Finke Gardens and Nursery

This year Finke Gardens is excited to offer a greatly expanded selection of vegetable transplants for your kitchen garden!  All of our varieties have been selected by our staff and started in our own greenhouses.  Most have been trialed in our own home gardens and some are new experiments for you to try along with us.

We have listed all the varieties based on cool season, warm season, tomatoes, and herbs.  Click on the links below to learn more about each variety.  You are sure to find some good old stand-bys and something new to try as well.  Get ready to enjoy the wholesome produce from your very own kitchen garden this summer!

Cool Season Crops for the Kitchen Garden – 2010

Warm Season Crops for the Kitchen Garden – 2010

Tomatoes for the Kitchen Garden – 2010

Herbs for the Kitchen Garden – 2010

For tips on growing potatoes, onions, or asparagus click the links below.  These handouts can also be found under the “Information Guides” tab at the top of this page.

Success with Potatoes

Success with Onions

Success with Asparagus

These vegetable varieties will be available at Finke Gardens as plants in late March and early April of 2010.  Selection may be limited so hurry in!  Also check out the varieties of lettuce, spinach, salad greens, and other cool-season crops available as seeds.

Red Veined Sorrel
Bright green leaves with contrasting dark maroon stems and veins add color and taste to salad mix or micro mix blends. Harvest young for best flavor.

Tendersweet Cabbage
Midsize, flat heads stand well without splitting. Tender leaves are very thin, sweet, and crisp – perfect for coleslaw or stir-fries. Considered by some to be the most flavorful!

Kaitlin Cabbage
Kaitlin is a large, late season cabbage that produces a high yield of very white, high dry-matter cabbage ideally suited for making sauerkraut. See our information guide on making your own kraut at home!

Liberty Broccoli
The plant produces high quality, large, dark green broccoli.  It is adaptable and flavorful. This variety has very good uniformity and holding ability.

Yellow Granex Onions
Exceptionally sweet, mild onion made famous in Vidalia, Georgia. Good for rings, baking, salads and sauces.  Very good keeper as well!  See our info guide on onions!

Red Norland Potato
Developed in Nebraska, this variety is sure to please.  Red skin with firm white flesh.  Excellent for baking and boiling, and it stores well too!

Kennebec Potato
Champion late potato! Young tubers are tasty for creaming. Mature tubers are good for boiling, mashing, baking—smooth with shallow eyes.  White skin and flesh.  Stores well.  See our info guide on potatoes!

These vegetable varieties will be available at Finke Gardens as plants in late April and early May of 2010.  Selection of certain varieties may be limited so hurry in!  Also check out the many varieties warm-season crops available as seeds!

Rosa Bianca Eggplant  (Heirloom)
A gorgeous Italian variety with a delicate, mild flavor, creamy consistency, and no bitterness.  Creamy white base with purple stripes to the top.

Hansel Eggplant
Solid purple mini eggplant!  Start harvesting the abundant fruits when they are only 3-4″ long.  Hansel is non-bitter and perfect for grilling or slicing thin onto pizza.

Gretel Eggplant
Solid white mini eggplant.  Loads of mini fruits on this compact plant. The tender, bitter-free fruits should be harvested beginning when they are 3-4″ long.

Genuine Cucumber
The earliest slicer.  The relatively smooth, dark green, 8″ fruits are free of striping and bitterness and have the best taste of the American type.

Miniature White Cucumber
A prolific bearer of small, white pickling cucumbers, delicious for fresh eating. Thin-skinned, tender fruits have a mild, sweet flavor with absolutely no bitterness.

Imperial Star Artichoke
This revolutionary variety was recently introduced as an annual artichoke, bearing edible buds about 90 days after planting!  Both petals and hearts are edible.

Butterbean Soybean
Sweet, buttery, and high yielding ‘Edamame’ type. The stocky plants stand well, producing a prolific set of pods with three large beans that are relatively easy to shell.

Ace Red Bell Pepper
Amazing yields of medium-sized, 3 to 4-lobed, bell peppers. Glossy green fruits turn red early. Has resistance to blossom drop even in adverse weather.

Flavorburst Yellow Pepper
Initial color is lime green but turns to yellow when ripe.  Excellent, sweet flavor. Medium-large fruits are mostly 3-lobed and slightly elongated.

