A particularly cool and wet winter in the Sacramento Valley gave way to an unusually cool and wet early spring which delayed the transfer of our plants from their starter pots into our raised beds. We were finally able to get everything planted over Easter weekend. A month later, almost everything is thriving and nothing is failing completely. What follows is a rundown of everything we are attempting to grow during the 2023 spring/summer season.
Tomatoes
Applying lessons learned during the 2022 season, we are primarily growing varieties of paste tomatoes this year. The low seed content of paste tomatoes makes them ideal for preserving in the form of sauces and salsas while de-seeding cherry and slicing varieties for canning is tremendously tedious. A supply of fresh cherry and slicing tomatoes is great, but one family can only eat so many before they go bad. We were gorging ourselves on them last year and giving away gallons to friends, but we still had a large quantity spoil.
As such, our tomato selection for 2023 includes:
San Marzano – 8 plants: A classic paste tomato that produces large fruits throughout our long growing season. Yields per plant are high, but the variety seems particularly prone to blossom end rot (BER). We’re hoping an extra deep mulch layer this season will reduce water stress, which is a primary cause of end rot.
Rio Grande – 8 plants: This determinate paste variety is an experimental pick for us, chosen for its alleged heat tolerance and resistance to BER.
Oroma – 3 plants: Another experimental, determinate, paste variety chosen for supposed heat tolerance and BER resistance. Unfortunately, most of the plants we started did not survive to transplant. I’m skeptical the three we were able to put in the ground will rally and bear fruit.
Cherokee Purple – 5 plants: These became our favorite indeterminate heirloom slicers in 2022 on account of their large, rich succulent, fruits and high yields per plant. The fruits are prone to cracking, but since this does not affect flavor and we’re not selling them, we don’t care.
Black Cherry – 2 plants: These are a tremendously prolific indeterminate variety that produces fruits that look like miniature Cherokee purple. They became our 2022 favorite for salads and fresh salsas.
Sun Gold – 1 plant: Another highly prolific indeterminate cherry variety and a favorite of backyard gardeners everywhere. These are definitely the sweetest tasting of all our varieties, but more than one plant results in too much of a good thing.
Peppers
Our peppers had a rough start this year as the cold spring meant they had to stay under grow lights far longer than I would have liked. My light setup isn’t quite as powerful as needed and as the seedlings grew tall in their starter pots, they began to yellow and shed lower leaves.
I thought most of them were goners, but I put them in the ground anyway to see what would happen. Like their Solanaceae brethren tomatoes, peppers will grow roots out of their stems. As such, I planted them all as deep as their first set of surviving leaves and crossed my fingers. A month later, almost every plant has gone from yellow to deep green and appears to be thriving.
This year’s pepper varieties include:
California Wonder Bell Peppers – 13 plants: These did well for us last year, so we’re giving them a second try in 2023.
Shoshito – 3 plants: It’s our first time growing this occasionally hot Asian variety. Since we don’t know if it will do well in our climate or if we’ll enjoy the flavor, we opted to only grow a few plants this year.
Various hot peppers – 20 plants: Most of our hot peppers are the arguably pedestrian Jalepenos and Serranos as we use these most often for our homemade salsas. However, we are also attempting a handful each of such hotter varieties as Cayenne, Thai Chili, Habanero, and Ghost Peppers (mostly for the novelty).
Cucumbers
I started our cucumbers inside under grow lights to get a jump on the season. Unfortunately, Most of them did not survive transplant so I had to direct sow some replacements. Cucubrits (cucumbers, squash, melons) just don’t like root disturbances making the transplant of starts tricky. I’m still experimenting to find the best method.
We have pared down our cucumber varieties to the two work best for us. These are:
Armenian Cucumber – 8 plants: These chartreuse wonders, while technically a muskmelon, are indistinguishable from more traditional cucumber varieties in terms of flavor, require no peeling before eating, and are excellent fresh or pickled. The fruits, if left unattended, can grow more than two feet in length, but are best when harvested in the 12-18 inch range. Unlike traditional cucumbers which often struggle when temperatures are in the 90s or higher for extended periods time, Armenian cukes absolutely thrive in extreme heat. The vines can grow to more than 10 feet in length, so a trellising system is crucial where space is limited.
Boston Pickling – 15 plants: While Armenian Cucumbers make delicious pickles, there’s just something about a jar full of specialized “pickling” cucumber that looks and feels “right”. Hopefully we get a fair number of good fruits this year before the extreme heat sets in and sterilizes the pollen.
