A few weeks ago we asked our staff what their favorite varieties that we carry are, and we’ve compiled them in the list below. While we were sitting around talking about all these wonderful different vegetables that we love, we thought it would be great to hear from you, our customers – about which varieties you love and why!
So, leave us a note in the comments below about your favorite variety that High Mowing Organic Seeds’ carries, and one lucky commenter will win a $50.00 High Mowing Organic Seeds gift certificate!
- Tell us the name of the variety you love, and why you like it so much!
- Include the URL (web page address) of that variety from our website.
- Make sure you use an accurate e-mail as that’s how we’ll be contacting you if you win!
- Contest ends midnight (EST) 4/18/12
- We would love to share your comments with other gardeners and farmers! By commenting below, you give us permission to re-print your comments. Rather not be quoted? Send us an email to questions@highmowingseeds, with the subject line “My Favorite Variety” with the info requested above to be included in our contest and we’d be glad to add you to the pool of contestants.
The contest is now over – Thank you for everyone who entered – we truly appreciate all your comments. Pamela H. is our winner! – congratulations!
The fine print: High Mowing Organic Seeds is giving away one $50.00 gift certificate towards any of our products to one lucky winner! To enter the contest, leave a comment describing your favorite High Mowing Organic Seeds variety, why you like it, and the URL for that variety from our website on our blog post entitled “Win a $50 Gift Certificate”. (To qualify you need to make sure your favorite variety is one that High Mowing sells!), or send us an e-mail at questions@highmowingseeds.com with subject line, “My Favorite Variety”. The contest runs from 4/10/12 through midnight (EST) 4/18/12. The winner will be selected using random.org. The winner will be notified via e-mail, so please ensure that your e-mail is accurate. Winners must respond within 96 hours of the e-mail announcing that they have one being sent. If the winner fails to respond within that time, High Mowing Organic Seeds will select another winner through random. org and will send out another e-mail to the next winner.
High Mowing Staff Picks – Our Favorite Varieties!
Beans:
“The Black Turtle dry beans are wonderful. I was very happy with their upright growth habit. They produced so many beans and I found that they were easy to clean. They dried well on the plant. After harvesting the beans, I dried them a little more indoors and then put them in a tote and stepped on them to break the pods open. Afterwards, I separated the beans from the organic matter. Now I have dry beans that will store a long 
time!” Brigitte Derel, Sales Associate
“Dragon Langerie shell beans – They are beautiful and delicious. I love them in salads.” Meredith Martin Davis, General Manager
“I discovered Tavera Haricot Vert beans last summer. They’re tender and sweet and I picked them for weeks- we froze bags full of them! They were the first thing my eight month old son ate, and he loves them just as much as I do.” Andrea Tursini, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager
Beet:
“The Guardsmark Chioggia beet. Raw or cooked, shredded or sliced, its unique spiral interior is a vibrant addition to any plate or dish and best of all, it is a beet! Beets are the best, nothing better than a beet. I have nicked named it ‘the cat in hat’ beet.” Maxine Kelly, Accounting Manager
Broccoli:
“I like the Belstar F1 broccoli for full size heads, they have a nice dome to shed water and a tight bead that does great in the fall. Also stands up to the heat, but I usually slot it for the fall.” Paul Betz, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Cabbage:
“Kaitlin F1 cabbage: It holds well in the field…and makes good kraut!” Holly Simpson, Sales Assistant
Carrot:
“Napoli F1. My first carrot of the season. They are quick to size up, and have great flavor. The tops are strong for bunching, and stay green and beautiful for a long time in the field.” Paul Betz, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Cauliflower:
“I like the Veronica Romanesco for its flavor and uniqueness.” Amber Gillespie, Accounting Assistant
Cucumber:
“The Suyo Long is also an amazing eating cuke; thin skin and small seed cavity, once people try them they are hooked.” Paul Betz, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Specialty Greens:
“Yukina savoy Asian greens. I plant in the fall for full size heads. The leaves are large, the stems are tender and they can take the cold pretty well. Hong Vit radish green is a favorite as well; super tender as a young green. Let it get bigger and it can be bunched for a braising green, leave some longer and it’s a nice quality radish. Amazing!” Paul Betz, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Lettuce:
“Magenta head lettuce. Delicious, holds up well to rain, flooding, heat. Beautiful, crisp, dependable, and did I mention tasty?” Sara Schlosser, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Onion:
“Cortland F1 onion. I love onions and especially onions that I can store and eat all winter long. I’m still eating these in late February and plan to keep on eating them into April.” Andrea Tursini, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager
Peas:
“Sugar Ann snap pea – The first thing the kids and I get to eat right out of the garden. Summer days munching on these sweet snap peas are the best.” Meredith Martin Davis, General Manager
Peppers:
“Oranos F1 pepper is my all-time favorite–the best sweet pepper I have ever tasted! Peppers are the sweetest treat out of the field and this one is my favorite to snack on. The flavor is sweet and full, and the color is so pretty. It has been the favorite pepper by the Trials staff for all the years we’ve grown it — several of us were so excited to finally be able to get the seed for ourselves this year when we added it to the catalog. Yum!” Kathryn Donovan, Marketing and Trials Assistant
“I also love Oranos F1 pepper – don’t get sticker shock! This is the sweetest, most beautiful pepper we grew in trials last year.” Gwenael Engelskirchen, Trials Manager
“Have to have NuMex Joe E. Parker Anaheim peppers. Cut in half and put in a baking pan, stuff with a sharp cheddar cheese (preferably Vermont), sprinkle bread crumbs over top, bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve with steamed corn, fresh sliced tomatoes and basil.” Barbara Conn, Sales Associate
Spinach:
“Tyee F1 spinach has always been a standby for me. Holds up to the heat that we can get in early summer.” Paul Betz, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Summer Squash:
“Partenon F1 zucchini. Dependable in any weather or conditions, early, long season harvest compared to other zucchinis, perfect fruit and delicious. I also really like the Segev F1 squash. It produces for the whole season if you give it space to vine. Tender and nutty, a wonderful squash that is little know or appreciated in this country.” Sara Schlosser, Market Grower and Sales Associate
Winter Squash:
“I really like the Crown Pumpkin winter squash because it has a great color contrast with the muddy green outside and bright rich orange inside, the taste is nutty and the flesh is dense. Also it is very lovely in the garden growing next to other squash of different colors. The history of the Crown Pumpkin also interests me.” Brigitte Derel, Sales Associate
“Sugar Dumpling F1 winter squash: An easy to grow, sweet and nutty flavored squash that works well as a main meal when stuffed, but can easily cross over to dessert with a little butter and maple syrup!” Sarah Zettlemeyer, Wholesale Sales Associate
