What’s Growing

Est. Harvest

Description

* note: ARK indicates that this vegetable has been admitted to the Slow Food Ark of Taste.

HERBS

Genovese Basil

Jun-Sept

intense aroma, big showy leaves

Compact Improved Genovese Basil

Jun-Sept

planted in containers, intense aroma, big showy leaves

Chivees

May-Nov

Cilantro

Late May-Oct

Grandma Einck’s Dill

Jun-Sept

(1920) Big showy dill we want to use of pickling, an original seed from Seedsavers and saved from last year.

Epazote

Jun-Sept

Mexican herb grown for use with beans & chili sauces

Mexican Mint Marigold

Jul-Nov

also called Spanish Tarragon, traditional flower of the Day of the Dead in Mexico

Greek Oregano

year round

intense aroma, flavor

Giant of Italy Parsley

Jun-Nov

really big, flat leaf parsley (last year, they were 3-ft. wide bushes by Sept

Rosemary

Jun-Dec

Extrakta Sage

Jun-Nov

high essential oil content, we’ll interplant with our carrots to deter rust flies and carrot maggot

Winter Savory

Aug-Nov

the Pennsylvania-Dutch word for this herb is Bohnegreidel which means bean herb

Shiso

Aug-Sept

Asian herb with basil/cumin/cinnamon notes, pairs well with seafood

German Winter Thyme

Jun-Nov

Wormwood

Jun-Oct

the outlawed Absinthe flavoring, but said to be an insect deterrent, look for it in the Roadhouse patio

BEANS

Nancy Newsom’s Speckled Butter Peas

Sept-Oct

our friend from Tennessee who makes the best ham in the country sent us these last year to try - we loved ‘em and saved seeds for this year’s crop

Christmas Lima (ARK)

Sept-Oct

(1840) Seeds from Nancy Newsom

Greasy Grits Pole Beans

Jul-Aug

a pole bean from the old Ozarks

Jacob’s Cattle (ARK)

Sept-Oct

first grown by the Passamaquaddy Indians of Maine, so it could be a 400-year-old heirloom.

Jackson Wonder

Aug-Sept

(1888) bush lima bean that Nancy Newsom sent us

Cherokee Trail of Tears (ARK)

Jul-Aug

(1830s) brought west to Oklahoma from the Smoky Mountains by the Cherokee Indians on their forced migration

Bill Best’s N-T (non-tough) Half-runner

Jul-Sept

Seed from Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Conservancy, a great non-profit organization in Berea, Kentucky specializing in the beans of Appalachia. Bill Best has run the program for over 30 years and this is his own special project. We grew it last year, and it tasted great!

BEETS

Detroit Dark Red

Jun-Nov

(1892) The classic American beet

Touchstone Gold

Jul-Nov

a beautiful yellow beet we hope to pickle with local honey and cider vinegar

Moneta

Jul-Nov

a beet seed is actually the fruit and contains several seeds, this is a hybrid with only one seed per fruit…

Forona

Jul-Nov

the root is long instead of round so it might be good for pickling

BROCCOLI

Blue Wind

Jun-Jul

hybrid early season variety

De Cicco

Jun-Jul & Sept-Oct

(1890) nice heirloom we grew last year

Calabrese

Jul & Sept-Oct

(1880) Italian heirloom variety

Romanesco

Jul & Sept-Oct

another Italian variety

CABBAGE

Copenhagen Market

July

(1909) early season variety

Premium Late Flat Dutch

Sept-Oct

we want to try making sauerkraut with this one

CARROTS

Yellowstone

Jul-Dec

Chef Alex’s favorite for roasting or steaming. Before the Dutch influence in the 1600s, carrots were all sorts of colors; purple, red, white and yellow–so these are a real step back in time.

Purple Haze Napoli

Jul-Dec

purple on the outside and intense orange at its core

Scarlet Nantes

Sept-Dec

classic carrot for storage

Nelson

mid-Jun

early season hybrid

Vitana

Jul-Aug

main season hybrid

Bolero

Oct-winter

storage hybrid

CAULIFLOWER

Fremont

early July

early season variety

Amazing

Aug-Oct

Cheddar

Aug-Oct

a yellow variety

Graffiti

Aug-Oct

a purple color–I couldn’t resist!

CELERY

Golden Self-Blanching

Aug-Sept

Historically, celery is important to us because the area around Kalamazoo used to be called the Celery Capital of the U.S. Michigan still provides much of the summer crop to the U.S. – we’re excited to grow our own.

Utah

Aug-Sept

Giant Pascal

Aug-Sept

CUCUMBER

Early Fortune

Jun-Aug

(1910) Alex has always grown these. The seed was developed almost 100 years ago by a farmer from Royal Oak, MI

Ace - A & C Pickler

Jul-Aug

we want to experiment with an old New York deli garlic pickle recipe and this is a classic pickler.