Summer Squash
The only summer squash we are growing this year are two Zucchini plants. This is likely 1.5 more Zucchini plants than we need.
Winter Squash
In a manner similar to our cucumbers, we lost a lot of our winter squash starts presumably due to transplant shock. As such, I had to direct sow a number of replacements and hope they set fruit before the worst of the heat arrives.
With one exception, I stick to Moschata varieties of winter squash (those closely related to butternut squash) as these tend to be more heat tolerant than Maxima varieties (traditional pumpkins, Hubbard squash etc.).
My three winter squash picks for 2023 are:
Seminole Pumpkin – 12 plants but will likely thin to 6: Originating from Florida, this Moschata variety is said to be particularly heat tolerant. As the vines can be a bit aggressive, I’m keeping mine caged into a 6’X6’ bed I have surrounded on all sides by a trellising system.
Golden Nugget – 3 plants: This bush type squash quickly became one of my favorites after my first season growing them in 2021. Interestingly, this variety is neither a Moschata or Maxima, instead being one of the few Pepo varieties of Winter squash. These produce brilliant orange, baseball to softball sized fruits with a deep reddish orange flesh. These are likely the most naturally sweet tasting winter squash I’ve ever grown as they were purportedly developed as a replacement for sweet potatoes in places with growing seasons too cold and short to grow sweet potatoes. This variety can produce ripened fruit in as little as 70 days.
Butterbush – 4 plants: A bush variety butternut squash, this is another fast growing, space saving, quick yielding, winter squash option. While the plants yield fewer and smaller fruits than a Waltham butternut, the deep orange flesh is arguably richer and more flavorful.
Beans
Traditional green beans are a challenging crop in the Sacramento Valley. If you start them in the spring, they will likely be killed by the heat. If you start them in the fall, there’s a good chance they’ll be killed by frost before they bear fruit
In response, we substitute with Asparagus Beans, also known as yardlong beans in order to get our green bean fix during the summer. Technically a type of cow pea, Asparagus Beans are exceptionally heat tolerant, prolific, and nearly indistinguishable in flavor from the more traditional green bean varieties.
Once I’ve thinned our Asparagus bean seedlings, we will have approximately 24 bean vines to see us through the summer.
Potatoes
Like green beans, I’ve struggled to grow potatoes here in the Sacramento Valley. Overwinter potatoes are often killed by frost while spring and summer potatoes are typically killed prematurely by heat. This year, however, our uncharacteristically chilly spring seems to be extending our potato growing season.
Currently, I have four different potatoes growing in small planters and grow bags. These include:
Yukon Gold – 8 plants: A fairly well known, commonly available potato variety, these are said to yield a decent crop in as little as 90 days.
Red Lasoda – 8 plants: A red skinned, white fleshed potato said to be particularly suited to boiling.
Sifra – 9 plants: A white fleshed potato known for high yields and a creamy flavor
Bellantina- 4 plants: A yellow fingerling potato known for high per plant yields.
Sweet potato
We like to grow a bed or two of sweet potatoes every year even though our climate isn’t quite right for them. Sweet potatoes love a long (120+ day) hot growing season, which we have, but also love humidity, which we don’t have. As such, tubers tend to be small albeit delicious.
Even when tubers don’t sufficiently develop, sweet potato is worth growing on account of its leaves. Where white potato leaves are toxic, sweet potato leave are edible and tasty. Sweet potato leaves are a great substitute for cooked spinach which is nice to have during the Sacramento summer when regular spinach will die or bolt almost instantly.
I don’t know what specific varieties we have going at the moment as I am growing them from slips sprouted from grocery store sweet potatoes.
Eggplant
Eggplant is a one of those vegetables we struggle to grow. We get a few fruits every year, but they tend to be undersized. As such, we are only devoting space to three eggplants this year while we troubleshoot our cultivation methods. Two of the plants are of the Aswad variety and one is a Rhapsody. Both of these are said to be particularly heat tolerant varieties.
Various Herbs
Planted in the various spaces between our primary crops are the herbs we most commonly use. These include Dill, Basil, Sage, Thyme, Oregano, and mint (primarily for it’s pest repelling properties).
That’s the rundown of what’s going on in the garden as of May 2023. I’ll be posting periodic updates to chart progress. Additionally, if anyone is interested in a low production value, poorly edited video tour of my garden, here you go!