Brassicas

Culture: Best started as transplants, and put out at 6 weeks. Seeds will germinate in 4-8 days. Transplant into a rich soil, full sun and cooler temperatures.

Broccoli

• Green Goliath Broccoli     SOLD OUT for 2012
  I have tried many OP broccolis over the years and I always come back to this one. It isn’t an heirloom, but it is reliable with large heads and excellent side shoot production. Developed for the home gardener, heads mature at different times. Keep the seed for this one circulating! Packet 50 seeds.



• Romanesco Broccoli
  Produces a stunning apple-green, whorled head with better taste and texture than most of the finest broccolis. Widely grown and prized in Italy. Grows exceptionally well in cool northern areas. 75-100 days from transplant.



• Piracicaba
  Consider this a non-heading broccoli. Named after the Brazilian city where it was created, very loose heads and sweet, tender stalks with large leaves. Eat it all, love it! Packet 50 seeds.



• Spigiarello (foglia riccia)
  I can't stop singing the praises of this fabulous green, popular in Southern Italy. Chefs I deal with ask for it now. A true broccoli flavoured green with tiny, nearly insignificant heads. The more you pick it the more it grows. Beautiful frilly green slender leaves and fantastic after nipped with frost.

Brussel Sprouts

• Long Island
  Introduced in the 1890s. Once the most important commercial sprout variety in the US. Compact 24" plants yield 50-100 dark green 11⁄2" sprouts over an extended period. 80-115 days from transplant.

Cabbage

• Early Jersey Wakefield
  Good for small gardens, it is a small, juicy and sweet conical cabbage. Early, 63 days and dependable. A very old heirloom, introduced in the early 1800s. Try this often unappreciated veggie! Packet 50 seeds.

Cauliflower

• Early Snowball
  Introduced in 1888 by Peter Henderson. Smooth 6-7" heads are tightly formed, excellent quality. 60-85 days.

Collards

• Georgia Southern
  Why don't more people grow collards? They do very well in our climate, overwintering very well with protection and are darn tasty sauteed with garlic. Good flavour, mild cabbage taste. Tolerate heat, poor soil. 60-80 days.

Kale

• Beedy's Camden Kale
  Another goodie I grew in my Organic Gardening test garden, original source the fabulous FEDCO Seeds in Maine. All other testers (and me!) felt it was a winner with great production through the heat and cold, and a very fine flavour. Large blue-green leaves. Described by its originator, Beedy Parker, as "frilly as a Spanish dancer's dress...more tender than Siberian and lasts longer into the fall, very sweet and juicy."



• Lacinato
  Italian heirloom that dates back to the eighteenth century. Blue-green strap-like leaves that are 3" wide by 10-18" long. Heavily savoyed texture, excellent delicious flavor that is enhanced by frost. Best eaten when small and tender, 62 days from transplant. Packet 100 seeds.

Kohlrabi

• Gigante
  This is a Czechoslovakian heirloom that can become ginormous, up to 10 lbs! The world record is 65lbs! Even at that size, though, it retains its tender sweet flesh. Great winter keeper. Another under appreciated garden star.