How To Choose Vegetable Varieties That Really Perform

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Unfortunately, earliness and great flavor rarely go together . . . as is the case, for instance, with tomatoes. This is why many gardeners, in an attempt to have the best of both worlds, plant both an extra-early tomato (Presto, Red Pak, or Pixie Hybrid) for a quick harvest and a mid-season or late variety (such as Delicious) for superior flavor.

HIGH YIELD

When high yields are essential (as they are for those of us who have tiny gardens or grow vegetables to can, freeze, and/or sell), selection of the proper vegetable variety can be critical, since some varieties bear two or three times as heavily as others. (Jade Cross brussels sprouts, for instance, yield three times as many sprouts as standard varieties, and that harvest starts some ten days earlier too! )

Some specific recommendations:

If you intend to grow paste-type (pear or Italian) tomatoes, you'll find that the Roma hybrid yields twice as many luscious red fruits as any other variety in this group.

And if you want more cabbages per row, stay clear of the big varieties that require two-foot spacing. By growing a compact type—such as Stonehead hybrid—you'll end up with many more (though smaller) heads per square rod of garden space.

DISEASE RESISTANCE

Until you've seen an entire tomato crop succumb to wilt—or watched your precious cucumber vines mysteriously shrivel up and die before yielding a single cuke—you never fully appreciate the importance of disease resistance.

Some vegetables—it seems—are inherently immune to wilts and rots . . . but others are extremely susceptible to infection. Among cucumbers, for example, virus diseases are so prevalent that it's no longer worth the risk to plant "old favorites" like Long Green Improved. Better by far to stick with disease-resistant varieties, such as Marketmore 70.

As it turns out, the same disease that plagues cucumbers also attacks zucchini squash . . . which is why you'll often see the latter poop out around midsummer. (Someday soon—when the breeders who are working to perfect a disease-resistant zucchini squash succeed in their quest—the productivity of this crop is likely to double.)

Happily, disease-resistant tomatoes—identified by the letters "VF" and "N"—are already widely available. The "VF" stands for verticillium and fusarium wilt resistance, while the "N" indicates resistance to nematodes (microscopic worms that attack root systems).

LARGE VEGETABLE SIZE

Many gardeners like to grow giant-size vegetables . . . perhaps to win a contest, impress the neighbors, or just for fun. The most popular "large economy size " crops at the present time are pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sunflowers.

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