GARDEN WORKS – Seeds of your dreams: Digging for garden gems, Part 4 (O-P)

Read part 1 here: Seeds from your dreams, Part 1 (A-thru-E)
Read part 2 here: Seeds of your dreams, Part 2 (G-H)
Read part 3 here: Seeds of your dreams: Find joy in a seed catalog, Part 3 (H-N)

by Emily Cates

When I’ve come in from a cold late winter’s day after hauling sap, I like to sit down and settle in with a seed catalog. If you’ve been following this whimsical series on seeds that stand out in the pages of their catalogs, then this article might give you a few more ideas. This time we’ll travel alphabetically from ‘O’ to ‘P’. As always, feel free to share your suggestions on our website or Facebook, or email me at EmilyCates@townline.org. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

Okra — The mucilaginous yet tasty pods of this plant are adored in gumbo soup and similar dishes where a thickener is desired. It likes heat, fertile soil, and a weed-free plot. The cultivar Cajun Jewel is better adapted to our climate here in Maine, and Red Burgundy produces a beautiful plant with ornamental flowers and pods.

Onions — Onions grown from sets or plants are relatively easy to grow. While they can be started from seed — affording the gardener more choice of varieties — I prefer just to buy some good sets and plants at seed sales in the springtime and plant away. Give them full sun and choice soil, showering them with amendments such as FEDCO’s “Tears of Joy Onion Kit.”

Pac Choi — Probably my favorite veggie in a stir fry, I’m especially enamored with the beautiful and delicious cultivar, Purple. Last year, I grew a few plants in a big container full of compost and they were amazing, even though I’d harvested them a little late and they were frozen. What a treat!

Potato — If this versatile tuber is on your menu, how about trying something new and exciting? My favorite potatoes, many with names that hint of their uniqueness, are: All Blue, All Red, Banana, German Butterball, Kennebec, Magic Molly, Purple Viking, and Yukon Gold. Of course, with such variety — red, rose, pink, beige, yellow, gold, white, blue, purple, marbled, russet, fingerling — comes great temptation to try them all. Give the funky ones a chance and have fun. And have even more fun by saving any mature seed balls that mature on the top of the plant. Extract the seeds enclosed in a seed ball, dry them, and sow them next year in flats like tomato seedlings. Each potato seedling that sprouts is a whole new cultivar! In a couple of years you’ll have full-sized plants and potatoes. Save the best ones and enjoy your signature cultivar.

Pumpkin — Most of us are familiar with ornamental and pie pumpkins, but they are so much more than insipid orange orbs. Have you ever thought of pickling a pumpkin? Grow the cultivar Jaune Gros de Paris (Large Yellow of Paris) and I’ll send you a sweet family recipe. How about nutritious and delicious pepitas like at the store, but better? Grow the “naked seed” cultivars such as Good Egg Godiva, Kakai, and Naked Bear. Want something fun and interesting to look at? You’ll want to check out Cheese, Chioggia, Galeux d’Eysines, Jarrahdale, Musquee de Provence, Rouge Vif d’Etampes, or Turban. For the ultimate pumpkin pie experience try the curiously elongated Long Pie, or silky-textured Winter Luxury. And if you’re in it to break records, consider Dill’s Atlantic Giant, or Big Max for a good runner up.

Parsnip — This root is delicious when matchstick sliced, drizzled with oil, roasted, and seasoned to taste. It needs a long season, deep, rich, weed-free soil, and fresh seed. I always leave some plants in the ground to overwinter, promptly harvesting in early Spring before they regrow. They are much sweeter this way and after an autumn frost. Also, since the seeds are short-lived, I make sure to leave a few more plants to go to seed, replant, and also let them self-sow.

Purslane — Perhaps you’ve encountered the wild form of this plant as a weed in your garden — lucky you! The creeping, succulent, mild-but-pleasantly-tart stems and paddle-shaped leaves are considered a nutritious delicacy. I, for one, adore this plant. Though the weed form rarely shows up in my garden, I always make sure to plant the cultivated variety Golden and it does quite well.

Looks like that’s all for this time, but there’s plenty more for next. Stay tuned and keep in touch. Oh, and let me know if you’re tapping maples this year and how it’s going!