Vegetable List For 2013

I’ve just about finalized my list of vegetable varieties I’m planning on growing in 2013. There’s a few new varieties there, and a lot of old standbys. And after finishing my inventory of leftover seeds, now it’s time to start ordering what I need. There’s always some last minute changes to my list, but for now it’s pretty solid (I think).

I often get asked where I order my seeds. These days the bulk of my seed orders go to Fedco and Johnny’s, with smaller amounts going to Nichols, Renee’s, Territorial, Totally Tomatoes, Baker Creek, Seed Savers Exchange, Kitazawa and Seeds from Italy. Fedco has good quality seed at low prices, and a nice selection of varieties. Johnny’s isn’t as inexpensive, but the quality is top notch and they have some unique hybrid varieties. I could order from fewer places if I could limit myself to fewer varieties, but given my love of experimenting that’s difficult to do. Oh well, gardening is my #1 hobby, and it’s cheaper than golfing – plus I get to eat the results!

As always I took a hard look at what performed well last year, and what didn’t. For the most part, last year was a pretty good year for all the vegetables, except for onions and cucumbers. I think the onions suffered under our drought conditions, and I didn’t give them enough supplemental water. As for the cucumbers, the deer kept eating them, and they will all be protected this year by either the greenhouse or the main garden fencing. I have given up on growing the Walla Walla onions here, and will be trying Big Daddy instead. Candy and Red of Tropea will be back for another year, and hope to do a better job of growing them.

I will also be growing a nice assortment of sweet and hot peppers again this year. New additions to hot peppers include Aji Dulce, Tobago, and Joe’s Long Cayenne. Back for another trial is the O.P. Numex Joe E Parker, which replaces Anaheim.  The only new sweet pepper this year is Joelene’s Red Italian, which I will compare with Jimmy Nardello’s. I still have a few of the Happy Yummy seeds to send out if anyone is interested. You can read about this new open pollinated ‘rogue’ pepper I discovered in this post. You can leave a comment here or send me an email.

As for squash, I am swapping out the bush varieties Early Butternut and Bush Delicata for their vining cousins Waltham Butternut and Zeppelin Delicata. It makes more sense to grow these two since I have more garden space this year. I may plant any of the leftover bush varieties at the Impact Community Garden, where space is still at a premium. We are meeting soon to plan out our 2013 garden there.

I’m trying some new broccoli here this year. I’ve not been having good results at all with the spring planted crop, so I’m giving Arcadia and Imperial a try. Both are supposed to be more heat tolerant. Of course if we have a cool wet spring then who knows how they will do. I may sow some of my Packman seed even though it is 2009 seed and may not still be viable. Packman isn’t the best tasting or most productive variety but it usually gives me something. Apollo broccolini is also on the list for 2013.

One new crop here this year is melons. Burpee’s Ambrosia is one of my all time favorite cantaloupes, and I’m looking forward to growing it again. I also like the green fleshed Galia types, so I will try Diplomat this year. It’s a replacement for Passport, which I have grown in the past. Something new to try is the white-fleshed Brilliant Canary melon. And the old standby Sugar Baby watermelon will get some space in 2013 also.

I’m not really trying any new greens this year, and actually I plan on growing less since I don’t think I will plant either radicchio or endive. Though I like both of these bitter greens, I grow plenty of other salad greens that are easier to grow, so for 2013 I will give these two a pass.

And lo and behold, my wife has decided she kind of, sort of likes beetroots! This is after she had some on a sandwich she had in Australia. I like them myself, at least in small doses, so I will give them a shot in the garden this year. I have seed for both yellow and red rooted varieties. And I imagine we will give them a try at Impact again this year, after germination problems we had during the drought of 2012.

So here’s the list of 2013 varieties. I have also put the list on the menu as a static page. I will be posting my seed starting and planting schedule a bit later, as I get closer to seed starting time here in my corner of the world. If you’re a gardener, I hope 2013 is a great year for everything you grow!

