Gardening in "The Dangly Bits"....

I have to say there are(at present;>) 3 winners among the new veggies I planted in Fall for our Winter garden: 'Boule D'Or' Turnip, 'Prickly Spinach' and Perpetual Spinach. 'BDO' is an Heirloom French Turnip that is Yellow inside and out. While it's touted as Sweeter than regular Turnips, the truth is it's as sweet as a fresh Japanese cultivar....just a pale Yellow. 'PS' is an Heirloom Spinach cultivar and Perpetual is a relative sub-species. They've produced much better than even the best Spinach cultivar I'd found previously.
I've made the plan for new cultivars for the 2012 garden and ordered the Tomatoe Seeds. One twist of living here is that to get ANY Tomatoes you have to get the seeds by the last week of January to get them started no later than the 2nd week in Feb. You plant them out at the end of March/1st Week of April as so to get a crop before the Heat shuts down fruit production in mid June. Previously, I'd been looking to Heirloom Southern and SE Asian cultivars but the last few drought-y yrs has made me rethink the strategy and so I ordered cultivars from Dry and Hot regions; the Middle East and certian Latin American regions. We'll see how this works out. At least I'll have my old stand-byes 'Sungold II' and 'Pink Bertua...esp the latter seeds I saved from a plant that didn't succum to the usual soil diseases that make container gardening the usual option "run hyar".
Next month I'll order the new Cukes, Eggplants, Sweet Peppers and Squashes....
Cheers,
Pat

How to ID Frankenveggies.....

From www.Friendseat.com

Not many consumers realize that the FDA does not require genetically modified food to be labeled. That’s because the FDA has decided that you, dear consumer, don’t care if the tomato you’re eating has been cross bred with frog genes to render the tomato more resistant to cold weather. Some consumers may not be concerned with eating Frankenfood, but for those who are, here’s how to determine if the fruits and vegetables you’re buying are (GM) genetically modified.

Hat tip to Marion Owen for her valuable information. Here’s how it works:

For conventionally grown fruit, (grown with chemicals inputs), the PLU code on the sticker consists of four numbers. Organically grown fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 9. Genetically engineered (GM) fruit has a five-numeral PLU prefaced by the number 8.

For example:

A conventionally grown banana would be: 4011

An organic banana would be: 94011

A genetically engineered (GE or GMO) banana would be: 84011

Bon Apetite!
Pat