Top Rated Vegetables for 1999

Are you one of those "cutting edge" home gardeners? You know, the type that has to have the newsest and best of everything? Do you have to be the firstone in your garden club to grow the newest vegetable or flower?

Well, thanks to National Gardening magazine, I'll like to present the Top 10 rated vegetables for 1999. All are available from mail-order seed companies listed at the end of this column. They are listed here in order by the highest rankings of the testers:

"Benchmark" bush bean: Here's a green bush bean variety that outperformed the industry standard, "Blue Lake." It had good disease resistance and also bore fruit longer. The only drawback was the brittle stems that some testers said broke easily during picking. Gurney Seed.

"Cherriette" radish: The main distinction with this radish fromstandard red radishes is that it stays mild, tender and crunchy, and doesn't bolt when the roots grow large. "Cheriette" outperformed the comparison variety, "Cherry Belle." Harris Seeds, Johnny's Selected Seeds (by request).

"Shade" bush bean: The name refers to the dark green shading of the beans not the ability to grow inshade. "Shade" is another green bush bean that compares favorably to "Blue Lake." It produced straight beans on vigorous, disease-resistant plants. Harris Seeds.

"Zephyr" summer squash: Believe it or not,there is something new when it comes to summer squash. "Zephyr" is unique for its yellow and green-striped, gourdlike fruits. Flavor is comparable to "Tellow Crookneck," and, like all summer squash, is very productive. Johnny's Selected Seeds.

"Green Vision" romaine lettuce: This offers large, sturdy plants that stand up well to heat. The leaves have a crisp texture, and are sweetand juicy. Johnny's Selected Seeds (by request).

"Tendersweet" cabbage: Here's a good mid-season green cabbage. It features moderately sized heads that are sweet and make great coleslaw. It compares well with industry standards like "Stonehead" and "Early Flat Dutch." Johnny's Selected Seeds.

"Hungarian Semi-Hot Stuffing" hybris pepper: If yu can get past the extended name, there are large, meaty 5-inch-long and 3-inch-wide peppers with a light yellow shading waiting for you. They mature to scarlet red, and taste great. Nichol's Nursery.

"Crispy Frills" lettuce: Testers loved the frilly leaves, upright growth habit and the sweet-tasting heads. The 10-inch-wide heads appeared similar to romaine, but the frilly leaves appeared like leaf lettuce. W. Atlee Burpee.

"Diva" eggplant: The big feature here is the ability to bear lots of fruit early in the season. Cylindrical black fruits are smaller than "Black Beauty," but the flavor was very good. Shepherd's Seeds.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic