As this new year begins, we’re celebrating our newly revised website, along with our 2018 lineup of heirloom tomato and vegetable/herbs offered for sale. I hope you find the website easier to navigate, and if you choose, reserve your heirloom plants for 2018. Check out our site and let us know what you think (or if you find any issues!).
Check mark next to the “Become a Master Gardener” bucket list item!
As some of you know, I became a certified Idaho Master Gardener last fall — it was a bucket-list item now completed — and I look forward to continuing to share my gardening knowledge and experiences with you. After the first couple of Master Gardener classes, I began to wonder how I ever managed to get anything to grow! It’s not that I was doing anything wrong, I just realized how much I had to learn. But, I’ve taken this quote to heart: “there are no gardening mistakes, only experiments!”
The Heirloom Plant Lineup for 2018
We have a few new and exciting heirloom tomatoes in our lineup this year, as well as couple of old favorites making their return. On the veg side, we’ve significantly increased the number of pepper varieties we’re offering this year — both sweet and hot, along with a nice assortment of heirloom cucumbers, squash, peas, and herbs.
All our plants are open pollinated and/or heirloom varieties (if you’re not sure what that means, check out our new glossary). We only select varieties that grow and produce well in our region. We know what works (and what doesn’t), because we’ve tested it in our own garden — and from our customer’s feedback. Don’t settle for “big-box-store” plants shipped in from who-knows-where — choose local!
Heirloom Tomatoes
‘Dester’ heirloom.
The incredibly sweet ‘Dr. Wyche’s Yellow’.
Last year we introduced several beefsteak heirloom: ‘Dester’ (a large pink beefsteak), ‘Dr. Wyche’s Yellow’ (orange beefsteak), and ‘Black Krim’. Each of these is returning for 2018! ‘Dester’ produced huge, meaty fruits for us, and the sweet flavor of ‘Dr. Wyche’s’ was incredible. We also got loads from the ‘Black Krim’.
From another galaxy comes ‘Dark Galaxy’, new for 2018.
New for 2018, is an open-pollinated variety created by tomato breeder, Brad Gates, called ‘Dark Galaxy.’ This will be a showstopper in your garden and on your table. Medium size fruit feature red and orange stripes covered in speckles, and layered by deep blue. The taste is a perfect balance of tangy-sweetness. We’ll only have a limited number of these for sale.
‘Chocolate Pear’, delicious!
New in the cherry category, are ‘Chocolate Pear’, a sweet and prolific, pear-shaped cousin to the ‘Yellow Pear’, and making a return is ‘Principe Borghese’, a very fine Italian heirloom used for sun-drying, but oh so good eaten fresh! Finally, we round out the paste category with the return of the ‘San Marzano’ — perfect for sauce and canning. Find the 2018 tomato list here.
Heirloom Vegetables
Sweet Gernika Basque pepper.
Corne De Chevre Hot Basque pepper.
Our list of heirloom vegetables and herbs continues to grow! This year we’ve added several more pepper varieties including two heirlooms from the Basque region of Spain: ‘Gernika’, a sweet, and ‘Corne de Chevre’ (goat’s horn), a hottie. You’ll also find a jalapeno and a few more sweet varieties. The squash selection has grown to seven — a few zucchini types, along with a spaghetti squash and sweet pie squash. Find the complete list of heirloom vegetable and herbs here.
How to Purchase
It’s not uncommon for us to sell out of certain varieties early. In fact, in 2017, we sold out of all stock before the end of May! Once again we’re offering our online plant deposit form, so you can “reserve” your order now and pay and pickup your plants in May. Details can be found here.
Our garden is located in midtown Coeur d’Alene.
We also sell directly from our garden in midtown Coeur d’Alene beginning in May, at the Idaho Master Gardener’s Sod Buster Sale in early May, and at the Saturday and Wednesday Kootenai County Farmers’ Markets in May or until our stock is sold out.
Thanks for your continued patronage of the Coeur d’Alene Coop! I wish you a very happy and successful 2018 in the garden and beyond. ~ Candace
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