A Word About Growing Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a great vegetable for your garden.  They are versatile and they are early!

I consider cucumbers to be important to my garden, not because they are splashy like tomatoes, but because they are among the earliest vegetables to be ready in the garden.  They may not get all the press, but when you are going out to look at your garden every day, taking pleasure in every inch of growth,  there is a special thrill when you see the first fruit.  Cucumbers can easily be that first fruit!  The packet of seeds I have says "58 Days to Maturity," but I think you will not have to wait quite that long.

I think it is best to grow cucumbers from seed.  You will see plants for sale at your local garden center, but they generally give only one choice as to variety and that variety will be simply called "Burpless.'  Blah.  Don't do it.  Meander over to the seed racks and take a look at the choices.

I'm going to recommend that you purchase seeds of any variety that has the word "pickle" or "pickling" in the name or in the description underneath.  Why?  Pickling cucumbers are thin-skinned and crispy, perfect for slicing and eating.  These are the ones that have little bumps on them.
They will be crunchy when sliced and eaten with salt and pepper.  They are great for marinating in vinegar or for using in a yogurt salad.  And they make great pickles!
Burpless cucumbers are no good at all for pickles.  They make mushy pickles.  I learned about this the hard way, as most lessons are learned.  Early in my gardening life, I tried my hand at pickles.  They were mushy.  There was no internet then, so I called my county agent.  She mentioned an ingredient in the pickling solution, but I didn't learn the real reason until several years later when I read an Organic Gardening article about it.  AHA!  The culprit!!  No more burpless cukes for me!

Unless you are growing a "bush" variety, in your small garden you need to help those vines grow up.  Tomato cages are good for this (but not for tomatoes).

Pick them when they are relatively small.  You don't want to let them get fat and sort of yellow.  They get very seedy then.   If you miss one, go ahead and pick it and compost it if it's too big.

Which Tomato Should I Grow?

You know how those tomatoes in the seed catalogs sound so tempting and wonderful? Guess what? They will not all grow well in your area. Here in the Southeast, I do not even entertain the thoughts of growing something that mentions Siberia or the Dakotas.  Here, you need something that will stand up to heat and humidity. How do you know which ones those are? 
**Don't try to grow from seed unless you are starting them in February.  At this point, go buy plants.

• Ask other experienced gardeners what kinds they grow.Pay attention to what local garden centers carry. The nurseries that they buy from generally try to grow varieties that are proven in your area.

• If you have a local arboretum or botanical garden, they may have a spring plant sale to help raise money. Find out when it is and GO! You will meet gardeners who are experts in their area. Ask questions. You will learn a lot and you will meet some really nice people who love to share what they know.  

• Read the label.  Look for words like "disease resistant" and "stands up to heat."  If it has some letters at the end like V or VFT, etc, those stand for every disease it's resistant to.  V is verticillium wilt.  F is fusarium.  T is tobacco mosaic virus. N stands for nematodes.  You would think that the more letters it has, the better, but an old standby is Big Boy (the first hybrid tomato).  It has no letters, and I think it's usually pretty dependable. 

Hedge your bets. Don't get just one variety, even if it was your best grower last year. Conditions may be different this year and I try to spread out the risk!

Stop living in a rut!  Trying at least a couple of different varieties will make you feel like you are stepping outside of your box. It will make you feel adventurous in a  safe sort of way! Besides, this is the only way to experiment and find out which varieties are best for you.

Choosing Varieties for Taste

Slicing tomatoes - What do you want your tomatoes to taste like? This is a very individual thing! How can you tell before you grow it? Read the label or the description in the catalog.Some people-me included, like a tomato with a lot of "zing." If that describes you, then you want a tomato with a lot of acid. If it says “real tomato taste” or uses the word “tartness,” then I choose that one! If on the other hand, yoyou do not like a lot of acid in a tomato then you want a “mild” tomato. If it uses the word “mild” or “low-acid,” then that's what you will get. Also, I have found that most yellow or pink tomatoes are milder in flavor, but that is not always the case. Read the label. 

Paste tomatoes are usually also low in acid. They are called “paste” tomatoes because they have a low water content and so are good for making sauces and for roasting. Roma is a very popular variety of paste tomato and is widely available. My personal favorite is Viva Italia.   (Since I like a lot of tartness, when I roast paste tomatoes I add a bit of lemon juice or wine vinegar to the pan.)

Cherry tomatoes are usually pretty dependable and seem to be more resistant to diseases than some slicers.  Although it's hard to make a tomato sandwich with cherry tomatoes, it CAN be done, and I have done it!  
My advice to most people is to grow at least one or two plants of cherry tomatoes in addition to whatever else you grow. 

My number one recommendation is a variety called Sungold.  In the last couple of years I have started seeing it available commercially.  The ones this year are labeled "Yellow Cherry" with the variety name "Sungold" underneath.  I will be planting 3 of these.  They will live till frost and are very prolific!  You will never be short of tomatoes with Sungold in your garden!

Finally, make sure you label your tomatoes in the bed, otherwise when you find a variety that you love the taste of or the one that is “the last survivor on the island,” you will have no idea which one it is!

  

How To Choose Sweet Peppers for Your Garden

The first thing to know is that sweet peppers are only sweet if you let them get ripe.  They're just like an apple or other fruit in that respect.  Green peppers are fine, but when you stir fry or sauté a fully ripe pepper, you will see that sugar start to caramelize in the pan!

Sweet peppers all start out green, then ripen to red or orange or yellow, depending on the variety.  I have noticed in recent years that some of the growers have started labeling the pepper plants they sell as "Green Bell" and then right next to it will be the exact same pepper labeled "Red Bell."  They are the same plant.! They are just tricking you without educating you!  

How will those peppers turn red (or orange or yellow)?  You just let them stay on the plant longer.  It takes a good while longer to get ripe.  That's why those ripe peppers are so expensive in the store.  It costs that farmer a lot of time and resources to grow those peppers longer, and letting them stay on longer decreases the total production of the plant.

Types of Sweet Peppers

In sweet peppers, there are bells and non-bells.  The non-bells can be cherry shaped or shaped like banana peppers.  In bells, I like to choose a mixture of ripe colors.  I also choose some sweet long peppers.  I will use the long ones while still green and then also let some get ripe.  They are usually thinner and I like to use then for pizzas and for pickling to be used for sandwiches and different types of salads.  Try some different varieties of each type to see what grows best in your area and in your garden.  In our area you will see banana peppers, both sweet and hot, for sale.  Although they don't sound as exotic as some, they sure grow well down south, and so they have become a staple in my garden.

While you're looking, pay attention to the "Days to Maturity."  I like to pick some that mature faster because I'm ready to eat!  Note that the days to maturity are not how long they will take to ripen.  You  will have to tack on 2 -3 weeks for that.

All peppers freeze beautifully.  They don't have to be blanched to stop the enzyme process like you would green beans or other vegetables.  All you have to do is cut them up and freeze them.    I would really spread them out in the bag and lay it out flat in the freezer to start with so they don't freeze in a clump.  You can just keep adding to that same bag.  Then you can just break of what you need for a dish next winter.

Now you are fully armed to go out and buy the peppers you really want.  Enjoy them, y'all!!