Vegetable Winners for 2002

Last week award-winning flowers, this week award-winning vegetables! Five new vegetables have been named All America Selections winners for 2002. These winners will be available this spring and summer at local garden centers as already-started transplants, or you can order by seed through major mail-order seed companies.

These new vegetables include a basil, cucumber, winter squash and two different pumpkins. All were deemed best after being trialed at test gardens across North America by garden professionals. All America Selections is a non-profit organization for evaluating new seed-grown flowers and vegetables. More information is available at their web site at: www.allamericaselections.org.

“Magical Michael” basil. This is an ornamental, edible sweet basil. Plants are about 15 inches high and wide, with a uniformity that is rare in sweet basil plants. The lush, aromatic, green leaves can be harvested within 30 days of transplanting and are rich in the essential oils for cooking. Plants themselves will mature in about 90 days from seed. Plants bloom small purple and white flowers. They are attractive for use as a garnish, adding color to any salad.

“Diva” cucumber. Sweet flavor and high yield helped this cucumber become an All-American. Fruit is sweet and non-bitter with a crisp texture when harvested at 4 to 5 inches. Normally seedless, a few seeds may grow if pollinated by other cucumber plants. “Diva” produces all female flowers and, therefore, does not require pollen to set fruit. These traits result in high yields. Fruit matures in about 58 days from seed.

“Orange Smoothie” pumpkin. Children will be fascinated with “Orange Smoothie” pumpkins. They have a dark orange, smooth skin that is ideal for painting Halloween faces. The size is also ideal for young hands, weighing 5 to 8 pounds with a strong, long handle. Plants will mature is about 90 days from sowing seed. Another benefit is the semi-determinate growth habit, meaning these plants won’t spread all over the garden like many pumpkin varieties.

“Sorcerer” pumpkin. Here is a larger pumpkin, weighing 15 to 22 pounds. Yet, fruits are produced on a compact vine that reaches about 10 feet. These are dark orange pumpkins with a deep round shape and long, sturdy handles. They’ll take about 100 days to mature from seed. Ideal for carving, painting or used for pie filling.

“Cornle’s Bush Delicata” winter squash. This winter squash features sweet flesh that is fine textured without coarse strings. The squash has a long shelf life, meaning you can enjoy eating it well into the winter months. It takes about 100 days to mature from seed, and has powdery mildew tolerance. The compact plant habit takes less garden space. The mature bush will send out 4 to 6-foot runners later in the season.

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