The 2011 Season Begins!

Another year of healthy herb and vegetable plants and fresh, delicious produce and baked goods has begun! Although it was overcast, the weather held for the most part, offering only a gentle shower. Every year my family and I look forward to another season of bounty and I'm always excited to see what kinds of tomatoes Keith has growing. As always, he had a wonderful selection! Andy had a great variety of herbs as well, and Hilo brought both vegetable and flower plants along too. Speaking of flowers, Keith and Hilo had gorgeous hanging baskets! Add to that Karen's wonderful selection of jams, jellies, butters, and baked goods, and it makes for a great way to spend part of my Sunday! I snapped a few pictures and below is a list of everything that was available. I've planted my vegetable and herb garden with plants purchased at the market for the last two years and we've had wonderful harvests, not to mention beautiful displays of flowers, and I look forward to another great year!

Here's what each vendor had this week. I tried to mark heirloom varieties with an H, but I may have missed one or two. Please let me know in the comments and I'll fix any errors.

Please forgive me for the lack of pictures. I changed computers over the winter and I don't have the right software installed yet. I'll remedy that soon and then I'll post pictures.

Dogpatch Nursery

Keith's trailer was packed with an impressive variety of peppers and tomatoes, and he also had squash, eggplant, late cabbage, and cucumbers. Add to that the fresh eggs and beautiful hanging baskets, and it made for a beautiful display!

Available Plants (H - Heirloom)

Squash - Straight Neck, Zucchini, Bush Patty Pan

Eggplant - Black Beauty, Fairy Tale, Pingtung Long, Antiqua (H)

Cabbage - Flat Dutch Late

Cucumber - National Pickling, Bush Pickle, Sweet Slice, Marketmore

Pepper - Poblano, Jalapeno, Ancho San Luis, Serrano, Hot Banana (Hungarian Wax), Sweet Banana, Bounty, California Wonder 300, Big Early, Giant Marconi, Red Beauty, Orange Bell, Purple Beauty

Cherry Tomato - Patio, Sweet Gold, Sweet 100, Sugar Snack, Grape

Tomato - Dr. Wyche's Yellow (H), Pierce's Pride (H), Emerald Green (H), Bonnie's Best (H), Black Brandywine (H), Better Bush, Jubilee (H), Black Krim (H), Mortgage Lifter (H), Early Girl, Kellogg's Breakfast (H), Roma, Brandywine (H), Virginia Sweets (H), Big Beef, Lemon Boy, Burpee's Supersteak, Carbon (H), Rutger, San Marzano (H), Better Boy

Next week Keith will have watermelon, cantalope, and honeydew plants as well.

Karen's Kitchen

Karen had a wonderful variety of jellies, jams, and butters, as well as loaves of artisan bread, cakes, pies, cookies, and muffins. Remember that you can call ahead and request special orders! This week I brought home blueberry muffins and my family loved them. Not only were they moist, they weren't too sweet so the blueberry flavor shone through.

In addition to the selection listed on the Karen's Kitchen's page, Karen has added new and exciting flavors: Dandelion Jelly, Lemon Jelly, Lilac Jelly, Pomegranate Jelly, Strawberry-Kiwi Jam, and Violet Jelly. I can't wait to try them!

Ochoa Produce

Hilo had a great selection of spring onions (my favorite!), radishes, lettuce, greens, and herbs, not to mention many plants, both vegetables and flowers. He also had some beautiful hanging baskets in a variety of colors. I bought some onions and some swiss chard, which I'll turn into a delicious stir-fry tomorrow night. I love the wide variety of onions Hilo grows and every time he has a new one I think, "That's my favorite!", but I realized today that I say that about all of them, so I'll just say they're all tasty!

In the next couple of weeks Ochoa Produce will have beets, squash, cabbage, strawberries, sweet peas, new potatoes, and cucumbers.

Available Plants

Flowers - double petunia, wave petunia, nicotiana, morning glory, moonflower, sweet william, nasturtium, zinnia, salvia, marigold, snap dragon, begonia, hypoestes, portulaca, impatiens, vinca, geranium

Decorative - dusty miller, coleus

Vegetables

Pepper - King Arthur Sweet Pepper, Jalapeno, Super Chili Pepper

Cucumber - Slicemaster

Squash - yellow and zucchini

Cherry Tomato - Sweet 100

Tomato - Early Girl, Roma, Big Boy, Golden Jubilee Yellow

Cabbage

Tasty Fixin's

Andy brought a wide variety of herbs and flowers, both useful and beautiful. It's always a struggle to keep from buying one of everything, especially when he brings something new or exotic.

Available Herbs

Arp Rosemary, Arugula, BBQ Rosemary, Berggarten Sage, Borage, Broccoli Raab, Bronze Fennel, Catnip, Chocolate Mint, Cilantro, Cinnamon Basil, Cuban Oregano, Curled Parsley, Eucalyptus, Fernleaf Dill, Fernleaf Lavender, Garlic, Chives, Genovese Basil, Golden variegated Sage, Greek Columnar Basil, Greek Mountain Oregano, Green Malabar Spinach, Grosso Lavender, Horehound, Hot & Spicy Oregano, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley, Italian Large Leaf Basil, Italian Oregano, Kentucky Col. Spearmint, Lemon Basil, Lemon Grass, Lime Basil, Lovage, Mini Purple Basil, Mrs. Howard’s Rosemary, Munstead Lavender, Nasturtium-Black Velvet, Nasturtium-Empress of India, Nasturtium-Ladybird, Nasturtium-Milkmaid, Onion Chives, Orange Mint, Peppermint, Pineapple Mint, Pineapple Sage, Provence Lavender, Red Malabar Spinach, Red Rubin Basil, Salad Burnet, Santolina, Society Garlic, Spicy Globe Basil, Sweet Basil, Sweet Bay Laurel, Thai Siam Queen Basil, White Provence Lavender