Tomato:
“Cosmonaut Volkov tomato: The flavor and texture is out of this world! Rich and sweet that never hides in any kind of sandwich or salad, always a great compliment to everything I add it to. This tomato takes me to the moon!” Sarah Zettlemeyer, Wholesale Sales Associate
“Matt’s Wild cherry tomatoes – Sweet, plentiful, and so easy to grow.” Meredith Martin Davis, General Manager
“Rose de Berne! Great flavor, texture, size, and good uniformity for an open pollinated heirloom tomato. Worlds better than Brandywine, the almighty heirloom of choice!” Megen Hall, Sales Associate
“I absolutely love Rose de Berne tomato – it has wonderful flavor, smooth skin, dense texture, excellent slicing and salad tomato and not prone to cracking.” Gwenael Engelskirchen, Trials Manager
Flowers:
“I really enjoy the Jasmine-Scented Nicotiana flower. The scent of jasmine fills the air in the early evening hours. It is so pleasant to be in the garden as the sun is setting with such a lovely aroma in the air.” Brigitte Derel, Sales Associate
“I love the scent of the Old Spice Sweet Peas. And I always plant Dark Orange Marigolds in our garden because that’s what my mother does – the smell of marigolds always reminds me of pulling weeds in her garden when I was little.” Andrea Tursini, Retail Sales and Marketing Manager
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I love the Baby Blue Hubbards. So delicious and they keep forever. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-hubbard-squash-seeds.html
My favorite favorite variety ever is Tom Thumb popcorn! I love popcorn and small things, so the two together is so much fun. Plus this variety grows great and always fertilizes well. Plus it stores really well and if you leave it on the cob it’s fun for the kids to prepare when it’s time to cook up a batch. Plus, my boyfriend is a petit man named Tom, so I have an extra special place in my heart for Tom Thumb popcorn. –Megan http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-tom-thumb-popcorn-corn.html
The chives because they bring me back to the excitement of the boys picking the flowers and eating them in the garden. Great memories made!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-brandywine-tomato.html
The Brandywine tomato showed my neighbors it is possible to garden organically – with great success! Huge tomatos on giant plants were the envy of the block and even converted folks from conventional to organic gardening. It is possible to lead by example. Thank all of you at High Mowing for offering a fantastic variety of organic seeds.
I love the Rosa Bianca eggplant. It is gorgeous and productive. It is never bitter and doesn’t need peeling.
The best tomato that both myself & our CSA members love is the San Marzano Paste Tomato. They produce firm tomatoes that taste great when cooked into a sauce & are plentiful on the vine.
Growing dry beans has become a gardening favorite to which I look forward each season. The OrganicCalypso Bean is at the top of my list! The plant is crazy easy to grow, flowers beautifully, and is sentinel and witness to all the other madness happening in the garden. It just watches, biding its time, drying sanguinely on the vine while I tend to everything but it. But then it’s glory time: I pull the plants, pick the pods, and set them aside in baskets. Over scattered evenings, as I have time here and there, I pull apart by hand each pod and squeal (usually only in my head) with delight as each one yields its gorgeous jewels: black and creamy white beans that are plump and patterned. There’s something supremely calming about running my hands through a big pile of these beans! Apologies to High Mowing, but I have had to assign the Calypsos a nickname because since I first discovered them they have reminded me (visually) of Orca whales. Ergo, a pile of Orcas, plunged into a soup or cassoulet with herbs and greens from the garden = heaven. (And they are really, really yummy.)
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-calypso-bean-seeds.html
I loved reading the list compiled by the employees at High Mowing. Got a lot of my favorites in there, too, and some I will now try. For me, a recent favorite is Lacinato Kale. Kale is increasingly popular with my CSA customers – thanks to the proliferation of green smoothies, I think – and the dinosaur kale adds great texture to my kale bouquets for the boxes.
I can’t pick just one!
I have gotten my 3 year old daughter to start veggy seeds on the window sill of my south-facing livingroom (they now take up a banquet table!).
The Cosmic Purple Carrots are exciting because my daughter asks if she can eat them EVERY DAY! (she hasn’t liked carrots in the past).
The Dark Green Zucchini and Hybrid F1 Cucumbers have gotten HUGE in my front window!
I out of the 12+ variety of seeds I’ve planted this year, I am averaging close to 100% germination.
Thank you so much for your wholesome seeds.
It means to world to me that I can trust your seeds aren’t GMO…. because my daughter’s health means the world to me
I love Matt’s Wild Cherry tomato. With the tomato blight a few years back, all my tomatoes were devastated by the blight, except Matt’s Wild. It had late blight all around it and still kept going strong. I will plant this lovely, little, sweet, delicious tomato every year! Along with about 200 other varieties of High Mowing Seeds! Thank you High Mowing for giving us quality organic seeds we can trust lives up to organic standards.
I’m not sure if this will qualify me or not but it’s worth a shot!
I recently ordered the Kitchen Herbs Organic Seed Collection from a fundraiser at my son’s school (which I might add was very successful and extremely simple!). Although I just planted them, I look forward to being able to use fresh organic herbs straight from my garden. Especially because I am often disappointed with the fresh herbs I purchase at the grocery store. It also gives me peace of mind that the seeds I bought are from a local company that I can trust.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Kitchen-Herbs-Organic-Seed-Collection.html
My favorite variety from High Mowing is Red Sails Lettuce.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-red-sails-lettuce.html
It is the overwhelming favorite of my family on taste. It has been a very high performer here in Central Texas. With a simple greenhouse of PVC pipe and plastic, and row cover in the main garden, I have kept an ample supply non-stop through the winter. It is very slow to bolt and I can keep harvesting bottom leaves from a single plant for a prolonged time. We are almost at mid-April now and I still have a good supply that tastes great. I am providing some slight shading from afternoon sun. My experiment this year is to see how long I can keep Red Sails producing as we move toward summer. I could not be without this variety.
My Cosmic Purple Carrots were doing just fine so I decided to give some to an elderly neighbor. When I stopped by to visit a week later she had them in a bowl with her artificial vegetables. Because of the color she thought they were not real.
Well, really, how to pick? So many options, so many loves.
In your veggie seeds, I’m a long-term fan of your heirloom organic Rattlesnake Pole Beans. The plants are resilient and deliver a voluminous amount of tasty beans. They’re spectacular to look at and the name always creates conversation! Even my dogs love the beans…every morning we go out to the garden together and they sit for a bean. This is our second generation of rattlesnake pole bean-loving bowsers!
