Rare breeds

Backyard gardeners are starting their vegetable gardens now, so I called Suzanne Ashworth of local Del Rio Botanicals—known for offering heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables that you are unlikely to find elsewhere—for some advice on what local gardeners should plant. For Del Rio’s extensive offerings in both seeds and its CSA box, check out www.delriobotanical.com.

“One way to find out about these things would be to get our gourmet [consumer-supported agriculture] box to try these things before you decide to grow them, and then you would be able to come here and get plants and seeds for those things that you decided you had to have. Before you go to all the trouble to get pepinito, you’d better know that you like pepinito! Every week there’s something our members have never had. Members who have been with us for a while might have had it before, but only with us, and only once a year.”