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All American Vegetables 2005

© Keith Muraoka

It's not too early to start thinking about mouth-watering vegetables and brightly colored flowers. We're talking award-winning vegetables and flowers, courtesy of All-America Selections.

AAS is a non-profit organization for evaluating new seed-grown flowers and vegetables from around the world for home garden performance. All of the 2005 award winners will be available this coming garden season in seed or already-started transplant form.

This week I'll be covering the three vegetable winners; my next column, we'll review the three flower winners, including one flower winner from Goldsmith Seeds in Gilroy. All the winners have been tested at independent test gardens throughout the country. Goldsmith Seeds happens to be one such All-America Selections test site.

More information can also be obtained at the AAS web site: www.all-americaselections.org. The site includes a retail locator section, which provides some of the retailers offering AAS winners. "Sugary" tomato. With a name like this, you just know that this tomato is all about sweet flavor. This tomato variety is actually a sort of cross between cherry tomatoes and Sweet 100. Specifically, you get oval-shaped tomatoes that are slightly larger than regular cherry tomatoes, and they grow on clusters similar to grapes and what you'll get with Sweet 100. The oval-shaped fruit is a distinct shape that makes this variety stand out. But like its name, the sugar content will make you remember this standout variety. In fact, the sugar content is nearly 10-percent higher than most other tomato varieties.

"Sugary" tomato will ripen within 60 days from transplanting. Being a cherry type, they can easily be grown in containers or in the ground. Plants are vigorous and may need a little pruning to contain growth. "Sugary" sets a new standard for cherry-size tomatoes.

"Fairy Tale" eggplant. This is a petite eggplant that features miniature eggplants that are just as good to look at as they are to eat. Fruit are elongated oval eggplants that are purple/violet with white stripes. They bear on petite plants that are less than 3 feet tall and wide, which makes them ideal for growing in containers. Taste of the fruit are sweet, non-bitter, with a tender skin and few seeds. Fruit can be picked when they are quite small at one to two ounces, or they can be left on the plant to double the weight; the flavor and tenderness remains.

"Fairy Tale" eggplants are recommended for marinating or grilling. Harvest can begin around 50 days from transplanting. This is the first eggplant to win an AAS award since 1939.