Don’t tell me you could have resisted those Indian Snake cucumber seeds, based on the caftan guy alone. New to us is Prairie Fire tomato, above right, with a high brix (sugar content), requested by Marc. Let’s check the packet text:
Insanely sweet fruit with a brix reading of 10.0. Extremely kid friendly, this may be the sweetest tomato we have ever tried! Compact vines produce fruit that are 1 inch across and 3 inches long.
We’ll be starting veg seeds on our light racks for family, the tiny seeds growing to planting size (above) in about eight weeks. Given our bizarre weather (26F this morning rising to 50F this afternoon), all bets are off on when they’ll go into the ground.
We grew Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes back on the roof of our Chicago place. Here’s a post on our old Green Roof Growers site from former neighbor Bruce, who notes Cosmonaut Volkov was his first tomato to ripen—on July 18, 2013.
More on the provocative name here: A Ukrainian heirloom named by Russian space engineer/gardener Mikhailovich Maslov, who named the heirloom tomato from his family garden after his comrade Vladislav Volkov, a Russian astronaut, who died while returning from the first visit to the Earth's first space station. Russians grow this variety for prize-winning, 1-2 lb. slightly flattened, fluted, pink/red beefsteak tomatoes with a full, complex flavor and nice acid/sweet balance. A good variety for cooler growing regions.
A couple of months ago Art said: can you grow us some spinach? Mais oui! It’s going well, as shown above, and better yet when I can set these outside in the cool air, which spinach thrives in. The large-leaf basil below makes for a tasty winter salad (oh for a Cosmonaut Volkov tomato in February).
With a sunny disposition, geraniums reliably bloom indoors during winter.
I would attend if it were closer!