Lots of Chicago-style politics going on right now around the One Seed Chicago vote! Gardeners are pulling out all the stops for their candidates… so far the competition is polite but who knows what passionate growers will do for their favorite vegetable as the April 1 deadline gets closer!

I’m not one for politics… with a Libra rising I’m eternally cursed with the ability to see all sides of an issue… being a life-long veggie grower I’ve had vast experience with all three of this year’s candidates and have reasons why each of them deserves to win.

RADISH. Full disclosure, I am somewhat indifferent toward radishes… cooking-wise there’s not a lot you can do with them other than salads – I do like them sliced and tossed with rice wine vinegar and a little sugar and salt. But, in their defense, they’re easy to sow and fast growing and they do make for a happy and optimistic spring garden.

I grow them every year for my friend Betsy. She’s one of those special friends that no matter what nonsense I’m up to she’s wants to participate and makes things extra fun. I grow them for her and do eat a few myself – the French Breakfast variety are quite charming and mild tasting. Peter likes radishes but always seems to forget about them.

Last season I really enjoyed growing Cincinnati Market Radish – they’re very productive and long like a carrot. You get a lot of radish with this variety. Another one I enjoy is called Watermelon -they’re white on the outside and red in the middle – very pretty!

EGGPLANT. I love eggplant! We start them from seed every spring and grow at least six heirloom types and try a few new ones each season. I tend to like the purple varieties although I also grow Casper each summer for the novelty (they’re also sweet and yummy). I’ve tried some Asian non-purple egg-shaped eggplants, like Lao Green Stripe, which I haven’t been crazy about eating but enjoyed growing. This year I’m really geeked about Brazilian Orange Oval Eggplant.

My favorite way to serve them – and one of my favorite dishes of summer – is a variation on an Italian dish called Involtini de Melazana. Instead of mozzarella and basil I use feta and mint. And a splash of lemon juice. Yum.

As much as I’m gushing about lovely eggplant, I have to tell you why it isn’t getting my vote. The decision is made purely with the new gardener in mind… the eggplant starts that you get from local nurseries are usually boring varieties. If you start your own interesting types by seed, they’re sometimes moody and slow to germinate unless conditions are just right (they really like a heating mat to get growing.) Once you set them out, they need lots of warmth to get started and the payoff comes toward the end of a long growing season. If you harvest them too late they tend to be bitter tasting. They also have nasty spines. This isn’t to say they aren’t worth growing – I’ve clearly stated that I do grow them religiously. But for all those new edible gardeners out there, I’d hate for them to get free eggplant seeds and be discouraged…

CHARD. Oh how I love chard! It is second only to spinach as the healthiest vegetable and can be cooked in so many ways. It is easy to direct sow early in the spring and performs well all season long… the large wrinkly seeds are easy to handle, it is fast to germinate and is one of the first spring vegetables. You can eat it as a baby vegetable in salads or quickly sauteed. If you practice the “cut and come again” method with chard, your plants will last all season long. Unlike spinach, they defy summer heat and keep growing all the way into late fall even through light frosts. We’ve even had chard regrow in the spring from plants we had cut back at harvest. They’re a happy site in an empty early garden!

Versatility is the name of the game in cooking with chard… You can use the ribs as you would celery or carrots in sautes or stews. The stems even make for tasty pickles!

The leaves can be steamed with lemon and garlic for a great side dish or blanched and frozen to eat all winter long. I like to use it as a layer in lasagna – I’m partial to polenta lasagna pictured here. The leaves may be used as a substitute for spinach or kale in almost any recipe. The stems or leaves are a tasty and pretty addition to soup. I haven’t tried it myself but hear you can stuff them as you would grape leaves for dolmades.

Probably one of the main reasons I love chard is because it is beautiful. Bright Lights chard offers some colors not often seen in the vegetable garden. A new strain – Flamingo – offers hot pink stems! If you are an ornamental gardener just getting into edibles in your landscape, chard is a beautiful start.

Finally, chard is a vegetable with a long, venerable history. Lucullus is an heirloom variety that was recommended during the 1940′s as a staple for Chicago Victory Gardens… we grew it out last year at The Peterson Garden Project and donated it, along with over 200 pounds of other fresh produce, to food pantries in the 40th Ward.

So there’s my vote… while I love and respect the competitors, Chard is always a winner in my garden!

Now is the time of year where the hardcore gardeners in the northern part of the U.S. start suffering. The brain is ready for the start of the gardening season but the weather has something else to say about it… at least in Chicago’s Zone 5. I’m no different and, actually, this year is worse than usual… I try to wait until January 15 to start perusing the seed catalogs but this year I succumbed in December… now, just a few weeks later, I’m exceptionally impatient to get digging for real. No dice in Chicago… however, due to my work schedule, I happen to be in Seattle for a few weeks which is a much friendlier Zone 8 who’s frost date is (don’t be jealous Zone 5) March 1.

I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and pulled on my waterproof boots to check out one of the amazing Seattle P-Patch gardens: The Interbay.

I wasn’t the only person braving the weather to get a dose of garden. A volunteer was re-digging the 15-year old water system and adding new hose bibs for different corners of the garden. Others were rebuilding beds or inspecting hoop houses. And we all seemed to be quite happy despite the cold winds.

One good thing about a garden in winter is you notice some of the features that are obscured by the lushness at other times of the year… The Interbay P-Patch does a great job educating and guiding the visitor through the garden. I love the “street signs”… the Interbay is 40,000+ square feet so some guidance is a good thing.

Other features that were fun to see were the artistic elements different gardeners use to embellish their plots. I really liked the boxwood balls. And you can’t see it very well in the photo on the left but there are roses planted on either side of the trellis. I bet this is beautiful in the summer.

The herbs sure fare well in Zone 8 compared to Zone 5. This rosemary bush was blooming happy lavender flowers. And, yes, strawberries are a fruit but they’re often included in herb gardens so it seemed fitting to batch them with the lush rosemary and thyme.