In your flower seed selections, I love your organic Nasturtium Mix. I’ve ordered it year after year because the germination rates are so high and these nasturtium grow huge and colorful in my zone 5 New Hampshire gardens. People never fail to comment on how beautiful they are and I use the blossoms in our salads.
Thanks for all that you do.
Like many gardeners, I get a lot of enjoyment out of trying new varieties each year. That being said, for the past four years I’ve made sure to grow High Mowing’s Dragon Beans. I love the eye-catching purple and white color and they also taste delicious, whether prepared raw, cooked or canned. I also stick to Guardsmark Chioggia Beet for its interesting colors and enjoy experimenting with different tomatoes across the color spectrum!
My favorite are the Goldy Double sunflowers.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-goldy-double-sunflower.html
Last year I planted my first garden using these seeds. Sadly, my father became very ill and passed away in late June. I hadn’t tended my garden for a while. But when I returned to find these amazing, happy flowers, it was a great moment.
Thanks to High Mowing for offering such great products!
You can’t beat a ripe brandywine tomato with a sprinkle of salt!
You can’t beat a ripe brandywine with a sprinkle of salt!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-brandywine-tomato.html
I love the Flashback Calendula, http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-flashback-mix-calendula.html. It makes wonderful teas and medicinal skin balms.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-mammoth-sunflower.html
My favorite variety is the Mammoth Sunflower. They’re so majestic and beautiful. They tower over everything else, and will always brighten my day when I see them. I don’t know what it is about sunflowers that make me feel so warm and at home, but they do. I love to grow them, cut a few for my home and use the petals for tea.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-matts-wild-cherry-tomato.html
Aside from that, I really love Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes. They are so sweet and easy to grow. They have beautiful color and wonderful flavor!
I love High Mowing Seeds, it’s quite a challenge choosing one variety as my favorite. The standout for me has to be Cascadia Snap Peas, but I am partial to peas in general! The Cascadia germinates reliably and grows nice, tall vines that become heavy with delicious, crisp, sweet pods. My husband and I both love them and our little boy ate them steamed and pureed into baby food last summer…I expect he’ll be trying to eat them straight off the plant this year!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cascadia-snap-pea.html
My husband and I eat a lot of kale, and Red Russian is our favorite for flavor and for being a reliable and tough plant. It’s easy to grow, and best of all it’s heirloom!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-red-russian-kale.html
I love the Wapsinicon Peach tomato (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-wapsinicon-peach-tomato.html). Its colour, flavour, and light peach fuzz are sweet and gentle. I love it the way I love day-old chicks!
My favorite variety from High Mowing seeds is Farao cabbage. Had my first successful cabbages ever with them last summer and they were very crisp and tasty, the perfect size and fast growers. Made delicious cole-slaw! I will be growing them again this year!
My two favorite tomatoes (in addition to Sungold cherry) are Cosmonaut Volkov and Rose de Berne. I’m at a cold 1600 feet, in zone 3b, and Cosmonaut never disappoints; always ripens, and is big, red and delicious. Ditto for Rose de Berne.
Last year I planted my first broccoli ever using the Di Ciccio Broccoli seeds and was thrilled to get broccoli throughout the summer and fall! Two plants even made it to this spring and I just plucked my first floret last week. The Di Ciccio variety is great because it keeps producing.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-de-cicco-broccoli.html
I love everything I’ve gotten from you guys, but my favorite would have to be Ronde De Nice squash.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-ronde-de-nice-squash-seeds.html
I started my garden 3 years ago, and I could not grow squash the first 2 years. We had the dreaded vine borers. Ronde de Nice was the first squash that pulled through for me. Not only did it produce, but the squash are so delicious. And they’re the perfect shape for single servings of stuffed squash. I will plant these every year.
I have a tie: I love Matt’s Wild Cherry tomatoes (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-matts-wild-cherry-tomato.html) because they taste like candy and I can eat them by the handful right off the vine… but I also love Scarlet Nantes carrots (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-scarlet-nantes-carrot.html) because they taste great and there is nothing better than digging a carrot out of the ground. It’s like Christmas with each carrot!
I love the red sails lettuce – I harvest it leaf by leaf: they grow very tall and produce many seeds for the following year.
I love the black turtle beans (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-black-turtle-bean.html) – grew them for the first time last year. Part of what I really appreciated about them is that the color change in the pod tells you when to pick them ( pretty fool proof), or you can just let them dry on the vine – so easy. And I thought that the yield per plant was really good. So this year, I’ve left even more space in my garden for them!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-burgess-buttercup-winter-squash.html
Buttercup squash is an all time favorite! It takes a little longer to grow (then a tomato plant of course) but well worth the wait! I eat it any way (baked, steamed, fried, grilled, etc…)! I enjoyed watching my squash grow last year, I even attempted a plant in a huge pot I had… it still grew great!
I grew some herbs in containers last summer and dried them – they were all good, but when cat owners on my Christmas list got packages, their cats practically opened the packages for them! It was a huge hit!
It is hard to choose just one, but the Organic De Cicco Broccoli is one that we will never go without because it grows quick and strong, lasts all season long, and tastes delicious! Our kids will eat it right off the plant! Find it at: http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-de-cicco-broccoli.html. It is a must try…enjoy!
My favorite is the Luscious F1 Hybrid Sweet Corn. It is SO good and grew prolifically for us last year even in rough weather. It is so sweet I would often eat it raw in the field after a long day working. Oh I can’t wait for summer!!
https://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-luscious-f1-hybrid-corn.html
Soo-oo many of my seeds come from High Mowing Seeds now, but Prize pac choi has definitely become a favorite. BIG pac choi with crunchy white stems and sweet flavor!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-prize-choy.html
Big fan of the King Richard Leeks. They have gorgeous long whites, are slim for easy bunching at market, and ready early! Also love that they’re heirlooms. Been a winner in my CSA garden since I discovered them a few years ago.
Appears that my link didn’t work: http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-king-richard-leek.html
Love, love, love!!! the Organic Ring O Fire Peppers, here: http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-ring-o-fire-pepper.html
They are definitely hot, but not too hot, with just the right amount of burn! Not for the faint-hearted
I love Costata Romanesco! Even better flavor than Zucchini! Yum! Grows great even here in central Washington! http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-costata-romanesco-summer-squash.html
I love the stars and moon watermelon’s, not only do i find the melons to be just beautiful but they taste ohhh so yummy!!! Probably my favorite plant to grow and the best thing to chow down on, on those hot summer evenings!!
