I try to plant at least one new thing every year\u2014both in my flower and my veggie\/herb garden. Over the past few years, I\u2019ve come up with a list of my favorite vegetables so far. As I continue to try new things, this list is definitely subject to change. Most of my favorite vegetables are not necessarily the \u201cstandard\u201d varieties. Some of them are a little less than traditional and you may well like another variety better. It\u2019s really all about \u201ccustomizing\u201d your garden to your tastes.<\/p>\n
Just in case you\u2019re interested, here are some of my favorites:<\/p>\n
Cherokee Purple<\/strong> is my favorite slicing tomato. It has a \u00be pound to 1 pound fruits. They are hugely flavorful and very juicy. It\u2019s a little more disease resistant than some heirloom tomato varieties. The fruits ripen to a sort of burgundy color.<\/p>\n Sun Gold<\/strong> is a cherry tomato that ripens to a golden orange. It\u2019s intense, almost citrusy, in flavor and very prolific. If you can\u2019t find it, there is a sister variety called Sun Sugar<\/strong>\u2014awesome as well.<\/p>\n Other good ones I\u2019ve tried: German Johnson<\/strong> is an heirloom variety with a rich flavor and one pound fruits. Another good Heirloom is Hillbilly<\/strong>\u2014it\u2019s a mild sweet tomato with one to two-pound fruits.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve tried lots of different summer squash and don\u2019t see a lot of difference between them. That said, there is a little round zucchini which I tried because it\u2019s so great for stuffing. I just cut the top off and scoop out the center. I grow those every year, just for the fun factor alone.<\/p>\n This year I\u2019m going to try a summer squash (available in Southern Exposure Seed) called Tromboncino<\/strong>. Because it makes tendrils, it\u2019s recommended to trellis it and it can be harvested as a summer squash when picked young and pale green or as a winter squash when allowed to fully ripen to beige! And, best of all, it\u2019s resistant to squash bugs, squash vine borers, and powdery mildew!<\/p>\n There\u2019s a relatively new one called Sweet Heat<\/strong>. While I don\u2019t like \u201chot\u201d I do like this one. It\u2019s sweet, which does keep the heat level down a little, and very flavorful. It\u2019s also a very compact plant\u2014maybe 12\u201d or so tall so is great in containers. As an added bonus, while all peppers are high in vitamin C (containing as much as does an orange) Sweet Heat has 65% more than other peppers.<\/p>\n Another favorite is Jimmy Nardello\u2019s Italian Pepper<\/strong>. It\u2019s a sweet pepper that looks like a cayenne\u2014but it\u2019s all sweet and flavorful. Available only from seed, it\u2019s well worth trying.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t have a favorite green bean\u2014they\u2019re all good. I do tend to plant Contender or Blue Lake bush beans because they produce two to three weeks sooner than Kentucky Wonder or Blue Lake pole beans and, I\u2019ll admit, I\u2019m a little impatient. I\u2019ve also planted purple or yellow podded beans because the colored pods are so much easier to find in the garden!<\/p>\nSquash<\/h3>\n
Peppers<\/h3>\n
Green Beans<\/h3>\n
Cucumbers<\/h3>\n