There were multiple structures employed to extend the growing season… the wonky view to the left is a homemade cold frame constructed with a discarded window.

There were lots of hard working plants braving the “winter”… The kale made me smile – especially the beautiful purple version!

Finally I HAD TO see what chard was doing in the garden due to my strong opinion that it should be the winner the One Seed Chicago contest… sadly I didn’t find a lot of chard – just one patch of struggling white chard. It was still pretty – as was a lone radicchio…

The hangover from New Year’s Eve wasn’t so bad so I am excited to jump on Part 2 of my Top 10 for 10 list… now that 2011 is firmly here, and the work insanity will be starting soon enough, it is nice to enjoy the final quiet holiday moments by thinking back on the things that were really fun in 2010 and start planning for more fun in 2011!

Happy gardening!

Number 1

Good melons. Or, as they say in the old Benny Hill sketch “Nice Melons!” Ours were both good and nice this year. We’ve attempted growing them every year and they are hit or miss depending on how hot the days are and the amount of rain we get. This year we tried Golden Midget – which very politely turns golden when ripe so you’re really sure it is done – and the famous French Charanais which is an old favorite of ours… they’re small enough to trellis, usually flavorful (extra good in 2010!) and just the right size for two people to share.

This would also be a good time for me to recommend a lovely, lovely book by Amy Goldman called Melons for the Passionate Grower.

Number 2

Growing garlic! Admittedly toward the end of the growing season the last thing I wanted to do was plant garlic cloves in 2009. But I sure was happy that I did in 2010! Garlic couldn’t be any easier to grow… you separate the cloves, push them deep in the ground (we did it at about 4″), mulch (if you remember to) and come spring you have early green in the garden, tasty scapes that seem to have their own personality and, in the case of Elephant Garlic (which is technically part of the leek family, not the garlic family) beautiful flowers too!

Number 3

You probably know from reading this blog that I am a bit infatuated with heirloom vegetables and grow them almost exclusively. One of the things I really like about them is they challenge our modern ideas of what a fruit or vegetable should look like. I tend to seek out things that are unusual or out of the ordinary and love it when a visitor is surprised that a melon, tomato, bean, etc. comes in an unusual color.

In addition to color, many heirlooms are striped! This year we had quite a collection of really pretty stripey things… they made me happy…

A note on the tiny orange striped melon on the lower left… that is called a Pocket Melon and they don’t taste great but have a beautiful fragrance. Story goes that Victorian ladies would carry the in their pockets (thus the name) and sniff them when they encountered a less than pleasant odor. An added BONUS with the pocket melon… it seems that the squirrels like them! We found a lot of half eaten ones around the garden over the summer and it seemed fewer half eaten tomatoes. I’m going to try them again next year to see if they’re a good trap crop!

Number 4

Tomatoes. Yes, you know I have a little problem with the heirloom tomatoes and 2010 was no different. I did enjoy finding new ways to present tomatoes to friends as gifts as well as taking lots of pictures of them… they’re so beautiful.

Number 5

What you might not know is that The Yarden is mostly edible… not that I don’t like flowers but, in general, you can’t eat them so I concentrate on edibles. I do have two rose bushes but I figure you can make tea out of the hips so that makes them somewhat edible. I also have lots of Siberian Iris (which make me crazy they’re so beautiful) and, again, I’ve heard that in times of hardship you can dig up the corms and eat them. So… maybe a stretch but technically edible.

In 2010 I made an exception and planted poppies thanks to a post I read from one of my favorite Chicago garden bloggers Mr. Brown Thumb. NOTE: I did plant some bread seed poppies in hopes of harvesting and eating them but they were one of many…

The great thing about poppies is they’re even easier to sow than garlic and sowing the seeds gets you outside in early March when there really isn’t a lot of garden stuff to be done in our Zone 5 climate. Oh, seed saving for these is a snap… you just pick the dried pods!

Number 6

Miscellaneous new veggies and herbs. Like I said, I like to try new and interesting heirlooms especially ones with an interesting color. This year of the many I tried, four really stood out – one so much that I’m reserving him for #7. Here’s the first three…

Here’s a tale of woe that you may remember from my post on Top 5 Dumb Garden Mistakes in 2010… these lovely “white” peppers on the left are now a mystery to me. I can’t find the seed packet – they may have been sent by one of my twitter garden friends – and all of my garden markers faded because I didn’t use indelible ink. I’m hoping I’ll find their info when I clean out the garage this spring and am kicking myself for not saving any seeds. They were DELICIOUS – sweet and not too peppery tasting. I loved them. Sad.

The second image is Shiso – aka Perillo. This herb grows to be shrub sized, is mild and delicious – we used it a lot in herb salads – and the color is amazing. There is also a green version that is said to be more pungent than the purple version so I may have to try that one in 2011!

The third image is an Armenian Cucumber aka White Serpent Melon. These “melons” – they’re taste like an vaguely apple flavored cucumber – are wildly prolific and delicious. We had few of the issues we usually have with cucumbers. There’s a green version of this guy too which we might try in 2011 as well!

Number 7

Gardening is never boring and Peter and I both love every step of the process… well, I probably love it more. But, my point is, all of it is great and yet once in awhile a plant comes along that is so interesting, prolific and or full of “personality” you want to tell everyone about it. In our 2010 garden that plant was Trombetta Squash.

We had so much fun watching these plants grow! We got the seeds from Renee’s Garden Seeds and planted them as we would zucchini which means, in our garden, that we over plant because the plants either get powdery mildew and/or don’t produce like we’d want them to so we plant extras and pull the diseased/lazy plants as the season progresses. Trombetta didn’t have any of these issues and virtually took over one quarter of the garden and beat the tomatillos in a domination smackdown. The instructions say to “eat when young” (see image on the left) but one day they’re tiny and the next day they’re monstrous like the middle picture. You really have to keep your eye on them. It would help if you anticipated how jungly they would get and plant accordingly – you could perhaps see the squash lurking under the giant leaves better.

