Time To Talk About Next Year

[thistlebloom]

I had been practicing how to say "Stupice" - wanting to get it right. DW patiently listened to me but when those tomatoes started ripening (very early) she had a name for them, my "stupid tomatoes." Well, that hurt my feelings.

Steve

So what is the proper pronunciation?

 

[so lucky]

Hmmm. Maybe depends on where it's from. If from France, it would be called StooPEECE. If from Italy, Stoo-pichie. If from Germany, maybe Stupz. Ha! Any other ideas?

 

[digitS']

Ha!

I found a Cisco gardening show where he is suggesting and planting a tomato for the shade - Stupice. I clicked the video and Firefox froze! I had to restart the computer. (Cisco's show is only on the NW cable news channel, I believe. Some folks watch it because they find him entertaining. It isn't captioned.)

Here is Diane's Seeds: "Stupice is one of the first tomatoes to ripen. It's also one of the tastiest. The name is pronounced Stoo-PEECH-ka." A "little red tomato from Czechoslovakia," Diane says.

Steve

 

[seedcorn]

Keepers:

Better Boy & San Marzano tomatoes
Gypsy, jalapeo, pablano, yellow banana peppers
Romano & tenderette green beans
Jade okra
Eggplant-don't care what variety
Acre cabbage
Illini super sweet corn
Zuchini &butternut squash
Sugar snap peas
Beets
Red, white onions
Garlic
Honey dew-thanks to Steve-Galia type-Sigal. Still early, productive, sweet and oh so gooooooood.

Last chance:

Sugar Baby watermelons
Spinache
Parsnips

Need to find a good one:

Bell pepper
Lettuce
Sweet potato
Cucumber

 

[digitS']

If you can find the seed envelope sometime before April for that honeydew melon that is "early and sweet" - I'd like to know the name, Seedcorn. Melons are a great pleasure for me to grow.

There have been a lot of bell peppers in my garden and have had good seasons. It just seems that some springs come along now & then that kicks the feet out from under them. The Big Early had a good debut year in 2012 but had a real struggle this year. Reimers still sells Park's Whopper bells. They did just fine for me year after year. I don't know why Park's no longer has the seed. King of the North always did well but it isn't my favorite. Really, my favorites are the Italian Sweets - they just seem to have less problems while being very tasty.

Cucumbers - all sorts of cukes! I'm just real glad that there are Beit Alpha types and that Muncher does well for me. These are little cucumbers. I guess some people don't peel them and they look like pickles. I think they might be good for that but I don't make pickles.

My ideas on sweet potatoes wouldn't be worth a continental.

Scads of lettuce! What I like are the Summer Crisp varieties. They are also called Batavian and are just about as tender as the butterheads but stand up better to the heat than those or the looseleaf. The one that is sure to make good lettuce and be around for a long time in my garden is Nevada but there are others.

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

New for us this year where 4 heritage varieties of tomatoes. We will be growing Mortgage Lifters again, Great size and flavor & produced nicely. (Thanks Smiles for sharing the seed.) Not going to bother with Black Krim to much cracking. We also tried the tiger melons. Only got one and it was BLAND. The sour gerkins where cute. But not something I will grow again. The Brussels grew tall and lush but never gave us any sprouts. We will try again. This was the 1st year for Kale. We will grow more. The cucumbers did not do well and where not the type for pickling. Will try another type next year. Already dreaming!

 

[seedcorn]

Honey dew-Sigal. 60 day

Steve if you want a few seeds to try I will look and see how many I have. It is a hybrid variety.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Seedcorn, if you havent tried Beauregard sweet potatoes, I recommend it. They are as short-seasoned as any of them, and are fairly moist and waxy. That means they can be baked in the skin without drying out too much. Ive tried other varieties, especially the white ones, and they dont always bake really well. They make killer sweet potato casseroles, but Ill stick to the Beauregards in the future. They are good in casseroles too. Beauregards are the ones you usually buy at the grocery store if you want to try one ahead of time.

Thats another new one I tried this year, the Murasaki sweet potato. Its a purple skinned white flesh one developed by LSU. It grew and produced OK, but the flesh is not all that waxy. If you bake it in the skin, it is really dry. I wont be growing it again.

 

[digitS']

No, no that's a Galia melon, Seedcorn!

Look at that, 60 days! Look AT that!(New England Seed, Link)

Yes, they are a hybrid but I can't quite figure out what the Israeli agronomists did to produce a Galia melon. They crossed a muskmelon with a honeydew. (Green flesh but NE Seed has another that has "a light orange flesh.") I don't believe that cross is needed every time. In other words, they stabilized the inter-species cross and have developed several varieties (or breeding lines) out of it. Then, there are hybrids of these.

The Passport Galia has never failed to grow and to ripen fruit in my garden. It is from the University of New Hampshire and a 73-day melon. I mean, Minnesota Midget is rated at over 60 days.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

Hmmm. Maybe depends on where it's from. If from France, it would be called StooPEECE. If from Italy, Stoo-pichie. If from Germany, maybe Stupz. Ha! Any other ideas?

Stupice tomatoes are a heritage variety that came to America originally from Czechoslovakia. At least that is what I read before purchasing my first ones - my BFFs are from the Czech Republic and I got them to share. I have seeds and grew them a year ago as a competitor for my favorite Rutgers. Stupice is about the same size, shape, and color as Rutgers and ripens about the same time with a good tomato flavor. Not sure why I didn't grow them this year, but then I didn't put many tomatoes it this year. A good thing since they did very poorly for me this year.