Seeds

I'll be planting seeds in starter trays in a month, so I needed to figure out which seeds to plant. Tomatoes are a given. Bell peppers. Arugula and mesclun are a strong possibility. Basil is a given, along with tarragon. The thyme looks to have survived the winter indoors, which was nice. That's one herb taken care of.

Anyway, tomatoes. I have to be concerned about early blight, which showed up in the volunteer Romas last year and spread to Black Crim, Cherokee Purple, and Brandywine. I did harvest a decent number of tomatoes, but I had to watch the plants very closely, pull yellowing leaves, spray copper solution, and do whatever else I could to keep the crud from creeping. I can't plant in a different area, which is the first thing they tell you to do to reduce the chance of blight. I have a raised bed in the sunniest spot on the backyard, and it needs to stay where it is. I can replace the dirt, I guess. But the spores are airborne, which means I can be as careful as possible, and something could still blow over from a neighbor's yard.

So. This year, I made a point of hunting for varieties that were blight-resistant. According to this chart, there are a few possibilities, all of which are new to me. I ordered a couple, along with some non-resistant varieties which may or may not work out:

Mountain Fresh Plus (Early blight resistant)
Aunt Ginny's Purple (heirloom, supposed to be tasty)
Tommy Toe (Early blight resistant)
Siberian (cold tolerant variety)

I also ordered chocolate and purple sweet peppers in addition to my favorite reds.

Seeds

I'll be planting seeds in starter trays in a month, so I needed to figure out which seeds to plant. Tomatoes are a given. Bell peppers. Arugula and mesclun are a strong possibility. Basil is a given, along with tarragon. The thyme looks to have survived the winter indoors, which was nice. That's one herb taken care of.

Anyway, tomatoes. I have to be concerned about early blight, which showed up in the volunteer Romas last year and spread to Black Crim, Cherokee Purple, and Brandywine. I did harvest a decent number of tomatoes, but I had to watch the plants very closely, pull yellowing leaves, spray copper solution, and do whatever else I could to keep the crud from creeping. I can't plant in a different area, which is the first thing they tell you to do to reduce the chance of blight. I have a raised bed in the sunniest spot on the backyard, and it needs to stay where it is. I can replace the dirt, I guess. But the spores are airborne, which means I can be as careful as possible, and something could still blow over from a neighbor's yard.

So. This year, I made a point of hunting for varieties that were blight-resistant. According to this chart, there are a few possibilities, all of which are new to me. I ordered a couple, along with some non-resistant varieties which may or may not work out:

Mountain Fresh Plus (Early blight resistant)
Aunt Ginny's Purple (heirloom, supposed to be tasty)
Tommy Toe (Early blight resistant)
Siberian (cold tolerant variety)

I also ordered chocolate and purple sweet peppers in addition to my favorite reds.