Without a doubt the kakai seeds are the absolute best tasting squash seed ever. If have never grown one of these beautiful fruits by all means do so this year. You will wish you planted 10 more plants than you end up with as the flavor of the seed is like nothing else. Thanks High Mowing Seeds for caring this wonderful variety.
I love the Danvers carrots, grew a lot last year, even “found” a couple last month that had wintered, still tasted great!
We LOVE Sunkist tomatoes. In our greenhouses they are the earliest slicing tomato- and they hold on the longest, too, even holding their good size and production. They are beautiful, and unlike most orange tomatoes, delicious as well. Our customers love them too. They are great fresh, dried, and in sauce or juice. And did I mention disease resistant? Thank you for this variety.
I love the Purple Beauty Pepper because it grows like crazy in my garden and tastes awesome.
We don’t know yet, this is our first year ordering from you!
My husband and I are loving the Mountain Princess Heirloom tomatoes! We started them from seed, and the other tomatoes we bought from another supplier as plants, are paling in comparison! We live in West Virginia and were interested in trying a variety native to our area. We can’t wait to try ‘em! http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-mountain-princess-tomato.html
I love your Belle Isle Cress. I started it last fall and wintered it over in my high tunnel and it is in it’s glory right now. As a spicy salad ingredient it has no equal! Other cresses are too hot, too small, or boring. Belle Isle Cress is perfectly balanced hot and spicy and grows to the perfect gourmet salad size. It is easy to harvest and joins spinach and mache as winter garden staples that are not only reliable but mouth watering. Who needss to move south to garden year round? We can do it in Vermont with Bell Isle Cress.
.http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-specialty-greens-seeds.html
We love your Purple Plum radish. They are excellent keepers, very pretty and wonderfully crunchy. We still have about 1/2 pound in the fridge that we harvested in October/November of 2011. They brighten any plate in the dead of winter. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-purple-plum-radish.html
The Rose Finn Apple Fingerling Potato … they can make the best “squished oven fries”!
Move oven racks to highest and lowest and preheat to 500. Put ~2-3 pounds of taters in baking dish with ~3/4 c water and cover tight w/ foil. Bake on lower rack for ~25 minutes. After that, take out of oven, let em cool a little, then take them out and place them on cookie sheet (I actually use a cast iron slab, but whatever works for you). Wipe off any excess water first. Get a glass and press down on each tater to squish it into a cake (not too thick, not too thin). Cover em all with olive oil, and sprinkle em with salt, pepper, and thyme (that’s what I use; plenty of other herbs will work great too–e.g., rosemary). Put sheet in oven on top rack and cook ~15 minutes. Then move em down to lower rack for ~25 minutes. Pull em out–should be crispy on outside, creamy in the middle!
I have grown your Brandywine Heirloom tomatoes for 3 years now. Last year I had a two pound tomato! We washed it up, set it on it’s own plate in the center of the table and carved it like a turkey!
My favorite is the Organic Fino Verde Mini Basil. It is perfect growing in a pot inside on my sunny windowsill all year round. It is perfect to grab some fresh leaves for whatever I am cooking, or just run my hand over it to get a wonderful blast of basil throughout the kitchen.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Organic-Seeds-Fino-Verde-Mini-Basil.html
The Cosmic Purple carrots are an all around favorite on our farm, the color really turns heads. Good growth rate, stored well, and delicious. I highly recommend them.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cosmic-purple-carrot.html
I love the Cherokee Purple Tomato–it has great yields and is tart and flavorful, without being too acidic. It is one of the few beefsteak-style tomatoes that grows well in the New Mexico high desert (and stands up to the winds somehow).
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cherokee-purple-tomato.html
I am a huge carrot fan and I have to have some everyday in virtually any meal or snack I can think to put them in–but the Atomic Red variety from High Mowing is truly a treat that’s hard to beat!
Got to agree about the Rose de Berne and Cosmonaut Volkov tomatoes. The Rose de Berne is my all time favorite tomato.
However, I think that my most favorite variety that I’ve ever grown is the Black Hungarian pepper.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-black-hungarian-pepper.html
Being on the end of a peninsula in Boston Harbor always makes getting a decent crop of peppers a challenge (I’ve even been forced to grow them in containers in the greenhouse a couple times!), but the Black Hungarian is always a top performer. These things are constantly loaded with buds and peppers…..the production is simply surreal and blows everything else out of the water. The flavor is also worth writing home about, and it’s just the right amount of heat to be good for cooking or eating fresh. It’s not overpowering, so you can use enough to get the flavor of the pepper into whatever it’s put into. The color is always a conversation starter, too.
I’ve also been able to do some other cool stuff with these peppers that I wouldn’t dream of with many of the other varieties I grow….like dig it up and then leave it in the greenhouse 24/7 through the daily 40 to 80 degree temperature swings of October and November. The most amazing part is that these things will actually be productive in that environment, whereas most of the other peppers I’ve tried that with have died. The durability of these plants is about as surreal as their production.
Golden Globe turnip! Delicious small sweet golden turnips for whole roasting in summer, with mild greens; then they hold well to a larger size for grating and frying or boiling and mashing; and they store moderately well too.
This is our first year gardening, I hope I can still enter!
I found your site when looking for a supplier of Dragon Beans ~ http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-dragon-langerie-bean.html ~ The thing I love to eat straight out the garden the most, since I was a small child, is beans. These beans outperformed more commercial beans in every way. They supplied me with beans all season long when other beans only had one good picking on them. Dragon beans taste better the larger they are. Pests don’t seem to bother them. They’re beautiful and so delicious. They were a great attraction at the farmer’s market. Dragon beans are just the most perfect bean in every way!
This is really hard!!! I have to say if I had to choose one thing to live on through the winter it would have to be Baby Pam pumpkin. In choosing this I was reminded of last fall when my kids kept coming into the kitchen asking for more bowls of pumpkin!! I won a pie contest thanks to the sweet, creamy, virtually stringless flesh. Pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds……..I’m starting to dream about fall and it’s not even summer!!!!!!!!!!!
This has been our favorite loose leaf variety for the last 23 years. It reaches eating/picking stage quickly, heads can be large, excellent to mix with other lettuce varieties in a salad, keeps well in the fridge, can be planted very early in the spring and again for autumn in zone 8A. Black Seeded Simpson bolts quickly once the heat starts but this is an issue with most lettuce varieties in our part of the country. An easy to grow lettuce and great for those new to gardening or growing lettuce.
This has been our favorite loose leaf variety for the last 23 years. It reaches eating/picking stage quickly, heads can be large, excellent to mix with other lettuce varieties in a salad, keeps well in the fridge, can be planted very early in the spring and again for autumn in zone 8A. Black Seeded Simpson bolts quickly once the heat starts here but this is an issue with most lettuce varieties in our part of the country. An easy to grow lettuce and great for those new to gardening or growing lettuce.
