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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 3, # 2 September 2003
I had intended to cease publication of the newsletter after the July edition where the distribution list had been changed without my knowledge and people got multiple (as in lots of) copies. I had a lot a requests to keep publishing; I also had a number of requests to 'get me off that *** list" What I have done is remove from the list everyone who asked to be removed; if I missed anyone I apologize.
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.
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. Seeds for Next Year
3. Garlic
4. Summer Trial Results
5. Growing Tips. Garlic
6. Computer Tip
7. Recipe
8. 2004 Catalog
9. Win an Italian Garden
10. Review, 'Veggie Cage'
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.(except of course the inadvertant screw up last 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. 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. The possibility of having fava beans for next year (super aquadulce and supersimona) look pretty good. I have had some long conversations with USDA and think I can get them in. Check back in late October. Italian garlic seems to be out; the problem is that the fumigation treatment results in a bulb that is not very viable. Agretti is now up in the air; the supplier does not have any and I am searching around for other suppliers. Also for next year I have a round yellow pole bean (neckargold), three or four new lettuces [canary tongue, two french crisps], a yellow corno toro pepper, some new beans and an expanded organic line. I still have time to add to the product line, so if you are particularly interested in a certain variety, let me know.
3. Garlic. I have a hard neck and a soft neck garlic for planting available. The hardneck is a 'red italian' which happens to have been grown in upper new york state (zone 5). It has large cloves and looks very good. The softneck is also an 'italian' and also has pretty goodsized cloves. Both tend to run 3 or so bulbs per 1/2 pound. Both are up on the web site if folks are looking for garlic to plant. Hardneck varieties tend to do better in the north whereas softnecks tend to do better in warmer climates. See below for growing tips for garlic.
4. Summer growing trials. If anything, this summer's weather in Massachusetts was even more difficult than the spring. It was cold and rained through most of June. July was beautiful growing weather. It looked like a banner year for the garden, especially tomatoes. Unfortunately, the first three weeks of August had constant rain and high humidity, ideal for tomato diseases. Of course, right after Labor Day, it got cool. Nevertheless, most things worked reasonably well, although yields were down and most varieties were later than usual. Trial results and photographs are up on the web site.
a. Pole Beans. Grew Trionfo Violetto, Meraviglia Venezia, La Spagna & Lamon. Did all of them on teepees (cut some saplings 8' long, tied 4 together and sunk them in the ground well, planted five or six beans around the base of each pole. If you do this and you are in a windy area, you might want to anchor the teepee down with a stake or two. All the beans were real winners. The Trionfo Violetto is a round purple pole bean. Was ready in 60 or so days. Great taste, incredibly productive, and will grow to 9-10 inches and still remain very tender and stringless. Meraviglia Venezia was another real winner. Very early for a pole bean at 55 or so days. Very long (up to 10-11 inch) flat roma type. Great taste & texture and no strings. Also very productive. Seeds do not begin to swell up until bean is 7-8", so you can let them get fairly big. La Spagna was another surprise. It is described as a large white 'soup bean' and it is large. Pods run 10" or more in length and contain 6 or more large white beans. You can either (1) leave them on the plant until they dry and collect them for dried beans (2) pick them when they just begin to turn from green and begin to turn brown (use them as fresh shell beans) or (3) you can pick them when they are 5-6 inches long, before the beans have swollen very much and eath the entire bean (mangiatutto). At this stage they are a 1/2 inch or so wide dark green flat bean. I picked some at that stage and they taste pretty good. In fact I had to stop picking them that way so I could get some dry beans. The Lamon is a borlotto bean from Venice and the Venetians claim it is the best borlotto bean in Italy. It was pretty good; right now I have only had them as a fresh shell bean, but they were really excellent. Real 'meat' taste and very smooth texture. They are six-seven inches long with a rose mottled shell and a white/cream bean with red mottling. They seem quite productive.
