Market Growers > From the Field > Northeast Field Trials: July 2003

Northeast Field Trials: July 2003

by Steve Peters

I recently met up with "The Cutting Edge" editor and photographer Scott Vlaun in the heart of New England to visit some of our organic field trials. Our first stop was Clearbrook Farm near Bennington, Vermont, owned and managed by Andrew Kafnel and Matthew Patterson. Nestled in a scenic valley surrounded by the Green Mountains, Clearbrook epitomizes the romantic ideal of a human-scale (25 acres) vegetable and flower farm. They operate a charming roadside farm stand catering to discerning customers in search of (and getting) high quality, local, organically grown, fresh produce and bedding plants. This is a place where the customer receives personal attention in a relaxing atmosphere. Andrew and Matthew are interested in growing vegetable varieties that taste great and yet are able to mature in their extremely short season, which has only about 90 frost-free days (June 1 to September 1).

Several Seeds of Change red slicing tomato varieties are being grown at Clearbrook, including Super Sioux, Thessaloniki, Double Rich, Martian Giant, Crimson Sprinter, Oregon Spring Bush, and Wisconsin 55. These are growing alongside Clearbrook's market standard hybrid variety, and were chosen because they are either early maturing, rare in the seed trade, and/or have exceptional flavor. All varieties looked good, with little or no disease, and good fruit set.

Lettuce varieties have been planted throughout the spring and summer to determine when each particular variety achieves its optimal growth. Clearbrook sells individual lettuce heads, but does not market baby salad mixes. Therefore, they were less interested in varieties such as Reine des Glaces or Formidana that did not head up in their environment, despite having interesting leaf shapes or textures. They were particularly impressed with Ruben's Red (beautiful deep red color), Jericho (resistant to bolting and desirable light green color), Four Seasons (tender butterhead with rich red color), and Brun D'Hiver (unique light bronze color and attractive leaf shape). Other varieties they liked but with qualifiers were Barcarole (good romaine but dark green color not preferred by their customers), Winter Density (good shape but small heads - better for home gardeners), Pirat (nice butterhead but paler red than Four Seasons was not as desirable), and Red Oak Leaf (nice shape but heads larger, looser, and not as red as their standard oak leaf). We look forward to seeing these same varieties in late summer/early fall when they are likely to have richer color and tighter heads.

Spinach had only recently been re-sown so the plants we viewed were quite small. From their early spring planting, however, they reported that both Viroflay (flat leaf type) and America (savoyed leaf type) performed well, but they preferred the Viroflay because of its bolt resistance.

Sweet corn on Clearbrook Farm is a "loss leader" (they might lose a little money on it but it attracts customers to their farm stand), so they were excited to try two of our uniquely colored varieties which are in the final breeding stages and not yet available to the public. To insure successful germination and prevent fungal disease in their cool, wet, spring soil, they started the corn indoors, transplanting into the field in mid June when the soil had warmed. They have previously planted fungicide-treated corn to avoid this problem, but the new USDA organic rule states that only untreated seed may be used. Both varieties were vigorous and about three feet tall. They were already salivating in anticipation of a tasty harvest.

The next stop, Enterprise Farm, owned and managed by David Jackson, is located in the fertile Connecticut River Valley near Hadley, Massachusetts. This region has a long history of producing vegetables for New England and the surrounding states. Jackson farms around 70 acres with a wide range of crops which are marketed directly at local farmers' markets, and wholesale to groceries, including many Whole Foods stores throughout the Northeast. One of his reasons for trialing Seeds of Change varieties is to stimulate the imagination of his produce buyers with unique, colorful, and flavorful varieties that are not currently available in most markets. David is also looking for varieties that have interesting stories that can reveal how seed reflects the culture in which it was grown. He has already been selling substantial quantities of Seeds of Change Lemon Cucumbers, a variety rarely seen in the market, and getting rave reviews from his customers.

Enterprise's tomato trials include not only red slicers such as Super Sioux, Thessaloniki, Burbank, Double Rich, but also yellow, pink, purple, orange, striped, pleated, and unusually-shaped heirloom and traditional varieties including: Arkansas Traveler, Cherokee Purple, Garden Peach, Marvel Striped, Persimmon, Red Calabash, Tigerella, Yellow Perfection, Zapotec Pleated, and Brandywine. All varieties had robust vine growth, but there was no ripe fruit yet due to a cold, wet spring that delayed planting.

Another niche market David is developing is leeks. He is trialing SoC Falltime and Sherwood Leeks. He is very enthusiastic about the winter squash because of the opportunity to expose his customers to some of the incredible diversity that exists in this crop. Of particular interest are the Texas Indian Moschata, (which is growing more vigorously than his market standards), and Sweet Keeper, which are squash varieties almost unknown to most people. These trials have whetted his appetite to continue exploring this diversity.

We then returned to Scott and Zizi Vlaun's home, office, and garden in southwestern Maine. Zizi designs our annual catalog and maintains our website, while Scott in addition to his photography, writing and editing duties, maintains our Maine Trial Garden, where he annually grows about 200 Seeds of Change and other varieties on an acre or so of raised beds that curve along the contour of a west facing slope. It is very instructive to see the differences in the growth habits of various species as compared with our Research Farm in northern New Mexico. For example, in Maine the Marshmallow and Catnip attain heights of 5 to 6 feet, whereas at the New Mexico Research Farm these plants rarely grow to more than 3 feet. His legume cover crops (Papago and Chinese Red Cowpeas, Speckled Field Peas, and Austrian Winter Peas), planted in newly tilled "woods dirt" were vigorous despite signs of nitrogen deficiency, i.e. leaf yellowing, even though these are nitrogen-fixing crops. This was most likely due to the fact that the soil contains so much undecomposed carbonaceous material. These cover crops were intercropped with corn which has been side-dressed with composted manure, and showed deeper color and greater vigor along the interface.

We also sampled a range of young (about 7 weeks) carrots and found that Red Core Chantenay were already sweet (a rare attribute in immature carrots), and that the Danvers were rather tasteless. This confirmed our promotion of "Red Core" as one of the best carrots available, as well as our discontinuing of the Danvers line. Scott was also trialing a new sugar snap pea variety that we are planning to offer in a couple of years. The vines were extremely vigorous, towering above the 6 foot trellis. And while well past their prime, they were still producing absolutely delicious peas. Peas are a crop we have difficulty growing well in the heat of New Mexico, so I was glad to see it thriving here.

Sporadic outbursts of sunflowers, calendula and poppies attested to Scott's interest in allowing things to naturalize in his garden. I also noticed Bronze Arrow and Thai Green Lettuce volunteering from past years' plantings, as well as mustards, kales and orachs, which provide prodigious quantities of succulent greens throughout the year. Another naturalized (i.e. self-seeder) crop here is amaranth, which while grown for the high protein grain and regal beauty, provides a seemingly endless supply of delicious and nutritious greens. The Maine Trial Garden has proven to be a nice complement to our research farm in New Mexico, providing us with valuable information for gardeners in short season temperate growing areas.

I look forward to returning to the northeast this September to evaluate fall plantings of lettuce and spinach, and to revisit our tomato and squash varieties in their mature stage. As I travel throughout the country this summer evaluating our seed varieties under diverse growing conditions I become increasingly aware of the adaptability and vigor of our seed varieties, especially seemingly regional ones such as Hopi Orange Squash and Oaxacan Green Dent Corn which were flourishing in the short growing season of Maine. As always, we encourage growers on all scales to experiment with varieties from around the world. You'll likely be rewarded for your daring. Keep us posted and we'll do the same.