As I was looking through my seed library the other day, I finally accepted the reality that I’m a hoarder. I not only have seeds for varieties I’ve never planted, I have seeds of things I’m not even sure what they are.
Mostly though, the excess comes from the fact that while I know I’m going to grow certain standard, favorite varieties, I like to try a few new things each year. Unfortunately, seed packets come with too many seeds for most of my ‘tests’, so I end up with lots of left overs.
Seed catalogs don’t help. All they do is make me want to try more and more, encouraging my experimental nature and feeding my hoarding tendencies.
In nearly every type of fruit and vegetable, there are so many varieties to choose from, I could almost become indecisive. If that’s true for an experienced gardener like me, what’s a beginner supposed to do?
Since ‘Our Edible Suburb’ attracts a large number of beginning gardeners in addition to all you crazy garden addicts, I decided it would be a good idea to add a new twist and review new varieties from time to time. I will do the reviews as YouTube videos and link to them here on the blog. I’m kind of excited about it. Stay tuned.
Today, though, I’m going to highlight some varieties that would be my pick if I could only grow one type of each veg. To be fair, these might not necessarily be my favorite, but for one reason or another, if I could grow only one, these would be my choices.
- Tomato. Most years I grow from 15 to 30 varieties because Brittan and I love tomatoes. We love them
fresh, canned and dried. We like to can as much of our own sauce and paste as possible, and variety is the spice of live. I would be hard pressed to choose my favorite, though ‘Aunt Ruby’s German Green’ comes to mind as a real possibility. If I could only grow one variety it would be ‘Large Red Cherry’. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Large Red cherry is an indeterminate variety so it keeps growing and producing all season. The tomatoes grow in nice clusters of usually 4 to 8 one to two inch fruits. They are full of great tomato flavor, with enough juiciness to enjoy fresh, but meaty enough for roasting, grilling or canning. They are small enough to put in your salad, yet just big enough to slice onto your summer sandwich. The plants are extremely hardy and seem to be resistant to blossom end rot. And, because they are indeterminate, they get lots of suckers, so I’m able to get all the cuttings I want for second season tomatoes (yes, we have two seasons here. Three if you start your seeds in a greenhouse in January, like I do.)
- Hot Pepper. Everyone who has read this blog for very long knows I’m a true heat lover. Growing hot peppers is my very favorite part of gardening. I grow a wide variety of them, from Early Prolific
Jalapenos to Carolina Reapers, and I think I love them all. If someone stuck a gun to my head, I would say yellow Jolokia (ghost peppers) or yellow Moruga Scorpions are my favorite and that Serrano peppers are the most versatile for cooking. If, though, I could only grow ONE hot pepper, I would choose the ‘Biker Billy Hybrid’ Jalapeno. Biker Billy’s are prolific producers with a heat level somewhere between a Cayenne and a Habanero. They make outstanding poppers, and if allowed to completely ripen are great for roasting. They make a darned fine pepper jelly.
- Sweet Pepper. I’m only just now learning to appreciate all the nuances of the different sweet peppers, having spent most of my gardening years thinking ‘a sweet pepper is a sweet pepper’. Though I have grown several varieties, I’ve grown mostly California Wonder and other mixed colored Bells. Still, if I was limited to only one variety, I would choose the Giant Aconcagua, due to its size, versatility and sweetness. Aconcaguas are the perfect stuffing or roasting peppers and are fantastic sliced into rings for a salad.
- Zucchini. This one is really easy for me. I would choose Partenon hands down if I only had one choice. That’s because I’m really lazy and Partenon has been bulletproof in the three years I’ve grown it. Partenon is, as the name suggests, Parthenocarpic, meaning it can grow fruit without pollination. Because of this, I can plant early and often. I frequently start planting in January in my greenhouse and with a good plan for sequential planting I can harvest through Thanksgiving.
- Cucumbers. Right now I would choose Socrates for the same reasons I’d select Partenon as my Zucchini/Squash. Plus, the plants produce heavy numbers of cucumbers, so it only takes a few plants to keep us in Cukes all year. I love cucumbers and truly enjoy many varieties, but Socrates would be my pick if I could only grow one type.
- Beans. I’m not sure I could name all the varieties of beans I’ve grown over the years. It’s mind boggling to think about how many kinds there are. I know most people seem to prefer pole beans for small spaces, but I’m a bush bean guy. I like the low maintenance and the fact that I can continuously plant in different parts of the garden after other crops finish, which is good for the soil and good for our larder. As I thought through which would be my ONE choice, I came up with a tie, because ‘beans’ is such a generic term. I would pick Fordhook Lima and Kentucky Wonder, both in their bush varieties.
- Lettuce. I absolutely hate salad. In fact, I don’t have the vocabulary to describe how badly I hate salad. But I love growing lettuce more than I hate eating it. I enjoy growing ‘blends’ because there are so many surprises that come from the seed packets. Romaines are fun because they get so big and impressive in the garden. Buttercrunch is another visually appealing variety, but if I could choose only one, it would be Black Seeded Simpson. BSS is a well known, but often neglected heirloom. It can be picked as a leaf lettuce or grown out as a head lettuce. It grows beautifully, gets quite large, and for a lettuce, tastes pretty good.
- Cabbage is almost too easy to include. My choice would be Baby Bok Choy. It is ready for harvest about 30 days after germination. It germinates easily and I can grow it all year in my hydroponics systems.
- Potatoes. I know that potatoes seem to be politically incorrect in our low carb world, but I think that’s rubbish. If potatoes are grown organically, they are full of vitamins and minerals to keep us healthy and the right kinds of carbs to keep our energy levels high during those winter months when we need plenty of fuel to stay warm. The pages of history are filled with stories of societies and people groups that have been literally saved from extinction because of the lowly spud. And if I could choose only one type, it would be Yukon Gold. It grows well, has a good balance in its texture, tastes great and is versatile in how it can be adapted for cooking.
- Herbs. I think I’ll make this the last one for this entry, because it’s getting pretty wordy. I don’t think there is a single herb I dislike. Some are tastier than others. Some are prettier than others, but all are wonderful additions to our gardens, larders and/or medicine cabinets. If I had to limit myself, I would
choose Sweet Basil from that family, Garden Thyme from the thymes and Common Oregano. All are beautiful, fragrant and delicious.
Ok, it’s time to stop. There’s just not enough time to cover every type of vegetable. Perhaps I’ll come back to this theme another time. If you’ve read through to the end, I hope you’ve heard some of your favorites and maybe learned of some new ones. Now it’s your turn because I’m desperate to hear about your favorite varieties. Please add your comments and share what tickles your taste buds and shows up regularly in your garden.
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