that I am not using them correctly. If anyone has bought some and is trying them, I would appreciate hearing about your experience.
Arugula. I have had a number of questions on growing arugula. I grow arugula in small bands, perhaps six inches or 12 inches wide and three feet long (my beds are three feet across). I also grow it in between longer maturing crops (see tip above). I prepare the soil, add some fertilizer, and scatter the seeds trying to get them an inch apart. Then I just tamp them down in the soil with my hands and water them. Water once a day(twice a day if really hot)until they come up-they will germinate in two or three days. Begin harvesting them when they are three inches or so tall. If you havn't finished harvesting them by the time they are six inches or so tall, just pull them and throw them away. Make new plantings every few weeks (as of today-5 July) I have made five plantings. A single pack of Franchi Arugula has about 5000 seeds and should keep a moderate eater of arugula going all summer; if you are really into
arugula, get the 30 gram pack.
7. Fall/Winter Growing. Fall and early winter is one of the best seasons to grow Italian vegetables, although all too few people take advantage of the season. While it is true you can not grow tomatoes and peppers in New England (or most of the north) during November & December, there are lots of vegetables that thrive. Escarole, chicory, lettuce,
arugula, valeriana (corn salad), parsley, broccoli, kale, cabbage, spinach, and broccoli rabe do fine. In warmer areas further south, you can keep many of these going all winter. Even in the north, if you provide some protection or use a simple unheated
hoophouse, you can harvest some things throughout the better part of the winter. Do some experimenting. Start with the hardiest things: cornetto bordeaux escarole, just about any chicory, spinach, parsley,
arugula, loose leaf lettuces and valeriana. You will be surprised and delighted. On the web site I have some more detailed suggestions on winter growing as well as plans for a simple and inexpensive hoop house.
8. Recipe: I was going to do something on using garlic scapes (of which I currently have a considerable surplus of) when I ran into something much more interesting: The other night I was browsing through a really nice cookbook,
"Rustico, Regional Italian Country Cooking" by Micol Negrin. (Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2002). (I ran into it last year and had suggested to one of my sons that it would be an excellent Christmas present for dear old dad.) The chapters on each region have an introduction to the region, restaurant & shop listings, and ten or so recipes: typically some antipasti, first courses, main courses, vegetables and a sweet. The recipes have been chosen so as to illustrate the best aspects of regional cooking. As usual, my favorites are from the south. I can not wait for my fall escarole to be ready so I can try the stuffed escarole. The book is a really nice read. She also has a web site with some great photos and recipes: www.rusticocooking.com
9. Win an Italian Garden. I did this last year and a number of customers won a garden. In addition to mail order, I distribute to retail outlets in the Northeast (New England, New York, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania). If you provide me with a tip for a potential retail outlet customer that subsequently buys our seeds, you will win an Italian Garden: ten packs of the most popular Franchi Sementi seeds. There are also Franchi agents in California, the Southeast, and Upper
MidWest. If you are from those areas, I will pass along your suggestions to them and they all agreed to the same terms for winners. If you have a tip outside any of these areas, send it along anyway since I am set up to ship via UPS and I have customers all over. Last year customers sent me tips for outlets in Florida, Louisiana & Texas which worked out. This is the perfect retail outlet:
a. A large busy garden center which carries three or more brands of vegetable, herb & flower seeds. Preferably they are in an area which serves a population with a large number of customers of Italian descent. The kind of place which will not work is a small garden center, perhaps with a rack or two of harts or weeks seeds, and which closes for part of the year.
b. A large busy Italian market. Believe it or not, these are the top selling outlets. The corner deli which mostly sells sandwichs is not a good outlet.
I promise that I will contact each potential outlet suggested.
10. Free Seeds. Every year I have seeds I can not sell. Sometimes they are items which Franchi Sementi sent me in error. Others are returns from Garden Centers (not to many of those). I may have ordered too many of an item and they are approaching expiration dates. I give these away to non-profit groups: community gardens, master gardeners who are working with community groups, etc. What I will try to do is package these in groups of ten. If you would like one of these, drop me a note. It would really be nice after you receive the seeds if you were to send along two dollars to cover the cost of postage and shipping packages, but that is not an absolute requirement. I will send them out in the order in which I receive them and do so until I run out. You can write me at Seeds from Italy, PO Box 149,
WInchester, MA 01890; alternatively, send an email to bmckay@growitalian.com
11. Customer Garden Photos and Growing Results. One of these days I need to update the web site. I would very much like to include comments from customers on how the seeds worked for them, especially for those of you outside of New England where growing conditions are different from here. I would also love to have a customer photo gallery. So, feel free to send in any and all of the above. Click on the attachment to see a really nice photo of Ed Cahill's lettuces.
12. For Chefs & Cookbook Writers. I send out a recipe sheet with all orders; the recipes are either from my mother, my own, or from a friend in London. What I would like to do next year is have some recipes in the catalog itself and I am looking for chefs and/or cookbook authors to donate a recipe for publication. I am getting a bit tired of looking at my recipes. Of course I would give you and your restaurant/cookbook, etc. credit. What I am looking for are recipes which use the varieties I sell; which are simple and illustrate the principals of good Italian cooking: use fresh high qualaity authentic ingredients and cook them simply. While they do not necessarily have to be strictly vegetable recipe, that would be nice.
13. Customer Comments. I had a number of favorable comments from customers and do not want to post them at the risk of sounding self serving. I had a few folks who had difficulty germinating a few varieties. While many of these were probably weather related (I had an awful time with peas and beans this year due to the almost constant rain and very cold weather in May & early June), I am thinking there may have been some problems with some of the beans. If any of you had problems with germination of beans, please let me know. First, I will pass it along to Franchi
Sementi. I can also give you a fresh pack of seed or a credit toward next year. In addition, there were definitely problems with one lot of the bassano
(genovese) red onion.
Good growing and good eating. Please feel free to make suggestions for improvements, changes, etc in the newsletter.
Regards
Bill McKay
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