I just love the Organic Alfalfa Sprouts, http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-alfalfa-sprouts.html
They are so tasty and easy to grow. Wonderful in salads and sandwiches. I keep a jar growing all year round on the window sill.
We loved the Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes! http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-matts-wild-cherry-tomato.html
We love the Sugar Ann snap peas (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-sugar-ann-pea.html). They are so tender and delicious that you can eat them straight off the vine! I have no problems getting my kids to eat their veggies when these snap peas are in season. The only problem I have is making the kids wait until we get the peas inside!
My favorite is the Gilbertie tomato, or Gilbert for short. I have had these from family for many years as saved seed, we ran low and found them here. I have been very impressed, they are very consistent, which is hard with this type, nice strong shoulders, and very little if any cracking the years I’ve grown yours.
Oops, I guess link doesn’t show in website line
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-gilbertie-paste-tomato.html
Taste is superb, btw.
High Mowing Organic Seeds’ Spring Broccoli Raab seeds are itching to get into the ground, and I’m excitedly looking foreward to the growing and harvest. They have a lively, hearty and delicious flavor, most anticipated, come Spring and early Summer.
The Cosmic Purple Carrots are truly out of this world. Children and adults both are drawn to this beautiful vegetable and are amazed that they are actually orange inside. The taste is delicious and it is truly a winner!
Yikes! The URL didn’t copy in my first post. Here it is!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cosmic-purple-carrot.html
Giant Winter spinach is an outstanding variety for me. The plants winter over well, and get big early in the season. The leaves stand up very straight, keeping them clean, and making them easy to harvest. My customers love it.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-giant-winter-spinach.html
Dragon Tongue Beans have a distinct sweet flavor when eaten raw, so they make great farmer’s market samples. The plants are productive, the beans are easy to see on the vine, and when cooked with a little butter and salt, they are better than any other wax bean. They thrived on sporadic irrigation during our dry, hot summer.
My pick would be the Cosmonaut Volkov Tomato…I love tomatoes.
I loved the Delecata Squash. Sweet, meaty and really kept a long time.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-costata-romanesco-summer-squash.html
I really like zucchini and look for varieties with good texture and flavor. Costata romanesco has both. Love the nutty taste.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-toma-verde.html
Good tasting, good size, very productive. What more can I say?
OOOps – Toma Verde Tomatillo
Mountain Princess Tomato. Loved it for earliness, classic tomato good-looks, and resistance to splitting.
My favorite seeds are the Maxibel Haricot Vert Beans found here: http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-maxibel-haricot-vert.html
Trader Joe’s carries this variety of beans in their frozen food section and they are like candy to us. My brother works at Trader Joe’s and I asked which variety the beans they sold were and it turns out they are the Haricot Vert variety. I am ecstatic I can no grow my own!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-purple-tomatillo.html
Purple tomatillo makes a nice looking, great tasting sauce. Firmer texture than Toma Verde, a little sweeter and citrusy, productive.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-kakai-hulless-pumpkin.html
Kakai produces lots of big, hulless, tasty seeds. Fun for the kids to scoop out and prepare. Feed the meat to the chickens and pigs for a no waste crop.
I just love the Kestril 1 beets….I start them in my home greenhouse and plant out early. Already in the garden in this crazy weather year. Can’t believe I used to think beets tasted like dirt! Not home grown ones and especially when roasted in the oven. I’ve even converted some avowed beets haters…. Yum. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-beets-seeds.html
I absolutely love Romanesco Zucchini–I went into my first growing season with pretty standard zucchini expectations, but they were so pretty with their ribs and coloration (and of course, delicious in everything I used them for–I think they tend to get less mushy when cooked than other varieties I’ve tried). I brought piles of them into work and people grabbed them up faster than even the tomatoes.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-costata-romanesco-summer-squash.html
I love your
Costata Romanesco Zucchini summer squash. This is NOT your father’s zucchini – it has a delicate, almost nutty flavor and is fabulous stir fried with a bit of garlic in EVOO. The squashes don’t seem to rush to become “huge-normous” quite as quickly as the average zucchini and they keep well in the fridge. My other favorite treatment is to add them to a homemade primavera/ratatouille type sauce with eggplant, onions, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and Costata Romanesco!
Thank you for the opportunity to win a gift certificate!
Okra!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-okra-seeds.html
When I first moved to Vermont from Boston one of the (very few) things I missed was my favorite Indian dish, Bhindi Masala. I scoured my local area for Indian food and only found disappointment, unless I made the haul up to Burlington for decent-but-not-great Indian. In the grocery stores I could sometimes find frozen okra, or occassionally very sad mushy-looking okra in the produce section. Then, in the dead of winter while going through seed catalogs and dreaming of the seedlings I would start in the Spring I found okra…from a Vermont company! I’ll be honest, I had no idea okra could grow in Vermont; I thought it was a delicacy reserved for the long southern growing seasons.
The first year wasn’t perfect. I planted too late and while I got fruit it was never enough to make more than just a couple pieces of fried okra (which went great with the fried green heritage tomatoes I also played with that year). The second year I started the seeds early under my grow lights and planted as soon as I was 100% sure the frosty nights were gone. Eureka! Okra!! I could barely keep up with it!
Year three was really proof-positive for me that not only can okra grow in VT, but it can flourish. I started early again and with eight plants I could barely keep up with picking the fruit at that sweet 2-3″ point. Okra *loves* to be picked and will quickly reward you with new flowers as you rush to keep up with it. Over the past three years not only have my okra growing skills improved, but dare I say I’ve become a damn good Bhindi Masala chef. In fact, I feasted so often on my favorite dish last year that I was almost sick of it. Thankfully the long winter has cured me of that and I can’t wait to grow more. Yay, okra!!
Sheesh! Really? There are so many choices. One of the reasons we buy more and more of our seed from you is because you keep carrying and adding all the ones we love and use. (And the quality and quantity offered is superb!)