Number 8

I feel like I need a little break after all my Trombetta gushing so this one is simple… my dear friend Tony got me this great garden statue for my birthday last year. It now holds court over the herb corner.

Number 9

Another simple one… the first year we had The Yarden we planted some lovely white currant tomatoes – per #3 you know I like the odd colored veggies! Ever since that first year they volunteer profusely. We pull up dozens and keep three or four. These are the sweetest little currant tomatoes you can imagine.

Number 10

Sharing gardening with friends. This is nothing new but 2010 had a twist on it… because of my activity on Facebook and Twitter I have gotten to participate in some “communal” gardening activities which have expanded the number of gardeners I get to learn from. It has been really tremendous especially since I travel so much for work – the on-line gardening community just goes with me!

Many of these cool experiences have come because of #gardenchat which can be found on Facebook and on the web HERE. I’ll let you read for yourself how fun the weekly Twitter “chat” on various topics can be (I got to lead one on Community Gardening awhile back).

One experience I really enjoyed was Super Sow Sunday. That’s where many itchy-to-garden gardeners (who aren’t interested in the Super Bowl) start seeds that day instead and Tweet about it as we work. It is a really interesting way to feel connected to other gardeners out there in a vast community enabled by social media. Below you can see some pictures of my besties who help with all sorts of gardening tasks… they were excited to learn about seed starting this year!

And here’s a numerically appropriate bonus for the new year…

Number 11

Possibly the coolest garden thing I’ve ever done was work with The Peterson Garden Project which is rocking again for 2011… it is a real pleasure to get to teach people how to grow their own food which has always been my mantra for The Yarden. I am so looking forward to learning more, and teaching more!, in 2011!

This afternoon I was attempting to take a pre-New Year’s Eve party disco nap but I kept thinking – like everyone else on the planet – about the great things 2010 brought to us. I’d love to find a different or unique way to position it but being original this time of year is hard since we’re all focused on New Year’s resolutions and summing up the past 365 days… who am I to fight human nature… here’s my plain old Top 10 for 2010: Kitchen Edition list… it was a tasty year!

I must add my usual caveat that these are in no particular order… they’re all fabulous to me!

Number 1

A friend bought Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller for me for my birthday this year. The Crispy Chicken with Olives, Lemon and Fennel on page 30 is going to be my new favorite chicken recipe for a good long while… yum, easy and lovely.

Number 2

I have one really nice knife (read: expensive) that my sister-in-law bought me for my 40th birthday a few years back. She also bought a sharpening steel. Today I suggested to Peter – as I do every year on December 31 - that his New Year’s resolution could be to learn how to use said sharpening steel. He gave me the fish eye as he does every year when I suggest this. Luckily I made a discovery this year that made Peter, my sharp knife needs and our collective cheapness happy: Kuhn Rikon Colori knives.

Not being a knife expert, I don’t know (or care) how they make them but they’re sharp (and STAY sharp!), colorful and affordable… I grab a new color of the paring knives every chance I get. And the “sandwich” knife is perfect for sandwiches and tomatoes. Love.

Number 3

Again with the birthday gifts… my friends know me well. I have several books on cheese making that I love to pour over and have yet to actually use to make cheese. I must have mentioned this in party-talk because this great cheese making kit made its way to our kitchen. Honestly, I have yet to make the mozzarella – although I have made it with friends at different times. However I can personally vouch for the ricotta which is a breeze. It seems like a complete waste to not make it when you compare its deliciousness with store-bought.

Number 4

Pesto. Or should I say “Not Basil Pesto”… Pesto means “to crush or to pound” (and in my vernacular “to food process” – I know, not traditional but I’m real, real busy!). We tried it first with mustard greens. Now every herby/greeny thing gets the Pesto treatment. Again – YUM!

Number 5

This technically isn’t from or part of our kitchen but it was a bit of a food revelation and a fun day! I got invited to judge a pie contest. It was a beautiful thing – until I started eating the pies. At first I thought it would be hard to pick the best three pies. I was right but for the wrong reasons! My pie eating snobbery was definitely a hinderance in this case and, in all fairness, I’m not a pie making expert because pie crust scares me. When I shared this with my 80+ year old mother she said, “honey, you’ve got time. I didn’t make good crust til I was 50″. Well, that’s a relief… so I guess all of the ten pies that I tried get a big A for effort at the very least!

Number 6

Giadia DeLaurentis. I don’t watch the Food Network or any TV for that matter. Not due to snobbery, just due to time… well, the Food Network thing is a bit due to snobbery. I think it is kind of cruel – all that great food, expertly prepared, and the viewers can’t smell or taste it? Torture! To report accurately, one New Year’s Day I was very hung over and watched a marathon of that program where they show popular food products being made, extruded, squeezed onto conveyor belts, etc. Perfect for a hangover day but pretty much the extent of food show expertise.

Anyway, living under my TV-free rock I wouldn’t have paid much attention to Giadia if it wasn’t for a recipe I received in an email called “The 12 Days of Cookies” – you may know about my cookie baking habit from a recent post on Traditions. Anyway, I don’t watch Food Network but I do receive the cookie update which featured a Lemon Ricotta Cookie recipe  from Giada that is possibly the best new cookie I’ve tasted in years. Seriously. On top of that, I’m not a “sweet + lemon” fan – I love lemon in savory applications. But this cookie really changed my mind on that front too. You must try this miracle cookie! Do it! Click HERE right this second!

I did make one small variation – instead of making them as cookies I made them in mini-cupcake liners so the glaze would stay put – they’re pictured above and to the right stacked on the pie plate like a little mountain of lemony heaven. I don’t think it made a difference in the flavor. On top of that – if you’re not tired of my ranting about this cookie – they are lovely and fragrant to make as well. A real pleasure! I wonder what they’d be like with homemade ricotta?!?!? Hmmm…

Number 7

Again with the Giadia! She probably had very little to do with her eponymous bakeware line at Target but I loved the lines, heft and color. I have a thing about white dishes… [I know you're surprised that I might have a "thing" about anything.] Plus the line is affordable (back to the cheapness in Number 2). I bought the ceramic two quart oval baker. Yes, it is still rolling around in the way-back of my Honda CRV but I intend to use it VERY SOON.

