Tag Archives: Nichols Garden Nursery

Indigo Rose New Blue Tomato

I’m updating this story very often. Mainly because, it is rare to discover a new wholesome food. There are lots of hybrids out there but this is a completely new tomato. Read more.

Rose Marie Nichols said, “You know Patsy, this tomato has the highest level of Anthocyanins anywhere.”

I just nodded, hoping I appeared to know what she was talking about. But I went flying to the internet to learn more about Anthocyanins. It’s the pigment that makes blueberries blue and the reason they are so good for you.

Scientists are asking if Anthocyanins are helping fight cancer or wrinkles. But we do know that as stated in mybotoxla.com/coolsculpting site, anthocyanins are one of the best reasons we should eat deep colored fruits and vegetables.

Jim Myers, dept of horticulture, OSU is the wizard behind the research. He develops improved vegetable varieties to support gardeners, growers and processors in the Pacific Northwest (PNW).

This tomato plant is still evolving. Buy the time the University has completed it’s research, it is likely Indigo Rose will end up other positive traits like stronger disease resistance.

I grow tomatoes that tell a story, like so many heirlooms do.

Since every other tomato I grow is an heirloom, this is indeed unusual in my experience. I like growing tomatoes that come with a story and a history. Like Granny Cantrell.

Granny Cantrell produces big, one-pound tomatoes in my garden.

Seed from this tomato came from a WW II souldier who gave it to Lettie Cantrell on his return to the US.

Lettie said she saved the seed from the largest tomatoes every year. It was the only tomato she grew in the hills of eastern Kentucky. She grew this tomato every year from the 1940’s until she died in 2005.

I agree with Lettie. The Granny Cantrell tomato is a rich old fashioned beed steak type tomato.

If I could grow only one tomato, it just might be this one with big, red one – pound fruits.

It’s dill pickle season

Patsy Bell Hobson is a garden writer and a travel writer. For her, it’s a great day when she can combine the two things she enjoys most: gardening and traveling. Visit her personal blog at http://patsybell.com and read her travel writings at Ozarks Travel Examiner.

Best known for pickling, dill (Anethum graveolens) is also a good herb for succession planting. If making dill pickles is on your Summer To-Do List, try this variety: dill ‘Dukat’. This variety, which is bred in Denmark, has finely cut leaves that stay fresh longer than other varieties.

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Hanging herb garden hung by the window to grow in Brooklyn.
Photo by Dory Komfeld/Courtesy Flickr

I like this newer variety of dill. It is pretty enough to plant in a sunny flower garden and it’s more compact than taller, older varieties. This is one of the few herbs that I enjoy to use both the ferny leaves and the seeds. Those beautiful lacey leaves are often referred to as dill weed. After this member of the carrot family has bloomed and set seed, cut it and hang it upside down in a paper bag to collect seed.

8 June Caterpillar
While the black swallowtail butterfly is a caterpillar, it feeds on dill.
Photo by Ken Pomerance/Courtesy Flickr

I suggest that you start this plant from seed—it has a long tap root, which means that transplanting it will have limited success. Plant a few seeds every two weeks to extend your season of fresh dill and to grow more than you need to share with local butterflies. Grateful butterflies will enjoy finding this smaller, more compact variety in your garden and caterpillars will appreciate its ready supply. It’s a well known fact that dill (as well as parsley and fennel) will attract butterflies to your garden.

To preserve, freeze your dill plant by cutting the branches into sections short enough to fit into heavy plastic freezer bags. Do not chop the leaves into bits until it is ready to use. This will brighten the fragrance and flavor when you use it in any recipe. Dill will keep in the freezer for about six months.

8 June Dill and Garlic
Use dill and garlic to make homemade pickles.
Photo by Sarah Reid

Use dill for more than pickles and dilly beans. Try a little dill in a favorite biscuit recipe. If you are serving pre-made biscuits, brush a little dill-infused butter on them. Also, I couldn’t make potato salad without dill weed.

This dill seed is easy to find. I bought my seeds at Renee’s Garden, Burpee and Nichols Garden Nursery online catalogs; several other companies also sell dill seed. But if you don’t want to find them on your own, enter my garden giveaway!

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