One of our favorite’s is Kaboko Chinese Cabbage. We’ve grown several varieties in the past. Some good, some bad, some just disappear from the catalogs. Kaboko has been an excellent, fast-growing, medium-sized napa-style cabbage that has never bolted for us in fall plantings. Crisp, sweet and a good seller at our Market. It also holds well after harvesting. I have kept some in our refrigerator for personal use clear through January. Just clean off the outside leaves and it’s still crisp, crunchy and something green in the middle of winter!!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-kaboko-f1-hybrid-cabbage.html
I adore all of the cherry and grape tomato varieties; however my favorite has to be yellow pear, because I love watching my young daughter eat them up like they were candy. I love that she appreciates nature’s sweetness and understands that growing our own food is both sustainable and delicious!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-yellow-pear-tomato.html
My favorite variety that you carry is Danvers 126 Carrot. Delicious, crisp, reliable, adaptable performs year after year. Its a variety that produces significant capital return for our business, and we depend on HMS quality and supply. Its a favorite among our daughter and her classmates for field harvesting with strong tops and impressive size!
Brandywines!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-brandywine-tomato.html
They are my husbands absolute favorite – it makes me happy to grow them for him
My fav High Mowing variety is the Sweet Chocolate Pepper. They are tasty, not so common, and early maturing… all traits that are incredible to me.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-sweet-chocolate-pepper.html
Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes! I’m not the best gardener, but these little babies thrive even with my chartreuse thumb. I have great success with them always!
Oops! I forgot to add the link! http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-matts-wild-cherry-tomato.html
I started some red wing onions from seed this year. Germination rate was terrific and I have had fun getting them going inside – waiting for them to get a bit bigger to transplant. This is my first experience in starting onions from seed – going great so far.
Our school garden club loved reading through your catalog and selecting the varieties we would plant in our spring garden. The class favorite so far is the Samish F1 Spinach http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-samish-spinach.html
The seeds had a great germination rate and the young spinach plants are growing beautifully. We are so excited to eat the spinach at our upcoming School Harvest Party.
I’m in love with Cosmonaut Volkov – he’s everything a girl could want in her tomato. Dependable, reliable, strong and still exciting, he always comes through for me even when the growing gets tough.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cosmonaut-volkov-tomato.html
I really love the Organic Carrots, specifically the cosmic variety in bright purple and orange/red colors. You can find them herehttp://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cosmic-purple-carrot.html. I am a home gardener who started about 3 years ago to enjoy sharing this experience with my young children. They love to watch and help getting the seeds started, planting and care taking. Most especially I love these carrots because it’s the first vegetable they both really loved. There’s nothing better than hearing “may I go pull some carrots for my dinner?”. Thank you, thank you for this great variety!
High Mowing’s Heirloom Brandywine Tomatoes are big and absolutely delicious. Every summer we can’t wait to pick them and add them to a sandwich, salad, or eat them on their own. They are sweet, juicy, and so much better than a store-bought tomato!
My favorite variety is the sugar snap pea. I had THE BEST plants, growth & taste wise, thanks to High Mowing Seeds organic variety. Absolutely LOVE ‘em & swear by ‘em
I love Resina Calendula! High Mowing is the only place I could find a high resin Calendula which I want to use in a balm for my hands. I also like the flowers sprinkled on my cauliflower and salads. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organicflowerseeds. (hope I copied that correctly!)
Love, love, love sugar daddy snap peas…amazing flavor! My kiddos gobble them up too!
The Tyee spinach is great, coming up beautifully despite the wild New England weather this spring!
The Tyee spinach is great, coming up beautifully despite the wild New England weather this spring!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Organic-Seeds-Tyee-F1-Hybrid-Spinach.html
I am looking very forward to the beautiful King of the North red bell peppers this season. I’ve had great (100%) success with the seeds and have twice as many pepper plants as any of my other 10 varieties of vegetables.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-king-of-the-north-pepper.html
I love the Fishers Earliest Corn! Around where i live it’s so hard to find organic corn, and my family doesn’t eat anything that isn’t organic so for a while we were going without corn. Fisher’s earilest is easy to grow and is just great all around! I can’t wait for the this years crop! Yhank you High Mowing for offering such great products!
as it stands every seed that you carry is my favorite. i have not had the pleasure of growing any of them so each one to me represents the begining of a wonderful new gardening adventure! each seed containing a surprise!
Organic Scarlet Nantes Carrot -This carrot variety is the absolute best, it has wonderful flavor and stores extremely well. We plant in the spring and hold over in the fall until the next season. Overwintering by covering with a heavy layer of straw or mulch and cover with tarps. We pick our carrots throughout the winter, right into spring. We continue this cycle year after year. The winter dug and spring dug carrots are just great. CF
I love the spicy zip of your ruby streaks mustard greens. They make my salad mixes so colorful and flavorful! When they grow too large for mesclun, these babies are terrific as a sauteed green or in stir fry. My favorite way to use them is to toss them on a freshly baked homemade pizza just after it comes out of the oven for a spicy splash of color – it’s better than hot pepper flakes!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-ruby-streaks-mustard-green.html
I love New England Pie Pumpkins. Not only are they good for decorating but I love to slice them in half and bake them face down on a cookie sheet. While the pumpkin cooks my house smells wonderful! My kids scoop out the seeds, paint them and make necklaces. We make bread, cookies and sometimes we even whip it up and eat it like potato. Leftover pumpkin can always be thrown in the freezer. I look forward to growing New England Pie in my garden every year!
I love the organic lacinato dinosaur kale. I grew it in my square-foot garden early in the season and
harvested right through December – even after a foot of snow! I use it to make kale chips and lots of other great things. I am so lucky that my local hardware store stocks High Mowing seeds so I can buy great seeds AND support a local business.
My favorite High Mowing seed is the High Mowing Burgandy Amaranth -http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-burgundy-amaranth.html – which I pair with High Mowing’s Red Scarlet Zinna, http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-zinnia-seeds.html, making a truly awesome garden AND cut flower floral display. Also the young amaranth plants make a delicious eating green when I am thinning out them out.
I must say “Dinosaur” kale is my favorite. I never knew what kale was until I tried this…so inexperienced. Now I love kale, and it is all because of this variety.
I have many that I like, but my favorite is the brandywine tomato. Every year I look forward to waiting until they are just right. Plucking it off the vine and biting right into it. The juices dripping down my face. They are how a tomato should be!
My favorite seed that you carry is the Cinderella Pumpkin.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cinderella-pumpkin.html
We got one for Halloween years ago when we lived in Florida and have not found them again since living in Maine. I love their unique shape and while not a pie pumpkin they still make a tasty pie!
My favorite is the San Marzano Paste Tomato. I love the taste and they can’t be beat for making sauce.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-san-marzano-tomato.html
thanks for the chance, Sage
Hands-down, Touchstone Gold Beet! Soooo sweet and delicious! Could eat them everyday, all day! (I see they are on backorder, so I’m not the only one!)
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-touchstone-gold-beet.html
Its hard to choose a favorite but I would have to say the Provider Bush Bean. This is the best tasting bean and makes amazing dilly beans!!!!! And I have so many beans that I end up giving a lot away to friends and family. Love them!!
