I like to use the analogy of cooks vs. bakers when providing advice on annual artichoke culture. The fact is that artichoke culture isn’t exactly easy, at least in the north where few, if any of us have been able to grow artichokes as they can in California, but things have changed given new methods and new varieties. It’s going to take some time to catch on, but expect your local farmer’s markets and farm stands to start featuring artichokes as more and more local growers are discovering the potential given new methods.

The best part here is home gardeners don’t need to wait, you can start right now as artichoke seed must be started early (January or February) and grown on under light, but never in a cold environment so skip winter-germination or anything like that as exposure to cold temperatures while young is the trick (or hack?) you will use in April to get your young plants to bloom in the first year. More on that later.

HISTORY The Globe Artichoke (not to be confused with the Jerusalem Artichoke, which is a tuberous relative of the sunflower) are large, attractive thistle-like plants with sharp spines and silvery leaves. Botanically they are closely related to the ornamental and edible plant Cardoon) . Old, biblical plants, humans have been eating the stems, leaf stalks and the immature large flower buds since biblical times. Yet while scholars cannot agree on the exact origin of the plant, most believe that it likely was introduced by the Arabs into Europe.

The globe artichoke came to the United States earlier than you might think. In the 17th century Thomas Jefferson grew it at Monticello, but it wasn’t until  1920  when the veg started to become popular as Italian immigrants introduced better selections of one called ‘Green Globe’ to California. It was then when the artichoke started to became a significant agricultural crop in North America.

CULTURAL INFO Artochokes are botanically perennials, but you’ll see later that the new methods for growing crops in the north come with a trick that allows one to treat them as annuals. For nearly a century if a home gardener wanted to raise globe artichokes, they would have had to move to California and purchase root stock, or vegetative divisions or potted nursery plants. This is still the commercial method for propagating plants on artichoke farms as seed-raised varieties are variable.

NOTE: Since you will need to use seed-strains, this variability is not a bad thing, as today, purple, pointed or round buds from one field is considered diversity and provides interest. Commercial growers want uniformity and consistency as they are producing a product.

Artichokes cannot survive in soil which drops below 25° F, so as a true perennial,  it required at least two years before plants could produce buds which has kept their culture to primarily mild-winter climates.

NEW ARTICHOKE OPPORTUNITIES Everything changed in the mid-1990s when plant breeding efforts in California developed an entirely new way to raise perennial artichokes. Still botanically perennial, new varieties could be now be grown in a single growing season as an annual crop.  Practically overnight commercial farmers and even home gardeners could grow globe artichokes of very fine quality – from seed with no worries about wintering over because one could restart new seeds in the following season, which is the recommended now.

  Today commercial growers in more northern markets are beginning to master these annual crop varieties bringing high-quality artichokes to local specialty markets in regions where artichokes could never have been planted before. Local artichokes are appearing at farmers markets, in CSA boxes, and at premium markets, yet the home gardener has been slow to pick up on the trend.  

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS Before undertaking all the work required, I must be honest about a couple of significant points.

Artichoke plants are big. First, a healthy, mature artichoke plant can be too large for most raised beds. If you are thinking about raising one in a pot it sulks as a container plant. If an artichoke plant finds itself in a challenging environment, it will just produce leaves and appear stunted.  Lovely foliage, but nothing to eat. Plan on planting 3 artichoke plants in a 4 x 8 foot bed.

Expect only a few full-sized buds per plant. This may be the biggest disappointment for first-time growers discover.  A single plant will produce only one or two full-sized globe artichokes. There are smaller buds that come later, but if you are expecting harvests of full, 6-8 inch artichoke buds, plan on 2-3 per plant and 6-10 smaller ones. In full sun and with plenty of room, you may get 4-6 buds per plant. Really, to get a decent crop you should plant many plants. If you have the room, I would set out 12 – 20 plants, but I understand most gardeners will not have such space. But hey, if you reallllyyyy love artichokes…

In the end, globe artichokes are best suited for the larger vegetable garden where one can set out one or two long rows with a dozen plants each to keep the home cook happy and well supplied with this luxury crop. Given all of this fuss, for the hardcore artichoke fan, nothing beats a homegrown bud.

MOVING AHEAD WITH THE RIGHT VARIETY

Annual crops begin with sourcing seed of varieties which have been bred for annual production. While still botanically considered perennial in nature, these are varieties which respond well to the special techniques like vernalization (chilling) and then produce large, full-sized buds of a very high quality. Culturally the crops are recommended to be treated as annuals, turned under each autumn by commercial growers who sow fresh seed every year.

The flagship annual variety is ‘Imperial Star’ the result of an extensive breeding program at the University of  California, Irvine during the late 1980’s (1).  Introduced into the trade in 1992, ‘Imperial Star’ forever changed the annual artichoke production opening a new niche market for growers by offering a variety which will produce large, high-quality buds. (4).

Most home gardeners will be limited as to what varieties they can grow in the annual method from seed, with three varieties recommended for North American gardeners (‘Imperial Star’, ‘Improved Green Globe’ and ‘Colorado Star’). If you like in a traditional artichoke growing area there are many named selections both regionally unique or culturally significant. 

 The classic old commercial variety is ‘Green Globe’. You’ll see that an ‘Improved Green Globe now exists introduced in 1989 which is more resistant to disease and is better in production, but be certain that you order the later and not the old strain which many seed catalogs still carry. Large-scale commercial growers prefer vegetatively propagated stock as these are essentially clonal which ensures consistency and uniformity. 

The seed-raised stock however while quicker to market, is less consistent with more diversity occurring in the field. Savvy consumers seem to enjoy multi-colored buds as well as the important fact that it is far easier to produce an organic product with annual varieties which reduce pathogens passed on in traditional vegetatively propagated stock. WE love all of the diversity and colors.

