La Huerta Seasonal Guide Summer & Fall
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LA HUERTA SEASONAL GUIDE SUMMER & FALL GOLDEN SQUASH GRAY SQUASH BLAUHILDE BEAN ZUCCHINI ZUCCHINI This heirloom from Germany These yellow squash have a Mexican gray squash, also is a spectacular climbing type classic and distinctive zucchini called Middle Eastern or that makes enormous purple flavor. These grow quickly and Lebanese, is a summer squash pods! The richly-flavored pods produce all summer and into like zucchini. It is perfect for stay tender and stringless, even autumn. sautéing, grilling, or for eating at 10 inches long. Like a magic raw. trick, they turn green when cooked. EMERITE POLE FILET ROMA BEAN ARMENIAN YARD- BEAN LONG CUCUMBER We use these classic “haricot Where hearty and summertime Armenian “cucumbers” are verts” beans often. They have a meet, this is one of our favorites. genetically melons! They have crispy snap and are delectable Large and flavorful, these can a mild and reliable flavor, never with a long pod and a classically be pickled, sautéed, or stewed bitter. sweet, beany flavor. Great with tomatoes. pickled or blanched. 1 SUMMER & FALL LEMON CUCUMBER MARKETMORE 76 MEXICAN SOUR CUCUMBER GHERKIN CUCUMBER Don’t be fooled by this This is likely one of the most These are shaped just like heirloom’s unusual shape recognizable heirloom varieties. baby watermelons and have - these bright yellow balls These long, slender, dark green a cucumber-like taste with a are tender, sweet, and never cucumbers are great slicing touch of lemon. We love to add bitter. Excellent for salads and cucumbers. them to salads, but they are pickling. also delicious pickled. MUNCHER CUCUMBER BLACK VERNISSAGE BLUSH TOMATO TOMATO This crispy and delicious Deep mahogany, striped with Small yellow tomato striped cucumber makes great pickles green and so tasty like most pink or “blush”, this is one of but is also great for eating fresh dark-skinned tomatoes. This our favorites from past years right out of the garden. Hands- is a favorite of ours in salads that has been hard to find. Very down, our favorite cucumber and makes the best tomato excited to have it back! we grow. sandwiches. 2 SUMMER & FALL BRAD’S ATOMIC GRAPE BRANDYWINE TOMATO CRIMSON CARMELLO TOMATO TOMATO Cosmic in appearance, this A favorite of ours, placing Bred in France especially for fruit is black with a rainbow of second in last year’s tomato fresh eating, these big, plump stripes. Another favorite of ours tasting. This beautiful pink fruits are best sliced fresh from from years past, this variety tomato can grow up to 1 1⁄2 lbs the garden in salads or pastas was developed in Napa by Wild each! Superb flavor and super for rich tomato flavor. We’re Boar Farms. versatile, this is a really popular hoping this is a new “go-to” heirloom variety. tomato alongside New Girl. DAD’S SUNSET JAPANESE BLACK NEW GIRL TOMATO TOMATO TRIFELE TOMATO Large and beautiful, these This absolutely gorgeous A staple in our gardens. Very maintain a nice acidity. Chef tomato is of Russian origin similar to Early Girl with more thinks these are the most and looks like a beautiful disease resistance. It’s great delicious yellow tomatoes mahogany-colored pear. Very for cooking and a favorite for we’ve grown to date (not tasty flesh with a meaty core sauces. counting the Blush tomato!). and rich, complex flavors, making it a favorite slicer tomato. 3 SUMMER & FALL PAUL ROBESON PURPLE RUSSIAN ROMA POMPEII TOMATO TOMATO TOMATO This variety has an amazing Originally from Ukraine, these This is a very flavorful Italian flavor that is so distinctive, meaty, purplish-black, plum- variety that we love to use in sweet, and smoky. Named in shaped fruits have great sauces, purées, and canning. honor of Paul Robeson, the texture. They are sweet and It’s also a very high-yield plant famous opera singer and civil flavorful, making them good that we’d recommend anyone rights activist. A staple in our for eating fresh or in salsa and plant. garden every year. sauces. SAN MARZANO SUNGOLD CHERRY BABY BELLE SNACK TOMATO TOMATO MIX PEPPERS San Marzano is considered one We love the intense, fruity flavor These bite-sized little beauties of the best paste tomatoes of all of these sweet, bright tangerine- make wonderfully tasty, time, with vibrant red color and orange cherry tomatoes. They nutritious snacks and are a old-world look and taste. We start fruiting early in the season great addition to salads. love it for a hearty red sauce. and keep going all through the summer. They are like candy on the vine. 4 SUMMER & FALL BARON POBLANO CHARGER ANAHEIM EL EDEN GUAJILLO PEPPER PEPPER PEPPER This is THE Chile Relleno Thick-walled and large, these This is a traditional Mexican pepper! Easy to