Ancho Pepper
Heart-shaped, thin-walled fruits are mildly pungent with and authentic ‘ancho’ flavor.  Fruits turn from black-green to red. Hot.

Joe’s Long Cayenne Pepper
It turns bright red for homemade hot sauce and dries well for ristras and delicious, dried hot pepper flakes. The 8-10″ long, thin-fleshed fruits taper to a skinny point. Hot.

California Wonder Pepper  (Heirloom)
The standard bell pepper for many decades, this 1928 introduction is still the largest open-pollinated, heirloom bell pepper you can grow.  Consistently produces 3″ X 4″, 4-lobed fruit.

Jalapeno Pepper
The standard for hot peppers!  Dark green, medium-hot, thick-walled peppers 3″ long, 1″ wide, with rounded tips. Matures to dark red.  A long-time favorite!

Pinot Noir Pepper
Light green when young, the large blocky fruits blush to shades of citrus, berry, and cherry red, displayed simultaneously for a beautiful bouquet. Fruits are crisp and very sweet, with a clean refreshing aftertaste.

Red Marconi Pepper
Famous Italian variety.  Excellent for roasting, frying, or eating fresh.  Tapered fruits are 7” long on prolific plants.

These tomato varieties will be available at Finke Gardens as plants in late April and early May of 2010.  Selection of certain varieties may be limited so hurry in!

Better Boy Hybrid
Huge, delicious, red fruits many 1 pound each.  Recognized as a long-time favorite.  Excellent disease resistance.  Indeterminate.

Black Prince Heirloom
Originally introduced from Irkutsk, Russia and does very well in cooler climates. These deep garnet round, 2-3 oz. tomatoes are full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavors. Indeterminate.

Brandywine Heirloom
Brandywine is an Amish variety from the 1880’s. It is legendary for it’s exceptionally rich, succulent tomato flavor. Fruits are reddish-pink, with light, creamy flesh that average 12 ounces but can grow to 2 pounds.  Indeterminate.

Celebrity Hybrid
Celebrity is a classic favorite for large, flavorful 8-oz. fruits that refuse to crack and keep coming over a long season!  It is a superior all-around tomato with fantastic disease resistance.  Determinate.

Early Girl Hybrid
Bears heavy crops extremely early and continues longer than most varieties. Large clusters of 5 oz. fruits are globe to slightly flattened in shape.  Bright red and meaty with lots of flavor and aroma.  Indeterminate.

Jet Star Hybrid
Fruits are low in acid, medium sized and resistant to cracking.  Excellent flavor for fresh eating.  A customer favorite.  Indeterminate.

San Marzano Heirloom
An Italian variety ideal for sauces, paste, and canning.  In fact, Italian law stipulates that no other variety can be used in authentic Napoletana pizza sauce.  Though bland when fresh, cooking brings out the sweet, robust flavors.  The 4 oz. fruits ripen in waves for easier canning.  Indeterminate.

Striped German Heirloom
The flat, medium to large tomatoes are shaded yellow and red. The marbled interior looks beautiful when sliced. Complex, fruity flavor and smooth texture.  Indeterminate.

Super Sweet 100 Hybrid
A red cherry type producing clusters of up to 100 incredibly sweet bite-sized tomatoes. They ripen from top to bottom, providing an amazing harvest all season. Indeterminate.

Valencia Heirloom
Some say it is called ‘Valencia’ because it looks like a Valencia orange, while others suspect it came from Valencia, Spain. The tomato has an excellent, full, complex tomato taste, with a great balance of acidic and sweet.  Indeterminate.

Yellow Pear Heirloom
A very tasty pear shaped yellow tomato. Colorful in salads, sliced, or in preserves. As rich in vitamins as it is flavorful, a very popular variety for the home garden. Indeterminate.

Moskvich Heirloom
An heirloom variety said to have originated in Eastern Siberia. The vines produce flavorful, 4-6 ounce, deep red, smooth, globe-shaped fruits. Tolerant of cooler temperatures and starts producing early. Indeterminate.

Riesentraube Heirloom
This old German variety produces sweet 1 ounce fruits in huge clusters.  The name translates as “giant bunch of grapes”.  A tasty snack in the garden, it is also wonderful in salads.  Indeterminate.

