Harlequins Gardens

Boulder's specialist in well-adapted plants

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Vegetables

Solar Caps – A Cozy Sweater for your Veggies!

Just as we need to add another layer of clothing during these cold snaps, our warm-season veggie starts also need additional insulation as the spring season and soil slowly begin to warm up.  This layering can come in several forms, each with their own advantages and applications: low-tech overturned plant pots, row cover anchored over metal frame (as illustrated in the “Hardening-Off” portion of this article), and Solar Caps. 

Due to their versatility and re-usability, Solar Caps have been one of our favorite garden tools for over a decade. [Read More]

Tips for Root Vegetable Success

Some veggies seem to shy away from the limelight, flourishing underground to provide a surprising, beautiful, and nutritious surprise later in the season. Growing root vegetables is generally easy, and can be a fun way to engage children in gardening.  In addition, mountain gardeners often find that root veggies thrive in their cooler conditions.

Once planted, root veggies do not like to be disturbed and therefore are best planted by seed.  (We do sell Bull’s Blood Beets as a starts, but these are generally grown for their greens.)  We have Botanical Interests, Masa, and Seed Savers Exchange seeds for many root veggies including: [Read More]

COOL SEASON VEGGIES & HERBS – 2021 Newsletter

COOL SEASON VEGGIES

We have a Fantastic Selection, too many to list!

Arugula

Wild Arugula, Astro, Ice-Bred

Broccoli

Amadeus, Calabrese, Fiesta, Gypsy hybrid, Nutribud, Leaf Broccoli, Piracicaba. Plus Broccoli Raab and Aspabroc.

Cabbage

All Seasons, Red Acre, Chinese

Cauliflower

Early Snowball, Vita Verde

Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale

Kale

Baltisk Rod, True Siberian, Scotch Blue Curled, Red Russian, Lacinato/Dinosaur, White Russian

Lettuce

Various Romaine, Bibb, Butterhead, and Loose Leaf Varieties. Plus Mesclun & Mizuna.

Spinach

Monstreux de Viroflay, Longstanding Bloomsdale, Giant Nobel, Matador, Lavewa, Savoyed Hybrid, Hablitzia (Perennial Spinach)

Swiss Chard

Bright Lights, Red Rhubarb Chard, Five Colored, Argentata, Perpetual Spinach

Melon

Noire des Carmes, Minnesota Midget, Collective Farm Woman, Tuscany, Hearts of Gold

Pumpkin

Winter Luxury, Cinderella, Max, Lumina, Jarrahdale

Male squash flower

Summer Squash

Yellow Crookneck, Yellow Bush Scallop

Watermelon

Sweet Dakota Rose, Sugar Baby, Early Moonbeam, Golden Midget

Winter Squash

Sweet Dumpling, Delicata, Honeybear Acorn, Sunshine Kabocha, Uncle David’s Buttercup, Thelma Sanders, Butter Baby, Table Queen, Acorn, Golden Hubbard, Red Kuri, Spaghetti

Rhubarb

Glaskin’s Perpetual and Victoria

Zucchini

Raven, Costata Romanesca, Tromboncino, Striata d’Italia, Tonda Nizza, Black Beauty, Rheinau Gold

 

PLUS: Amaranth, Artichoke, Celery, Celeriac, Collards, Cucumbers, Endive, Ground Cherry, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Pac Choi, Tatsoi, Shiso, Shallots, Radicchio, Tomatillos, Watercress, and more!

Fennel pollen

HERBS

And LOTS of HERBS, including Culinary, Medicinal, and Dye

Many varieties of THYME, LAVENDER, BASIL, MINT, HARDY ROSEMARY, SAGE, OREGANO, CHIVES.

Plus Parsley, French Tarragon, Cilantro, Dill, Fennel, Lemon Balm, Lemon Thyme, Lime Balm, Marjoram, Lemon Grass, Vietnamese Coriander, Pineapple Sage, Lemon Verbena, Borage, Savory, Lovage, Cutting Celery, Catnip, Calendula, Aloe, Greek Mountain Tea, Comfrey, Echinacea , Feverfew, Lobelia, Valerian, Motherwort, Mullein, Sweet Leaf, Indigo, Madder, Weld, Lomatium, Hyssop, Anise Hyssop, Plantain, Clary Sage, Skullcap, Arnica, Sheep Sorrel, Milk Thistle, Toothache Plant, Self-Heal, Rue, Mugwort, Wormwood, and more.

Check-out excellent descriptions of the hundreds of varieties of vegetables that we offer!

OTHER VEGGIE STARTS – 2021 Newsletter

POTATOES

Bintje, Purple Majesty, Harvest Moon, Norland Dark Red, and Yellow Finn.

Our Potato Delivery has been delayed due to weather! Potatoes should arrive by mid-April,  in plenty of time to plant, but please call to make sure they are in stock before coming to buy them.

