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Black Prince Tomato

Black Prince Tomato

Black Prince Tomato

I think my favorite tomato color is ‘black’. In this case it’s more dusty brown with green shoulders. Most so called black tomatoes range from purple to brown, and none of them are really black. They mostly have a slightly sweet/smokey flavor, and are very nice.

This tomato is a very early variety, and it’s usually the first to ripen in my garden. This year, with all the weird weather, it was one of the last.

If you want to grow tomatoes from far away exotic places, this one hails from Irkutsk, Russia. I read somewhere that in Soviet times that villages in this part of Siberia would have annual friendly competitions to see who could grow the best tasting tomatoes, with every village specializing in one or perhaps a couple of tomatoes. Cold frames were commonly used to extend the growing season.

Perhaps not a lot good came from the former Soviet Union, but some really great vegetables were grown then!

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Metechi Garlic

Metechi Garlic

This garlic is a Marbled Purple Stripe type.

This garlic was a bit of a surprise. This was my first year growing it, and it did very well compared with most of my other varieties. It is another great garlic from the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

The taste is hot and spicy for sure, but at the same time it can get lost in cooked foods because cooking mellows the flavor so much. It’s very nice raw, because the flavor is not overwhelming.

The color ranges from very purple to very white, and the cloves are large and have the same coloring as the skin.

The skin is very thick and paper like. Most garlic has a skin that kind of flakes off with a bit of rubbing. This skin requires a deliberate tear with a knife or finger nail, and can then be gently torn off. Time will tell if this skin is an advantage or not. The cloves were very wet after curing, and the thick skin may cause it to mold. At the same time, the thick skin may keep it from drying out and shriveling up.

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Gypsy Red Garlic

Gypsy Red Garlic

I don’t know what type of garlic this is.

This variety of garlic never seems to form very big bulbs in my garden, but it’s really nice none the less. It’s reasonably productive as well as looks and tastes really nice. Last year the colors were very different, with a much deeper red and a bit of yellow on the tips of the cloves.

This is one of my personal favorite varieties.

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Burgundy Garlic

Burgundy Garlic

This is a Creole type garlic.

Creole garlic is more of a warm climate type, so none of them do very well in my northern garden. This one does reasonably well, all things considered. The striking feature of this garlic is the bright red cloves contrasted with a paper white skin. You can see many of the bulbs began to open in the ground. The taste of this garlic is good, and somewhat unique.

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Inchelium Red Garlic

Inchelium Red

This an Artichoke type garlic.

This is also also a garlic that does well in my garden. Even though I get a lot of large bulbs, I also get many small ones. This may just be a matter of growing it for a few more years and selecting for the larger bulbs. The taste is nice, but not outstanding.