Number 8

This isn’t a new thing to our kitchen but it is delicious and influential and makes me crazily happy every time I make it. This stacked salad recipe was what pushed us over the edge to buy The Yarden (and the house attached to it) and move out of our condo. We tried it for the first time in 2005 with tomatoes from the farmer’s market. In 2006 we moved. I can’t say the recipe was the only or main reason we were pushed into having our own garden again… but it is the first thing we make every year when we have enough tomatoes… and it has quite a loyal following…

Number 9

A renewed love for my crock pot (and a new annoyance that they’re now called “slow cookers”)… this is mostly due to the awesome book The Italian Slow Cooker by Michele Scicolon. During this year’s cookie making marathon I had a companion marathon going using my $19.95 decade old and completely serviceable crock pot and recipes from this book.

Number 10

My general toast when we have dinners is “Here’s to friends worth cooking for!” and a seminal piece of advice shared by my dear mother was “If you’re a good cook then you’ll always have friends.” Both are very true… Again, no revelation for 2010 but certainly a delight, my friend Amy! Amy likes to “chop and stir” and she also likes to eat and take home leftovers. If you read this blog or follow us on Facebook and wonder how on god’s green earth I can accomplish so many of my OCD goals it is because of Amy. Well, Peter helps too, but Amy, wow, the lengths she’ll go for a good cocktail, some laughs and DINNER.

That’s the Top 10 for 10: Kitchen Edition… I’ll post the Garden Edition soon… perhaps after my New Year’s Day hangover and Food Network  mass-produced-things-on-conveyor-belts marathon… I will be toasting to friends worth cooking for and a successful and bountiful 2011 tonight!

Usually I contain my seed lust until after the first of the year. January 15 is typically the date when all the holiday shenanegins are totally over (hopefully the decorations are taken down) and the looong Zone 5 winter starts to get to me. Seed catalogs, of course, are the best solace when you want to be digging in the ground but know it will be many, many long months before you can exercise that particular desire.

This year I’m starting a bit early but it is out of mercy… a few days ago I got two emails, a text and one face-to-face all from crazed gardeners asking what my favorite seed catalogs were (as for the desperate face-to-face… you know who you are Leah Ray).

I thought I’d share early for those who can’t fight the itch. And, well, if I found out a few cool things along the way – albeit early – that’s an added bonus!

Here we go… these are in no particular order because I love each of them in their own way. Seed catalogs have personalities of their own that you grow to appreciate over the years…

I’ll start with the “homies” – seed companies from Oregon (my homeland) and Washington…

Nichols Garden Nursery has been around for fifty years. They’re located in Albany, Oregon (that’s pronounced Oragun in case you didn’t know). They have shelves and shelves of seeds. We were there last year and I got sucked in. Peter and our friend Rick napped in the car. Seriously, the shop is great – they also have great sourdough starter – and the catalog and website are just as wonderful. They are really committed to seed diversity and you can read their “safe seed pledge” here.

For 2011 I’m really excited to try their new “Arugula Gladiator“. Arugula is one of those things I can’t get enough of either in my mouth or in my seed collection… and you’d be amazed at the variety out there. I can’t wait to try this over achiever:

This faster growing new variety of wild rocket is similar in every way to the common variety but
is more vigorous, outgrowing it by as much as 25% at the baby leaf stage allowing first harvest 4-6 days earlier than common wild rocket.

Territorial Seed is another Oregon classic seed house. They always have a nice selection of short season tomatoes that do well in the cooler and shorter Oregon climate. And they have very Oregon names like Beaverlodge,  Oregon Spring and Siletz. Also known as T.O.M.P. (Tomato of My People) we plant Siletz every year as a dependable, and tasty, early season tomato in our Chicago garden.

Irish Eyes Garden Seeds is based in Ellensberg, Washington (home of the aforementioned car napping friend, Rick). I had a chance to meet some of these lovely people last year at the Independent Garden Center Show and was very impressed by their displays which are cleverly made out of recycled materials. But, more importantly, they have awesome potatoes. On top of that, and perhaps even harder to find, they have excellent and comprehensive instructions for growing potatoes!

We buy P.O.P.P. (Potatoes of Peter’s People) from them. Also known as Purple Viking potatoes, these purple skinned/white fleshed potatoes are our favorite as they’re easy to grown and taste amazing. We’ve bought many varieties from Irish Eyes and have always been happy with the results.

While we’re on the topic of potatoes, I should mention my other favorite potato-centric company Wood Prairie Farms. They’re located at the opposite end of the country, in Maine, and have some rare beauties of their own.

Again with the Swedish theme, among other things, we buy their “mandel potatis” (almond potatoes – ok, they call them peanut but who cares.) These are tasty potatoes! Steamed they’re great with Swedish dishes. They are also great split and grilled in a basket with some sea salt and olive oil. The flesh is creamy and they do look like almonds (or peanuts).

Now on to what I call the “artistic” category… these two companies have lovely seed packets with very attractive (and compelling) illustrations of the product therein…

Botanical Interests is a big favorite of mine. I think they have the best seed packet instructions out there. And, as I mentioned, the illustrations are lovely.

They have quite a list of new items for 2011 including something I’m very excited about (you’re going to start to see a trend here about the types of things that I’m attracted to!)

I’m quite a sucker for Amaranth. It is such a useful plant! We use it to screen the view of our neighbor’s house each year. And also use it in the center of beds to add height and color. At the end of each season I bundle up the beautiful showy heads and give them to my friend Andrew for his birthday.

This new earthy/beigy toned Amaranth is making me just a little crazy! I can’t wait to give it a try with a dark maroon such as Burgundy which they also carry. Or maybe with a chocolate sunflower… I have a few months to obsess about it (good thing). I’m really excited about this addition to my collection!