b. Bush beans. Grew La Victoire and Dolico-Dall'Occhio. La Victoire is a really tender, slim dark green bean. It is not a 'fillet' bean, but it is quite slim and runs six or so inches long. It was ready in 50 or so days. Produced a very good crop of very tasty beans. My tenant, who shares the garden, pronounced this a 'really good bean'. The dolico-dall'occhio was a real surprise. All I had to go on was a seed pack picture. I grew them with the same spacing I used for regular bush beans-12" rows. This, however, is not your average bush bean. By day 40 when the other beans were in flower, it was still growing and started sending up runners. My god, I thought. This is a pole bean. But no. Eventually, I got sets of 3 flowers along the runners and three six-eight inch long slim green beans which swelled up nicely. Tried eating them green. Impossible. Waited until I could shell the pods and lo and behold, I had a tiny bean with a black eye (I suspect we are talking about black eyed peas here). In any case, they are very tasty. Very prolific. Lots of three bean sets. Best technique is either to wait until the pods begin to turn brownish (shell and use as a fresh shell bean or let them dry completely and use as a dried bean).
b. Cima di rapa in the summer. Reported on 40 & 60 day varieties in the spring newsletter. This summer I did 40,60,90, senza testa and a new one, foglia d'olivio (olive leaf). Contrary to common belief, all do well in the summer. The 40 days was ready in 30 days; bolted quickly once seed head formed so pick as soon as that head forms. [All of these will store a lot longer in the refridgerator in the crisper than they will last in the field] The 60 day was ready in 34-38 days. It also bolted fairly quickly. Once they send up the flower shoot, the stems get tough (you can peel them) and eating quality suffers. The 90 day was ready in 50-55 days. It has the largest leaves and head (grows 16-18" tall) and very thick stem which is really tasty, but it should be peeled, much like a broccoli stem. Took the longest to go to seed, but it still needed to be cut fairly soon after a head forms. The Foglia d'olivio has a very thick stem, probably as thick as 90 day and it had good taste. The leaves are large and look just like an olive tree leaf. Nice flavor. About the same resistance to bolting as the 90 day. Senza testa was very interesting. It is really a turnip green (but then so are cima di rapa's). It was a very quick grower and was ready in 30 days. No head. Very nice flavor although with a bit more bite than the above. As of this date, it is still growing in the garden; it has not gone to seed. It just has kind of sat there. Flavor is a bit stronger, but then, it is green and tastes good with pasta. Next year the cima di rapa maceretese should be back.(there was a crop failure last year). So which ones to choose. They are all great. There is not a whole lot of difference between the 40 & 60 day varieties in maturity time, but then they are pretty close in size. The 90 day & foglia d'olivio are longer to mature, but larger. Pick a couple and grow them at the same time. Lessens the need to succession plant so often.
d. Cucumbers. Grew parigi pickling cuke, bianco primaticio white pickler and beth alpha. All were started in 4" pots on 15 May, a week before the last frost date. (usually I start them 3 weeks before last frost date, but this year the weather was really cold so I held off). They went out to the garden on 7 June. Some were grown on a trellis, some grown on the ground and some using 'veggie cages' which I was trialing. First to be ready (40 days or so)was the beth alpha (but only by two days). Beth alpha is a 'mid-east' type: thin skin, smallish & very tasty. They are best picked when five inches or so. No bitterness and they produced very well. The bianco primaticio is an old favorite. It is a very productive pickler type; very nice taste. Pick before it turns completely white, since by then it is a bit overmature. Also a good producer. The parigi is an amazing cuke. Also a pickler, it is best picked when 4" or so, though taste and quality remain good even when they get bigger. It was the most amazing producer I have ever seen; I could not give away all the cukes I had. Those on the trellis did best; second best was those on the ground, though I did miss a lot of fruit in the foliage. Veggie cage was the least satisfactory; it was not strong enough to hold up the weight of the cucumbers. As of mid-september, all are still producing.
e. Tomatoes. New tomatoes trialed this year were Lilliput and Pantano. They went out on 7 June (by then they had been repotted twice and were in six inch pots). The lilliput even had some flowers. They were grown in two foot diameter concrete wire cages. The lilliput is an F1 hybrid determinate cherry. Grew three feet high. It was the first tomato in the garden to produce. Fruit set was high; typical truss had 20-25 fruit which ran about an inch in diameter. Production was really amazing. The fruit did not crack after rains and held longer than normal on the plant. Taste was good. While a really nice home garden tomato, this one also has excellent commercial potential. Pantano is an old favorite from northern Italy. It is a huge plant; very vigorous. Produced a very heavy crop of somewhat flattened slightly ribbed red 12-13 ounce fruit. They were quite tasty. First tomatoes ripened in 70 or so days. It exhibited pretty good disease resistance-this year most of my American heirloom tomatoes just wilted away; Pantano kept on going.