Fingers Crossed
Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomatoes are by far our favorite High Mowing product (though we do use your seeds exclusively and like them all). We bring bowls of these tomatoes with us to parties and put them out on buffet tables. I heard one guest at a barbecue saying to another once: “Have you tried these tomatoes? They taste like candy!” ‘Nough said.
My favorite seed is the mammoth melting snow pea. We have a bit of a micro climate, so they grow almost the entire season. They freeze well, although most of them don’t make it into the house! We usually go out and eat them right off of the vine. They’re sweet and crunchy, even when picked past their prime.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-mammoth-melting-snow-pea.html
I worked in natural foods stores for years before becoming a CSA farmer. High Mowing Seeds was the first organic seed company with which I was familiar–and I really liked everything I learned about the company. When we moved away from the suburbs of DC to start a diverse farm with a CSA vegetable garden as its centerpiece, I turned to High Mowing Seeds as our primary seed source.
We grew ten kinds of tomatoes the first year in our market garden in the south central Allegheny Moutains.
I sent a sample box of our tomatoes down to a catering kitchen in the DC area. The caterers enjoyed the Rose de Bernes, the Cherokee Purples and the Copias very much. And they fell in love with the Black Cherries and the Peacevines. The loved the color variations added by the Sunkists, the Green Zebras and the Yellow Perfections. But we have received contracts every season since then to grow the Gilbertie Paste Tomatoes.
The Gilbertie Paste Tomatoes are sweet and complex fresh, fabulous in sauces, and they really do make the best tomato paste I’ve ever tasted. Our CSA members give us better feedback when we pack more Gilberties in every share. The Gilbertie Paste Tomato is also the single most inquired-after varietal we’ve ever grown. Person after person asks us where to source the seeds for this all-around tomato. I’m always pleased to let them know!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-gilbertie-paste-tomato.html
The Dragon Langerie Bean’s are by far the best tasting, most-versatile, and prolific beans that I have ever purchased. I originally found these beans being sold at my local farmer’s market, and asked them where they bought their seeds. They told me that High Mowing Seeds had stock that could not be matched. So, last year I decided to stop on by and buy them. I am now hooked and can’t wait to start them again this year! These beans are unrivaled in every way. Not only do they make an amazing green bean alternative (when young) in Green Bean Casseroles, and you can’t beat them in a vegetarian chili (As a matter of fact, when I use these in my veggie chili, no one misses the meat or even the meat alternative; i.e. boca crumbles). I am so happy I bought these! Thank you High Mowing Seeds!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-dragon-langerie-bean.html
Sorry I got so carried away I almost forgot to add the URL.
I love the Copia Tomato. Such a beautiful and tasty tomato.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-copia-tomato.html
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Organic-Seeds-Tavor-Artichoke.html
Well it would have been my favorite had I not burned all ten seeds in the packet last week…but with $50 I could buy many seeds (wink)
I am in love with the Tadorna leek! My husband hates onions so I rely heavily on leeks for much of my cooking. I love that the Tadorna’s are especially disease resistant and easy to grow with a tasty, reliable crop! The flavor is amazing, I am looking forward to this year’s crop and all the endless possibilities the Tadorna leek can add to my cooking repertoire!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-tadorna-leek.html
Our family favorite is Organic Musque De Provence.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-musque-de-provence-squash.html
We were recommended this variety from an heirloom gardening friend, and she made us taste test all the varieties she grew that season. My kids went crazy over the fresh squash “chips” we munched up fresh. I would compare it’s taste the watermelons we can (sometimes) grow here in northern WI. The texture is incredible and the smell is so sweet! This variety is why I order from HMO. Not many places have our beloved Musque De Provence, let alone in an organic environment.
Well, I’ve not yet grown them, but I’m particularly excited to see how the Honey Nut Mini-Butternut squash does in my garden this year! Seems like it will be the perfect little veggie for my one-year-old squash lover!
I really enjoy hotshot spicy mustard mix http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-hotshot-spicy-mustard.html.
Tough call, but I really love your Red Scarlet Zinnia, http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-red-scarlet-zinnia.html. It reseeded a few summers ago in my garden & in the dog days of August in Central, TX it brightened up the dry, dusty landscape. I had plenty to cut & bring inside.
I love the Rattlesnake pole beans – they had the best flavor by far and the yields were crazy huge. After eating and giving away many large bowls and bags worth of fresh beans I saved 2 lbs 13 oz of dry beans that I’m going to use for seed this year. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-rattlesnake-pole-bean.html
These beets are the best storing beets around. They hold their moisture and resist ‘storage’ diseases! They offer a wonderful taste and bright color to salads in the wintertime.
Gotta say, I love the Napoli carrots. I’ve always had a lot of success growing them and they have absolutely incredible flavor.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-napoli-f1-hybrid-carrot.html
The Early Jalapeno pepper was my absolute favorite variety that I planted last year. High yield and very stable through the extremely dry summer we had. This is a classic jalapeno with versatile flavor. I used them to make jalapeno jelly and it was a success. Thank you for all of your hard work, High Mowing.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-early-jalapeno-pepper.html
I love kale! It’s hard to believe that I lived half a century without ever tasting my all time favorite food – what has become the staple in my diet. I love all varieties of kale but if I have to choose one, it will be Red Russian Kale – http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-kale-and-collard-seeds.html – because it is so pretty in the garden and it is so easy to gently tear off bite-size pieces for the steamer and because the stems are great for throwing in a pot for making veggie broth and it also makes a wonderful smoothie. (Ask me for the recipe.) Most days our doggies get the benefit of kale water in their food and they are very, healthy pups with good bones. My husband calls kale “the king of calcium” and I am happy knowing that my bones are getting stronger while my taste buds sing. Thank you High Mowing Seed. Our vegetable gardens are so lush and bountiful we have actually had folks stop their cars and come round to the backyard, incredulous, asking how we’re doing this. I always say High Mowing Seed and suggest they check out your website and place an order. Really. I even gave my niece in Maryland this advice when she was beginning her first ever vegetable garden (hoping to get that young dairy farmer in step with organic methods.) Another fun fact – I was still harvesting my breakfast kale AFTER Christmas. That’s one powerful pack of seeds.
I always had trouble growing carrots until I tried the pelleted version of the Organic Yaya F1 Carrot. These fresh carrots right from the garden were amazing!
I really like Long Pie Pumpkins. They are delicious, sweet and meaty, not watery. And I like the ease of preparation since they have that long section with no seeds. Actually, I like many kinds of seeds that you carry but this one popped into my head first.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-long-pie-pumpkin.html
Sorry, I messed up on my previous comment when entering my web site. This one should work.