Next up in the “artistic” category is Renee’s Garden Seeds. This is one of those catalogs that I’ve grown to love over the years for their beautiful product and sense of whimsy.

They have nice seed collections such as “A Rainbow Kitchen Garden” and a “Basil Lover’s Bonanza” which I might have to try… basil being another of my “things” that I can’t get enough of (last year we grew nine kinds!)

Really though, who am I kidding? I love Renee’s for the amazing selection of my favorite edible flower NASTURTIUMS! From the “Cherries Jubilee” (pictured right) to the new “Buttercream” the seeds are reliable, colors amazing and those illustrations, well, they can cheer up a mid-winter gardener like nothing else!

I know I said I loved them all but…

I really, really, really like The Cook’s Garden. Their food-centric approach is very appealing and well executed. Their site is BEAUTIFUL, easy to navigate, has great recipes/information and they have incredible photography.

They also have a great tool that I call the “zone-a-lizer” that helps you pick crops suitable for your growing conditions.

Some of their new additions this year include a vibrant addition to my favorite crop (ok, one of my favorite crops) CHARD! This beauty is called “Magic Red.”

They also have what I consider the best salad mixes out there… and their 2011 new additions include a pumpkin called “Amazonka”!

Yes, this catalog is a foodie + gardener paradise. Me likey!

Next we proceed to the category that I like to call “the preservationists”…

This is the organization that we heirloom gardeners have to thank for EVERYTHING. Started in 1975, Seed Saver’s Exchange has harnessed the love of gardening and history within the U.S. to create a network of gardeners dedicated to seed diversity at a grass roots level. Members receive a huge catalog of other members and their collections. You can contact other members and share seeds that have been in families for generations. These are seeds that could have died out because they weren’t viable for commercial purposes (too soft, weird color, etc.) I could rant on about it but you can learn the whole, beautiful, genius story HERE. And, as if they weren’t cool enough, SSE is launching a new program to document the history of every seed in their collection. To learn more about the CORE program, click HERE and if you’re feeling generous, they’re accepting donations for this amazing work.

As if I haven’t gushed enough, SSE is also indirectly responsible for three of the most beautiful garden books out there. Amy Goldman is an active SSE member and contributor and used some of their stock to produce the gorgeous “The Compleate Squash”… she has also written a similar book about MELONS and one about heirloom TOMATOES. And, yes, I own all three. Next to seed catalogs they are my winter antidote for, well, winter. Beautiful books that document one woman’s passion for the diversity and genius of heirloom vegetables. I recommend them highly as if you couldn’t tell. (P.S. Amy! If you read this, please know that I heart you!)

Whew… I almost feel like I need a break after that love fest but on I go…

Seeds of Change is an equally worthy not-for-profit organization dedicated to preservation and social activism in the food realm.

They have a great section in their catalog tailored to urban and container gardening with seeds and instructions for the special growing conditions required for both.

They also have a funky new round yellow squash for 2011 called “Floridor” that I might have to try… and a new reddish/black lolla rossa lettuce called “Bixby” that might want to come live in The Yarden this year as well!

Victory Seed Company also fits in my “homies” category as they’re from Mollalla, Oregon. But I think they’re better suited to the good company of these other preservationists.

While I was researching my “Lost Victory Garden Seed List of 1943” I was able to find the most vintage veggies on that list from this small company.

In addition to a dedication to hard-to-find seeds, they grow most of them on their 1909 family farm.

Here’s another clue to my personal obsession… the crop I was most excited about from Victory Seeds was an old chard known as “Luculus.”

My final category can only be called “Seed Rock Stars”…

The Gettles of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed fame have made heirloom vegetables trendy and nerdy at the same time.

Their down home approach to spreading the heirloom seed gospel has given them enough bank to buy, well, a Seed Bank in Petaluma California, a vintage town – called Bakersville of course – and one of the oldest seed companies in the United States Comstock-Ferre.

Their catalog with great illustrations, photographs and a selection gathered from around the world is usually the catalog I grab first every time. I get my eggplant seeds from them (among many other things) and this year I’m excited to try “Little Fingers.”

My final category is “those I shall blog about next year”…

These companies are all new to me but sound very interesting!

Landreth Seed Company is the oldest seed house in America. They have a very alliterative line of products called “Seeds in a Sack”. I am going to order the African American collection because it ties in both history and some seeds I’ve never grown before like fish peppers.

I like the name. What can I say? Last year I ordered some flowering lawn mix from this company and was pleased with the results. Peter was not so pleased that the last remaining patch of lawn was more flowers than lawn but we go on…

While the description of “Chadwick Cherry” wasn’t as lengthy as I would like, the name and look of these teeny tiny tomatoes is reason enough to invite them for the 2011 Yarden season.

There’s my picks – all small, family owned and/or not-for-profit with a dedication to pure, heirloom and/or organic seeds. It is good to support small businesses and these companies deserve it!

Happy 2011 my gardening friends!

That’s my mother! The photo is undated but I’m guessing late 50′s, early 60′s. Way before I came along… My parents adopted my brother and sister in the 50′s. I rolled around a decade or so later, also adopted, when my mother was 40. Having a newborn at that age was a big deal back then and people often commented on how cute their “grand daughter” was. They were (and are still) very old school so in a way it was kind of like being raised by grandparents. In hindsight it was a really cool thing – being brought up by greatest generation parents gave me gifts, traits and memories that are my dearest treasures today.

But that’s the topic for another blog… my point today is to talk about holiday traditions and here’s where my mother comes into play…

For 35 years my (awesome and adorable) dad worked at a paper mill in our small Oregon town. He was on the maintenance crew and always had to work Christmas Eve when the mill was down. So official Christmas for us was always Christmas Day. My inventive mother, however, always looking for ways to make my life sweet, had a little tradition that we did together on Christmas Eve…

I was told to go to the back room and wait… After awhile (it seemed like hours for an excited kid) I got the word and rushed to my Christmas stocking where mother put small 3×5 cards with limericks giving me hints of where my stocking gifts were hidden. The search for these small gifts – guided by my mother’s clever rhymes – kept me busy for hours and is one of my sweetest holiday memories. The wrapped gifts were minimal – to this day I can’t remember a single one – but the effort she put into it and the fun of decoding the rhymes and finding the gifts is one of my dearest memories.

