Every year, I like to try at least one new variety of vegetable or fruit.

This year I grew a Marmande tomato and Gypsy sweet pepper.

The Marmande is an old French heirloom beefsteak tomato. I usually grow one type of slicing tomato, though I tend to concentrate more on the plum tomatoes for sauce. This one I found as a seedling at a master gardener plant sale. I was intrigued by the grower's description so I took a chance.

The Marmande was very sweet for a beefsteak. We like it fresh, drizzled with a little balsamic reduction. 

And we liked it so much, I decided to save the seeds to this one so I can grow it again. Fortunately, I grew it in the greenhouse so I'm assured it didn't cross pollinate with anything else. We'll see how it does next year.

The Gypsy sweet pepper had an oddly unhelpful name, but we both loved it.

It's sweet, mild, yet hearty. I've used it in everything that might welcome a crunchy, peppery taste with no heat whatsoever.

Both are winners. I saved the seed for the pepper as well, but I may go ahead and start a few more plants this year. I think it'll keep very well. I love eating this one fresh though, hence my reason to try to grow them year round. They're so sweet and thick walled, it's almost like biting into an apple.

A good start. 

This year I bought seed potato online. Usually I pick them up locally, but I missed my window for the freshest potato seed. 

It was just as well. It gave me the chance to try a new variety of potato. I planted Yukon Gold and a potato called Nicola. Nicola is supposed to have a lower glycemic value than other potatoes. I just dug up a few tubers and will test the results in a couple of days. When Greg tests his blood, I'll see if it made a difference. 

Now for my big failure.

I don't know how it happened, but I screwed up big time with one blackberry plant. When I bought my plants last year, I wanted to be sure they were all thornless.

I must've picked up one thorny variety by accident when I was looking them over. It was tiny when I planted it, and I noticed the fuzzy branches, but I thought it wasn't that bad. I would've returned it if I had remembered where I got it.

Now that it's a giant, I realize it was a mistake. It's drawn blood out of me twice. 

I plan to dig it up in the winter, but it might be futile. It's so vigorous, it's already sprouted several two foot shoots in other parts of the bed. I'll probably be digging and cutting that bush for years.  

At least my blueberry bushes and strawberry plants are behaving. Both produced very sweet fruit, but not nearly as many as I expected. They're young yet, though. They might be more prolific next year.

I covered my berry plants this year. Last year, every wasp and bunny kept noshing on my fruit, so I made a preemtive strike by covering them with mesh fabric after the flowers had been pollinated.

Lessons learned this year: Always cover your fruit, and never trust a thorny bush no matter how innocent it looks as a baby. 

 

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Welcome to my Home. If you have food, beware of dogs. The cat's not too trustworthy either.