Viewing comments posted by missmaven

Benton is a June-bearing strawberry with ripe berries the first week of June in the PNW and a steady supply of berries into July. The leaves are evergreen and grow very upright held about a foot off the ground making it very easy to spot berries. The slugs don't prefer Benton to my other strawberries, maybe because the leaves are too tall to provide enough shade to hide in. The berries themselves are medium to large, conical, and sweet with a tart finish. They don't get too soft and store well for a couple days in the fridge.

It's not the most delicious strawberry (I'm not a huge fan of the tartness) but it's a very hardy (down to -10°F) and vigorous plant. Benton is said to be virus tolerant and tolerant to red stele. I found that to be true, I never have any virus or fungus problems, no die off, and the runners set up a very nice patch for the next season. They seem very drought tolerant, I only water mine a few times all summer, and also don't appear to be bothered by the soggy ground during our 9 month rainy season. I like to let the runners root under my apple and cherry trees for some leafy groundcover through winter. All around a low-maintenance and great performing berry for me.

I've tried Gold Nugget at all stages of ripeness and they've never been anything special. They're the mildest flavored tomatoes I've ever grown and seem to grow slower and smaller than other cherries. I trained mine flat along a fence and they looked very pretty, might be nice in a container. Tastes similar to Yellow Pear but without the fun shape plus a smaller yield. Won't be growing again.

Sungold cracks very easily, helping it reseed like a weed year after year. This is the only tomato that pops up in late spring and matures quickly enough that I actually get to harvest fruit in August. All others I start indoors. Long tassels of delicious tomatoes grow on huge disease-free plants. It's impossible to pick them all. Effortless gardening with no problems common to tomatoes in the PNW. I don't cage them, I don't even water them. They seem to grow true from seed, it's been three years and so far they're the same Sungold I first planted.

There seems to be a few varieties of nasturtium all offered as Empress of India and their looks vary quite a bit depending on the seed company. I've found some trailing types, some with bright green leaves, and others with pink or orange blooms. The original Empress of India as I've seen described in old gardening catalogues and herb encyclopedias is a mounding type with dark blue-green leaves and scarlet blossoms. I buy my seeds at the hardware store.

I planted mazuma the end of summer last year and it was evergreen for me (8b) during a pretty cold winter for PNW. There was snow on the ground but as soon as it melted I saw the wasabi was still there looking green and healthy! I haven't found any similar reports.