I love the Dwarf Jewel Nasturtiums, not only are they beautiful, but they taste great in salads. Talk about a win-win!
They haven’t come up yet, but I’m very much looking forward to my Black Turtle Dry Beans this year, and I’m so glad I’m not limited to the grocery store anymore!
Tyee spinach is one of our staples for high tunnel production. It holds well in a variety of conditions, especially if the spring warms up fast, which it seems to often here in NW Indiana.
http://www.perkinsgoodearthfarm.com
Thanks
Great antisipation while growing. Heightened excitment cutting to see inside. Natures artwork exposed. MMMMMMM so tasty too.
Add another vote for Gilbertie Paste tomato! I always get more tomatoes from my GP plants than any of the others; they are large and delicious; and I love the little crook at the end. Gave some seedlings to my mom one year, and now she always grows them too. I just freeze them as they ripen (no processing), and then I have tomatoes for cooking in the winter.
(Might as well add a vote for Matt’s Wild cherry too. I don’t like cherry tomatoes, but I was enticed by the MW description one year, and I grow a plant every year now. They are delicious, and thin-skinned and so cute! I have also noticed that the MW plants are much more resistant to late blight than the other tomatoes I’ve grown. They are also very indeterminant. At the end of the summer, the MW is usually draped like a garland across the tops of the other tomato stakes in the garden.)
Matt’s Wild Cherry (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-matts-wild-cherry-tomato.html) is a family favorite, even with the issue of the skins easily cracking.
Although I have high hopes for Indigo Rose (http://www.highmowingseeds.com/Organic-Seeds-Indigo-Rose-Tomato.html), I can’t quite count it as a favorite yet because this is the first year trying it.
I will always be partial to your Cosmic Purple carrots because they are delicious AND their uniform, shapely, and vibrantly purple roots consistently win me blue ribbons at agricultural fairs! http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-cosmic-purple-carrot.html
We had our first garden in our new place last year.. I Really loved the provider bush bean last year. It grew great, tasted great.. I got my husband who isn’t a bean person to get into beans because of them!
We are expanding our gardening space and I am looking forward to trying a few dry bean verities this year!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-provider-bush-snap-bean.html
wow – impossible to pick one! we love HMS germ rate and seed. LOVE so many varieties that you feature and the seed CSA opportunity every year too. love paris island, midnight lightning zuke, marketmore 76 cuke, king richard leeks, on and on and on…but for THIS contest…have to say kaboko napa cabbage! love how it holds in the field (have grown lots of varieties and this holds well, nice size, good germ, no rot in the field, looks great on the market table and for csa boxes and so on. excellent selection for raw and cooked and we can grow it into july usually and again in the fall. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-kaboko-f1-hybrid-cabbage.html
I have never tasted anything that equals the unique, delightful, buttery flavor and smooth texture found in the Delicata Winter Squash. It makes for a perfect winter “comfort food” experience.
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-delicata-winter-squash.html
Love this garlic! Last year was the first time I had ever grown my own garlic and after having this one, I will now forever grow my own (and this as long as it is in stock, it is my first choice – with the Chesnok Red Garlic being the back-up)!
I love the rainbow chard. Besides being beautiful, it stays on and on and steams crisp, sweet and salty, retaining the color. It’s my favorite “green” (even with the dinosaur kale a close second). Thank you for all you do so well right here in Vermont.
we loved the dragon tongue beans last year. saved a pound or so to replant this season !
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-dragon-langerie-bean.html
Matthew
Baldwon Organic Garden Share
http://www.facebook.com/bogs11510
I have been ordering the Gilbertie tomato since your very first catalogue. It’s huge, meaty and delicious. I grow them every year. Knowing the story of the tomato makes it even more enticing. Although a bit late producer, it’s worth waiting for.
We have so many favorites from High Mowing it is hard to decide. The standout last season though was Caraflex cabbage. http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-Caraflex-F1-Cabbage.html
It has a unique shape that made customers stop at my market table to ask about it. It also has the taste that allows you to really sell it once someone stops. It is very tender and sweet lacking any of the mild peppery bite some cabbages can have. With it’s small size and slender taper we cook it by quartering whole heads and leaving the stem portion intact to hold the leaves. Then oil or butter the cut edges and grill on a medium hot grill til just tender. It should keep it’s shape and be nicely sweet and easy to serve. We had tons of repeat customers for it all summer, wish I had planted more!
My favorite is your Organic Bull’s Blood Beets. I think of these as your “two-for-the-price-of-one” beet–
since you get amazing greens and even more amazing beets at the bottom of them! I pickle about 50 jars of these every fall for winter gifts– their perfectly round form literally jumps out of its jacket when they’ve been steamed prior to the canning process (no peeling!) The added bonus for me is eating the gorgeous, nutritious greens and getting myself ready for winter. Thank you for offering this fantastic heirloom organic variety.
Kind regards, Christine Henson Thorp – Christine’s Granola
One of my favorite greens to grow is Garden Sorrel. I love seeing people’s faces as they bite into the little leaves. No one ever expects the strong sour-lemon flavor that this easy-growing green possesses!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-sorrel.html
Table Queen Acorn Squash is one of my Faves, I am never disappointed by the number of ‘fruit’ and I Love the fullness of the flavor, the storage and baked with maple syrup and walnuts it is soooo tasty!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-table-queen-acorn-winter-squash.html
thank you for the opportunity!!
Annie
We were finally (yeah!!) able to grow some squash to winter over and enjoy after getting back into garden again last summer. We grew High Mowing’s Waltham Butternut Winter Squash. It was delicious serve simply with maple syrup, or dressed up in soups or casseroles. TY for this variety. As others have said –it’s so hard to pick just on variety to be my fav.
Spinach was a big winner in our raised beds last season. High Mowing’s Renegade F1 Hybrid Spinach lasted till Thanksgiving!!. We covered the raised bed with a garden quilt fabric. It even survived some snow on top of the fabric. It was so great to lift back the fabric to find luscious green spinach and lettuce to harvest and eat fresh all fall and into late November.
While I took the greatest pride in my Pink Brandywine Tomatoes last year, my Bing Cherry’s absolutely grew off the hook. Last summer, my father would stop by once a week to fill a gallon bucket full for himself (his favorite summer tip snack) AND I had still had plenty to make roasted tomato sauce for dinner. Looking forward to the same this year and added Golden Nuggets and Green Zebra’s for some extra color!
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/organic-seeds-bing-cherry-tomato.html