824-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, April 11,1987 Gardeners Rewarded For Greeting ‘Extra Hardy' Plants DUDLEY, Mass. - Winners have been announced in the Natural Food Institute’s first “Extra Hardy Plant Contest.” Each winner received 1100 plus a blue ribbon. All told, $1,200 was awarded. Darrell Rolerson of Dharma Farm in Islesboro, Maine, won $lOO for Sweet Cicely - named Best Vegetable. Sweet Cicely is one of the most disease resistant and hardiest of all vegetables, easily surviving -40*F. It produces three vegetables in one. Both leaves and seed are edible. The root, which averages 10 pounds, can be eaten fresh or dried, and will store for 10 years. Jesse Schwartz of Living Tree Centre in Bolinas, Cal., won $lOO for listing Warren Pear, an unusual variety that will grow in the South. The tree was discovered in Mississippi by T.O. Warren of the North American Fruit Ex plorers. Warren Pear has withstood-27°. Boston Mountain Nurseries of Mountainburg, Ark., won $lOO for carrying Tree Blackberry, a bush with extra large blackberries that grows so tall that a stepladder is often needed to harvest the fruit. Gardener Versie Russell of Hat tiesburg, Miss., who has grown flowers for over 50 years, won $lOO tor growing Candy Lily, an unusual perennial that took nearly 40 years of research by Park Seed. The new flower is heat resistant, reportedly not bothered by insects or disease, and comes in red, yellow, blue, pink, and orange. Staghorn Fem, grown by Ken Opiat of Santa Barbara, Cal., was named Or namental of the Year. The fem is generally insect-free, and provides years and years of carefree beauty. Nut grower Ernest Galloway of Layton, Utah, won $lOO for growing “Utah Giant,” an extra large Persian walnut that has withstood 30°F. Thompson & Morgan Seed Company of Jackson, N.J., won $lOO for offering Juwarot Carrot, which contains twice as much Vitamin A as a normal carrot (249 mg per kilo). High Altitude Gar dens of Ketchum, Idaho, won the Herb of the Year award with Sawtooth Mountain Mint, which survives 40° below zero. Ken Stoller of Hicksville, Ohio, won $lOO for offering the lowest priced grain - buckwheat at only 15 cents a pound. Yong H. Kim of Cornell University received $lOO for supplying detailed information on a worm-resistant potato, a long keeping tomato, a disease resistant alfalfa, and a high yielding wheat. R.E. Stevenson of the Alabama Experiment Station won an award for providing background on 15 unusual crops; winter productive fescue, three new Chinese chestnuts, a green colored Southern pea, a disease resistant tomato, two water melons, three cataloupe, and four plums. Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minn., was named “Grower Of The Year." The Minnesota grower, who received $lOO and a blue ribbon, is one of the very few ex perimental gardeners in the United States. Due to an unusually wet season, Lobitz lost his entire pea crop of 270 varieties. Lobitz planted more than 2,000 varieties in 1986, including 100 grains. Also planted were potatoes, peas, soybeans, bush beans, corn, oats, barley, wheat, squash, water melons and muskmelons. The Minnesota gardener evaluates crops for taste, yielding ability, and resistance to insects, disease, cold, heat, drought, and lodging. He looks for plants that have The Extra Hardy Plant Contest will continue in 1987, and the Natural Food Institute will again offer $l,OOO (and a blue ribbon) for the best plant in 10 categories; Fruits, Flowers, Herbs, Or namentals, Nuts, Vegetables, Grains, Ground Covers, Berries, and Any Plant Not Covered in Preceding Categories. Money will also go to people who provide unusually detailed in formation, and to the Grower of the Year. Growers must tell the price and where a plant can be pur chased. Snapshots can be helpful. The Natural Food Institute will also donate $25 for seeds to a limited number of gardeners who agree to test 75 or more crops and report back on results. Several dozen unusual plants are listed in the Institute’s latest Wonder Crops, the nation’s largest catalog dedicated to extra hardy plants. Growers with unusual plants can be listed free of charge. New entries in the 1987 edition include Vitamin A-rich carrots, a worm-resistant apple tree, a long keeping tomato, disease resistant plums and alfalfa, a frost hardy Fava Bean, and a cold hardy lentil and nut tree. Valiant Grape has withstood temperatures of -40°. Candy Lily, a heat resistant flower, took 40 years to develop. Job’s Tears provides cattle feed. ALL FORD NEW HOLLAND PROGRAMS HONORED In observance of Ag Day, Berks County's Penn’s Agri Women presented a basket of farm products to the first baby born in the county on March 21. Catherine Mary Hughes, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hughes, R 4 Fleetwood, was born at 12:19 a.m. at the Reading Hospital. She weighed in at 8 pounds 4 ounces. Here, Agri Women Jean Beck and Nancy Seidel present the newborn and her parents with Berks County farm products donated by local farmers and agribusinesses. stops erosion, and seldom needs along with a detailed “Plant Dudley. The D { nstitul weeding. Identification Form” and advice wdl give s!°o for any Plan n. Free information on this year’s on why certain entries did not win. } lste *} m . Wo “ der Crops tl‘ “Extra Hardy Plant Contest” will If interested, contact the Natural re , ia^ e ’ ar lf Productive i be sent to any interested gardener, Food Institute at PO Box 185WMB, Butternut Squasn or oar Greens. 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