grow, with a lend themselves really well to pepper that is used in mole nice, large cavity to easily stuff stuffing and frying and have a sauce. Its smoky heat is best and a soft, lingering heat that is mild-medium heat. used as a powder once dried, very mellow. as the skins are quite thick. A new addition for us this year, we’re looking forward to using it for enchiladas! JIMMY NARDELLO BANGKOK THAI CHILE BULGARIAN CARROT PEPPER CHILE This fine Italian pepper was This small, fiery-hot chile is one A new variety for us this year. brought to the states by of our favorites to grow and Crunchy, fruity, tangy, and Giuseppe and Angella Nardiello use fresh at its green and red spicy! We love their bright in 1887. Named for their son, this stages and dry for hot pepper orange color. is one of the best peppers for flakes. Great in Asian dishes frying, with a mild, spicy flavor. with our Dry Riesling. 5 SUMMER & FALL HABANERO HELIOS JALAPENO EL JEFE RING OF FIRE CHILE CHILE CHILE This habanero ripens sooner Very juicy with the well-known This fire-engine red cayenne- than all other habaneros. Its jalapeno flavor and a little type pepper is our go-to for heat is at its peak when it turns extra heat. We never can grow salsa, drying, fermenting - you bright orange. enough of these! name it! It’s a popular ingredient in our yearly salsa competition. SERRANO DE MILPA TOMATILLO RIO GRANDE VERDE TAMPIQUEÑO CHILE TOMATILLO This small, fiery-hot cayenne These pretty purple-green These apple-green fruits grow is one of our favorites to grow tomatillos are delicious roasted, quite big and have excellent and use fresh at its green and stewed, in salsa, or many other flavor. They are the perfect red stages to dry for hot pepper dishes. An annual request from tomatillo for salsa or chile flakes. the team for salsa. verde! 6 SUMMER & FALL MIXED HERBS CAPER BUSH LEMON VERBENA The caper bush blooms with We love growing this beautiful Herbs are a staple in our pretty white and purple flowers. bush both for its lovely late- gardens and we grow a mix We pick and pickle the little spring flowers that attract of different basil, rosemary, caper buds as well as the pollinators to our gardens and oregano, parsley, tarragon, berries and use them mostly in for using its leaves fresh in the thyme, cilantro, salad burnet, Mediterranean preparations. kitchen. We dry the leaves and and mint year-round. use it for tea year-round, and Janet has a cup each evening. BAY LAUREL APRICOTS BING CHERRY Bay laurel is a native to the Royal Blenheim and Puget Gold Firm, juicy, and large, these eastern Mediterranean and are the 2 varieties of apricots deep red heart-shaped cherries grows wild throughout the that grace our orchards, and are intensely sweet with a region, so it does wonderfully in they are some of our favorite vibrant aftertaste. We always Napa Valley’s climate. Dried, its fruits! An apricot tart is our eat them fresh, competing with leaves are used as a seasoning favorite pairing with our Late the birds and squirrels! for pies, soups, sauces, Harvest Riesling. marinades, and pickles. 7 SUMMER & FALL NECTARINES PEACHES SANTA ROSA PLUM We grow both Harko and Zee We grow 2 varieties of peaches: This variety produces beautiful, Glo nectarine varieties in our the crunchy and sweet O’Henry white spring blooms and lovely, gardens. While still young trees, peach and large, late-ripening large fruit with red-purple they both bloom with beautiful Frost peach. They are both coloring. Their fine-textured flowers in spring. great for eating fresh, but we clingstone flesh is delicious also love them preserved or in when eaten fresh, canned, or baked goods cooked. BLUEBERRIES TRIPLE CROWN HERITAGE RED BLACKBERRY RASPBERRY The Misty variety is medium, This thornless blackberry This everbearing red raspberry sky-blue, sweet, and spicy- variety has excellent fruit, with is a garden favorite for its flavor flavored, while the O’Neal firm, sweet berries. We love to and plumpness. This bush has variety is larger with dark blue eat them fresh or baked in pies. two harvest seasons, with an fruit and a candy-like sweetness They also make a delicious early yield in July and heavy with just a touch of tartness. compote that pairs perfectly yield in September. with some cheese and red wine! 8 SUMMER & FALL BLACKTAIL MOUNTAIN CRANE MELON CYPRIOT WATERMELON WATERMELON This melon grows really well, This melon has sweet, fine- This is a fantastic drought- tolerating heat and drought flavored, pale-orange flesh, resistant melon that we are periods. It’s an early-ripening and is a California heirloom trailing this year. It originated watermelon so we can extend originally developed in 1920’s on the Mediterranean island of the season of enjoying these Santa Rosa.