 

 

ONIONS

Copra, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Alisa Craig, Red Long of Tropaea, Red Marble, Purplette, Borrettano, White Sweet Spanish. Also Leeks and Shallots.

 

 

 

ASPARAGUS

Jersey Knight  (roots, 5 per bundle)

All male hybrid with big spears. Does not make seed, so doesn’t become weedy.  Best selection for dense clay soils.  Very productive and disease resistant.  Hardy to Zone 2.

Purple Passion  (roots, 5 per bundle)

Beautiful deep burgundy-colored spears with high sugar content, delicious, tender, less fibrous, great in raw salads.

PEPPER OFFERINGS – 2021 Newsletter

PEPPERS

A few of our NEW PEPPERS         

PEPPER, SWEET

Etiuda Bell Pepper, Orange – NEW!

80 days, Open pollinated
An exceptional open pollinated variety developed in Poland. Vivid orange bell pepper, producing loads of blocky, thick-walled, juicy fruit with rich, very sweet flavor throughout the season. Earliest fruits can be very large. Almost candy sweet when fully ripe and the under-ripe fruit are also sweeter than most. Good leaf coverage, but a shade-cloth covering is still helpful to prevent sunscald. Plants need staking because of the weight of the fruits!  (Photo Credit, Right: Adaptive Seeds.)[Read More]

TOMATO OFFERINGS – 2021 Newsletter

TOMATO OFFERINGS

A FEW of our NEW TOMATOES: offering 80+ varieties in 2021. 

SLICERS

Rosabec – NEW!
60-70 days, Open-pollinated, Determinate
Beautiful, early, glossy-pink slicer tomato from Quebec, with 6-8 oz. globe shaped, blemish-free fruit, high yields, excellent sweet-tart flavor, good texture, tender skins, ripening over several weeks. Sturdy, 4’-tall, determinate bushes are easily caged or trellised. Great for short-season areas such as higher elevations in the foothills. [Read More]

Ready, Set, Plant!

Even though we are about to receive our biggest snowstorm of this winter thus far, you can still make great progress on your garden by starting seeds indoors or even outside if your garden is prepared and you’re quick and can sow them tomorrow morning! You can also plant our hardy perennials, vines, shrubs and trees that have overwintered outdoors ahead of the storm. And our Onion plants – they’re very cold-hardy, and the earlier they’re planted, the larger their bulbs at harvest time! And, if you can plant in a cold-frame, or under a low tunnel of sheet plastic or Row Cover Fabric, you can plant our spring vegetable starts! Heading varieties like Broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower will give you [Read More]

Summer Veggie Gardening Q&A

We have been getting questions from customers about some of the vegetables in their gardens. Here are questions and answers about squash pollination and the many uses of fennel.

 

Q: Why did the first fruits of my squash plants fail to enlarge and ultimately turn yellow and fall off the plant?

A:  Squash and other crops in the Cucurbitaceae family (known as Cucurbits), like cucumbers, melons, gourds and pumpkins, bear separate male flowers and female flowers on each plant. [Read More]

Successional Planting

How to maximize your output

Successional Planting is the continuous planting of crops following the harvesting of another planting. Depending on the plant, this can mean one annual planting for a long-season species, or multiple plantings for short season species. This process will help your garden to be as productive as possible, which is important in our short, highly fluctuating growing seasons.  Our friend, and occasional class instructor, Tracey Parrish, has developed a comprehensive Successional Planting chart that she has generously permitted us to share with you.  —Thank you, Tracey! 

In her document, Succ. planting-most updated, Tracey outlines Colorado’s Five Seasons, gives you ideas for succession plantings, and then provides detailed planting charts for root vegetables, peas/beans, herbs, greens/salads, brassicas, onions, and summer crops.  This five-page document is a wealth of information!  Succ. planting-most updated

 

Watermelon Dreams

(and Winter Squash, Canteloupe, Honeydew, and Pumpkin, too!)

Do you love the sweet fruits and vegetables of late summer as much as we do? Well then, PLANT THEM NOW! We’ve got the heat now, which they thrive on. To develop those natural sugars, these crops take more time to mature than many other veggies, mostly between 70 and 100 days from seeding. We’ve saved you some time by growing starts, LOTS of them, and most of the varieties we’ve chosen will mature relatively early.

All are open-pollinated unless otherwise indicated. Our selection includes:[Read More]

Amish Paste

Heirloom, indeterminate, 85 days
Very meaty, rich, sweet flavor intensifies in sauces. Consistent taste test winner, fresh or cooked into sauce/paste. Makes “tomato candy” when dried!  Droopy foliage is normal.

2019 Tomato Tasting Results

This year’s tomato tasting was a great success, with a total of 41 tomato varieties present over the 3-hour event!

