Category Archives: Heirlooms
Pepper Sweet Banana
Even after more than 70 years this is still extremely popular pepper. Large pointed fruits measure 6-7″ long and 1 1/2″ across. The mild yellow peppers ultimately turn brilliant red. A favorite for pickling.
Lettuce Four Seasons Organic
Heirloom. The name alludes to the remarkable cold hardiness of this very beautiful 6″ butterhead. It’s still one of the best lettuces both for early spring planting and for fall/winter harvests. Outer leaves are tinged with red. Inner leaves are
Tomato Hillbilly Regular Leaf
With lovely yellow-orange skin and flesh mottled and streaked with red this West Virginia heirloom beefsteak weighs in at 1-2 lb. Heavily ribbed fruits bring superb sweet low-acid flavor to salads and sandwiches.
Bean Blue Lake 274 Bush
Blue Lake 274 is an all-time favorite bean that’s nearly fiber-free produces prolifically over a long season and has excellent flavor fresh or frozen. A heavy producer over a long season it’s excellent fresh or frozen. Plants yield early and
Squash Thelma Sanders Sweet Potato
A favorite at our Fordhook Farm test gardens this family heirloom squash from Missouri has a flavor that is distinctly sweet potatoesque. High-yielding vines produce a plentitude of cream-colored 6-8″ acorn-shaped fruits with a wondrously sweet chestnut flavor. This squash
Lima Bean Jackson Wonder
Lovely and flavorful Jackson Wonder was introduced in 1888 quickly becoming an American favorite. A rich chestnut color speckled with maroon the beans have a bright nutty flavor. With a compact bush habit the prolific plants only grow 18-24″ tall
Onion Italian Torpedo
The most frequently used variety in Italian cooking Torpedo is beloved for its sweet mild and tender roots. This elongated torpedo-shaped onion has light rosy-red skin. The bulbs grow to about 4 to 6″ long. This onion is best suited
Pumpkin Galeux D’Eysines
This heirloom’s lovely French name translates prettily enough as “embroidered with warts from Eysines that being a small town in southwest France. This pumpkin’s random peanut” warts bedeck the flesh-colored outer skin. A unique decorative piece to be sure but
Tomato Pruden’s Purple
Often favorably compared with the illustrious Brandywine the gold standard of heirloom tomatoes. With dark pinkish-purple skin this widely adapted heirloom produces large slightly flattened 1 lb. fruits with firm meaty crimson flesh and few seeds. Indeterminate potato-leaf plants.
Onion Cippolini Red
120-150 days. One sweet gourmet-ready onion. Cippolini (pronounced chip-oh-LEE-nee) onions are recognized by their small flattened disc-shaped bulbsand delectable deep flavor. Ranging from 1-3 in diameter this red variety’s bulbs have pale translucent purple flesh and copper-colored thin
Watermelon Charleston Gray
Flesh is red crisp fiberless and delicious; skin is light greenish gray. Resistant to fusarium wilt anthracnose and sunburn. Ready for harvest 85 days after sowing. GARDEN HINTS: For early fruiting and to overcome a short growing season start seeds
Zinnia Envy
Green Zinnias in your garden make a dramatic display that words can only partially describe. The 3″ double and semi-double blooms look as sensational in the garden as they do in the vase. Try them in fresh arrangements with white
Corn Country Gentleman
Country Gentleman is one of the most unusual sweet corns around because its white kernels are arranged irregularly not in rows. The kernels are also very deep and narrow hence its alternate name Shoe-peg. Developed around 1890 in the Connecticut
Radish Black Spanish Round
Black radishes have been grown and savored in Europe since the 1500s. With handsome black skins the large 3-4″ turnip-shaped globes have crisp pungent spicy pure-white flesh. A winter variety valued for its strong medicinal properties ease of growth and
Bean Shell Bush Dragon’s Tongue Wax
Dragon’s Tongue Wax is an old dual purpose French variety (Dragon Langerie) with gorgeous pods that are yellow streaked with purple. As snap beans the pods turn all yellow after cooking but they’re delicious as shell beans too.
Tomato Druzba
We’ve never seen such a beautiful heirloom tomato. It’s up to 4″ across perfectly formed pure red and smooth-skinned. And this wonderful mini-beefsteak has superb flavor. Indeterminate vines assure a long season of harvest much larger than other heirloom beefsteaks.
Radish Early Scarlet Globe
One of the most popular home garden varieties of the past 100 years. Early high-yielding this favorite produces uniform bright red globes with crisp tender juicy and mild white flesh.
Pepper Sweet Emerald Giant
Bred by experts at the USDA and introduced in 1963 this variety produces heavy yields of large blocky 4-5″ x 3 1/2-4″ fruits. The thick-walled dark-green to red peppers have a sweet juicy taste and crisp texture. Vigorous and prolific
Pea Purple Podded
Cook’s Garden Favorite. Our Fordhook visitors cant resist the lure of these edible purple garden ornaments. Heirlooms fragrant purple-pink flowers are followed by clusters of deep-purple pods filled with delectable green peas. Best used as a shelling pea to be