Cuor di Bue Heirloom
This oxheart type Italian heirloom has been a favorite in Italy for many years. Beautiful 12 oz. fruit have a delicious sweet taste, great for fresh eating or cooking. Hard to find.
Indeterminate.

Carbon Heirloom
This variety has won taste awards from coast to coast in the last few years.  The fruits are smooth, large, and beautiful.  One of the darkest purple types we have found.  Indeterminate.

These herb varieties will be available at Finke Gardens as plants in late April and early May of 2010.  Selection of certain varieties may be limited so hurry in!

Amethyst Improved Basil
This almost-black basil is a real stunner. Nice, thick, turned-down leaves like the classic Genovese. Ht. 16-20″.

Red Rubin Basil
Red Rubin is an improved variety of Dark opal basil.  This variety has reddish-purple leaves and a stronger flavor than others, making it appealing for salads and garnishes.

Sweet Italian Large Leaf Basil
Sweet and full flavor, with up to 2″ leaves. Italian variety for pesto and all types of cooking. It is one of the best flavored sweet basils from the Genoa region of Italy.

Borage
The bright blue, star-shaped flowers make borage one of the prettiest herbs. The flavor of the leaves resembles that of cucumber.  Use it in soups and garnishes.

Onion Chives
The fresh, mild onion-like flavor of chives is a welcome addition to many dishes.  Easy to grow, it can be harvested all season.

Staro Chives
This variety has much thicker leaves than others making it ideal for freezing, drying, and of course fresh use.

Superdukat Dill
The flower heads are uniform in height and the plant is straight and clean for easier harvesting. A week later to flower than other types.

Fernleaf Dill
Fernleaf or dwarf dill grows to 18″ high with dark green leaves. It is slow to bolt and is grown especially for its leaves rather than its seed. It is a unique dwarf that was developed for container culture.

Corriander (Cilantro)
Seeds have a nutty, spicy flavor and can be used as a seasoning in pickles, sausage, breads, and beer.  The leaves (cilantro) are found in Asian and Mexican dishes and have a citrusy flavor.

Giant of Italy Flat Parsley
Selected for its huge, dark green leaves and great flavor.  Strong stems help hold the foliage up off the ground keeping it clean and free of disease.

Italian Dark Green Parsley
Italian Parsley has strong flavored leaves that associate it with Italian dishes and has a clean, slightly peppery taste. It is often used as a garnish.

Triple Curled Parsley
Closely curled dark green leaves.  Fast growing uniform strain.  It was selected for its high vitamin and mineral contend rather than its flavor.  Resists bolting even in warm weather.

Saltwort
Long, succulent leaves with an incredibly appealing, crunchy texture.  Harvest promptly to prevent woody stems and prickly leaf tips. Add tender young leaves to salads and sushi, or steam longer stems for a unique and healthy side dish.

Bronze Fennel
Gorgeous reddish-bronze foliage with the typical delicate texture.  Vigorous and uniform strain is slow to bolt.

Porto Spineless Cardoon
Serrated, silver-green leaves add dramatic flair to arrangements or deserve a prominent position in the garden. Foliage can be harvested anytime but this tender perennial will not bloom until the second season.

Our 2010 Classes and Event Schedule has been posted.  Click on the class schedule tab above or click here to see it.  Be sure to check in for updates as more details will be added.

When the snow begins to fall,  food sources for rabbits are reduced.  With ample snow coverage this winter it may be a good idea to walk around your property and look for rabbit damage.  Rabbits typically seek out young thin bark of trees and shrubs looking for food and moisture.  Many times the gnawing and clipping of branches by rabbits don’t cause significant damage.  In some cases girdling of young trees and shrubs can result in loss of plant material.  If you see damage by rabbits you should remove the damaged branches by making a diagonal cut a quarter inch from the branch collar on the plant.  Do not treat the pruned surface with any sealers.  Pruning should be done in late winter before the plant comes out of dormancy.  In some cases damaged surfaces can heal over depending on severity of girdling.

In the midst of a long and cold winter our minds drift off to the thoughts of spring,  dreaming of warmer weather and the vibrant colors.  While spring hasn’t arrived yet we can still enjoy color in the winter landscape.  Here are a few pictures from right outside our front door at Finke Gardens.  Enjoy!


Hardy Cholla

Opuntia imbricata





Ephedra

Ephedra





Miscanthus

Miscanthus