Tidy Treats tomato
Now that hot weather is here to stay for a while, we can plant outdoor containers for our balconies, porches and patios without having to worry about cold nights. We have plenty of great varieties to choose from, and superior potting soils like Ocean Forest and Coco Loco. At last count, we had just a few large decorative ceramic pots left.[Read More]
Cold-Season Vegetable Starts – March
We’re very excited this week to debut spring vegetable starts that MASA has grown for us! These bioregionally-adapted varieties are so robust and full of vitality, and so irresistible! They are also selected for resilience in our wide weather swings. If you can water your garden, these plants will give you a bountiful head-start on home-grown, delicious, nutritious, greens! We’ll be bringing in more each week.
Arugula Astro
Broccoli Nutribud
Broccoli Umpqua
Cabbage, red Amarant
Cabbage, green Tendersweet
Cabbage, green Tiara
Chard Bali Red
Chard Bright Lights
Chard Fordhook
Collards, Flash
Kale, curly purple Redbor
Kale, lacinato Black Magic
Kale, curly DarkiborCo
Lettuce, butter Adriana
Lettuce, Romaine Forellenschluss
Lettuce, dwf Rom. Spretnak
Lettuce, red leaf Hyper Red Rumpled
Lettuce, green leaf Winter Density
There is nothing like a homegrown tomato! Here they come, Harlequin’s’ fabulous and enormous selection of tomato starts, and some of the first peppers, too! We cover all the bases, including varieties of many uses, sizes, colors, flavors, days to maturity, origins and special qualities, but they are time-proven and resilient in
Colorado.
Tomatoes:
[Read More]
Grocery prices are projected to rise even more this summer. You can save, by planting your own veggies for storage. These delicious, hardy varieties are some of the longest-storing, and can be enjoyed for most of the winter, and even into spring.
Potatoes: While all the potatoes we offer (usually available in March) are delicious and hardy, these are the best ‘keepers’: HARVEST MOON -85-100 days. Round tuber with purple skin and deep yellow flesh. Firm texture after cooking, with a nutty taste. Good for roasting, baking, soups, and chips; NICOLA – 85 – 105 days. Early. Thin skinned, yellow inside and out. Good for winter storage; SANGRE – 80-90 days. Midseason. Beautiful red skinned variety with shallow eyes and medium-sized oblong tubers. Originally released by Colorado State University in 1982, Sangre ranks high in taste tests with creamy white flesh that is especially delicious boiled or baked.
Butternut Squash
We’ve tried a number of ways to store squash, and we’ve been informed over the years by our friends at Seed Savers. If you’ve been canning, chopping and freezing, and cooking things down into sauce this harvest season, you’ll love the ease of storing winter squash whole.
First, be sure the squash are ripe. Each variety differs regarding color and sheen as indicators of ripeness, but as a rule we harvest when the thick stem connecting the fruit to the vine has dried. Cut the stem, leaving at least 1″ and up to 3″ of the stem attached. Be sure to harvest before the first hard frost – if you can’t harvest until after a frost, don’t try to cure and store the squash. Rather, either dice and freeze for later, or bake or make soup and freeze that for later.
Curing is a process that sets up the squash for several months’ of storage by allowing the skin, or shell, to harden. After harvest, elevate the squash off the ground, keeping room between fruits for air to circulate, and leave in a bright, sunny space that isn’t warm or hot for approximately two weeks. You’ll know when they are cured when they pass the ‘fingernail test’ – press your fingernail gently into the shell, and if the skin bruises or breaks, it’s not cured yet! A fully cured squash won’t even dent.
Storage instructions do sound a bit like the porridge in the Goldilocks story – the place you store the squash can’t be too hot or too cold. It needs to be just right! That means not colder than 50 degrees and not warmer than about 65 degrees. The warmer the temperature, the sooner you’ll need to use the squash. Find a cool spot in a closet, the back of a cupboard, a basement, or a garage (if it is temperature controlled). Wrap each squash in paper or straw and place in a box or on a shelf, leaving room for airflow. The paper or straw protects the squash and absorbs any moisture. If the squash does freeze, keep it frozen until you’re ready to use it. Inspect once a week, and use any damaged squash first. Here’s advice from Seed Savers:
And if you don’t have the appropriate space, you can always preserve your squash by dicing and freezing the flesh.
Seed Saving – Seeds last up to a year in your squash – so whenever you use your squash you can scrape out the seeds, rinse and dry, and plant in the spring. Just be aware that squash is a notorious cross-pollinator, and if you grew several kinds you will not necessarily grow a fruit exactly like the one you harvested!
And yes, pumpkins ARE winter squashes. Save them using these same instructions.
