While planning for your garden, going through seed catalogs can be like a wintertime treasure hunt, especially, if you are seeking out new and unusual varieties of veggies, flowers and herbs!
Local and regional catalogs like High Mowing, Johnny’s and Pine Tree are great resources. Other catalogs like Baker Creek Rare Seeds also have unusual seeds you might want to plant this year.
Here are some to try, especially if you’re interested in adding vibrant colors to your veggie garden and landscape.
Strawberry Spinach This heirloom variety dates back to the 1600s. You can eat the leaves like a spinach substitute and it has dark green leaves and bright red edible berries that taste like a mild beet.
Red Carpet Mustard GreensPurple and burgundy colors on leafy greens look beautiful in gardens and landscapes and this mild mustard green variety boasts a burgundy color throughout.
Chinese Wool Flower Another heirloom that was lost to agriculture and recently rediscovered in Japan, this is similar to a coxcomb and has burgundy fluffy flower heads that look like bundles of wool. It makes a great landscape flower, or to add to dried flower arrangements. Also its leaves are edible, as it's in the amaranth family!
And if you’d rather not grow baseball-bat-sized veggies again this year, consider this variety of butternut squash that is a great container winter squash. It’s known as Butter Baby and grows just four to six inches long.
Q: Can you tick off a list of a few blight-resistant tomato varieties? — Betty, in the Upper Valley
There are a number of early- or late-blight-resistant varieties out there. For regular-sized tomatoes, some varieties to try include Legend, Defiant, Iron Lady and Mountain Supreme.
If you’re looking to plant cherry tomatoes, go for Mountain Magic or Matt's Wild Cherry, or for paste or mini-Roma tomatoes, try Juliet.
To keep them healthy, mulch underneath the plants, prune off bottom branches if you do see blight and stay on top of watering and fertilizing.
Q: I took possession of a truckload of freshly-chipped maple branches in late summer. Might I be able to build a new, no dig garden on a portion of the chips? Could I spread out a section in the spring and then cover it with well composted animal manure? — Sue, in North Bennington
As early as you can get out in spring, spread out a 6-to-8-inch pile of your wood chips to kill off the grass. Then spread a 4-to-6-inch layer of manure to create your garden space. Another option is to mix manure in with chips but watch out for nitrogen deficiency, especially early in the season. If, after you've planted your veggies and plants and they turn pale or yellow, try adding in some fish emulsion.
This will be a productive way to try out a no-dig style garden and use those maple wood chips!
Ahead of next week's episode, please send along your Valentine's Day flower stories! You can share stories of flowers you've given or received over the years.
All Things Gardening is powered by you, the listener! Send your gardening questions and conundrums and Charlie may answer them in upcoming episodes. You can also leave a voicemail with your gardening question by calling VPR at (802) 655-9451.
Hear All Things Gardening during Weekend Edition Sunday with VPR host Mary Engisch, Sunday mornings at 9:35.
Have questions, comments or tips?Send us a messageor get in touch by tweeting us @vprnet.
We've closed our comments. Read about ways to get in touch here.