Fast forward to my own adult life… we don’t have children but my adorable husband, Peter, acts like a kid when it comes to Christmas. He’s from Sweden and “Jule” (Yule) is a big deal during their dark and snowy winters.

Quite accidentally we started a tradition in 2002 that we’ve done every year since (except last year when the beloved mother was in the hospital and my presence was required at home). THE COOKIE PARTY!

It began simply enough. Peter – who has the biggest sweet tooth I have ever encountered – told me very matter-of-factly one day that “old Swedish ladies” had a formula for a proper cookie plate that essentially included a sugar cookie, something pastry-like and something with chocolate. (The theory is much more elaborate than this but I won’t bore you with his thesis-length ideas of what makes an acceptable sweet tray.) So I decided to make a variety of cookies and have a holiday party to fulfill his memories of what a proper cookie assemblage looked like.

[Cookie parties aren't new... but the twist on this party is that it also gives me a chance to exercise my baking skills and my OCD (both also gifts from my mother!) so I do all the baking myself.]

When our dear friend Lara heard what we were up to, she (also being of Swedish descent) suggested we make Glogg for the party and she would be willing to share her secret family recipe. So that high-octane element was added to the mix. That first year she insisted that only “the Swedes” were allowed to know the ingredients and she and Peter sequestered in his office with a bag of supplies she had purchased. When I peeked through the door to see what was up, it was shut in my face! They were SERIOUS about their Glogg making.

A few years later we added “luciakatter” (Lucia Buns) to the mix. Because, hey, if you’re making up to 20 types of cookies and candies why not throw in some shaped yeast rolls as well, right?!

I should mention that St. Lucia is also a big deal in dark, dark Sweden. The Swedes borrowed her from the Italians. While not an official holiday in Sweden, they still manage to get the day off. (I’ve never seen a country with so many holidays – perhaps part of the reason Jule is so popular as it gives them half of December and half of January off to celebrate!)

As you can see the tradition has grown over the years… as I mentioned, I make 20 or so kinds of cookies and candies. The specific (OCD) breakdown is:

• • – 12 drop cookies
  • – 6 bar cookies
  • – 5 candies
  • – Luciakatter

And, much like me and my stocking gift hunt from childhood, friends get ATTACHED to their cookie. I learned this the hard way one year when I couldn’t find the right kind of almond paste so I didn’t make one of the regular cookies. Some considered this missing cookie a personal afront – to the point I had to make them for a birthday or two as penance!

Here we are almost a decade later and The Cookie Party has become a big deal for a lot of friends (especially those with cookie favorites) and for us as well. The week before the party I take PTO and friends drop by to help bake (we have some veteran nut choppers), decorate the house or just hang out. (We order lots of pizza since the oven is busy with cookies.) The night before the party the last things we make are the Glogg and Luciakatter til the wee hours. We also (mostly me) complain about sore feet and cookie-baking exhaustion… and happily do it all over again the next year…  that’s what tradition is all about, right?

What an incredible year it has been at The Peterson Garden Project! From an historically-inspired idea to the largest edible garden in Chicago… our 400+ gardeners and volunteers are an incredible group of people.

We were happy to receive this award from Mayor Daley at the 54th annual Landscape Competition for Best Community Garden (Region 1) in early November. It was an honor to be with the hundreds of gardeners who help to make Chicago one of the greenest cities in the country. To read about all the cool winners, click HERE.

Recently we asked our gardeners and volunteers to complete a brief survey about their 2010 growing season experiences. We’ll look forward to sharing a synopsis of those thoughts with you soon.

Until then, we’re Thankful to have been part of such a great project and look forward to even more exciting stuff in the 2011 growing season!

First, I should say that one of our core Peterson Garden Project volunteers just said next year we need NEW block captains… so I’m not sure if that’s a reflection on my duties or not… I can say that having been in this role since March I have a great appreciation for the 5,000 Office of Civilian Defense block captains that made the Victory Garden movement in Chicago successful in the 1940′s. We put in one garden in one growing season (2010)… they put in 509 in one year (1942) and an additional 1,000 the next (1943).

Interestingly enough, the challenges between then and now haven’t changed that much… probably because community gardening hasn’t changed that much. One of the big struggles is keeping everyone interested in watering and weeding when the heat of August rolls around and the excitement of spring is long gone. Happily I can report that most of our gardeners maintained their interest. This is due to a lot of awesome core team members – I won’t hold it against them for saying I need to be replaced – who were there to help with classes, give tours, provide advice and encouragement and generally act as garden ambassadors.

Special thanks goes to Xan for taking our Farm2Give (pantry plots) under her experienced garden wing. We have harvested almost 100 lbs of food that have been given to pantries and children’s organizations.

Here’s a picture of Xan and I at our September 18 Harvest Festival. We both look beat… leading the charge is hard work!

But back to the matter at hand… in 1943 an organization called The National Victory Garden Institute was founded. Ostensibly, this was a commercial organization created to encourage gardens on corporate property – of which there were 2,000,000 by the end of the war. However, their efforts were a bit unfocused from the beginning and they veered into communications with the USDA, war councils, general Victory Garden hoopla and, most importantly, children’s gardens.

To encourage America’s “Army of Young Gardeners” the MacArthur Award was created. In 1943 alone, 25,000 were requested from gardening organizations nationwide to reward the best of the best in youthful Victory Gardeners.

Not having the National Victory Garden Institute around to order any medals from for our Harvest Festival, I had to get creative.

We had two groups we wanted to recognize… remember our “grewbies” (growing newbies) that were, a mere 3.5 months ago, terrified novices? They have all happily graduated to full blown gardeners. Success!