RAISING FROM SEED

There seems to exist conflicting advice on how to properly germinate globe artichoke seed even trusted retail seed suppliers can’t seem to agree particularly on pre-chilling the seed, a process known as stratification when seed is subjected to moist and cold temperatures for a specific period to induce germination. This is a treatment not uncommon for most perennials, trees and woody plants which typically would spend a winter in the soil.

Artichoke seed if procured from a reputable seed house shouldn’t need pre-chilling, as fresh seed will germinate quickly. Reputable seed suppliers test their seed (or they store their artichoke seeds cold). Always check the growing guide for artichokes available on most seed company websites your seed supplier and see if they suggest pre-chilling or not. 

Seeds need be started early often as early as late January or 8-10 weeks before your frost-free date as you’ll need time to set young transplants outdoors to properly vernalize the seedlings when temperatures are still w 55° F. 

It is helpful to use the right containers with artichoke seedlings, as you will want large and robust transplants which will perform best in the garden. Deep root-training types of cell containers are ideal as artichokes are tap rooted. The deeper the pot, the better to avoid roots encircling at the bottom of the pot. An unhealthy or stressed seedling is obvious, with weak foliage and rootbound.

If you cant find root trainers, a 3 or 4-inch container will suffice. I prefer to sow in a larger container to avoid at least one more chance to damage roots, but if you don’t have the room do take care when using plug trays, be sure to choose deep cells and transplant plus as soon as leaves appear to avoid root damage. I often use 3 or 4-inch pots when my root trainers are in use for cut flower sweet peas and they work well. Now there are 6 inch deep cell trays available from many supply sources.

Soil is always a controversial matter, but soiless mix is safest to avoid pathogens. I use a commercial grade sterile soil mix called ProMixBX (it’s what the big growers use), and I have never found an acceptable substitute at retail. If you prefer to use a peat-free mix, a homemade mix comprised of 1/3 compost or composted wood bark, 1.3 garden loam mix with 1.3 perlite or sharp sand will do. Be sure to pasteurize it in the oven following the directions outlined in the ‘Soils and potting mix’ section.

Germination temperature can be confusing if not misleading if you are looking on-line. While it is true that artichokes like bottom heat and warmer soil early when they are germinating, they are rather specific about how hot they want it. Failure often occurs when a heating mat is set too warm as that too can delay germination as much as cold soil can. Those sowing in cool environments will only get thistle plants.

 The ideal range for daytime temperature germination is between  70 and 80° F.  Sow seed 1/4 inch deep and cover. As soon as seedlings emerge, adjust the temperature to be slightly cooler, (60 – 70° F) to help seedlings grow more sturdy. A temperature shift to even cooler drops night helps many plants but particularly artichokes. Professional growers call this a differential. A slight differential (temp drop) to  55 – 60° F will stimulate healthier growth overall, but this can happen naturally if you are using a greenhouse or an artificial lighting system. Use a timer and set it for the lights to turn on for 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of darkness. This should work for most other vegetable seedlings as well as most plants appreciate a differential.

FERTILITY Artichokes appreciate fertility and a healthy seedling is more likely to be more resistant to insects and disease. Artichokes are  one crop where I am not afraid to use a chemical based water soluble fertilizer (the blue kind) but one with a balanced analysis. If you prefer to use only organic chemical fertilzer, be sure to look for a balanced feed (i.e. not just seaweed or fish emulsion). You’ll need once which the plants can access quickly so a slow release one won’t work.

 PESTS Any pest concerns indoors should be limited to easy to control but expect aphids if you are raising plants under lights. Fungus gnats can become a problem as you’ll be using fertilizer. A good regimen of allowing the soil to dry nearly complete between watering will help. Out in the garden there are few pests, however aphids can pose a problem during dry summers. If caught early, they can be washed off with a sponge.

THE TRICK – HOW TO VERNALIZE PLANTS

Vernalization sounds more complicated than it actually is. Basically you are just tricking these perennials into believing that they’ve survived a mild winter period. It’s just a metabolic process that stimulates, in this case, a perennial plant switching from a vegetative stage to a reproductive stage, which means simply that exposed to a brief cold period, artichoke plants will be induced to form flower buds. 

What we are trying to attempt here is to trick the young plants into believing that they’ve survived what is essentially a ‘mini winter’. Vernalization occurs quickly, in just 7 – 10 days after exposing the plants to a few days where the temperatures don’t rise about 55° F. or below 33°. The process works best on young plants which have produced at least 7 or 8 leaves.

In the Northeastern US  where I live, I simply set my plants outdoors for a week or so sometime before May 10th when they are most likely to experience a period of cooler weather.  As weather varies from year to year, and since I don’t have the luxury of refrigerated rooms like the commercial growers use, I sometimes set plants out a bit earlier as long as they have seven leaves in some years, as early as late March.

 Studies have recently shown that this treatment works with many varieties of artichokes, but it works best with those bred for annual production, with ‘Imperial Star’ performing the best, ever than ‘Green Globe Improved’.

Seedlings can handle a light frost as well, especially once set into the ground, and even more so once they are established. They will freeze if not hardened off though, so cover early plantings with a floating row cover for the first few weeks. While hard frosts won’t kill a plant, it will damage flower stalks if they are forming.

TRANSPLANTING OUTSIDE

Seedlings can be set out in the open garden early if threats of hard freezes have passed, usually, immediately after the seedlings have been vernalized. Globe artichokes prefer fertile soil. Prepare beds before planting out with additional granular plant food (20-20-20), or well-rotted manure and compost if you are growing organic best applied in the previous autumn especially if you are using blood meal, bone meal, kelp and other slow-release minerals and organics.

MULCH AND WATER

 Black plastic is the preferred mulch both for commercial growers and for home growers. It provides benefits such as warming the soil and it preserves moisture, not to mention weed suppression.  It works best for us as organic mulches here in New England are encouraging an infestation of the highly invasive Asian Jumping  Worm (Amynthas agrestis). A drip irrigation system applied under the mulch is also helpful.

