Seedy Saturday & Slocan Snow Peas
Partial Haul, Seedy Saturday, March 20 2010
I love Seedy Saturday. I think it’s fairly safe to say I look forward to it all year. I attended by first Seedy Saturday event seven years ago, and since then it’s always been the indicator for the first day of spring of me. Doesn’t matter if that day has already come and gone (this year it just happened to fall on the same day), Seedy Saturday really means spring is here.
This year I did have something specific in mind, with the funds raised from selling seeds on etsy I decided to do a lot of acquiring this year for the bank at Seedy Saturday.
I walked away with 12 tomato varieties, one pea variety, shallots, and some curly cress (well, that one was just for me). A lady had an amazing selection of interesting tomato varieties, and it was really hard for me just to pick six from her incredible selection. I am happy with what I got in terms of tomatoes, I kind of wish I had left a little room for myself to start some of the varieties that I collected this year, but unfortunately I’m already pushing it with the amount of tomatoes I have going. I mean, I could convert all three gardens to tomato beds, but quite frankly, I would like to eat some other fresh produce this year then just tomatoes (I love tomatoes and all, but I have preserving plans that require all sorts of room for tomatillos, peppers, cukes, beets, and squash).
The tomatoes I got were:
Slocan Snow Peas
I started a new tradition last year as well to obtain at least one local heirloom variety per year for preservation. Last year it started with Mr. Tung’s pole beans (which are now a favourite of mine), this year it continued on with Slocan Snow Peas.
To tell you the truth, I’m not a huge fan of peas, but I do like snow peas as long as they’re fresh. The lady who sold them to me told me that these peas were brought by “Japanese immigrants during WWII”. Now, this is just entirely my speculation, but I have an inkling that they were actually brought by Japanese Internment Camp prisoners. There was a sizable internment camp in the area, and considering the timing of these peas arrival in the area, I imagine that this was how they were brought here.
I’m a huge sucker for a local heirloom, so I’m excited to see these grow, especially since I was told vines get up to 7ft.
I grew Perestroika tomatoes last year. Unfortunately, I only had one plant and that plant developed something like blossom end rot and I was never able to fix it. All in all it was a fast growing, good producing plant. I grew it in a subirrigated container so maybe that had something to do with it.
I have been trying to get Sasha’s Altai seeds but so far every time I order them through the Internet, they sell out before I get mine. I look forward to seeing what you think of them.
This year I am growing Gregory’s Altai.
Good luck with the Slocan Snow Peas!
[...] when I came upon the seeds at my town’s yearly Seedy Saturday I jumped on [...]