The second group were the kids in the garden. I don’t have children myself so it was fun to watch their level of involvement. It really was their garden from the very start. Early on we taught them the proper way to water and they became the “water ambassadors”. It was really funny to see a seven year old go up to an adult and instruct him or her on the proper way to water vegetables. But they liked having a job to do and they did it with enthusiasm.

Since there were no MacArthur Awards to be had, I went to our local Paper Source and got all artsy craftsy.

Luckily it was back-to-school time so some rubber stamps, pinking shears, double stick tape, colored paper and our tiny business cards were all I needed to create our “medals”. Grewbies got the “You Did It!” award and kids got the “Good Job!” award.

Handing out the “medals” was fun. And connecting with all these wonderful people who had worked together to create this magical place brought tears to my eyes. The medals were silly but people were so thankful. Many people said they were going to put them on their fridges at home. Those comments were then followed by how the summer and the garden were wonderful experiences for them for many reasons. There were so many personal victories this year in our garden – the woman who taught herself to photograph again after a stroke, the man who never left his house last summer but visited his plot in the garden daily, the volunteer who wasn’t even gardening with us but helped with all the hard work as a distraction after being unemployed for two years… the stories like this go on and on…

But perhaps it is true – a picture is worth a thousand words… here are a few of our friends, neighbors and gardeners that have changed my summer, and life, immensely…

People who had, not that long ago, been strangers now shared meals together.

Frightened new gardeners became old hands with the help of classes but mostly with the encouragement of their neighbor gardeners.

And the coolest thing that an ugly, empty lot – with an interesting history – turned into a place of learning, friendship, nourishment and joy… again.

2010 truly was a wonderful harvest, indeed.

Special thanks to Nancy Bouche for the photographs.

Some Peterson Garden Grewbies

Last weekend I was teaching a fall planting class for some of the gardeners at The Peterson Garden Project. And although enthusiastic and excited about fall planting, there was a lot of talk (and sadness) about “mistakes” and “if-onlys” from their summer gardens.

I had to smile and say that gardens are NEVER perfect. Every year brings challenges and dumb mistakes… And if perfection is part of your DNA then gardening might drive you stark raving mad… but America’s father of home gardening, Thomas Jefferson, put it more eloquently in his famous quote: “Although I am a old man, I am but a young gardener.”

So to make my “grewbies” (growing newbies) feel better, I thought I would catalog some of my stupidity for 2010 in the hope that they (and you) will laugh and maybe learn from my mistakes… and that sometimes mistakes can be classified as experiments and sometimes mistakes turn into genius… (not in my case but I’m sure it happens somewhere…)

Dumb Mistake #1

Make sure that the marker you use for your thirty four varieties of precious heirloom tomatoes, numerous eggplants, peppers, herbs, melons, squash and other heirloom treasures (that you have obsessed about, made excessive lists of and coddled in your garage for months) is fade proof. Enough said.

Dumb Mistake #2

In your enthusiasm to clean up the spring garden, let the things that have come back over winter stay put awhile. In a Tazmanian Devil-like frenzy I pulled most of these “scallions” that had over wintered. I missed a few which then turned into big fat bulb onions. It wouldn’t have hurt to let them stay awhile longer and after surviving a Chicago winter they probably deserved it… and I would have gotten more bulb onions.

Dumb Mistake #3

No matter how excited you are about something new that a gardening friend brings to your house one warm spring day, when that someone tells you that cane fruits (raspberry, blackberry, etc.) grow out of control, believe them. Put the shovel down and set the plant aside until you can do some research as to where they will grow best (and not kill your rhubarb).

Dumb Mistake #4

When trying a new variety for the first time, such as my current favorite, Trombetta il Begno from Renee’s Garden Seeds, follow the package instructions. In this case: eat when young.

A bonus dumb mistake in this category: when growing a new type of squash, one plant might be a good start vs. four.

Now here’s where a dumb mistake can be repeated and become “wisdom” the following garden season… Trombetta has amazing and plentiful blossoms. If you’re into stuffed squash blossoms, this is the plant for you! And it also seems to resist powdery mildew…

Dumb Mistake #4a (judgement call)

Again with the Trombetta… while intensive planting is great for small space urban gardening, the spring frenzy can sometimes make you plant things too close. And when you don’t know the growing habits of new plants, it can cause “issues”. This is the judgement call… tomatillos are normally monster space hogs in our garden and one is definitely enough (Top 5 Dumb Gardening Mistakes of 2008). We planted the four Trombetta and the tomatillos in the same bed. In this picture you can see the results of the Trombetta/ Tomatillo grudge match… Trombetta won. Over planting: maybe – tomatillo control: definitely.

Dumb Mistake #5

In the dead of winter while laying in bed with garden porn (seed catalogs) looking for everything with your favorite color (in my case purple) in a seed name, consider that if you grow those seeds you should have a plan for them once mature.

In the case of this lovely, and intimidating, purple okra:

1. Do I know how to cook it?
2. Do I know anyone else who knows how to cook it?
3. Do I know anyone I can give it to?
4. Can I feel guilt free forgetting to harvest the uncookable okra pods?

Thankfully, P. Allen Smith came to my rescue when he was filming at The Peterson Garden Project for his PBS show “Garden Home“. When I shyly revealed my yankee secret (“okra scares me”) he kindly suggested that dried, they make lovely fall decorations… thank you.

And, finally a bonus piece of advice… when a potential “mistake” turns out well you can call it “breaking the rules”. In this case Peter, hubby and Yarden-tender extraordinaire, gets the credit.

We have this nasty strip of land that I normally plant nasturtiums in (see my failed attempt at participating in the Seed Grow project – sorry Mr. Brown Thumb – for more details on this hell strip.) Peter suggested planting tomatoes there. I said an emphatic NO (bad soil, no water, neighbors will eat). As he sometimes does (and probably why we’re happily married) he ignored my suggestions and planted tomatoes anyway (when I was out of town). And, well, the picture says it all.