FERTILITY REQUIREMENTS OUTSIDE

 Globe artichokes are heavy feeders A high nitrogen formula is recomended at planting time, but later the use of one which is relatively evenly balanced such as a 10-10-10 or a 20-20-20. Most university studies advise rich, fertile soil. Conventional fertilizer should be applied as a granular side-dressing before the black plastic mulch is laid down. If you are looking for suggestions for organic feed,

CULTURE IN MILD CLIMATES

OK. if you are in California or in the British Isles, you are golden. While propagation for most home gardeners in the north is from seed, in mild-winter climates like California, the England and any Mediterranean country, artichokes are a natural crop. Here they are vegetatively propagated often by division ever 5 years which allows one to raise clones, often landrace varieties and older and heirloom perennial varieties. With these named selections, some of which are regional or nationally protected landrace strains, dividion remains as the only way to obtain a genetically pure variety.

Treatment is similar to other perennial crops like rhubarb or seakale.  Root divisions should be taken from healthy plants in March or April, ideally with two or more shoots. Alternatively, in mild-winter areas, nursery grown container plants are often available of perennial producing varieties. Perennial selections should be divided every  2 or 3 years to maintain vitality and the sold amended to retain vigor. Plants can become very long lived.

WHY GROW YOUR OWN IN THE NORTH?

The real question here is ‘IS IT WORTH ALL OF THE TROUBLE” With all of this criticism, you may be wondering why one would bother to grow artichokes at all? I fear that I’ve been saying little to encourage its culture in the home garden.

Needless to say that if you love artichokes, no argument needs to be made. I was sceptical myself, but was shocked with the results. If you are still thinking about trying them I offer this encouragement – globe artichokes are not only fun to grow, they make beautiful plants in the garden – even a poorly raised plant will look nice in the border. Like cartoons, they are handsome specimen plants that will trigger comments from anyone who visits, especially if they are allowed to bloom (although the flowers are not as colorful as cardoon flowers are).

Best of all, and perhaps most importantly, I cannot overemphasize that a home raised artichoke is superior to anyone could buy at a market and potentially could convert even the most sophomoric of eaters. They are indeed the ‘Lobster of the Vegetable Kingdom.’

The post Artichokes in the North appeared first on Growing With Plants.

I happen to love September because of one thing – sweet corn. Today many of us struggle with corn. We don’t know how to fit it into our diet, many denounce it as a product of industrial agriculture and monoculture, we read labels and reject anything with a corn product on it and we steer clear of corn syrup. It sometimes seems as if the only safe corn product that I don’t get raise eyebrows with at my local Whole Foods are locally made corn tortillas. I guess they’re OK.

A few of us still celebrate sweet corn and dried corn however, especially as a garden crop. Even small -yard gardeners with limited space can grow some varieties – especially new ones specially bred for containers (although I do feel that these are best considered as a novelty crop and not something worthy of feeding a family with). The fact is a full raised bed 4 x 8 feet or a 10 x 20-foot plot can provide a decent crop if you have the room.

Adventurous gardeners and in-touch foodies still secretly seek out rarest varieties but don’t make the mistake of assuming one is better than another simply because it has a fun name or an early introduction date. Unlike tomatoes, heirloom varieties aren’t always better tasting, especially when it comes to sweet corn. Dried corn, on the other hand, is often more complex and interesting if one does find a rare, old variety. Just do your homework

My tiny plot of corn still gives us corn in the tiny gap season when our local farms seem to run out.

I’m a pretty easygoing dude but a few things get under my skin. One of those things is sweet corn varieties available at farm stands and farmer’s markets. Mainly the names of the varieties. This very well may be my personal gripe but when I see “Butter and sugar” spray painted on a sign I go crazy. (I know, I’m crazy too but really?). Lumping all sweet corn into two buckets (bushels?) helps no one.

I snapped this yesterday as I was driving home near my house. This isnt a farm but rather a ‘pop-up’ farm stand every summer in an abandoned lot. I assume everthing here comes from the Boston vegetable market but it is rather typical of what one seees everywhere.

Corn is affected more by cultural trends than most any other vegetable. My father considered himself a corn aficionado (I mean – you have no idea, he was literally crazy about sweet corn).  My dad came from an entirely different era—born in 1914. I am certain that corn on the cob was often a complete meal for him and his 7 brothers in this house. I know this because we were one of those families that often had a few dozen ears of sweetcorn on the table for meals in the summer not to save money, but because it was good.

ARE YOU A ‘BUTTER & SUGAR’  or a  ‘SILVER QUEEN’ FAN?

 I am neither, although there is hardly a corn variety that I don’t like, for fresh eating, I prefer a new hybrid by far (and not a super-sweet sugar-enhanced one from the 1980’s either). Like most corn geeks I like a balance between corn flavor, starch, and some sugar, but mostly I like the popping texture that comes with some of the newest hybrids when you eat them straight off of the cob. There is nothing like it. If you’ve ever enjoyed very fresh corn cooked straight from the field, you know what I am talking about. The breakthrough of SE or Sugar Extender (sugar enhanced) corn was a big breakthrough in the late 20th century, and while those varieties are far better than old sweet corn varieties, they were bred for long-life on the supermarket shelf, and many of us just think that they are too sweet when compared against new Augmented Shrunken SH2 genetics or even Synergistic varieties.

Whah? Are you going all ‘GMO’ on me Matt?

No worries. I shall explain in far more detail than any human needs in this post. Which is probably why my publisher cut this chapter on corn from my upcoming book MASTERING THE ART OF  VEGETABLE GARDENING (shameless plug – avail on Amazon now, but not shipped until it is published in December). This chapter should give you an idea on how I approach veg gardening in the book, but know that I’ve edited this down quite a bit.

I am hardly a normal consumer of corn (I am also hardly an expert, but rather a fan).  My history with sweet corn dates back to the 1960’s as I was tutored by a father (a serious corn addict) who demanded excellence when it came to fresh on-the-cob corn varieties.  We would hop with him into our 1969 Country Squire station wagon and drive to certain local farms (somewhere he used to work as a kid) as their fields became ready to pick. He somehow knew what varieties Mr. Allaire or Mr. Salo was planting that year, and he knew the maturity dates. He also would demand that we be allowed out into the field to pick the corn so that it would be of optimum freshness.

