Baker Creek Seed Company?

Seems I missed a lot. Guess I will have to look at the catalogs a little closer???

I've just chalked up the preachiness as editorializing by someone who has fervent beliefs and ideals. Jere started this enterprise as a very young person and has accomplished so much in very short order. His outlook at times may be a bit provincial, but in my view he's earned a few moments on the soapbox. Yuska

I guess I am odd, but I run across people all the time who have religious and political, even " all organic" views who are different than mine, but I just skim past and don't pay it much mind, so I haven't been affected personally by Baker Creek. I don't even get the catalogs, just order online.

i have used them many times and never had a problem with anything i ordered.

The only problem I have had with their products was the Ali Baba watermelon....".their favorite." Goodness,.... yes, it was a very good grower but my planting of 3 plants in '03 produced none that had much sweetness or taste.....even when letting one stay on extra time. This was another Iraqi product like the tomato?

True, I like sweet and tasty melons and have been spoiled by many homegrown melons.

Maybe it wasn't hot enough for it, Indy, although I must say Indiana can get pretty hot, the way I remember. I don't think it gets as hot as Iraq, though, and I'll bet that influenced the sweetness.

Could be, but why are other melons very sweet for me? I have raised enough to have a good idea.
Indiana is a leading melon state....about 5th or 6th.

I am new to Baker Creek. I ordered and got my seeds. The lack of information caused me to order a couple of things I may not be able to use in my zone. I can always trade with them but I was a bit disappointed. I may send them to my DM and my DFIL in La and let them try them. The pictures in the catalog were very nice.

You must have a paper catalogue, Cajun, because the pictures in the online catalogue are, IMO, somewhat lacking.
It's true that they don't include "Zone" info, but I thought they usually gave # of days needed to mature a crop.
What did you get that you think you might not be able to use?

Yes, I have the catalog that came in the mail. I ordered out of it without going on line first. Didn't realize there was more info online. I don't think I will be able to grow the Hardy Kiwi or the Naranjilla without a green house to over winter them. I may send them to my Mom in south La. She has a little citrus grove and these would be a nice compliment for her fruit.

Hi all;
Just my two cents worth, I have been ordering from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds for about 4 years now and I have been vary happy with the service I got for them. I enjoy the catalogs and the 2009 catalog was a knockout color book, I enjoy looking at it, even now. I also get the Heirloom gardener mag. that comes out 4 times a year. I would love to go down Mansfield Mo. and see the pioneer town and the festivals they have. All my seeds that I ordered from them, I have not had a problem with. Also if a planting didn't come up, tomatoes, lettuce, beans etc. was it my fault? To cold, to wet? So I'm happy with them and I'll keep ordering from them. That's my 2 cents and 'm sticking to it.. Phil

I think you just about covered it, Phil.

Cajun, I wouldn't give up! You must have had some good reason for ordering both of these. I can grow kiwis in a climate that gets much colder than yours, and it seems to me that, if you can gro eggplant, you can grow those naranjillas. I'd plant a part of the seeds, and THEN send the rest to my Mother!

Jim
I think you are right about the Hardy Kiwi and I am going to plant some of them. I don't know about the Naranjilla. It says I would have to overwinter it indoors but it gets 8ft tall and I don't have any place to keep something that big. I may give it a try anyway. Can't do more than kill a few seeds. I'll send some to my Mom too. She can grow anything!

OK What is a Naranjilla?

LOL! You could always bonsai it.......

but do not ask me how, that is only my imagination talking.

One of the things I like best about Baker Creek Heirlooms is that the owner travels to many parts of the world checking out and bringing back their seed for sale. He has a fine selection of products from various countries that are difficult to impossible to find elsewhere. I think this kind of research into new plants for the US is very valuable. I like Baker Creek for the same reasons I like Seed Savers' Exchange -- good down to earth heirloom varieties grown by real people around the world. What a great service to us all!

Here's a great article about growing hardy kiwi -

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/hardy-kiwifruit.html

I agree about taking chances. Not all experiments pan out, but we are often rewarded with surprising success. Another element in the great adventure called gardening.

Thanks for the link Yuksa. It will help me a lot. I am going to give it a try.

Naranjilla is a fruit. The bush can grow to 8 feet. It is about the size of a satsuma and is supposed to have a citrusy flavor. It is often grown for it's juice. The fruits are covered with tiny hairs like a kiwi. You wipe the hairs off and eat the skin. It looked delish in the book so I ordered it. I should have googled it first but I'm going to try it at least once.

Here's helpful informaton on naranjilla -

http://toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=SOLANUM_QUITOENSE

It's in the nightshade family (solanum) along with tomatos, eggplant and potatos. Native to the Andes and prefers some elevation above sea level.
Maybe a bit finicky, but I'll bet you can do it. Yuska

I'm gonna give it a good try.

Hey, Cajun,

I'm glad you are going to give both of those a try! Why not? And still have seeds to send your mother. If she also plants them, it will be interesting to contrast your different results!

