{"id":58,"date":"2011-05-22T21:31:49","date_gmt":"2011-05-23T02:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/?p=58"},"modified":"2011-05-26T10:09:06","modified_gmt":"2011-05-26T15:09:06","slug":"lessons-from-leslie-heirloom-vegetables-for-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/22\/lessons-from-leslie-heirloom-vegetables-for-texas\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons from Leslie &#8211; Heirloom Vegetables for Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"59\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/2011\/05\/22\/lessons-from-leslie-heirloom-vegetables-for-texas\/zucchini-1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall.jpg?fit=500%2C333&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"500,333\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;32&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;1166696037&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;52&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;100&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;8&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Zucchini 1&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Zucchini 1\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall.jpg?fit=500%2C333&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-59\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall-300x199.jpg?resize=300%2C199\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/squashSmall.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a> Leslie Helleck is the general manager at <a href=\"http:\/\/nhg.com\/\">North Haven Gardens<\/a>. \u00a0She gave a very informative talk recently on the topic of &#8220;Heirloom Vegetables for Texas&#8221;. \u00a0Here are some of the highlights from her presentation:<\/p>\n<p>Wordology:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cultiver &#8211; man-made hybrid<\/li>\n<li>F1 &#8211; first generation cross<\/li>\n<li>Seeds from hybrids usually do not come true<\/li>\n<li>Variety &#8211; accidental or naturally occurring cross<\/li>\n<li>Heirlooms &#8211; open-pollinated, stable species or variety, seed comes true when saved. \u00a0Must be cultivated for at least 50 years (some say 100 years) to be called a heirloom.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Heirlooms are important because they promote diversity (vs monoculture), protect food supply, have different and unique flavors, and preserve heritage\u00a0and culture. \u00a0(Note: \u00a0some new hybrid tomatoes don&#8217;t have enough acid content to safely can w\/ water bath equipment)<\/p>\n<p>In our area, September through May is the most productive gardening time, which is when <strong>cool season crops<\/strong> are growing. \u00a0Here are her recommendations for varieties:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Asparagus &#8211; Martha Washington (asparagus does not tolerate competition or poor drainage)<!--more--><\/li>\n<li>Broccoli &#8211; Calabrese (plant in September-November, and again in February, spray w\/ BT 7 days after planting)<\/li>\n<li>Swiss Chard &#8211; Bright Lights &amp; Fordhook Giant (will grow all Winter and through the next year)<\/li>\n<li>Cabbage &#8211; Early Jersey Wakefield (protect from freezing after head develops)<\/li>\n<li>Carrots &#8211; Scarlet Nantes &amp; Red Cored Chantenay (direct seed in early fall and early spring)<\/li>\n<li>Leeks &#8211; American Flag (plant indoors 60 days before last frost)<\/li>\n<li>Pea &#8211; Little Marvel (direct seed September 1 and\u00a0February\u00a01)<\/li>\n<li>Lettuce &#8211; Buttercrunch &amp; Black Seeded Simpson<\/li>\n<li>Collards &#8211; Georgia Southern<\/li>\n<li>Arugula &#8211; Roquette<\/li>\n<li>Mustard Greens &#8211; Southern Giant Curled<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Warm season crops<\/strong> are what most people think of when they think about &#8216;gardening&#8217;; here is her list of favorites:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Beans &#8211; Blue Lake Bush &amp; Kentucky Wonder (bush types will produce all at one time, makes canning easier)<\/li>\n<li>Cucumber &#8211; Straight Eight (3 foot tall)<\/li>\n<li>Eggplant &#8211; Black Beauty (transplant after soil temperature is warm)<\/li>\n<li>Okra &#8211; Clemson Spineless (harvest when pods are 3&#8243;, don&#8217;t let them get big)<\/li>\n<li>Pepper &#8211; Cayenne &amp; Anaheim &amp; California Wonder (bell peppers don&#8217;t\u00a0tolerate\u00a0drought\u00a0very well, but hot peppers do)<\/li>\n<li>Squash &#8211; Golden Summer Crookneck (bush type plant. \u00a0harvest summer squash young\/immature, winter squash hard skin is desirable. \u00a0harvest every day)<\/li>\n<li>Tomato &#8211; Yellow Pear, Roma, Green Zebra, Beefsteak (don&#8217;t try to keep tomatoes through summer but\u00a0indeterminant\u00a0cherry tomatoes are OK; plant second crop around July 4th for October harvest)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you get a chance to hear Leslie speak or take one of her classes, don&#8217;t pass up the opportunity, she is very informative!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leslie Helleck is the general manager at North Haven Gardens. \u00a0She gave a very informative talk recently on the topic of &#8220;Heirloom Vegetables for Texas&#8221;. \u00a0Here are some of the highlights from her presentation: Wordology: Cultiver &#8211; man-made hybrid F1 &#8211; first generation cross Seeds from hybrids usually do not come true Variety &#8211; accidental [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_glsr_average":0,"_glsr_ranking":0,"_glsr_reviews":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[12,13],"class_list":["post-58","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-heirloom","tag-varieties"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1jPFc-W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58\/revisions\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/northtexasvegetablegardeners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}