‘Illusion’ F1 is a sweet Synergistic corn, available both as organic seed and conventional. It’s our most favortie mid-season corn for the home garden. ‘Sugar and Butter’? It’s probably sold as that.

We were one of those households where sweet corn was considered a complete meal. Dozens would be cooked and that would be supper on any given weeknight in the summer. We would only be allowed to cut corn off of the cobs if it was too old, or if we needed to take it somewhere like on a picnic or to school for lunch.

Dad always believed that white corn was less desirable than yellow corn (which isn’t true, really) but his parents who were born in 1889 only ate white corn. Dad was born in 1914, a time when corn hybridizing was changing things.  While his parents only ate white corn (leaving the yellow ‘cow corn’ for farmers to eat green), dad and his 7 brothers preferred all-yellow corn. The corn of their generation, thanks to a new variety in the 1920’s called ‘Golden Bantam’.

Corn seems to come in styles and follows fashion. Bi-colored corn eventually became more popular than all-yellow corn in the mid-20th century but it was never my fathers favorite. I on the other hand while young wanted white corn, simply because it seemed rare and odd. No one had yet heard of ‘Silver King’. ´ Either that or old-timers confused the new Silver King with an old variety with the same name – a silver dent dry corn that was introduced under the same name in the late 1930’s. ‘Siver King’ was just a SE or sugar enhanced strain of ‘Silver Queen’ (an older SU standard corn). My point is – these are still old late 20th century varieties and we might want to move on from them. With over 125 varieties commonly grown, you probably have moved on but you just don’t know it yet.

When I was a kid in the late 1960s a ‘new’ variety was introduced called ‘Silver King,’ and I can remember thinking that it was cool because it was all white, and it was sweeter than ‘Silver Queen’. The problem was I coudl never get my dad to buy it. Then came Bi-colored corn. “Too fancy and novel,” dad said. It wasnt until bi-color corn started to be marketed under the variety namesthat was more appealing did he try it.  Names then began to be more user firendly and appealing. Thus, ‘sugar & butter’. Unfortunately, the original Sugar and Butter’ is rarely grown today but most if not all bi-colored corn is simply sold under this name.

Blue corn varieties are generally heirloom types and are best for ornamental use. Still, how pretty is this Indigo variety?

WHY CARE ABOUT THE VARIETY NAME WITH CORN?

Wouldnt you want corn that had everything?
Flavor? The perfect balance of starch, sugar, and pop?
Then knowing the variety name is key.

Farm stands and market growers knwo that sweet corn is a cash crop. Even more so today. The race starts in early spring when growers try to get their corn planted earlier than their competitors. This year I noticed Remay floating fabric over an entire field near the farm where I grow veggies. The owner told me that they now plant corn as plugs very early in the spring – weeks before anyone else. Then they cover the fields with floating row covers to protect the seedlings from frost. This gives them a jump on all of the local competition.

A tip for us at home – corn plugs transplant easily and even though I’ve been starting my corn in cell containers for years, it does feel good to know that even the pros are doing it too. A 10 foot by 10 foot plot can hold 100 plants, and a couple of plug trays ensures 100% germination. I just pop the young plants into prepared ground with little effort even as early as mid april. May 5th is the typical sowing date for sweet corn here in Zone 5 New England.

Varieties do matter for both commercial farmers and home growers as date-to-maturity while important, isnt as critical as variety. Does it germinate in cold soil? Will the pollen affect a neighboring plot of corn? Will the stalks grow too tall and shade something else? Will all the corn come in at the same time? Some varieties grow better in early spring, others better in high summer. Some are best for the fall.

Flavor though is often the most important reason why a home grower would want to think long about the variety they are growing. Commercial farmers tend only to choose their crop varieties based on the market. Flavor doesn’t factor in. Ten years ago you never knew the difference between a Brandywine tomato and a Big Girl. Today, you do. You also know the difference between the flavor of a ‘Red Delicious’ apple, vs a sour”GrannySmith’ from the luscious sweetness of a ‘Honeycrisp’. My point is that more and more of us today are informed – we know the difference. We are familiar with the names of some varieties, especially with fruit. We can tell the difference between hype and authenticity. We’ll pay more for something that tastes better but with corn, we are still being told that it’s just all one or two varieties. Odd when there are literally hundreds and hundreds of varieties. It’s time to push farmers, farm stands, supermarkets and buyers to let us know what we are buying.

Home raised popcorn is a fun crop. Just be sure that the ears are pollinated well (by hand with tassels from another plant). This crop was raised in a double row that was hand pollinated last summer. Dry it well though if you plan to pop it.

THE HUNT FOR NEW CORN VARIETIES
Today it’s almost impossible to find the true variety of sweet corn one is buying.  And don”t just tell me that it is something called ‘Butter and Sugar’ or ‘Silver Queen’. I don’t buy that.  Of course, new variety name probably need some tweaking or creativity, and few are any good or helpful. So renaming corn might be in order first. I can’t imagine anyone stopping to buy a dozen ears because they saw a handpainted sign that says ‘NATIVE. SS3778R F1 Corn, NEXT LEFT’. Yay!

Pollinate your corn at home by snapping off a tassel that is dripping with pollen on a dry afternoon, and shake it over the silks which are emergin on the little ears. It;s fun to do, and doesnt hurt the plant. Imagine every silk as a thread that leads to a kernel.

“Try this experiment. The next time you are buying corn, ask the seller what variety it is. (I do this all the time and only once (in Vermont) did I get an honest answer.). Most sellers will just say ‘It’s Butter and Sugar’ or ‘Silver Queen’, even if they know the real name of the variety they are growing. People think those are varieties (they are, but I doubt that this is the variety they are buying), more often than not they are buying a ‘type’of corn, and most growers just sell all bi-color corn as ‘Butter and Sugar’ and all white corn as ‘Silver King or Queen’. At least on the east coast.