Your Fall Vegetable Garden Starts Here!Hard to believe we’re just over 60 days from the average first frost in Boulder County! It’s the perfect time to get your fall vegetable garden in. We have the seeds, and seedlings you’ll need (seedlings expected to be available this weekend or early next week).
Choose from Botanical Interest seeds like beets, radish, greens, and more. Choose plants with 45 – 50 ‘days to harvest’ to ensure a harvest before the first hard frost. Or, be prepared to extend the season with ‘Ensulate’ row-cover fabric.
HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS 2025 TOMATO STARTS
| Anasazi |
| Big Rainbow |
| Black Ethiopian |
| Black from Tula |
| Black Krim |
| Black Sea Man |
| Burrell’s Special |
| California Sungold – NEW! |
| Carmello |
| Cherokee Purple |
| Chianti Rose |
| Chocolate Cherry |
| Chocolate Stripes |
| Coyote Currant |
| Cour de Bue |
| Carbon |
| Cosmonaut Volkov |
| Green Zebra |
| Glacier |
| Gold Medal |
| Indigo Cherry Drops |
| Isis Candy cherry |
| Juane Flamme |
| Koralik |
| Maglia Rosa |
| Matt’s Wild Cherry |
| Martino’s Roma |
| Magic Bullet |
| Market Miracle |
| Mountain Delight |
| Native Sun |
| Orange King |
| Paul Robeson |
| Pink Bumblebee |
| Pink Brandywine (Sudduth) |
| Pink Berkeley Tie-Die |
| Pinocchio |
| Pruden’s Purple |
| Rutger’s Indeterminate |
| San Marzano |
| Sasha’s Altai |
| Sungold |
| Super Souix |
| Tasmanian Chocolate |
| Taxi |
| Tidy Treats |
| Thessaloniki |
| Tommy Toe |
| Yellow Pear – Beam’s |
| Dwarf – Vilma (a 2024 Customer Trial Selection) |
| Dwarf – Awesome |
| Dwarf – Hundreds and Thousands (a 2024 Customer Trial Selection) |
| Siberian |
| Aurora Indeterminate |
| Azoychka |
| Italian Roma |
| Moskvitch |
| Northern Light |
| Siberian |
| Sweetie |
Purple Majesty when cooked
Heirloom Tohono O’odham Multiplier Onion plants
ALSO, Leeks and Shallots.
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.
from Mitten Lowe at Journey to Wellness
I love beets and beet greens for how grounding and nutritious they are – providing folate, dietary fiber, manganese, potassium, iron, antioxidants, phytonutrients, and more! This wonderful garden beet salad is a perfect way to utilize all parts of the beet plus it’s versatile and so incredibly satisfying.
The next few weeks are the perfect time to sow arugula, beets, small carrots, lettuce, kale, radish, and more!
You’re looking to sow veggies that will be harvestable before our first big frosts – often in early October.
We’re proud to bring you seeds from Botanical Interests. They say, “Nurturing seeds in the garden slows us down to reconnect to nature and earth, develops bonds in a community, and creates family traditions and memories. We’re so happy to be a part of that!” And we are, too!
Spinach Start
Q: Can I plant now?
A: It depends!
Yay! Warm days remind us that the threat of frost will soon be gone! If you’re planting hardy perennials, shrubs, vines, grasses or trees, you’re good to go now (as long as your soil isn’t too wet to work). Our stock of seeds and starts for cool-season greens like arugula, spinach, chard, kale and lettuce are in and ready to plant. And you can get a head start on tomatoes!
Photo Credit: Irish Eyes Garden Seeds
Regularly wins acclaim and awards as one of the best tasting baking/roasting garlics!
Collected in 1985 in the Rep. of Georgia, this highly productive, easy-to-grow ‘Purple-Striped’ garlic makes beautiful, large deep-purple bulbs. Eaten raw, its intense heat quickly dissipates, but cooking and baking truly bring out its earthy, rich garlic complexities, very aromatic with a rich, smooth sweetness and just a touch of heat.
The cloves are more numerous (~8-20) and elongated than most hard-neck types and are initially hard to peel, allowing Chesnok Red to store much longer than other hard-necks – up to a year! But cloves become easier to peel the longer they store. Like other hard-neck varieties, it also produces curling, edible ‘scapes’ in June. Garlic is a heavy feeder, so feed your soil well!
Plants are vigorous and upright, can handle a little neglect, an are great multipliers, growing large bulbs from even medium-sized cloves.
And Other broccoli-like vegetables:
10 Varieties this year, including:
and More!
15, including:
6 Varieties, including:
Bastan Pepper, courtesy Johnny’s Seeds
BASTAN F-1 ANCHO/POBLANO – New!
