Garden 2010, Start Your Engine!

The weather report here in NYC is ‘wintery mix,’ aka, I wish I could wear both my Uggs and my Hunter boots at the same time. But spring is coming, and Lorne and I (with lots of tie-breaker help from Tammy) just picked out our summer 2010 garden lineup.

I love the Fedco seed catalog. There are rambling old-time descriptions starting with hooks like, “This zucchini will make you popular,” and, “This tomato will change your life.” Seriously, the fact that they can write two engaging paragraphs about a single seed is fantastic. It makes me want to buy everything, and plant gardens up and down the street. (Small seed packets only run about a dollar a each…fueling the addiction.)

The names alone of some of these (Costata Romanesca Zucchini, anyone?) are enough to earn them precious soil space. Each one is a little dream, and it’ll be six months before I know if our General Lee slicing cucumbers live up to their namesake, or if our Charming Snow cauliflower will be charming come August, but for now, they’re all bursting with possibility. Even the “common” mint.

Here’s what we’ll be growing and cooking with this summer:

General Lee Slicing Cucumber

Richmond Green Apple Slicing Cucumber

Costata Romanesca Zucchini

Early Wonder Tall Top Beet

Lincoln Leek

Red Marble Onion

Bordeaux Spinach

Tyee Spinach

Lettuce Mix

Bright Lights Chard

Roodnerf Brussels Sprouts

Charming Snow Cauliflower

White Russian Kale OG

Early Jalapeno

Anaheim Hot Pepper

Rutgers Tomato OG

Cherokee Purple Tomato OG

Early Girl Tomato

Sweet Basil

Lime Basil OG

Cilantro OG

Fernleaf Dill

Common Mint

German Thyme