Spring 2021 Seedling Availability

Updated April 2, 2021

The following are a list of seedling I expect to have available for sale in late April. Pick-up at the house in Washington, VA. Leave a comment with your e-mail address if you have questions and/or for directions. If you would like me to hold any for you, I request that you prepay (whole or a deposit via Paypal or check)… especially if you are a first time purchaser. Otherwise, it’s on a first come, first serve basis. I don’t advise to plant the warm weather crops until early to mid May; you can start picking up here the 3rd week April and baby them at home… or wait some more. Some of the herbs and greens can be planted earlier and are marked with **.

All seedling grown without synthetic input. Many from organic seeds

Tomatoes. Follow the link to see the vendor where I got the seeds, description and picture. The numbers indicates how many seedlings I hope to have available. Prices will be around $3-$6 depending on final size

• Mel’s German: an heirloom developed by Mel Chamberlain, a former neighbor from when we lived in the City of Falls Church. Mel developed the seeds for over 40 years in his truck garden in the Virginia Beach area. They are great seeds with strong vitality. I am ashamed to say that the last time I planted them was 2008… but a good number of seedlings came from those 12 years old seeds! I am keeping most of them to save seeds again, so only 4 to 6 plants
• Stupice – new to me. early & good for container; 4 plants
• Rutgers’ Original – 10
• Nepal – 5
• Pineapple – 6
• Green Zebra * – 2
• Reine des hatives (Queen of the Earlies)*, French heirloom (pre-1900), early , determinate, small fruited (2.5 – 4 oz), 2 or 3
• San Marzano*, Italian seeds, Franchi, THE processing tomato, 8
• Rio Grande*, Italian seeds, Franchi, large Roma-type, 5
• Principe Borghese*, Italian seeds, Franchi: small prolific fruit on vigorous indeterminate vines. Great for drying and salad, and keeps very well. Last year, we ate Principe Borghese through the 2nd week of December from fruit last picked on November 17 (plants grown in the unheated tunnel) – 8
• Roma VA select – new to me; a locally adapted strain of Roma; det – 4
• Amish Paste – indet – 2
• Littl’ Bites – new to me; patio type – 2
• Sungold – 6

* seeds obtained from before the 2021 import ban on tomato & pepper seeds

Peppers (prices will be $3 to $5 depending on final size)

• Pizza my Heart – mini pepper, good for container. New to me – 6 to 8
• Heirloom Italian, mixed colors. 2 to 4 plants
• Carmen (red corno di toro type) – 2 or 3
• Escamillo (like Carmen but yellow)- 2 or 3
• Cornito Rosso (red small corno di toro)- 5
• Gourmet (orange bell) – 4 or 5
• King Arthur (red bell) – 8
• Yellow Bell (not sure of cultivar, web site and packet don’t match) – 3
• Red Flame (moderately hot cayenne type) – 2

Sweet Potatoes: will be available as plants, fully rooted and already developing, those will keep growing as soon as you plant them. So they will produce sooner than slips, probably gaining you 4-6 weeks… i.e. you will have a bigger harvest. I also have slips (not a plant) available for pick-up now with 48 hrs notice. YOU MUST PLANT THE SLIPS ASAP, either in a heated greenhouse or in a very sunny window (use deep pots, at least 4″ a side or diameter). Sweet potatoes plants will be $3-4 depending on size. Slips are $0.75 each.

• Beauregard – those are later developing than my other sweet potatoes. So – at this point – there will only be plants in early May. Beauregard is know for the huge tubers (3 lbs and over) that it can produce with a long enough growing season
• Laughing Duck orange sweet potato. Until I can identify it, that’s what I am calling it. Coming from a sweet potato that sprouted in the compost pile 3 years ago. I don’t know what it is. It’s a very healthy, very strong grower, producing smaller tubers than Beauregard – something a lot of people seem to like – weighing 6-9 oz each.
• Purple sweet potato. Purple skin & flesh. Kept well, is producing plenty of shoots. I have never grown it though. The stock was from organic tubers bought from The farm at Sunnyside.

Others

• Tomatillo
• Ground cherries
• Mignonette Alpine strawberries
• Parsley
• Peppermint
• Scented geraniums
• Mixed basils
• Mexican tarragon aka Mexican mint marigold
• Catnip (1/2 gal)
• Cardoon (many people grow it as an ornamental, but the stems are edible, and the taste is just like its close cousin, the artichoke)
• Swiss chard: ‘peppermint’ and ‘Bright Lights‘
• Red stem Italian dandelion (a chicory despite its name, and with only a mild bitterness)