65 days green, 85 days ripe (brown) from transplant, Capsicum annuum, F-1 hybrid
An exceptionally early and adaptable poblano pepper, Bastan plants are extremely high-yielding and robust, and produce big, thick-walled, very dark green, smooth, 4-6”-long, mostly two-lobed peppers that are easy to peel. Fruits may be used at the green unripe or chocolate brown stages. Excellent fried, roasted, stuffed, in chile rellenos or green chile sauces. 1,000 – 2,500 SHU. Plants have an upright habit with excellent leaf cover and concentrated fruit set. Fully ripe poblano peppers are traditionally dried and called Ancho.
TAM JALAPENO – New! – 70-75 days from transplant, Hyb., Capsicum annuum, 3,000 – 5,000 Scoville Heat Units
If you love the flavor of Jalapenos but can’t take the heat, perhaps the Tam Jalapeno is for you. Developed by Texas A&M, it was bred to be highly productive, disease-resistant, widely adaptable, early-maturing, thick-walled, and have great Jalapeno flavor with a lower level of heat – only 1,000-1,500 SHUs, much milder than the typical Jalapeno (3,000-5,000 SHUs). TAM Jalapeño can be made even milder by removing the thin membrane that connects the seeds to the wall of the pepper. Plants grow 2-3 feet tall and should be staked. They produce 3”- long plump dark green peppers with smooth, glossy skin. If allowed to turn red, they will be hotter. TAMs are great for mild salsas and dips, delicious added to salads, tacos or pizza, and great for pickling, jelly, and cooking. Try stuffing them with a variety of fillings for appetizers. Top of Form
YANKEE BELL – New Again! –60 days green, 80 days red, OP, Capsicum annuum
A dependable open-pollinated sweet bell for Northern gardeners. Born on 3’ tall plants, the blocky 3-4 lobed fruits are medium sized and a bit smaller than hybrids but have good yields and better quality and uniformity than most OP bell peppers. Great for salads, stuffing, and cooking. Plants have stronger branches than other varieties.
CARIBBEAN HABANERO – New! – 90 days from transplant, Heirloom OP, Capsicum chinense, 400,000 Scoville Heat Units
Twice as hot as the common habanero! Its pungent, smokey, fruity flavor makes extra spicy salsas, marinades and some very intense hot sauces. The red pods are 2″ long and 1″ wide and grow on vigorous, bushy 3 – 4’ plants. It is so productive the plant may need support when loaded with fruit. We recommend wearing latex gloves and other protection when handling these peppers. With a heat level of 400,000 SHUs, these peppers are loaded with capsaicin which can cause irritation and pain when exposed to your eyes and even to your skin.
RETURNING FAVORITES: Anaheim, Early Jalapeno, Fish, Sheepnose Pimiento, Serrano Tampiqueno, Jimmy Nardello’s, King of the North, Marconi Red, Sweet Chocolate, Cubanelle and more!
60-75 days, Open Pollinated
A brilliantly ornamental pepper from Mexico, Aurora’s compact, bushy plants are only 12” tall and wide, but they are lit up by dozens of pointy, upright, 1 ½” glossy fruits that look like colored Christmas lights! The peppers ripen from lavender to purple to orange and finally to red, creating an incredibly colorful show as they appear in all stages at once. The plant is perfect for container growing and the fruits make a beautiful salsa.
70-80 Days, Open Pollinated, Heirloom, Very Mild Heat
Also known as “Cuban pepper” and “Italian frying pepper”, Cubanelle is a variety of sweet pepper with just a touch of heat (-1000 on the Scoville scale), commonly used in Cuban, Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisines. When unripe, the 6-8” fruit is light yellowish-green, but turns bright red if allowed to ripen. Prized for its sweet, mild flesh, rich flavor, and pretty colors. Cubanelle is thin-walled, especially suited for quick cooking and has a low water content. Best picked when yellow-green for use in roasting, stuffing, pizza topping, frying, a substitute for Anaheims, or in a yellow mole, and is one of the traditional ingredients in sofrito.
Okay, you prepared your soil and planted your vegetable garden with all kinds of wonderfully flavorful, nutritious foods, you’re watering and watching them grow, and wondering ….. When can I start to eat them, how do I harvest them, and how do I get the most out of these plantings? Here are some tips on vegetable crops harvest timing and techniques that may not be self-evident. Even if you’re a seasoned gardener, you may not be aware of some of these procedures! [Read More]
Though commonly associated with culinary traditions of the Southeastern US, collards originated in Europe, along with kale, cabbage etc., and are easy to grow in cooler climates, too.
Grow collards in full sun (for fastest growth), or part shade. Give them plenty of space, 18” apart. Collards appreciate moist, fertile soil with plenty of organic matter (compost) and applications of compost tea. [Read More]
We are here for you! You’re in the high desert/steppe now, with short growing seasons, sudden temperature changes, unpredictable precipitation, low humidity, drying winds, alkaline soils that are low in organic matter and nitrogen, hot summers and cold winters. Despite these challenges, gardens can thrive here, and be productive, rewarding and beautiful!
