- Siam Queen Thai Basil
- Purple Wave Petunia
- Eight Ball Summer Squash
- Juliet Grape Tomato
The 2001 results have just come in and a number of interesting vegetable varieties are among the winners. Many of them incorporate new characteristics to make it easier for home gardeners to grow different types of vegetables that they may not have been able to before.
'Honey Select' Sweet Corn
For any gardener who has wanted to try a supersweet corn variety in their garden but lacked the space to isolate it from other varieties, Honey Select is the answer. This variety combines 75% sugar enhanced (se) kernels with 25% supersweet (sh2) for improved sweetness without the isolation requirement. The ears mature in 79 days with 8-inch cobs of yellow kernels. The addition of supersweet kernels also enables home gardeners to harvest the ears over a longer period of time without having them become overly starchy.
'Jolly' Tomato
Cluster tomatoes seem to be all the rage lately and Jolly is another addition. The 11/2 ounce peach-shaped fruit are pink and grow in clusters of 9-14 fruit. The tomatoes will ripen between 70-75 days after transplanting making it a mid-season producer. The plants are indeterminate and should be pruned and tied to a vertical support for optimum production.
'Giant Marconi' Sweet Pepper
If you're tired of you're average bell pepper and have had problems with diseases, give Giant Marconi a try. Developed from an Italian strain, the cylindrical fruit are 6-8 inches long, ripen to red, and although they are purported to be very sweet raw, they test best when grilled. Judges gave Giant Marconi top marks for its earliness (72 days from transplanting), yield, fruit size and flavour. Plants are resistant to Potato Virus Y and Tobacco Mosaic Virus, which means that they tend to last longer and give higher yields.
'Super Star' Onion
Most gardeners have heard of Walla Walla or Vidalia onions but can't remember which variety is a long day and which is a short day onion. Super Star has been developed to be day neutral and the white, sweet onion is recommended for all spring gardens in North America. If seeds are started indoors and transplanted early, the onions can way over a pound each. The plants are resistant to pink rot and mature in about 100 days. In comparison to 'White Sweet Spanish', judges found Super Star milder, sweeter and larger.
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