Participants brought in some wonderful new varieties this year, including Pink Bumble Bee Cherry, Gajo de Melon, and Blue Cream Berries. We always take people’s votes into account when deciding which tomato varieties to carry, so look for the most popular varieties from this year and previous years when you come to buy your organic tomato starts next spring at Harlequin’s Gardens. Every year we grow 80+ great varieties for all kinds of uses and growing conditions! A huge thank-you to Growing Gardens for providing our the location, helping us publicize the event, and for bringing us some fabulous volunteers. Thank you also to the volunteers of Slow Food Boulder County. We couldn’t have done it without you!

2019 Taste of Tomato Vote Tally

 

 

 

 

[Read More]

2018 Taste of Tomato Results

This year’s Taste of Tomato was a blast! We love the new location at Growing Gardens’ Barn, with its’ beautiful view of the Flatirons, easy access, and wonderful staff. The tasting featured 44 different varieties of tomatoes, with Aunt Ruby’s German Green winning the greatest number of votes. Participants brought in some wonderful new varieties this year, including Brad’s Atomic Grape, Thornburn’s Terracotta, and Indigo Cherry. Look for the most popular varieties from this year and previous years when you come to buy your organic tomato starts next spring at Harlequin’s Gardens. Every year we grow 80+ great varieties for all kinds of uses and growing conditions![Read More]

Harvest Guidelines for Summer Crops

Here are a few harvest guidelines for summer crops: 

Eggplants should be picked while they are still firm and glossy.  Once their skins have become dull, they will be softer and have dark seeds, which can spoil the flavor. Eggplants don’t keep long, so use them soon after harvest.

Bell peppers and sweet frying peppers are sweetest when allowed to ripen fully to their mature color, yellow, orange, red, purple or mahogany.  Bell peppers are often picked green, but their flavor will be a lot more pungent and they may be more challenging to digest.

Some of the hot peppers are traditionally enjoyed green – poblano, mulatto, jalapeno, Anaheim-type, while most of the rest are allowed to ripen to red (cherry, habanero, cayenne, lanterna, any chile dried for a ristra, etc.) orange (Bulgarian Carrot), or dark brown (Pasilla).[Read More]

Food Safety and GMOs

Food safety is one of the most critical issues of our time. What we eat is directly related to our health, and health care has a direct impact on our personal and national economies. Major chemical companies like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and Dupont have introduced 86,000 synthetic chemicals into our environment, food, drugs, cosmetics etc and most of them have never been tested for toxic effects on human health and the environment. Since the mid 1990s, some of these same companies have been filling our grocery stores and feed stores with genetically engineered food products which may be causing serious health problems but are being approved by our government without safety testing.[Read More]

Heirloom Tomatoes

What is the big deal about heirloom tomatoes? Hasn’t modern science brought us big improvements with hybrids that are bigger fruiting, higher yielding, resistant to many diseases and low in acid and high in vitamins? Yes, there are many hybrids that do boast these benefits. However the varieties that have earned the designation of “heirloom” have been treasured and saved through many years of growing and eating. Presumably they have endured for two main reasons: the success of the plants through many varying seasons and locations, and the big reason, FLAVOR. It was probably in reference to heirloom tomatoes that the song was written “Only two things that money can’t buy: true love and home-grown tomatoes.” There is something about that genuine tomato flavor that has made the tomato America’s most popular vegetable, and the tomatoes in the supermarkets don’t even come close.[Read More]

Native Fruits

Even if the economy doesn’t drive us to foraging in the wild, there are some native fruits that are good to know, to eat and to grow at home.

Wild Plum, Prunus americana, is blooming all over Boulder and much of the Front Range as I write. It is easy to identify with its early spring clouds of white blossoms and waves of sweet perfume that carry across the yard or the ditch. It is quite happy in a ditch where it gets a little extra water, and is not at its best in very dry conditions where it will grow more as a shrub than a tree. [Read More]

Parsley for Cooks, Pollinators, and Heroes

Parsley is not merely a garnish. Besides its wide-ranging multicultural culinary uses, it has, like many culinary herbs, significant nutritional and medicinal values and important roles in the garden. And in Ancient Greece, parsley was used to crown heroes. Every part of the plant is useful.

Parsley (Petroselinum crispum) is an attractive, very cold-hardy biennial herb in the Apiaceae (bee-flower) family. It is available in flat-leaf and curled-leaf forms, both of which have rich, glossy green serrated leaves on slender stalks. In the first year, parsley continually produces a mass of foliage, which can be freely harvested as needed.[Read More]

Vegetable Garden Care Recommendations

WATER: Most vegetables need a consistent, generous supply of water. Use drip irrigation, or use overhead sprinkler early in the day.

SOIL: Organic matter (humus) feeds vital soil organisms that feed plants, improves soil texture, moisture-retention, & aeration. We recommend incorporating compost to a depth of ~8”. Note: Almost all of our soil amendments are produced locally.[Read More]