Our gardens can support us by providing beauty, nutrient-dense food and plant medicine, and shelter from temperature and weather extremes. At the same time, our gardens can give us an opportunity for nurturing that goes beyond our own garden plants, supporting our entire local ecosystem, including our essential insects, birds, native plants and other wildlife. [Read More]
The bad news is that last week’s small delivery of tomato starts froze when the wind blew open the back door of our greenhouse in the middle of the night.
The good news is that the next 38 flats will be ready for sale on Friday! (and there will be many more becoming available through April and May). This week’s tomato starts include: [Read More]
“The less biodiverse any system is, the greater the potential for its collapse.” Janisse Ray, from The Seed Underground: A Growing Revolution to Save Food.
We’ve been reading headlines stating that 93% of seed varieties available in the early 20th century had disappeared from commerce by 1980. The biggest factor in this drastic decline in diversity is consolidation of the industry. The big multi-national corporations have systematically bought up smaller companies and in so doing have ended production of vast numbers of time-tested open-pollinated and older hybrid varieties and prioritized the production of new patented proprietary hybrids. [Read More]
Basil is one of the great culinary pleasures of summer, and it’s definitely NOT TOO LATE to plant Basil and enjoy a good crop! Basil plants are beautiful, grow equally well in the ground or in pots, thrive in hot weather, provide a continuous, bounteous crop, and Basil’s many different flavors are essential to a variety of distinctive cuisines. It can be used fresh, dried, or frozen in oil or as pesto. Though basil leaves lose most of the aromatic oils when dried, we have still found that basil dried from your garden is so much more flavorful than commercial dried basil.
ALL of our Basil plants are organically grown! [Read More]
Sow Fall Crops and be ready for the 2022 growing season! We’re bringing in fresh seeds, packed for 2022, from our local Botanical Interests Seed Company, and should have them on display sometime this Thursday. Most of these seeds are certified organic.
Now is a great time to plant seeds for fall crops such as spinach, lettuce, mesclun, kale, swiss chard, arugula, mustard greens, and watermelon radish. Sow seeds this fall for mache, which will provide tasty salad greens in late winter, before the more conventional spring greens are ready. Fall sowing is also ideal for hardy, drought-tolerant annual flowers like borage, California poppies, cornflower, larkspur, love-in-a-mist, breadseed poppies, and Shirley poppies.[Read More]
Yes, you can still plant many vegetables and annual flowers, now at greatly reduced prices! If you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse, you can grow most peppers, eggplants and tomatoes year-round. In the open garden, look for vegetable varieties that mature the fastest – cucumbers and summer squash, tomatoes, and peppers at 75 days or less. And Kale can still be planted in locations with afternoon shade.
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]
Q: Can I plant now?
A: It depends!
Yay! For those of us gardening at about a mile high, the threat of frost is nearly gone! If you’re planting hardy perennials, shrubs, vines, grasses or trees, you’re good to go now (as long as your soil isn’t too wet to work), and we have a remarkable selection! Our stock of seeds and starts for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, summer & winter squash, melons, pumpkins, and watermelons are excellent. We also have plenty of seeds for beans – bush, pole, runner, and dry. A hint about bean seeds: white-seeded beans are more tolerant of cool soils, so they can be planted sooner. [Read More]
COOL SEASON VEGGIESWe have a Fantastic Selection, too many to list!
ARUGULA
Wild Arugula, Astro, (spring), Ice-Bred (fall)
BROCCOLI
Fiesta, Nutribud, Leaf Broccoli, Spigariello di Liscia Leaf Broccoli, Aspabroc
Purple Majesty when cooked
Yellow Finn, Purple Majesty, Harvest Moon, and Norland Dark Red.
Heirloom Tohono O’odham Multiplier Onion plants
Patterson Red, Redwing, Walla Walla, Ailsa Craig, Red Long of Tropea, Red Geneva, Gladstone, Borrettano, Dakota Tears, Bianco di Maggio.
ALSO, Leeks and Shallots.
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.
EGGPLANTSGALINE
72 days, F-1 hybrid
Early, dependable Italian-style eggplant, mild, creamy-fleshed fruits averaging 1 lb., with glossy black skin.
80 days, Open-pollinated
Golden Treasure is a very tasty and sweet Italian heirloom frying/stuffing pepper, growing to 9” long, with juicy flesh and thin skin. It is also delicious roasted, or raw as a snack or salad pepper. Golden Treasure peppers ripen from green to a glossy golden yellow on very productive plants 2-3’ tall