EGGPLANT

Pingtung Long

Jul-Sept

lavender variety from Taiwan

Rosa Bianca

Jul-Sept

Listada de Gandia

Jul-Sept

GARLIC

German Extra Hardy

July

vigorous garlic developed in New York State, bold flavor and high sugar content

DiFranco A2

July

this is my baby! Garlic grown in the Detroit area by Sicilian immiogrants for over 60 years. Carmen and Mary Best DiFranco have grown it in Ann Arbor for 20 years!

Local Organic Community Farm

July

a local organic farm gave the Roadhouse a bunch of garlic last fall. We cooked half and planted the rest!

GREENS & LETTUCE

Arugula

May-early Jun & Sept-winter

this is so good when the weather is cool

Red Calaloo

late July-Aug

this is a spinach-like green native to the Caribbean and used in a seafood stew also called calaloo. Jasper White was here last summer for a special dinner and made this stew. I made a note to find room to grow some this summer.

Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce (ARK)

late May-Jun

(early 1800s) unusual triangular leaves, seed from Seedsavers

Tyee Spinach

Jun-winter

bolt resistant variety from Johnny’s

Bordeaux Spinach

May & Sept-winter

showy variety with really dark leaves and red veins

Chioggia Red Prego Radicchio

Oct-Nov

this is a fall experiment

Jericho Romaine

Jun-Oct

bolt resistant variety developed in Israel

Jamai Red Leaf

May-Jun & Sept-winter

Winter Density Romaine

Oct-winter

Buttercrunch Bibb

May-Jun & Sept-winter

gotta have a bibb!

KOHLRABI

Kolibri Purple

late Jun-winter

Winner

late Jun-winter

LEEKS

King Richard

Aug-Oct

earlier leek

Prizetaker

late Sept-Oct

(1880s) English heirloom also known as the Lyon

OKRA

Cajun Delight

Aug-Sept

love the blossoms. This variety bred fro Yankee gardeners, look for them on the Roadhouse patio

Cow Horn

Aug-Sept

(1890s) monseter plants approaching 6ft. Tall with large yet tender pods

ONIONS

New York Early

late July

yellow storage onion

Mars Red

late July

red slicing onion

Purplette Summer Mini

Jun-Aug

small bulbing early onion

Gold Coin Cipollini

Jun-Aug

the classic cock’s onion

Deep Purple Scallion

Jul-winter

Nabechan Scallion

July-winter

we use lots of scallions at the Roadhouse so we need to grow them!

PARSNIPS

Javelin

Nov-winter

the first veggie planted and last harvested!

Hollow Crown

Nov-March

In Chez Panisse Vegetables, Alice Waters recommends this parsnip, so of course, we’re growing it!

PEAS

Sugar Ann

late May-June

early bush type

Sugar Snap

Jun-Jul

it’s not an heirloom, but it’s a garden classic!

PEPPERS

Lipstick

Aug-Sept

Italian-style roasting pepper

Italia

Aug-Sept

hardy roasting pepper

Hinklehatz (ARK)

Aug-Sept

small hot pepper (translated chicken heart) grown by the Pennsylvania-Dutch for pepper vinegar, the original American hot sauce. The Roadhouse serves our version of this hot sauce, with these peppers soaked in Pierre Gingras’ cider vinegar.

Carmen

Aug-Sept

another roasting pepper

Beaver Dam (ARK)

Aug-Sept

(1912) grown in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin by the family of Joe Hussli, Hungarian immigrants

Chefvena Chuska

Aug-Sept

Bulgarian roasting pepper that’s really sweet

Hungarian Hot Wax

Aug-Sept

a spicy pepper - the slow burning heat we love!

Sport

Aug-Sept

classic pickling pepper for a true Chicago-style dog!

Medusa Ornamental

Jun-Sept

a bizarre bush pepper for the Roadhouse patio

Joe’s Long Cayenne

Aug-Sept

(1900) Italian heirloom, we dry it and roast it for the Nashville Hot! Fried Chicken served every Tuesday night!

Jalapeno

Aug-Sept

unusually large red, and super-hot! Saved the seeds from last year!

POTATOES

Kennebec

late Aug-winter

We’re planting about 1000 lbs of seed potatoes. Hopefully this means mountains of spuds come fall! This potato used to be one of the classic Maine production potatoes. We made the best French fries I’ve ever had out of this potato. Good for all uses.

Red Pontiac

Sept-Oct

Good medium waxy red, we dug them up small last year in late July, and they were huge by Sept and Oct

German Butterball

Aug-winter

this should be the new Yukon Gold, medium-to-small sized with beautiful netting on their skin

Russet Burbank

Sept-winter

originally developed by Luthern Butterball around the turn of the century, big oval spuds

Project Grow Potatoes

Project Grow is an Ann Arbor organic gardening organization. We’re partnering with their potato and tomato specialist, Royer Held, to grow some very special potatoes.

