We received our seeds from the seed saver exchange in the mail this weekend. We have a lot of seeds that we have collected from our heirloom plants the last few years so we didn't have to buy all of our seeds. However, we are excited to expand our garden this year and so we ordered some new seeds that we have never tried before. Here are a couple of the new seeds we ordered.
Dr. Wyche's Yellow Tomatillos
We have never grown tomatillos before. From the research I have done, they grow very similar to tomatoes and there isn't a lot different you have to do. You may ask why we decided to do tomatillos. I love authentic mexican food and a large portion of our monthly grocery budget goes to green tomatillo salsas and sauces. I decided that rather than continue to spend money on store made sauces, we could grow our own tomatillos and can our own tomatillo salsa. The description for these tomatillos says they have a delicious sweet flavor, they are very prolific and easy to grow. I am so excited to try these and see how it works out.Bloody Butcher Corn
As Marisa and I have considered what we can do to become more self sufficient we have thought about what we are going to do for flour and bread. We have a lot of wheat in our food storage but we would like to supplement this with flour we can grow on our property. Rather than try to grow wheat we decided to grow corn and use it to make cornmeal. We chose this corn because it is drought tolerant (we live in the high desert of Utah) and it's dried kernels can be used for making flour or corn meal. I look forward to making tamales next fall with cornmeal from our yard and smother them with green tomatillo sauce from our garden.
What are you planning to grow in your garden this year. Let us know, we are excited to hear what everyone else is doing.
Home-grown tomatillos won't disappoint -- they're a MUST in my mother's garden in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite salsa recipes is to blanch 2 lbs of tomatillos, roast 2 green chilies over the stove burners (these are worth growing at home, too), and throw it all in the blender with about 2 cloves of garlic, a hefty handful of cilantro, and just a pinch of salt. Eventually you figure out the ratios that work for you. I like it better than red salsas! If conditions are right, you'll find your tomatillos prolific enough to make many batches of this over one season.
Tomatillos are also outstanding in chicken chili verde. Mm.
I love following all y'all's adventures, incidentally. This is one of my favorite blogs.
My seeds came this week from Seed Savers and Jungs. I am trying a lot of new seed varieties this year. We are also putting in some berry vines, apple trees, and blueberries. We hope to be able to produce even more of the food we consume. some new items we are trying in our vegetable garden are: Wisconsin 55 tomatoes, Mortgage lifter tomatoes, seed to grow asparagus, and a new heirloom squash from seed savers.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to your post to see how your gardens growing. Best wishes. Dawn
I had to restrain myself from buying seeds this year. I have so many left over from last year and a just a tiny spot to garden. I am trying some heirloom tomatoes this year. Your blog has me wanting some lemon cucumbers too. We'll see, I guess.
ReplyDeleteWe always grow tomatillos. One word of caution though is that they will reseed themselves EVERYWHERE. We generally just let them be though.
ReplyDeleteI also grow Bloody Butcher corn. It's a great corn and you can eat it fresh off the cob when it's young. Definitely the best heirloom corn I've tried to grow. The stalks get super tall - +12' - so it's fun for the kids and makes great Fall decorations.
Your comments just feed my excitement. I'm just giddy right now! I can't wait until spring.
ReplyDeleteThis year we will grow the usual herb garden, and expect a usable amount of rhubarb that we planted last year! Naturally we will grow tomatoes and attempt green peppers (though we have had varied success with them) and maybe take another shot at cucumbers. Last year they failed miserably but the year before we could barely keep up with them.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your tomatillos!
YUM!!! I, too, love Mexican food. I already planned on tomatillos this summer, but hadn't considered corn for meal for tamales (and even corn tortillas). Come on spring!
ReplyDeleteWe currently have leeks, lettuce, basil, thyme, carrots, potatoes, onions, parsley, peas, and string beans going. I just ordered a few heirlooms from Southern Exposure. Can't wait for my first
ReplyDeletehome-grown salad of the season!
Happy gardening, y'all!
Currently: peas, carrots, lettuce, onions, herbs, strawberries, broccoli, cabbages. The garlic growing now will be harvested in May. More lettuce to be planted this weekend.
ReplyDeleteSummer: corn, tomatoes, melons, squash, onions, beans, pumpkins, and hopefully fruit from the trees (plum, peach, apple, pear, nectarine, apricot).
Last year we grew about 20 zucchini, they were definitely the star of our garden. What I really had fun growing though was pumpkins. We grew 3 carvable pumpkins last year.
ReplyDeleteThis year we got some new "Big Max" pumpkin seeds, I am almost afraid to plant them! It should be a lot of fun.
We're also going to try our hand at Roma and cherry tomatoes.