Old varieties of dry corn are often superior to newer ones. Here is one case where heirloom really delivers. Green Oaxcan corn makes some of the best cornmeal.

ONE HURDLE TO OVERCOME IS THAT NEW CORN VARIETIES HAVE BAD NAMES
We can’t blame them. Most growers are scared shitless to admit that they actually are growing a variety named something like Mirai® 227 F1 or a brand new patented or registered augmented sugar  gene SH2 or even a new Synergistic corn variety (which may be the best for texture and flavor) because most of thee varieties sound more like insecticide than corn varieties. Names like ‘Vision MXR’, ‘Kickoff’, ‘Illusion’ ‘ Allure’, or ‘Trinity’ isn’t going to get a home chef excited. The folks who name corn really need some help, but then again, they are trying with names like ‘Sugar Pearl’, ‘Sugar Buns’ or ‘Delectable’ – those are names that should capture our attention, but they are so similar to ‘Sugar and Butter’ why confuse people?

Homemade cornmeal is easy to make. I made this last year in my Vitamix blender.

WHAT ABOUT GMO CORN?

Corn genetics concern people, but probably more than they should: at least from the standpoint of the home gardener. First, there are no GMO corn varieties that a home grower could grow or even access. Regardless, some seed catalogs will state in a burst on their cover “NO GMO’S!” which is akin to saying that fat-free is healthy for you. The truth is, corn breeding is science, and if you believe in science and all of the good that it can bring to our world, then you should be able to appreciate why new corn varieties are often better performers in the garden than most heirloom varieties. We should also consider that in one sense corn is already genetically modified—through selection over the millennia. 

If you have any concerns about GMO corn, then do try growing your own dry corn. Beleive me – nothing tastes like home-grown cornmeal. A 100 sq foot bed supplied us with 5 quarts of cornmeal.

There are a few (very few -like 9%) new GMO sweet corn varieties but you are not going to find any in a seed catalog as one would need to go through an agent and then sign a complex licensing agreement with Monsanto or another developer. You should feel safe buying seed anywhere as no GMO seed is available for home growers at all- so relax. Even though a variety may sound ‘sciency’ or technical, it’s not GMO if you are finding it in a seed catalog. This includes Johnny’s Selected Seeds or Burpee.

That said, some GMO sweet corn on-the-ear is showing up in supermarkets, but I imagine that most of this corn is raised in the south for northern markets during the winter. The corn in these cases was bred to have ‘stacked genes’, bundled if you will so that the variety could be resistant to a pre-emergent herbicide or immune to a fungus. While this typically doesn’t bother me, I still wouldn’t want my cornfield to be sprayed with glyphosate or Round-up. You see, it’s not the genetic engineering that concerns me, it’s what they might spray the crop with. That’s where I stand with GMO’s and until I see some data that proves safety one way or another, I would never buy GMO corn at a market. Yet here’s the kicker – I would love to grow GMO corn in my own garden at home – but until they make GMO seed available to home gardeners, this will need to wait. I do appreciate the science of genetic engineering – So-called ‘Franken foods’ don’t scare me at all.  I ‘get’ the science. Breed me a blight-free tomato with the flavor of summer, please. I want that now.

How’s this: Instead of worrying about GMO’s and labeling, why arent we all demanding to at least know the variety name that we are buying? Wouldnt that solve everything?

There are many varieties of dry, heirloom or ornamental corn available today. Each are so rewarding to grow in the homer garden.

IS THERE SUCH A THING AS WILD CORN?

Corn is a very old crop. One of the oldest man has ever cultivated. We know where corn originated, and it looked nothing like the crop we recognize today.  There is no longer any true wild corn ( as is the case with most vegetables that we eat today as all have been selected and cross-bred and selected again by our ancestors – genetically modified, if you will by selection), so while we know that corn is the subject of many Netflix documentaries intended to scare us, science and botanists agree that there is little data to suggest that corn is bad for us.

What gets us into trouble with corn is processed food and how much processed corn products enter our food system. We might all agree to try an avoid corn in our food as an additive, as we try to avoid it in pet food, in cattle food and even in chicken food. What the heck happened to being proud of having been corn fed? Has that gone the way that being ‘Milk fed? Probably, but aside from building stong bodies twelve ways, corn can be a part of a balance diet (sic). Come on, what about bourbon or whiskey? How about Cheese doodles or Doritos? We all consume corn but we just justify it in different ways.

We all know that corn is botanically considered a grass, and that the corn we know today looks nothing like it’s wild ancestors. Like cabbage or cauliflower it was selected from a wild species of maize found in Mexico over centuries of natural and human selection. Like most every vegetable we eat today it too has been essentially genetically modified over time by us makeing selections of our favortie traits, and these are passed on.

According to the National Science Foundation and molecular biologists, the wild ‘corn’ was a branched grass now known to botanists as Balsas teosinte.  With its hard seed coat or shell, the idea that we could revert to growing wild corn is unrealistic. Yet corn stands as one of the greatest achievement of mankind, and regardless of your political or environmental position regarding the culture of corn, we as a species probably wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for corn.

This is a variety isnt ‘Butter and Sugar’ but it is called ‘Xtra-Tender 2171- F1 Hybrid grown from organic seed. It’s an SH2 or ‘Augmented Shrunken Gene variety. Not GMO, even though it sounds like it. It’s worth growing for both flavor and texture in the home garden, not to mention disease resistance to ‘Stewart’s Wilt’ and Leaf Blight.

IS CORN WORTH GROWING AT HOME?

Johnny’s Selected Seeds carrys many good varieties of corn for the home grower, but again, the variety names may not attract you to them.

This black pop corn was just beutiful enough to use as table decor last Thanksgiving. I only grew a few long rows but never bothered to dry it properly to pop it well.