5. Growing Tips. Garlic. Garlic is really easy to grow and home grown garlic tastes infinitely better than the supermarket variety. Type garlic to grow. If you live in an area with a long cold winter & wet cool spring (eg, zones four, five, six and perhaps seven), stick with hardneck type garlics (rocambole, purple stripe or porcelain types). If you live in an area with warm winters, little or no spring, then stick with soft neck garlics. This is not absolute. You can grow softnecks in the north; you just need really good drainage. Otherwise the general growing technique is the same.
Preparation of area. You are probably better off using raised beds (nothing fancy-just prepare a three foot wide bed, rake some extra soil on the bed and voila, instant raised bed). Add some well composted manure if you have some, otherwise spread a few handfuls of 5-10-5 fertilizer for every foot of bed. In the north, plant after the first frost but before the ground freezes-here in Massachusetts that is some time after the end of October and before the 2nd week in December. You want the garlic to start making roots, but you do not want it to really start growing and send up a shoot. In the south with softneck garlic, you can plant as late as the end of December. Spring planted garlic (hard or soft) may or may not make bulbs (it needs a period below 40F to make bulbs)
Planting. Carefully separate the cloves. Plant one every six inches in your bed (make about a 2 ˝-3" inch deep hole-e.g., index finger) and drop in the clove. Cover. Water and cover with a good mulch. My favorite is a mixture of ground up leaves and grass clippings. Straw, hay, etc will also work. Put at least 3" on, 6" is better. The mulch is critical and will do several things. In the fall it will keep the ground moist and warm (in the north); in the south it will help keep things moist and cool). The garlic will make roots, but will not send up a shoot. (If it is warm in December and you do get some shoots, don't worry about it). The mulch will also keep down weeds in the spring. If you do it right, you might have to pull one or two weeds from an entire bed of garlic. Once you have your mulch spread, leave everything over the winter.
Spring. In the spring, you will get shoots poking through the mulch in early spring, usually about the time you would plant peas. Fertilize again. Let your garlic grow. If the spring is dry, provide supplemental irrigation. With hardneck garlic in the North, the main shoot is going to curl and have a single seed at the tip. These are called scapes. I always cut them off when they form, since I am convinced that you get larger cloves if you do this. In addition, the scapes are delicious braised in a bit of olive oil. In the North, your garlic will be ready sometime in late June or early July. It is ready when the lower leaves turn brown. Dig it up,(use a pitchfork, don't just pull it), store in a dry well vented place for several weeks to let it cure; do not cure in direct sunlight. Store permanently in a cool dry place and do not let it freeze. Save some of the bulbs for planting next fall. Softneck garlic will be ready much earlier, perhaps as early as April. Dig and cure it the same way. It will not make a scape.
6. Computer Tip. Get rid of popup ads, datamining by unscrupulous advertisers, etc. I had been getting a bit annoyed with pop up advertisements. Then I ran into the solution. There is a piece of software called Ad-aware 6. It is free and seems to work very well. It has received outstanding reviews. The first time I ran it, it found about 40 of those popup ads and a number of datamining entries. It cleaned them out. The only thing it does not do is prevent new ones from being installed (for that you have to buy an upgrade), but I just run the software once a week. You can have a look at it at this address: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
7. Cookbook. I ran into a really interesting cookbook: Susan Simon, Contorni, Authentic Italian Side Dishes for All Seasons. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2003. Contorni are side dishes, usually served with the main dish. All of these are vegetable dishes. The recipes are from all over Italy and there are some really great ones. I tried a few and they are good: potatoes with spicy greens is a classic and she has a really nice way with beans.