Asian Greens: Komatsuna Summerfest, Maruba Santoh, Mizuna Kyoto, Mizuna Ruby Streaks, Pak Choi Black Summer, Pak Choi Fun Jen, Pak Choi Mei Qing, Pak Choi Red Choi, Senposai, Tokyo Bekana, Yukina Savoy

Beans (bush): Derby, Jacob’s Cattle, Royalty, Rocdor

Beans (pole): Cherokee Trail of Tears, Fortex, Good Mother Stallard, Helda, Marvel of Venice, Musica, Rattlesnake, Yardlong Bean Red Noodle

Beets: Golden, Red Ace, Touchstone Gold

Broccoli: Apollo, Arcadia, Imperial, Purple Peacock

Cabbage: Farao, KY Cross, Parel

Carrots: Kyoto Red, Mokum, Nelson, Sugarsnax, Yaya

Chard: Lucullus, Ruby Red, Verde Da Taglio

Cucumber: Diva, Green Fingers, Manny’s, Summer Dance, Summer Top, Tasty Green, Tasty Jade

Eggplant: Beatrice, Dancer, Diamond, Dusky, Fairy Tale, Hansel, Millionaire, Nadia, Orient Express, Pingtung Long, Rosa Bianca, Raveena

Greens: Arugula, Golden Corn Salad, Mache Large Dutch, Mustard Purple Rapa Pop Mix, Purslane Golden, Saisai Leaf Radish

Kale: Beedy’s Camden, Lacinato, Rainbow Lacinato, Red Ursa, Winterbor

Kohlrabi: Kolibri, Kossak, Winner

Lettuce: Anuenue, Deer Tongue, Des Morges Braun, Double Density, Flashy Trout Back, Gentilina, Hyper Red Rumple, Lingua di Canarino, Loma, Merlot, New Red Fire, Oak Leaf, Radichetta, Red Sails, Rouge d’Hiver, Sierra, Simpson Elite, Spotted Trout(aka Forellenschluss), Tropicana, Winter Density

Melons: Brilliant Canary, Burpee’s Ambrosia, Diplomat Galia, Sugar Baby Watermelon

Okra: Burmese, Louisiana Green Velvet, Perkins Long Pod

Onion: Candy, Guardsman, Red of Tropea, Big Daddy, White Spear

Pepper(hot): Aji Angelo, Aji Dulce, Alma Paprika, Ancho 211, Biggie Chili, Cayenneta, El Jefe Jalapeno, Fushimi, Golden Greek, Hot Happy Yummy, Holy Mole, Joe’s Long Cayenne, Numex Joe E Parker, Pasila Bajio, Serrano Del Sol, Thai Bird, Tobago, Trinidad Perfume

Pepper (sweet): Big Bertha, Buran, Carmen, Dulce Rojo, Flavorburst, Giant Marconi, Goliath Goldrush, Gourmet, Sweet Happy Yummy, Jimmy Nardello’s, Joelene’s Red Italian, Orange Blaze, Pimento di Padron, Purple Beauty, Snapper, Yummy

Potato: French Red Fingerling, Red Norland, Russian Banana, Yukon Gold

Radish: China Rose, Green Meat, Minowase Summer Cross, Red Meat, Shinden Risoh, Shunkyo

Spinach: Amsterdam Prickly Seeded, Gigante Inverno, Space, Viroflay

Squash(summer): Cavili, Enterprise, Gentry, Partenon, Spineless Beauty, Raven, Striato d’Italia, Superpik, Surething, Tatume, Tondo Nizza

Squash(winter): Amish Pie Pumpkin, Boston Marrow, Butterbush, Candy Roaster, Gold Nugget, Kumi Kumi, Pennsylvania Dutch Crookneck(pumpkin), Small Wonder(spaghetti), Table Ace, Waltham Butternut, Zeppelin Delicata

Sweet Potatoes: Beauregard, Carla’s Purple

Tomatoes: Amish Paste, Better Boy, Big Mama, Black Cherry, Celebrity, Champion II, Cherokee Purple, Early Girl, Eva Purple Ball, Golden Rave, Golden Sweet, Health Kick, Italian Heirloom, Jetsetter, Juliet, Ludmilla’s Red Plum, Mountain Magic, Rio Grande, Sun Gold, Super Marzano, Super Sweet 100, Ten Fingers of Naples, Vinson Watts, Viva Italia

Turnips: Hakurei, Oasis, Purple Top White Globe, Tokyo Cross