The post I’m 100% Corn Fed and Totally OK with It appeared first on Growing With Plants.

I ordered my tomato seeds today, and even an old dog like me has learned new tricks.

I know – I overshared a bit in my last post. Enough of the ‘Groaning with Plants’ posts. Back to business and today, that means tomatoes. I’ve been writing my pages on tomatoes for my book, which reminded me that I had better order seed now before it is too late. I won’t be sowing seed until late April or early May for setting out into the garden in early June, but I know from experience that the hard-to-get varieties will be impossible to get once spring comes around.

Believe me, gardeners can get seriously geeky about tomatoes.

First off, don’t assume that all heirloom tomatoes are good to eat, also don’t assume that the nursery will grow only the best varieties. You will need to do some research, read all of the catalogs and some of the best books on tomatoes out there (I share some of those later in this post), and then make your own decisions based on what you will be using you tomatoes for. You might want sweeter varieties or some that are more acidic for caning. Meaty or savory varieties might be preferred over slicers, or you might be planning on making sauce and not eating them all raw with sea salt. If you are like me, you night be able to find a reason to grow every one.

Tomatoes. I’ve neglected them, lately. Only grew a few last year (30 or so plant, which is ‘just a few’ for me, most of which I have to admit didn’t do very well, which is surprising as it was a very good tomato year last year (very little Late Blight). I realized what my problem was half-way through the gardening season – I didn’t do my homework, and I took a risk trying a bunch of heirlooms which I wasn’t familiar with. Big mistake. Here is how it all happened.

I was writing my book so needed lots of space for other veggies that I knew I wouldn’t be able to find elsewhere – like 15 varieties of okra, lots of melons and watermelons, dried beans, and odd cucumbers from Tibet and elsewhere. I didn’t want to ever have to buy a vegetable from a market and photograph it for my book as it feels wrong. In much the same way that a garden writer should never write about a plant that they never have grown. It’s just a pet peeve of mine along with photos of supermarket vegetables set into a garden scene. If I see asparagus spears shoved into the ground in an attempt to make look as if they were growing there, who knows what I will do.

Of course I grow flowers. I grow, well, everything, right? Don’t you? Does anyone else have this pereption problem?

TOmato seedlings last April. Yes, it is far too early in much of the country to start planting tomatoes, but it isnt too early to order ones seed. The really good varieties will be sold out.

My tomatoes don’t get planted into the ground until early June, when our soil warms up to near 70 deg. I’ve even sown seed directly before and the plants raced back large seedlings from the Home Depot. Soil temperature is key.  How many of you use a soil thermometer? Most commerical growers do.

SO– my book. My hope is to introduce step-by-step images for more unusual veggies especially for those which few people grow – like Lima beans, Okra, Bitter Melon, Luffa, Parsnips.As for the common veggies like beans and yes, tomatoes, well, it looks like I need to touch on those deeper as well.

I suppose that I was being conscious and felt that I need to respect what information is already out in the marketplace for vegetable growing books Do any of you really need to know how I raise string beans, zucchini or tomatoes? I assumed that most vegetable gardeners already know how to plant the most common vegetable in the vegetable garden, or am I wrong?  And, I very well could be wrong, for even I screwed up epically with tomatoes this past year.

With thousands of tomato varieties now available, why limit yourself to the names you know? But be careful – for looks isn’t everything. I still buy the rainbow, but look first to the flavor profile before I look at the color. First look for flavor, then for type (Beefsteak, cherry, pear, etc) then for use – sauce and stuffing tomatoes don’t need to be sweet and flavorful, it’s often OK to choose a variety which is bland or firm with pulp, others, may need to be acidic and low in sugar. Know what your ultimate use is.

Here’s why.

I skipped sowing tomatoes last spring, as I knew that I would need space in the greenhouse for more unusual crops for my book.  Besides, I could find my favorite varieties at local garden centers or at plant sales. I wasn’t worried about finding Striped German’s and Prudens Purples. I can even find Green Zebra’s at the Walmart garden center now.

But as luck has it, planting plans were altered In early June just after Joe and I drove up to Vermont to scout out some other sources for other vegetables that I needed. We stopped at Walker’s Farm Stand a place I had heard of through Wayne Winterrowd’s books but never found a reason to take the 2-hour drive to visit.]

Upon pulling into the parking lot a couple of customers and a worker there actually recognized us, which was funny – blog followers are everywhere, I am convinced, so once I was able to ditch the inevitable paparazzi and sign a few autographs (kidding, but close – really), we shopped.

Walker’s Farm in Dummerston Vermont (relatively near us )offers hundreds of perfectly raised tomato seedlings each spring in individual pots. I just need to learn about which varieties to choose. Best to go prepared next year. Better yet – I will start some myself as one never knows if they will be sold out, or skipped a variety for a year.

It was late in the day and the place was about to close.

Walker’s was, which I didn’t know,  known for pre-started heirloom tomato plants – they had individual pots of over 250 heirloom varieties! So many that Joe and I instantly both entered plantamorphicparalysis or more accurately, Horticultimania – you know, that condition which afflicts only plant people when they become overwhelmed by awesome selection.

The same thing happens with a few female friends I know, at pop-up Manolo store sales (a couple of male friends, too). (I know as if there are Manolo stores and Manolo sales.).

The problem was, they had only one laminated list which was typewritten, with a single-line description along with the lines of “bright orange with a tart flavor:, for each variety, and it was chained to a bench. There was a woman who kept warning us that “Boy’s – we’re closing in 5 minutes you know” so that didn’t help with anything except with the volume of plants we were grabbing. And grab, we did. You do what you have to do in such situations.

Quickly, I snapped at Joe “Just pick out 10 of your favorite names and I’ll grab 10 names that I like. The only rule is to not choose a variety that you’ve heard of before.”

So we grabbed ones with interesting Russian names or anything with ‘Pineapple or Peach’ in it. If it was a black anything, we grabbed it. If it said ‘blue’ or ‘purple’ that too.

