Herbs and Vegetables

Herbs - Mint: one of the most useful herbs known to man, the menthol (and carvone in the case of the spearmints) is probably used by all human cultures for a wide variety of purposes.  Some of the more obvious include teas, flavorings (toothpaste, mouthwash, etc.), and ointments, but this time of year many like to enjoy the flavor in cooling beverages.  One of the most popular of late is the Mojito.  These drinks call for spearmint leaves.  Some recommend the use of a particular spearmint: Kentucky Colonel Mint - a hybrid between apple mint and spearmint that was bred specifically for another drink, the Mint Julep!

Home Grown Mojitos

Summer is the time to harvest some of that mint you are growing in the herb garden and make some great tasting Mojitos.  In case you haven't got any mint going yet we've got lots of it ready to plant.  And in case you don't know how to make mojitos here are a few recipes to get you started: 1.) Traditional Mojito 2.) The Best Ever (traditional version)  3.) The Best Ever (with some added twists)  4.) Dos and Don'ts

Vegetables & Herbs for planting

    Great eating begins with great ingredients and we have what it takes to help you grow the best of all you can in this wonderfully productive climate. From our home garden as well as our P-Patch, we are now harvesting great tasting lettuces and romaine along with Walla Walla sweet onions.  We have been picking peas since June and we are starting to get the real prize: fresh tasty tomatoes!  Some of our tomatoes were started in early April with the help of the Season Extender aka Wall-of-Water (click for video) and several of those plants now have some smaller ripe fruit on them.

A couple of days ago I picked the first ripe zucchini of the year and while they haven't been particularly fast to ripen this year, there are lots of them coming along slowly.  This is great as it gives you time to pick them before they grow to be into the baseball bat size category.  If they are left on the plant too long the developing seeds within the fruit send signals to the plant to stop flowering.  So if you want to continue to get smaller zucchini for easier and tastier cooking, keep picking the fruit while they are still small. 

Don't forget to Fertilize!

Its been estimated that food crop yields increase by between 40 to 60% by the judicious use of fertilizers!  Some think that "all natural" means preparing a garden with great compost (like our Gardener and Bloome Bumper Crop - it contains 15% chicken manure, bat guano, worm castings and other good stuff for your vegetable growing needs)  and then planting organic seeds or organic vegetable starts and then waiting for a great harvest. 

Using proper fertilizer at appropriate times not only helps with crop size and greater yield it also helps the plants' ability to fend off insects and disease.  To insure the best harvests apply a mild organic granular fertilizer when planting and then add liquid organic fertilizers during the growing season.  We have several very good liquid fertilizers specifically designed for food crops available for you to increase your harvest this season - Dr. Earth liquid concentrate, Mega Green Organic fertilizer concentrate and Alaska Fish Feritlizer. If you have any questions, nearly all of our friendly staff grows their own food crops and can give you advice when needed.

Seed Potatoes (Sold Out)

We offer several varieties from Irish Eyes farms in Thorp, Washington.   This spring we have the following varieties: Yukon Gold, Kennebec, Dark Red Nordland, and Russet Burbank

Garlic

All of the below information and photos are taken from the Irish Eyes website (irish-eyes.com) For best results, plant garlic in the fall.  Harvest the following summer.Click for more on growing, harvesting and storing Garlic.

Onions

Onion starts still available

Walla Walla sweets - no more til next year

We do have some yellow onion and scallion starts

Tomatoes - Now Sold Out!

Although its been very cool this spring if you had used protection - such as Walls-of-Water or cloches your tomato plants would be starting to show signs of the forthcoming fruit on the vine.  To see the results of the protective covers take a look at the video on Early Season Planting.  You can find all the supplies needed for early starts, including gro-lights at Magnolia Garden Center.  We can help you get set-up and started if you need.

We stocked many varieties of tomatoes this year.  All of our tomatoes are grown in organic soil without the use of chemicals, pesticides or chemically-derived fertilizers.  We strive to provide you with the best quality plants to insure your growing success. 

We try to carry many varieties that grow well in Western Washington.  The following is a list of those varieties we carried in 2010.  Depending on grower availability we expect to carry many of the following varieties as well as a few additional varieties:

Hybrid Tomato - Momotaro                 (territorial seed photo)

Deep pink, firm 6oz. fruit are sweet with a delightful refined flavor.  Winner of several tasting contests in the Pacific Northwest.  Market growers like this tomato, noted for crack resistance, holding quality and heat tolerance.  65 days.  Indeterminate.

Hybrid Tomato-Sun Sugar

Orange-red cherry tomatoes with golden cheeks.  Fine flavored, tender fruits are high in natural sugars and crack resistant.  Vigorous vines need staking or other support.  This variety is getting new attention after ranking highly in a Sunset Magazine taste test.  Also won several Seattle area taste-offs.  62 days.  Indeterminate.

 Hybrid Tomato – Sun Gold                       (Burpee seed photo)

Delectable fruity, tropical flavor is always popular.  Hard to keep from eating them all right off the vine.  Bright apricot colored cherry tomatoes.  Great in salads or fresh.  65 days.  Indeterminate.

Hybrid Tomato - Oregon Spring (territorial seed photo - available as organically grown seed)

Northwest origin.  Oregon Spring is a compact plant with early tomatoes which are fleshy, frequently seedless and exceptionally fine flavored.  Enjoy their full-flavored succulence in July, when others of this size and quality are not available.  This exciting tomato is a cross between Russian Severianin and Starshot that is earlier than either parent.  60 days.  Determinate.

 Heirloom Tomato – Stupice   

Czechoslovakian heirloom has earned a devoted following in the Pacific Northwest.  Early, prolific variety with exceptional flavor.  Gloosy red 2 – 3” fruit grow on compact 2 to 4 foot vines.  Potato-like foliage.  Even though vines are small, we recommend a trellis or other support for best production.  65 days.  Indeterminate.

Black Prince

Produces large quantities of rich, dark green to black fruit.  Last year we were picking these well into October and we able to bring some in that we used as late as December.  Very tasty.  Indeterminate.

Sweet Million

Probably the most popular of the cherry tomato plants.  Produces large quantities of sweet 1" tomatoes all season.  Starts early and goes late.  Indeterminate.

Other varieties available:

Black From Tula

Russian heirloom.  Large (3 to 4") black tomato, very dark color. Great rich flavor.  75 days Indeterminate

Celebrity

Champion II

Beefsteak

Brandywine

One of the oldest heirloom varieties, also considered one of the best  tasting varieties.  Regular winner of tomato taste-offs.  Pink color, potato leaf type producing 12 oz to 2lb. fruits.  80 days, Indeterminate.

Early Girl

Glacier

Goliath

Matt's Wild Cherry

Mortgage Lifter

Moskovich

A very early variety also doesn't mind colder springs.  Produces mid sized red tasty red fruit on a somewhat smaller shrub.  60 days. Plant this one now!

Oregon Cherry

Persimmon

Purple Cherokee

Striped German

A wonderfully flavored large multi colored fruit.  These can reach 2 or more pounds!  Slightly longer season, so plant in a warmer site.  Indeterminate

Sweet Olive

Yellow Brandywine

A yellow version of the popular heirloom Brandywine.

Yellow Pear

Peppers - Many Hot and Sweet Too late!

Both sweet and hot peppers, including Pablano, Jalepeno, Habenera, Thai Hot, Banana, Bell, wax and more.

Tomatillos & Cucumbers-  Too late!

Eggplants, green beans, edamame (soy), arugula, kale, beets, and more