It’s springtime, and that means a new crop of vegetable seed varieties for your garden. Seed catalogs and websites bring the promise of a bountiful crop of tasty new varieties—and who can resist those colorful photos and enticing descriptions?
Seed companies have introduced an impressive selection of new vegetable seeds this spring. Some of these new vegetable varieties put a new spin on garden favorites. Others bring back heirloom selections that have a long history of outstanding garden production.
The new vegetable varieties presented here are sure to be among this year’s popular favorites. So, gardeners, get your garden plots ready for planting some new vegetable varieties that will produce your best harvest ever!
Sweet, honey-flavored cherry tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes are a great choice for home and homestead vegetable gardens. These vining plants produce a huge harvest of small tomatoes that start ripening in mid-summer—and they just keep coming and coming. Honeycomb Tomato, a new variety from Burpee, gets its name from the profusion of sweet golden-orange cherry tomatoes each plant produces. The vines grow 6-7 feet long and the clusters of fruit are 12-15 inches long.
The petite golden-orange tomatoes are full of flavor—and they really do have a sweet taste that is reminiscent of honey. The bite-sized ½ ounce tomatoes are perfect for adding to salads or for snacking right off the vine. A packet of seeds sells for $6.99 or three starter plants sell for $18.99 from www.burpee.com, 1-800-888-1447.
Delicious zucchini variety with disease resistance
Zucchini Spineless Perfection is a new hybrid variety that has the delicious flavor of the popular Spineless Beauty with the added benefit of greater disease resistance. Spineless Perfection has an impressive resistance to powdery mildew, watermelon mosaic virus and zucchini yellow mosaic virus. The plants are very easy to grow, and the fruits are easy to harvest. Zucchini Spineless Perfection produces delicious fruits that are great when sautéed or roasted on the grill—and are scrumptious when used for zucchini bread, zucchini noodles, and so much more.
Zucchini Spineless Perfection is a fast-growing variety that will start producing delicious zucchinis just 40 days after planting. Sow the seeds directly into garden soil after the danger of frost has past. A packet of seeds is $3.95 from www.parkseed.com, 800-845-3369.
A nonstop harvest of sweet peppers
Peppers are dependable producers in a backyard garden. Fresh homegrown peppers are a delicious addition to salads and veggie trays, and peppers can be used to enhance a wide range of cooked dishes. A ‘Slovana’ Pepper plant produces a nonstop summer harvest of tasty, neon-golden sweet peppers. This new variety is a compact grower. The plants are just 17-26 inches tall, so they fit nicely into even the smallest garden spaces. ‘Slovana’ Pepper also grows well in containers.
A ripe ‘Slovana’ pepper is 6 inches long and 2 inches wide that starts out light green in color but matures to a handsome pale yellow. The 4½-ounce fruits boast a rich pepper flavor with a delicate sweetness that’s delicious both fresh or roasted. A packet of ‘Slovana’ Pepper seeds sells for $6.29 or three starter plants sell for $18.99 from www.burpee.com, 1-800-888-1447.
Grow the “butter beans” that Thomas Jefferson loved
It’s time for Butter Beans (also commonly know as lima beans) to make a well-deserved comeback. Sieva Carolina Butter Beans are an heirloom variety that have been around since the 19th century. According to historical records, Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, grew them for their excellent flavor. Sieva Carolina Butter Bean plants produce an abundant crop, so you get lots of delicious creamy-white beans. This variety is cold resistant, so it can be planted early in the season. It’s also a fast-bearing pole bean that produces just 65-80 days from sowing seeds in the garden. And the beans keep coming and coming until the first frost. A packet of seeds sells for $2.50 from www.landrethseed.com.
Biodegradable seed-starting pots eliminate transplant shock
Many types of vegetable garden plants, such as tomatoes and peppers, take a long time to mature. That means getting a jump-start on your seed starting (before your last frost date) can really increase your garden yields. Fortunately, it’s not difficult to start seeds under grow lights or in a greenhouse.
To give seeds the best possible start, plant them in a biodegradable and natural seed-starting pot. CowPots seed-starting pots are made from composted cow manure from a dairy farm in Connecticut. (Hence the name, CowPots.) These natural pots allow seedlings to grow a bigger root mass, which results in healthier plants. Using these biodegradable pots eliminates transplant shock since the entire pot can be planted in the ground. Plus, the CowPots naturally decompose to provide nutrients for the plant.
CowPots are available in a wide range of sizes at fine garden centers and online at TrueValue.com and Amazon.com.
Content courtesy of https://homegardenandhomestead.com/