Stop judging me! You would do the same thing. They were only about $3.00 each (I think, really, I don’t remember), but they weren’t $7.00 or anything near the price of a single 4 inch fancy Proven Winners type of annual.

With this strategy, we would surely end up with some very interesting choices. The ‘Big Beefsteak types’ and “Green Zebra’s were varieties that are not rare,  and I could find those anywhere, even at Walmart.

For years I have grown tomatoes, both heirlooms, and new hybrids but after a disaster last year, I discovered that all tomatoes -heirloom or not, are not created the same.

As I said, space was limited so I only added a few more plants of black-fruited ones that I did start in the greenhouse, believing that I had a pretty good selection of both colorful and hopefully, flavorful tomatoes. Like most gardeners, I kept my fingers crossed that 2017 might be a good year for tomatoes and a bad year for Phytopthora infestans – the dreaded ‘late blight’ that can turn a bed of tomatoes into a wicked moldy mess of dead leaves and fruit by August.

As it turned out, it was a decent year for tomatoes, and it seems that I had everything in order. Three new bee hives were busy pollinating, lots of sunny days, and I was home so I could water and fertilize, prune, train and stake almost every day, but few tomatoes were forming, and the ones that were beginning to look uninteresting.

I turned to my friend Amy Goldman Fowler’s landmark book  ‘The Heirloom Tomato’ and decided to look up all of the names of those tomatoes we bought in Vermont to see how she rated them.

Amy goes into great detail not only about growing tomatoes, but lists many in here book each with their name, their synonyms (and there are many of those, so it helps with the confusion that exists between many heirloom varieties as the names were handed down, shared and traded, often changing along the way.

With my tags in hand, and gradually learned that each of the tomatoes we bought from that massive list in Vermont had indeed a great name, but the quality rating in her book confirmed my fears, In fact, I don’t think that we had a single tomato variety worthy of a home garden.

I rarely plant tomatoes directly into the open soil without mulch anymore, but sometimes I need to. If so, I plant new varieties bred for disease resistance and hybrid vigor.

For example, rushed as we were, we both grabbed a healthy looking seedling of a variety that had the name ‘Alberta Peach’, an heirloom peach fuzz coated variety with very fuzzy leaves and enormous leaves. In Amy’s book, I began to find varieties listed which began to excite me.

‘Pink Peach’
Amy says that the flavor is ‘Peachy keen’ ,

OK, that sounds like it was a good choice.

Then Amy writes about one called’Yellow Peach’.
The Flavor the said is ‘Excellent and well balanced.’

OK, that’s good too,

Then’Peach Blow Sutton’.

Flavor: Excellent. Amy wrote that it is  “cool and refreshing” . A “tomato-lite flavor”.
(OK, not sure what “tomato-lite” is, but it cant be that bad.).

‘Peche’, Amy writes, is a variety from 1891 with at flavor profile of: “Good, mildly sweet and refreshing”.

Yes. I want that too,

Joe picking the last of last year’s tomatoes. A bit of late blight, but it was nearly October.

But the problem was that I could not find one called ‘Alberta Peach’. Maybe I was missing something, or maybe it was just one of the thousands of names of heirloom tomatoes was just synonymous with another similar variety. Yet while I perusing the index in Amy’s book,  I found a variety called ‘Elberta Girl’, and began to think that maybe the label was misspelled.

Sure enough, under the synonyms which Amy so thoughtfully lists for each variety found that another name for this tomato was indeed  ‘Elberta Peach’. Nice. This is a comprehensive book and the research that went into it shows.

The description though was nto what I expected. This wasnt an old heirloom at all but rather one from the 1980’s. Amy’s then wrote these notes:

‘Elberta Girl’. Flavor: “A juicy hardball. The skin is waxy,
bypass the striped fruit of Elberta Girl-unless you want a hood ornament”.

I didnt want a hood ornament.

Oh, Amy. Where did I go wrong?

Every summer we host tomato tasting parties, that is until last year. Many friends from California to the Netherlands are familiar with these dinners and some plan visits for late August and early September. Yum!

I guess I should have read every single entry in your gorgeous book and not be distracted by the beautiful photos byVictor Schrager.

So I did.

Today.

All of the varieties I grew last year had their flavor profiles and sometimes their brix numbers in their descriptions. When I looked up the varieties that I grew last year, I coudl see exactly where I went wrong. Sometimes, if not most of the time, the name and colors of heirloom tomatoes can misselead you.

Black Plum, Flavor, –“Bland”
King Humbert, Flavor– “Bland”
Brown Flesh, Flavor: — Fair to good”
Caro-Rich, Flavor — “Fair to non-descript’
Black Prince, Flavor: — “Poor”

The list went on.

“non-existent”,
“on the acidic side”,
“mildly pleasing at best”.

I suck at picking out tomato varieties.

I am not kidding here, and although I know this list is somewhat subjective, it’s also not as if Amy doesn’t know her tomatoes. Amy’s husband is Cary Fowler, Ph.D., the former Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust and instrumental in the creation of the Svalbard Global Seed Bank in Norway. Surely he knows good tomatoes. Amy herself is a noted plantswoman with many accomplishments; author of four books on vegetables, three of which have won  American Horticultural Society’s Book of the Year awards. Amy is also sits on the Board at the New York Botanical Garden. Amy is known as a tomoto guru (and a squash, melon and pepper guru just to name a few). She grows hundreds and hundreds of varieties on her farm. She’s even had tomatoes named after her. For that metter,  she’s even named tomatoes.

When the skills of a serious scientist and serious gardener combine – in a kitchen, something tells me that they would know how to judge the flavor quality of a tomato.

Her books are worth getting and reading and rereading not just becasue they are beuatifully designed and photographed, but because they are well written and exceptionally well researched. The reader can tell that Amy didnt sit on Google ‘researching’, but  that she spent hours and hours in librarys.