8. 2004 Catalog. The new catalog will be out in mid-December. This year I have expanded it and included detailed growing information, especially for some of the less familiar vegetables. I have also included recipes in the catalog. What I have done is use some of mine from the recipe sheet which goes out with orders, I have a number of recipes from cookbook authors, and I have some from chefs. If you have a special recipe that you think others would enjoy, please send it along to me. bmckay@growitalian.com Recipes should use vegetables or herbs. I could still use a few recipes. Catalogs will go out to all who have purchased seeds in the past and those who made a catalog request since June of 2003.
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. Review, 'Veggie Cage'. How to support tomatoes with a minimum of effort and a maximum benefit has always been a problem for me. I favor the five foot high ones made out of concrete reinforcing wire. They are a real pain to store over the winter and my wife thinks they are ugly (and not to be in her line of sight) so I have tried a number of alternatives. I have used tripods like in Italy and pruning to a single stem; I have driven 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; I have let them flop. This year I trialed vegi-cages which are a green plastic coil, larger on the bottom than the top. It is kind of like a giant slinkey. You affix the coil to a six foot stake and train the vegetables to grow inside; the idea is that the coils do the supporting and at the end of the season, you just fold everything up and easily store it. 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 set some out with tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers. They work well for flowers like morning glory and other climbers. For tomatoes, they worked less well for me. I tried some with Pantano which is a huge plant. It wound up pulling the 'veggie cage' down, the tomatoes sat on the ground, and did not do well. They did better with an indeterminate cherry, although the plants did need to be pruned fairly heavily. Cucumbers just did not work. The cukes would not climb the cages. The upshot is that I am not going to sell them. They are very nice for flowers, ok for tomatoes, but there is still nothing I have found superior to a concrete wire cage.
11. Reader Comments. These comments are all unsolicited and I asked the authors for permission to reprint them. Larry C in Minnesota wrote about his experience with our tomatoes. "The Red Pear tomato is a bit ugly, but we got high yields and the tomato produces a nice sauce. My own “pear” tomato is better looking and this year my largest was 18.5 oz, with my all time largest at 22oz. I will plant Red Pear again next year to compare the results. So far, great. The Super Marzano Redorta is really excellent. I am averaging fruits of about 8-10oz, with heavy yields. I typically plant the “regular” Marzano, but this is at least twice as large. Will plant that again next year. I plant all of my tomatoes about 18” apart and use tomato cages (but not your concrete wire ones). The rows are 4’ apart. Next year I will plant them 5’ apart to get more air between the rows and perhaps to stall the ‘brown wilt” we experience here from about mid-August on."
Jerry O writes "few things that I got last spring have done quite well and have all proven to be my favorites. Verdi a piccole foglie basil is a wonder; red pear tomato is most deliciosa (?); San marzano redorta is just what I had hoped for; the peppers (bacia de something and the bull's horn) are great; and I look forward to the fall greens too (still awaitng ripening of the melon I got). More and more in the future!"
Pole Beans. Some customers wrote to let me know they had some failures with pole bean germination. I did also. I suspect it was a result of two factors. First, it was a really cold & wet May & June in the Northeast and Upper Mid-West. Untreated bean seeds will rot in cold damp soil. Wait til the ground warms up good before sowing them. I also suspect that I may have received a bad lot of supermarconi beans. I went through 15 or so cases of supermarconi this year and one or two cases I think did not germinate well. If anyone had problems, let me know when you reorder next year and I will replace the seeds.
Tim W. writes "So, I have been selling stuff at the greenmarket in Union Square, NYC, and
people have really enjoyed the bietola and the wild arugula. And the lettuce
leaf basil is really remarkable. What's better is that I'm the only one out of
80 growers that has this stuff! So far what I've had has been limited, since
I'm focusing on the fall season (next week I have a ton of transplanting to
do!). But I have noticed that the cuor di bue tomatoes are rediculously laden
with fruit way more than the other varieties I have. Can't wait til they're
ripe."
I would love to hear from you. Please drop me a note with comments, complaints, whatever. If you are willing to allow them to be put in the newsletter, please so indicate.
Good Growing
Bill McKay
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