So, in conclusion, one more quote:

There is no gardening without humility.  Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder.  ~Alfred Austin

Gardening isn’t perfect. Just like people aren’t perfect but, luckily, there’s always another season to hope for the best…

IGC Show August 17-19, Navy Pier, Chicago

How’s this for irony? For the past twelve years I’ve worked in the live event and trade show industry. Last week for my week off… I ended up going to a trade show.

What may be even more ironic is that we’re knee deep in harvest at The Yarden and The Peterson Garden Project and I’m already thinking about next year’s growing season. Thus the field trip to Navy Pier to see what’s going on in the Independent Garden Center world.

You know our motto at The Yarden… “to teach everyone we meet to grow their own food… seriously!” So it comes as no surprise that we were able to help almost 400 gardeners and volunteers get inspired to grow their own food at The Peterson Garden Project this year. But hey, that’s not enough to solve the challenges we’re facing with our food supply today. During WW2, Chicagoans put in 1,500 community gardens and almost 250,000 (yes, you read that right) home gardens in just two years. Makes our efforts on the corner of Peterson and Campbell seem measly by comparison. But hey, we’re just getting started so hold on to your hats and glasses, the 2011 season is going to rock.

But, as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The Independent Garden Center Show at Navy Pier was all about the home grown food revolution. Many of the seminars were edible based and featured all-stars of the food/garden world such as Josh Viertel – President of Slow Food USA, Diane Ott Wheatley – founder (and super hero) of Seed Saver’s Exchange, and Chicagoland’s own Vicky Nowicki – Gardener’s Supply Garden Crusader 2009, life-long garden/food educator and the brains behind libertygardens.com. With seminar titles such as “Top Vegetable Trends 2011″, “Marketing Food 101″, “Cashing in on Heirloom Vegetables” and “The Fastest Growing Gardening Trend – Food!” attendees, buyers and IGC owners got the message loud and clear: people want to grow their own food.

Seed purveyors were out in force. I got my geek on when I met Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (I wanted to ask for a picture but realized that even my garden groupie-ness can only go so far.) Seed Savers Exchange and Seeds of Change were on hand. The company that perhaps excited me most of all was off in a “temporary” area (which means in trade show parlance they sold out of the main floor exhibit space – a high class problem for show organizers) Irish Eyes Garden Seeds. Irish Eyes carries a great selection of potatoes and garlic and provides useful growing instructions. We’ve purchased our potatoes from them for the last four years and have been incredibly happy with them. Plus they’re from the the Pacific NW (my homeland) so I may be a bit partial.

Numerous companies were selling ready made kits for easy installation of raised beds. 4′x4′ was the popular size in the modular kits. Some were more attractive than others. The prize winner for innovative, attractive, practical and recycled goes to the Food Map container. Made of recycled plastic milk jugs, this is a garden solution that even the most urbane can love. As evidenced by this article by the too-cool-for-school folks at Apartment Therapy.

Woolly Pocket came in a close, and stylish, second with their innovative and earth-friendly wall systems and soft raised beds. They also have a non-profit that recently competed in the Pepsi Refresh Project for their work in schools. [My friend and core-team volunteer Xan isn't sure how a non-profit that gets grant funding to buy their own product really works. But she admits it is brilliant.]

New to the IGC world were the ladies from the Seed Keeper Company. With their (wait for it…) Seed Keeper Kit. This is yet another example of necessity truly being the mother of invention. These ladies started creating this practical tool in one of their garages and have grown, in less than a year, to having numerous wholesale clients as well as a web-based direct-to-consumer business. While a bit cutesy, the kit really is pretty handy with glassine envelopes, seed markers, tabs to keep things organized, etc. I told them when they come up with the super-obsessed size to let me know. They cheerfully replied that people buy multiples: one for tomatoes, one for herbs, etc… I did quickly calculate the cost of buying ten or so for my, admittedly, grossly over-large seed collection. Maybe next year…

Vertical gardening was getting a lot of press at the show as well. Feeney Garden Products really rocked the trellis category with their beautiful and intelligent products. Good looking, configurable, long-lasting and easy to install (everything you need is included) these trellises would be a great combo with the Food Map container for vertical food gardening in a small space. Plus they were really nice people.

I could go on. The 230 year old Clarington Forge company was there selling garden tools from the only garden-tool forge remaining in England (there used to be hundreds). I’m normally a made-in-the-USA person but we all love the English for their gardening prowess, history and passion. A good handmade tool can last a lifetime and is a real treasure for a hardcore gardener. [To learn more about historic garden tools, check this out.]

That arbiter of a beautiful garden lifestyle, P. Allen Smith, was in attendance with his crew showcasing his new product line and inspiring everyone with his kindness and love of the garden (plus handing out free pizza!)

If I haven’t bored you to tears yet, I also ran into Mike Nowak… the perennial (pun intended for the funny man himself) defender of independent garden centers for all they offer in terms of education and dedication to their regions and the special growing conditions in each of them. He might like this book I learned about by speaker Stacy Mitchell “Big-Box Swindle: The True Cost of Mega-Retailers and the Fight for America’s Independent Business.” And perhaps this is a good time to mention that Espoma, who have been providing organic gardening solutions since 1923, was also at the show. Their products are really great and we use them in The Yarden.

Finally, just to prove I’m not all work and no play, I did manage to notice some of the non-food related products at the show… fountains, fancy watering cans, more lawn care products than I care to think about. And LOTS of statuary… took this picture for my husband, Peter: co-Yardener, techno genius, awesome hubby and, yes, Meerkat fanatic… I suggested buying ten of these and putting by the south fence of The Yarden so we’d have our own little corner of the Kalahari Desert in Chicago. He paused just a bit too long so I quickly changed the subject.

So feet hurting, brain full I left the IGC Show hopeful that garden centers will be ready to supply the demand for the home grown revolution in 2011. In 2009, almost eight million people started gardening specifically to grow food. I’m curious about the numbers for 2010 and hopeful that IGCs, The Yarden and The Peterson Garden Project can do their part to help the number of successful urban gardens in Chicago skyrocket for 2011.