The Principe Borghese tomato is an Italian heirloom famous for sun drying.

They have a thin skin and a thick, very meaty flesh that houses few seeds and little juice, with a rich classic tomato flavor.

Small 1-to 2-oz, grape-shaped fruit is very dry and has few seeds. It has a rich tomato taste that is wonderful for sauces.

An old Italian variety, very suitable for drying and storing over winter. Very productive and healthy plants, that do not need support for growing. Produces intensely red tomatoes that weigh between 30 to 60 g each.

Thai Basil. A member of the mint family, thai basil is sweet in taste but also charming to the eye - making it a garden favourite. 

It has a liquorice flavor for stirfry, soups and salads. 

A favorite squash of Sicilians, cucuzza squash, meaning ‘super long squash,’ is gaining some popularity in North America. Never heard of cucuzza squash plants? 

Also known under a wide range of other names such as Zucchetta Cucuzzi, Serpent of Sicily, Italian Edible Gourd, Longissima, Bottle Gourd, Calabash, Suzza Melon, Zucca, Tasmania Bean, Guinea Bean, New Guinea Bean, White Flowered Gourd and Indian Squash, is a vine is an annual plant with hairy, shallow lobed leaves and white flowers (unlike squash which are always yellow flowered). The vines can run up to 25 feet in length.

Cucuzza is a summer squash in the botanical family of Lagenaria, which boasts a plethora of other varieties. This edible squash is related to the calabash, also known as water gourd or bird’s nest gourd. A vigorous squash, fruit is born from vines that can grow two feet (0.5 m.) a day. The fruits are straight, green gourds, occasionally with a minor curve to them. The skin is dark green and medium hard. The fruit itself can grow 10 inches (25 cm.) per day and will be 18 inches to 2 feet (45-60 cm.) long. The squash is usually peeled and the seeds removed from the larger fruit. The squash can be cooked just like any other summer squash – grilled, stewed, fried, stuffed, or roasted. Intrigued? I bet you’re wondering how to grow cucuzza squash now.

This "beauty heart" type Chinese radish is the most popular variety grown in the middle and northern parts of China. It is also call watermelon radish. This variety is globe-shape, green shoulder with dark pink flesh. Because of their color, they are the perfect radishes to carve into flower shapes as garnish. It has a crisp texture and is mild and sweet flavored. Try eating fresh. Just thinly slice, top with fresh squeezed lime and a little salt and pepper or with sugar. For fall season sowing only.

Chinese celery is an aromatic plant with a strong, peppery flavor, thin, hollow, crisp stems, and delicate leaves. It is smaller than Western celery and is often used in soups, stir-fries, and other dishes for its potent taste, which becomes milder when cooked. Also known as kintsai or leaf celery, it is commonly used in Asian cuisines. 

Appearance: It features long, narrow, hollow stems that can be white to dark green, or even pink depending on the variety. The leaves are delicate and wispy.

Flavor: It has a pungent and peppery flavor that is more intense than standard celery. The taste softens and sweetens when cooked.

Usage: It is rarely eaten raw and is primarily used for flavoring in cooked dishes. It is excellent in stir-fries, soups, and fried rice. Both the stems and leaves are edible.

Growing: Chinese celery is often easier to grow than its Western counterparts and can be cultivated in smaller spaces like pots. It is typically grown as an annual, though it is technically a biennial. 

Kintsai Chinese Yellow Stem Celery, Boly, Cutting Celery, Nan Ling, Gin Cai, Kun Choy, Kan Tsoi

Round Zucchini have been popular in Europe for years. The Italians have their dark green Tondo di Piacenza, the French have the light green speckled Ronde de Nice, the Dutch have the "Roly Poly" (a loose translation from Burpee's marketers) and the British have their single serve striped marrow, Tender and True. There is even chinese produced seed of an almost white round zucchini. The common thread is that these zucchini are actually rather nice; solid, nutty, sweet, and as a bonus they are extremely early producers and are prolific if you keep harvesting the fruit. The compact plants are real workhorses of efficiency. They laughed at the limited nutrients and water of our sand lot trials!

These round zucchini from the above plants have matured to form a tough pumpkin-like or gourd-like rind. You must leave them on the plant until their colors have changed and they develop that hard skin. It takes several weeks beyond the immature stage that we usually consume summer squash at for the squash to mature. These are on the porch where they will "after ripen", for an additional month. The after ripening gives the seeds an extra amount of time to gain food reserves which will allow for healthier, more vigorous seedlings and better germination. Then they will be split with a sledge hammer (yes, the can be tough), seeds will be scooped out, washed in a mild soap solution and thoroughly dried to the "breaking" stage before storage. We used to spread out the seed on newspaper to dry but now we use drying screens which provide better air circulation.

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed

Welsh Onion

Ishikura onion is a popular, fast-growing Japanese bunching onion (Allium fistulosum) known for its long, thick white stalks and mild flavor, typically reaching up to 2 feet in height without forming bulbs. It is highly versatile, ideal for stir-fries, soups, and salads, and can be harvested at various stages from pencil-thin to thick, carrot-sized stalks. It is a very hardy, cold-tolerant, and versatile variety suitable for both spring and autumn sowing, making it excellent for year-round harvesting. 

Key Characteristics and Growing Tips:

Harvesting: They do not form bulbs, providing a continuous harvest of crisp, tender, white stems.

Hardiness: Highly cold-tolerant, allowing for late-season or winter harvesting.

Cultivation: Thrives in full sun to partial shade in well-drained soil.

Spacing: Requires 4–6 inches of space.

Planting: Direct sow in early spring or in autumn for spring harvest.

Uses: Excellent for stir-fries, salads, and soups. 

Packet: 9-10 grams of seed