New varieties coming to the Planty Garden in 2022
- Striped stuffer tomato
- Padron pepper
- long-stemmed French breakfast radishes
- flat-leaved parsley
- Red Russian kale
- a new marigold variety
Testing, testing, and more testing
We also tested them ourselves. We took notes on their growth and tracked their progress. Combined with the information we got from you, we created some pretty impressive graphs, full of data for the app.
Now it's the end of the season and time for the results. Which plants passed the test, and which didn't? I'll start with the no-gos.
Which ones didn't make the cut?
Red Russian kale
If they did come up, it was tough to find recipes people enjoyed. I myself only liked it in wok recipes.
Plus, it seemed like the caterpillars enjoyed them more than anyone else. But we expected that since caterpillars love brassica plants.
Striped Stuffer tomatoes
Unfortunately, 2021 wasn't a great year for tomatoes. Many Planty testers didn't get any ripe striped stuffers at all. The tomatoes that did manage to ripen didn't taste as delicious as we'd hoped.
So, these guys didn't make the cut.
Padron pepper
The peppers had a much sharper taste than we'd promised though 😉
And the peppers didn't do all that well in a garden box. In our greenhouse, it went okay, but outside the plants didn't grow much. Plus, it took a long time before you could harvest anything.
So, they didn't quite fit in with the other winners: they're not all that suitable for our climate, they stay too long in your garden box, and in the end, it's a lot of effort for little harvest. Not the Planty way 🙂
The winners 🥳
French radishes
The radishes grow really easily - even faster than our giant radishes - and they taste great.
Plus, just look at them. They're gorgeous:
Marigold
Even now, they still add color to the garden. But that won't last too much longer.
Flat-leaved parsley
We had some doubts about that one. Why? Well, it struggled to come up for some testers.
But the plants that did come up more than made up for it. They may grow slowly at first, but they'll eventually transform into strong plants that you can harvest from for a long time.
The taste is also stronger and tastier than ordinary parsley, ideal for cooking. So, we'll include it in the app too.
What's next?
- when to start
- how and where to sow
- how long it will take to complete each step
- what exactly can go wrong and what can you do then
- does the plant need anything extra
- when can you harvest
But that's not all.
New seed bags
- request barcode designs for the baggies
- have the bags printed and filled
- bundle the bags into seed packs
- get the supply to the shipping house
- add them the shop
Pfff.
So, just adding a few more varieties to the mix?
That's why we are thrilled to get so much help from the Planty Gardeners out there. Testing, sharing the results, and sending us photos of the different phases.
So, if you tested the seeds this past year: thank you very much 😀