Quick-Growing Heirloom Veggies

I've had the great fortune of raising a daughter who never needed prompting to eat all of her vegetables. Other Moms were amazed by this since they spent half the dinner hour coaxing their own children to do the same.

What's the secret? Home grown! Even the pickiest eaters enjoy the downright delectable flavor of sun-kissed, vine-ripened, fresh-picked vegetables.

Bonus: a veggie garden can save you a fortune on grocery bills.

Time & Sunshine
Veggies happily grow anywhere you care to plant them ~ in containers on your balcony, in raised beds in the garden, or planted directly into the soil. Give them time and sunshine and they'll take care of the rest.

Storage containers make great, deep planters for veggies. (Add drainage holes in the bottom.)

How much time?
How about fresh lettuce in 4 short weeks? Mountain growing seasons are very short so we mountain gardeners need to get creative. If you've not heard of these goodies, you're not alone but most every vegetable has a quick-growing cousin that reaches harvest in short order and tastes terrific.

Quick-growing Heirloom Veggies that do well in the mountains:

• Bountiful Bush Bean - this easy-growing small vine bean reaches maturity in about 51 days. (Heirloom)
• Bull Nose Sweet Bell Pepper - a crisp, crunchy bell pepper bursting with delicious, earthy flavor. Matures in about 60 days. (Heirloom)
• Red Cored Chantenay Carrots - A sweet, tender variety, ready to harvest in 70 short days. (Heirloom)
• Four Seasons Head Lettuce - is as beautiful as it is delicious, with colorful, reddish brown leaves. Matures in 45-55 days. (Heirloom)
• Brandywine Tomato - This yummy Amish heirloom has a neat habit of producing tomatoes that mature at different times, on the same vine, throughout the season. (80 days, Heirloom)
• Cocozelle Bush Zucchini - has a fresh, nutty flavor that is particularly delicious when roasted on the grill. Matures in 55 days. (Heirloom)

Not gorgeous but the plants don't care. Pretty much any deep, plastic container is great for growing veggies.

More useless information!

* When buying seeds, or seedlings, check the 'days to maturity' on the seed packet or planting guide. You may need to purchase these varieties from online or mail order sources.

* Harvest days are measured from transplant time. Allow an extra 10-15 days, if planting by seed.

* Heirlooms are vegetable varieties that have not been hybridized for mass production. Most were born long before you were. These guys are infinitely more flavorful than grocery store 'fresh produce.'

Slow As Snails Tomatoes

There are tons of tomatoes that happily grow in a high altitude garden. Unfortunately, I had a helper (aka meddler) who thought he was doing me a big favor by removing what I had planted (wonderful short-growing heirloom tomatoes) and filling my raised bed with traditional tomato plants. These foolish little seedlings thought they had all the time in the world...

There is so much bad news in the local paper* that I often wonder why I subscribe. Take this morning, for instance, when a sneaky little note in the corner of the front page warned that night temperatures would drop to 24 degrees (F). Oh, I know there are plenty of bigger problems in the world than frozen green tomatoes but I had sort of crossed my fingers that we'd have a long, leisurely autumn since it snowed in June. This is why containers are oftentimes a mountain gardener's best friend.

If you have an abundance of good fresh tomatoes, freeze them whole. Just wash, dry, and put them in freezer bags. They'll retain their flavor ~ great for all sorts of recipes (too squishy for salads.)

OVEN-FRIED GREEN TOMATOES:
[Bake in 400 degree oven]

• 6 green tomatoes, cut in 1/4-inch thick slices
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup skim milk
• 1/3 cup water
• 1.5 cups seasoned bread crumbs
• 1.5 cup Parmesan cheese

Mix beaten eggs, milk, and water in a shallow bowl. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan in a separate shallow bowl. Dip tomato slices into the egg mixture, then into the bread crumbs. Arrange tomato slices on a cookie sheet and bake uncovered in 400° oven for about 10 minutes. Flip all of the tomatoes, to brown on the other side, and bake for 10 more minutes.

*Helpful Hints From The Headless Herald
(We have nicknamed our local paper the Headless Herald. It's just that bad.)

However! It makes a fabulous weed barrier. Lay down 6 sheets of tiresome local reporting and cover with 3 inches of mulch. By next spring your weed problems will be gone and you'll have a sweet little garden bed where passers by can stop and smell the roses.

