Kicking Off 2016
It’s almost like you can hear crickets around this blog lately – and sometimes it feels like I’m saying that a lot!
I do plan on keeping more to a regular schedule this year. Winter is usually a little slower around the ol’ blog – most of the work is done behind the scenes: data entry, organizing all the grow-outs from the year, contacting growers, updating the wiki, organizing new seeds brought in, etc.
Right now I’m just finishing up tallying and totalling all varieties grown in 2015 – despite the somewhat lacklustre year, we (myself and the volunteer growers) did manage to get mostly good bankable quantities. There are a few varieties that will be re-grown again in 2016 in order to get those quantities up, but by far and large, another successful grow out year!
I have received some more samples from Plant Gene Resources Canada this year as well. I absolute love getting seeds from PGRC – I love the sense of mystery and discovery the most. Some of my favourite varieties I’ve gotten from them (most notably ‘El Nano’ and ‘Garden Lime’), so I’m always looking for more almost-forgotten gems. Here is a list of what I have, and what (little) information is available about them:
Tidlig Bush – Early, determinate. Marbled(?). Flat fruit shape. Smallish plant. From Norway – Tidlig means “Early”. Donated to PGRC from Alberta in 1974.
Karlik – Indeterminate, potato leaf variety. Marbled(?) skin. Early production, good yield. Oblate fruit. Originally collected from the former Soviet Union in Moscow, introduced to the USA via a donation to the USDA. Then donated to PGRC in 1965.
Elso Termes – Determinate, red fruit. Regular leaf. Early maturity. Donated to PGRC in 1983.
Novocserkaszkij – Oblate, somewhat pleated red fruit. Early, indeterminate, large plant. Large fruit. Donated to PGRC in 1984.
Parma – Red, oblate, pleated(?) fruit. Early maturity, indeterminate. Large plant. Regular leaf. Donated to PGRC in 1984.
Sirius – Early determiante vareity. Large plants, red spherical fruit. Regular leaf. Donated to PGRC in 1985.
Altajskij – Red, oblate, pleated fruit. Large plant, good production. Indeterminate. Good fruit set. Regular leaf. Donated to PGRC in 1986.
Herb Taylor Golden – Oblate, pleated fruit. Orange skin. Good leaf coverage. Mid-season. Indeterminate. Regular leaf. Donated to PGRC in 1991 from Virginia, USA.
Halicz – Ovate, red fruit. Small plant. Early production. Determinate. Regular leaf. Some radial cracking. Donated to PGRC in 1993 from Poland.
I do plan on growing all nine of these varieties, along with some other PGRC varieties I’ve received from previous years in 2016. The extended list is still on-going, so I will update as soon as that’s a bit more solidified.
As always, please check out the database to see growth notes from 2015 – I’m not updating as fast as I’d like, but then again, it is always an on-going process.
Until next time!