The hardy kiwi seems like it would grow and survive. According to City Data, your average low never falls below 20F, and this thing is supposed to take -25F!!! They grow around here and seem to do well. One of the local towns uses them in landscaping to cover otherwise not too sightly retaining concrete walls. Kids steal the fruit!!!

As for the naranjilla, I notice that it has a productive life of 3-4 years and "can" get 6-10 feet tall.
Now, I'll bet that you can grow at least 1 of those in a large patio pot that can be moved indoors and that it may never reach even 6 feet, but still produce. In any case, it probably will take at least a couple of years before it gets that tall.

~ pajaritomt : I agree with you completely. You know, I talk and trade with a number of people who are serious seed savers, heritage savers and working on not just preserving but improving (in the natural style of, say, GW Carver) the best of our traditional bio-diversity, and, you know, they are ALL a bit preachy. I guess, if you have that level of passion, you tend to be. Some are downright paranoiac; many espouse political positions that I cannot share. Every time you purchase a product, I think you have to make the kinds of choices that David_Paul mentions. You have to weigh whether or not, in the overall scheme of things, purchasing this product will support something you don't agree with more than it will benefit you. It is excellent, I think, that people DO weigh those factors. For my part, I've never found BC or others in the seed preservation business guilty of those corporate sins that cause me to reject a company's offerings, and what they all do to save our heritage outweighs a lot of "personal opinion", in my view.

I've also found them to very tolerant of my differing opinions! Also honest, fair, and more than willing to "make good" on anything you feel may not have been quite right. These are characteristics that appear to me to be waning among the more usual seed/plant companies, with fine-print "guarantees" and "limitations".

I sent my Mom some seeds. Now I have to get my butt in gear and start working in earnest on my gardening. I did get a few things planted but I have to careful and not get ahead of myself or the weather. There will be some more cold here before it's over. I planted Kohlrabi, carrots, leaf lettuce, aragula, chives and pak choy. I peeked under the mulch and saw that my rhubarb will be reappearing soon. This will be it's second season so I will be able to harvest some of it. Hopefully enough for a pie. I have never tasted it so I will have to find a recipe for rhubarb pie. I was looking in the bed where I planted my garlic last fall. What does garlic look like when it first comes up?

Garlic has wide blades compared to onions when it first comes up and they are flat -- not round like onions. The first leaves are more substantial than those of onions planted from seed which look like tiny hairs. And the leaves are grayish, at least after a few days, whereas onions are greener.

Well, I guess what I'm seeing must not be my garlic. It looks like onions but I don't have any onions in that bed so it must be grass or weeds. I seem to grow both of those in abundance! LOL

Baby garlic coming up looks a lot like daffodils or narcissus.

Rhubarb Pie

Pre-heat oven to 425F

You need 2 pie crusts, preferably the "flaky" kind.
Put one in a 9" pie pan and put in refrigerator
Keep the 2nd in the refrigerator

1.75 - 2 lbs of rhubarb, not peeled, cut into 1" pieces
(or enough to get 5 cups)
Put the rhubarb in a large bowl and sprinkle with:
1.25 cups sugar
1/4 cup conrstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Grated zest of 1 orange or 1 lemon
Mix everything together well and let sit 15 minutes.

Pour into the pie pan and dot the top with 2 Tablespoons butter cut into little pieces
Cover with the 2nd crust and pinch the two crusts together, but cut some vents in the top crust;
OR Cut the second crust into strips and make a lattice top.
Brush the top crust or lattice with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 30 minutes at 425F, then slip a baking sheet beneath the pan and bake an additional 25-35 minutes at 350F (If you don't have a baking sheet, make sure the bottom of the oven is covered with foil, because the pie will "boil" over, and it's a sticky mess!).

Remove from oven and let cool completely on a cake rack.
Eat the same day or the next. Rhubabr pie does not keep well.

Enjoy!

You could find out if it is garlic buy digging up just one with a hand trowel or even a table knife. If it is garlic it will have a little bulb on the bottom. Or a big bulb depending on the size you planted. If it is from a seed, the bottom won't be much larger than the top -- unless it is coming up from an onion set. Presumable you will know if you planted any of those.

My neighbor gave these to me. He said it was garlic from his garden. It had the "cloves" still attached to the bottom of the stem ( pictured ) and the "seed toes" were in a ball at the top of the stem. I seperated the "seed toes" and planted them in late fall. What I have coming up looks like a round, green blade. I dug one up very carefully and it is growing from the very tiny "seed toes" I planted.

Yep, those are some variety of "Rocambole" garlic. They are generally considered more "flavourful" than the usual softneck garlics, but they don't keep as long and they tend to be difficult to grow except in cooler States (one garlic supplier says: "North of Virginia".

Thankyou so much for putting my mind at ease. I don't have anything against onions but I already have a bed of onions and this is my first try at raising garlic. They are sprouting like crazy. Sure hope they do well.

Sounds like the will do very well, indeed.