Ripen green tomatoes by wrapping them in newspaper.
Remove the stems, wash and dry. Then individually wrap each tomato in a piece of newspaper and store the tomatoes in a dark, cool (55-60°F) spot, like your basement, where they will slowly ripen.

** Growing times: Lots of great veggies will happily grow in high altitudes. Read the fine print to determine how long they take to reach maturity. Planting Marigolds around the garden bed helps chase away critters who dine and dash.

Vegetable Gardening in High Altitudes

A fellow gardener wrote to me wondering if I knew of any vegetables that will grow in high altitudes.

Well, let's see. For starters there's Beans, Beets, Carrots, Corn, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Peas, Potatoes, Radishes, Tomatoes...

Surprised? All of these yummy veggies will grow at high altitudes. Just give 'em a little TLC plus O.F. (organic fertilizer!)


AND! Time your garden differently.
* The heartache of a Memorial Day frost is pretty much guaranteed at altitudes of 6,000 feet or higher.

Garden shops advise April/May planting for vegetables and that's why we feel left out.
* We mountain gardeners need to plant on June 1st and expect a later harvest.
* May nights are too cold for little seedlings. Mature plants are much tougher. They can handle cool night temperatures in September.

Get creative. Most quality seed shops offer cold-hardy and fast-growing varieties. You won't find see this produce at grocery store and the names might not be familiar... But, there are many varieties of tomatoes that mature in less than 60 days. (Thank the hybridizing experts in Russia and Canada for these breakthroughs.)

Plant favorite veggies with a 90-day growing cycle. Experiment with root vegetables that mature in 120 days. The soils stays warm, protecting potatoes.

Raised beds help a great deal.
Soil warms faster in the spring, helping seeds to sprout quicker. With raised beds, you can easily amend the soil. Veggies need lots of soil nutrients to produce a good harvest and mountain soil is generally short on what's needed.

Good Veggie Choices for High Altitude Gardens

• Bush and Pole Beans = 60 days
• Beets = 50-70 days
• Carrots = 90 days
• Sweet Corn = 60 - 90 days
• Cucumbers = 90 days
• Lettuce = 70-90 days
• Peas = 60 days
• Potatoes = 90 - 120 days
• Radishes = 30 days
• Spinach = 45 - 90 days
• Tomatoes* = 55 - 90 days

* Popular Beefsteak Tomatoes grow too slow but other varieties do very well. 90-day growth cycle or shorter: Alaskan Fancy, Aztec, Orange Blossom, Health Kick Hybrid, Abraham Lincoln Heirloom, Russian Heirloom.. and many more. Become friends with the folks at the Good Seed Company. They test their organic seeds on the Canadian border and they know what grows!

Heirloom Tomato Plants

For information on quick-growing heirloom tomatoes, click here.

This is way too pretty to be an heirloom tomato. Most tomatoes have been hybridized to look perfect. The downside to messing with the natural order of things is that it also removes most of the flavor.

All I really needed was one itty bitty tomato seedling. One - quick growing, sweet, juicy, perfect for a container, willing to happily flourish on my deck - tomato plant. But, turning me loose at a Community Garden plant sale is just asking for trouble.

So, I went a little hog wild. I bought these luscious veggies pictured below, plus a trunk load of flowering perennials and one ultra risky 99 cent investment in a Rouge Vif D'etampes.

But that's okay. It's for a really good cause: Wasatch Community Gardens

Heirloom Veggies:
When you think of heirlooms, visions of Grandma's jewelry box dance in your head. Well, most Grandmas. Mine preferred junk jewelry over the diamonds, rubies and emeralds we all hope to inherit.

When you think of heirloom tomato plants think.... ugly. Ugly, ugly, ugly... the best tasting tomatoes you'll ever find would have a tough time winning a beauty contest.

This is what I'm planting in my garden:



Black Russian Tomatoes











Armenian Cucumbers












King of the North Red Bell Peppers





It's entirely possible to grow veggies at high altitudes. Raised beds, with amended soil, improve your odds. Containers are great. Because up here in the mountains Mother Nature really is out to get you. If she discovers you're trying to grow veggies, she'll schedule a late season freeze in your honor, just to ruin your plans.

Veggies grown in containers grow faster. Plus, you can drag them back into the house on an exceptionally cold night.

Looking for unusual veggies and heirloom seeds? Look no further than Seeds of Change. They are working hard to improve your odds of growing heirloom, ultra rare, and good old fashioned farmhouse vegetables.