Let me put it this way: Gregory Long, President of the New York Botanical Garden describes her as ‘perhaps the world’s premier vegetable gardener.”, and I have to agree. Joe and I have spent hours in her fields of melons, squashes, peppers and tomatoes oogling at the diversity and trials. You want to read books by people who collected and grew all of what they wrote about – and then know that they did the research as well. Brilliant.

Clusters of tomatoes ripen in a beautiful way, from the bottom to the top, but we often nevert appreciate the coloring until the winter when we discover a photo like this.

So, I learned my lesson here. I made some assumptions about tomatoes, only buying the ones I was familar with, but when I stepped out of my comfort zone and tried some new ones, I didnt do my homework. Amy’s book informed me in many ways. It showed me what tomatoes I should have grown, and after a couple of hours reading every page I ended up with lists. One had 30 heirloom varieties on it, all rated high on flavor performance. Each were described as being ‘Excellent” in flavor, and a few as “sublime”, “Sumptuous’, “perfection, with both highest sugar and acid”. I eliminated any rated as “good” or “sweet and nutty”, “balanced” or even “Good to Excellent”, clearly, I’ve been spooked.

Every year find the photos of tomato harvests from previous years, and it’s fun to look at one’s notes and the colors to see what worked, and what didn’t. This shot is from 4 years ago, and with no notes, I cant remember now what varieties I had.

I am not going to share all of the varieties that I ordered tonight, as many get sold out quickly.  Amy does list sources, and there are many, in the back of her book. A couple here I will share:

Tomato Bob’s and Totally Tomatoes, are two that I recommend aside from the sources we already know. Each offers hundreds of tomato varieties as well as other vegetables. If you want the full list I suggest that you get Amy’s book. It wouldn’t be right for me to post them all here, besides, the list is too long.

Another helpful resource is the Cornell University site called VEGETABLE VARIETIES FOR GARDENERS were one can enter the name of any vegetable and see ratings by both professional and amateur gardeners. It’s a site that will show you the highest rated tomatoes (or radishes, squash or what have you) as well as the lowest. Reviews are entered in daily and it’s easy to waste a lot of time on this site. FYI – ‘Sungold’ was reviewed the most with 4 and a half stars.

I have no problem sharing my sources, however, if you think that will be helpful, I can write that list up in the next post – just let me know in the comments sections, sometimes there are secret sources that escaped someone, but most of the time I just assume everyone knows everything.

With thousands of ‘heirloom’ tomatoes out there, even the most experienced can get confused. What I’ve learned is to not trust the names, to not trust that all ‘heirlooms’ are indeed old tomatoes and that just because the big seed companies carry a pretty variety, it doesn’t mean that there are not others out there which are better.

Amy’s book has 6 pages of sources on-line, it’s a book I use frequently to help me week out the trash tomatoes, for the catalogs, especially the heirloom tomato and pepper catalogs are full of hyperbole and “this is my favorite!”, which really doesn’t help me. Either that or I just don’t trust anyone anymore!

I will share that I bought:
Casady’s Folly, Dixie Golden Giant, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, to name a few.

If you have a fav, please share it and tell us why.

Cheers.

The post Rating Tomatoes – Always Learning appeared first on Growing With Plants.

Tomatoes seem to know when they should ripen – and it’s never at a convenient time. I’ve been traveling for the past three weeks ( a couple trips to both New Mexico and California for work and pleasure) but I’ve been home every weekend for a day or two to do laundry, re-pack and to ‘put-up tomatoes, which this year, have decided to not only ripen when I am at my most busy, they have also decided to become a bit of a bumper crop (which I have no idea why, as we have had a very cold and wet summer). Really though, I am not complaining – as come this winter, we will have lots of heirloom tomatoes canned whole, crushed, sauce, salsa and stewed. Since again this weekend I am just catching up on posts, emails and yes…..tomato canning, here are some pictures from last weekend’s bounty.
Click for more:

Most of the tomatoes will be canned whole, a family favorite since I was a young. Any extra tomatoes are being processed into tomato sauce. My sauce is nothing fancy, (unless you consider 14 different kinds of heirloom tomatoes fancy! Well, OK….I guess a little fancy.) Most importantly, everything in my sauce comes from our garden -except the olive oil.

I have no idea why some many of the tomatoes in our garden this year are perfect, but again – not complaining! I try to organize tomatoes by size, reserving the most uniform ones for whole tomatoes, and others for sauce.

FRESH BAY LEAVES FROM ONE OF OUR FOUR LARGE BAT LAUREL TOPIARY TREES

I start by processing the whole tomato – skin and all, even the seeds in a Vitamix blender – Julia may frown, but it’s just a lot easier, and we don’t mind a few seeds). I use lots of garlic, basil, bay leaf and parsley from the garden, with a touch of celery leaf for flavor. A few red peppers perhaps, and one or two hot chili’s.

Every herb in my sauce comes from the garden.

The sauce is them reduced down for a couple of hours until thick, and then added to clean canning jars.

When canning sauce, citric acid or lemon juice needs to be added to each jar to keep the acidity level high. I use 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid rather than bottled lemon juice, as I prefer the flavor to lemon juice in tomato product. Citric Acid had no flavor.

Tomatoes intended for canning whole, or in quarters are first skinned by placing into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, and then into an ice bath. I cut an X in the bottom of each tomato before placing in the hot water bath. It makes the skin easier to peel off. I don’t peel the skin on the tomatoes that go into the sauce, as the Vitamix blender takes care of that for me.

Once removed from the hot water bath, the jars cool on a dry kitchen towel on a wood board, away from drafts, and the cold granite counter. As you can see, I tried to keep some yellow and orange heirloom tomatoes separate because they are so beautiful canned in separate colors. Others are just mixed up varieties. Come January when the snow is falling, and any idea of the summer garden remains months away from reality, we really won’t care what color they are, when we pour their cool, salty contents into bowls to accompany hearty winter dinners. Sunshine in a jar.

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