SQUASH

Zephyr

Jul-Aug

yellow, summer squash

Flying Saucer Cymling

Jul-Aug

also called patty-pan, cymling is an old colonial and English word for this plant and we like history.

Starship Cymling

Jul-Aug

Amish Pie (ARK)

Oct-winter

a really nice pumpkin pie squash

Buttercup (burgess strain)

Sept-Oct

classic winter squash

Sibley (ARK)

Oct-winter

(1887) good keeper with improving flavor the longer it’s stored

Waltham Butternut

Sept-winter

Waltham refers to Waltham, MASS where this strain was improved

Queensland Blue

Oct-winter

(1932) Chef Alex’s favorite! Striking grey/blue color with rich flavor

Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck

Oct-winter

the color is that of butternut with a funky curved neck

Boston Marrow (ARK)

Oct-winter

(1831) 10-20lb squash with a reddish orange skin

Cornell Bush Delicata

Sept-winter

developed at Cornell University with resistance to all the diseases that can affect squashes

Prizetaker & Dill’s Atlantic Giant

Oct

we can’t resist the urge to grown a giant pumpkin to plop in front of the Roadhouse for Halloween, so we’ll see what we get!

RADISHES

Easter Egg

early July & Sept-Oct

pastel colored round radish

Long French D’Avignon

May-early July & Sept-Oct

long cylindrical variety

SWEET POTATOES

We’ve ordered slips, which are sprouts picked off of a cut sweet potato that’s buried in warm wet sand. I want to do this myself, but I first need to get some plants that I want to grow. The slips are ordered from a really great seed house in Iowa called Sandhill Preservation. They just got their sweet potato production certified organic. The sweet potato varieties they offer are quite impressive, and since we’re growing them for the first time this year, we want to try lots of different kinds to compare the flavors and growth habits.

TOMATOES

Cherokee Purple (ARK)

Jul-Sept

Seed obtained by Seedsavers in 1991 from North Carolina, a dark skinned slicer

Green Zebra

Jul-Sept

also called Mr. Stripey or Tigerella, smallish and tart

Striped German

Aug-Oct

One of Chef Alex’s favorites, monster bi-colored yellow and red tomato

Buffalo

Jul-Sept

a slicer bred for hoop houses and recommended by the organic guru Elliot Coleman

Black Cherry

Jul-Sept

dark purple ping-pong sized cherry tomato with sweet plum overtones

Sungold

Jul-Sept

small tangerine colored cherry tomato

Juliet

Jul-Sept

a really nice grape tomato

Super Marzano

Aug-Oct

a monster hybrid paste we grew last year

San Marzano Redorta

Aug-Oct

Italian heirloom from Tuscany referencing a mountain in Bergamo

Jersey Devil

Aug-Oct

paste tomato with a unique tip at the end

Amish Paste (ARK)

Aug-Oct

Wisconsin heirloom we want to try drying and packing in olive oil for the winter

Canestrino #1

Aug-Sept

nice flavored bell-shaped tomato we grew last year and liked. We saved the seds to this one ourselves

Viva Italia

Aug-Sept

hybrid paste we’re trialing this year

German Red Strawberry

Aug-Oct

big oxhart, meaty like a paste, but bigger

Mortgage Lifter

Aug-Oct

Susanne at the Roadhouse grows these every year and recommends this heirloom slicer to us–OK Suze! We’ll try it.

Brandwine OTV

Aug-Sept

If you know tomatoes, you know Brandywines. We intend to grow all the great tomatoes in the Brandywine family and compare. The name refers to the magazine Off the Vine, which is devoted to heirloom tomato enthusiasts.

Brandywine Potato Leaf

Aug-Oct

we were impressed with the vigor of the heirloom tomatoes from last year with large potato foliage, they were vigorous and healthy all season.

Brandywine Suddoth’s Strain

Aug-Oct

(1889) This might be the original Brandywine and one Alex has grown for several years.

Brandywine Landis Valley Strain

Aug-Oct

Yellow Brandywine

Aug-Oct

a big yellow version

Red Brandywine

Aug-Oct

(1880s) big, juicy and balanced

Black from Tula

Aug-Sept

Russian heirlooms, black tomatoes, colored a deep bruisy purple and winning tastings for their depth of flavor.

Valencia

Sept-Oct

Maine yellow heirloom from Johnny’s Seeds - it took a long time to ripen for us last year

Aunt Ruby’s German Green (ARK)

Aug-Oct

Big green slicer. They go from light green to dark green when ripe, but you can’t trust your eyes, each one has to be picked by touch.

TURNIPS

Hakurei

late May-fall

small white turnip we grew last fall, mild flavor

Scarlet Queen

May-early July & Sept-Oct

red early variety

Purple Top White Globe

Jun-Sept

(1880s) the classic turnip, big white oval with purple shoulders and killer greens