HERE ARE SOME OF THE BEST -TASTING VEGETABLEVARIETIES& OLD AND NEW&; THAT I KNOW

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SUPER-SWEET CORN, ANYONE?

There's a familiar saying that in order to eat delicious corn you've got to have the water boiling as you pick the ears. With standard varieties of sweet corn, this is true ... but not so with the new "super sweet" strains, such as Early Xtra Sweet and Illini Xtra Sweet. Thanks to the presence of what plant breeders call "extra sweet" genes, the conversion of sugar to starch takes place much more slowly in these varieties than in other types of corn ... making it possi ble to enjoy good-tasting ears several days after they've been picked.

Super-sweet corns do have one drawback: They must be kept isolated, since cross-pollination with regular sweet corn will result in loss of the varieties' unique flavor. Breeders, however, are well on the way to developing improved super-sweets that don't require isolation. (I'm told that one of these—Golden Beauty—will be available this year for the first time. See the accompanying sidebar, "Where to Obtain the Vegetable Varieties Mentioned in This Article", for the addresses of seedsmen.)

Another incredibly delectable sweet corn—a dazzling white hybrid—is Silver Queen. Despite the fact that it matures slowly (it needs 92 days, on the average, from planting to harvest), the supersweet taste and huge ears of this relative newcomer have already converted many folks from yellow to white corn.

POLE BEANS FOR OLD-TIME GOOD TASTE

Sweet corn is one crop the flavor of which has been vastly improved in recent years. But that game is played both ways. I can, for instance, name a least one "old favorite" which—though developed long ago—tastes better than its modern equivalents. That old favorite is a pole bean called Lazy Wife, which was first introduced in the 1880's and then dropped from most catalogs around 1930.

Lazy Wife does have several faults. Lack of resistance to disease, for one Extreme sensitivity to cold temperatures (seeds must be planted well after any danger of frost), for another. And slow maturation (you're not likely to get a first picking until late August or early September), for a third. But its plump, buttery-flavored, completely stringless beans are superb eating, and the older they get the better they taste (until, finally, the pods turn yellow and brittle).

You can buy Lazy Wife from R.H. Shumway (see accompanying sidebar).

BUSH BEANS: EASY GROWING, EASY EATING

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