Marigolds
We have a ton of marigolds started from seed this year … fiery, almost neon, yellows + oranges.
They are not only beautiful, they serve as a deterrent from a number of pests, including harmful fly varieties and soil parasites. There are dozens of varieties. Some are referred to by international regions. However, they originated in the Americas. They are an important part of the Year Zero focus on indigenous plants.
Peppers
Grew some heirloom frying peppers this year. They’re small so just slice them in half and fry them up or grill until they are slightly charred and add some salt. I don’t know why I wasn’t doing this before, except that (store-bought) bell peppers were never that pleasant to eat this way IMO. But these are.
They should be required eating.
The skins are much thinner than bell peppers and they have a different flavor. Definitely staple-worthy. Same can be said for the grilling peppers: they’re tall, have thin skin, and have their own mild pleasant flavor.
Tomatoes + Peppers
We had strange, uncooperative weather in 2020. In spite of this, there are some varieties that we absolutely loved + appreciated and will grow again.
By far the best tomato for us was an heirloom “wild cherry” tomato.
It isn’t as popular as other cherry varieties because supposedly it doesn’t make as many tomatoes. We harvested hundreds and hundreds of tomatoes all growing season – from each plant. And more importantly:
They are exponentially more flavorful than most cherry tomato types (in our opinion):
…even those available at farmers’ markets. And unlike other sweet flavorful varieties: these are not delicate. The skins aren’t thick but they also don’t break easily, even when subjected to large amounts of rain. We will grow them again in 2021 to confirm this finding.
The poblano pepper is worth mentioning.
The flavor is incredible.
It is a beautiful dark green color and the way it grows makes it look almost sculptural. Poblanos have a gentle heat that works well in general cooking: not too hot. But we won’t grow it in 2021 only because we want the other varieties to be completely mild and we don’t yet have the space to grow varieties further apart. We are looking to bring them back in 2022.