The Pick of the Crop
(Page 6 of 10)
Dolmic, a European introduction from Stokes, is my choice
of the new Brussels sprouts. It takes over 100 days to
mature, but that's still fairly early for one of these
vegetables. The plants offer very high yields of small,
oval, excellent-tasting sprouts.
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Celery
While celery isn't one of the more commonly grown
vegetables in the home garden, recent varieties now make it
much easier to grow. Garden Import offers Ivory Tower, a
new 90-day self-blanching type. The plants are quite tall
with fleshy, smooth, white stems. Should you want to try a
traditional green celery, Twilley's Green Giant, a very
fancy variety, has a fine flavor and uniform plants that
mature in 115 days.
If you're looking for a celery substitute, celeriac
warrants a trial. Alabaster from Burpee Seeds is a superb
variety, whose celery flavored roots are great eaten raw,
used in soups or grated for slaw or salads. Maturing in 120
days, Alabaster is a very good keeper.
Corn
The early corn that tops my list isn't one of the modern
superhybrids but a variation of the old Golden Bantam. It's
Montana Bantam from Fisher's, and it performed extremely
well in our terrible spring last year. Maturing in 65 days,
its Bantamlike ears are very slender and loaded with deep
golden kernels of delicious flavor and quality.
Of the more modern types, one of the best corns for
tolerating cold soil is Northernvee from McFayden Seeds.
Its eating quality may be a tad below that of the Bantams,
but it's quite satisfactory, and no variety will tolerate
poor growing conditions better.
I've always been fond of Golden Beauty types, and T &
T's Sweet Beauty surpasses its parents. It will mature in
about 70 days and can be counted on for perfectly shaped
seven- to eight-inch ears that taste fantastic.
For a midseason yellow variety, I recommend S & B's
Royal Gold, an old-fashioned corn that's ready to eat in
about 85 days. Its sturdy eight-foot stalks will each bear
two ears of bright, golden yellow kernels that are tender
and sweet. As an added bonus, Royal Gold is less
susceptible than most corn to attacks from birds and
earworms.
Despite its lackluster name, I can't say enough good things
about midseason AVX 2539 from Burrell. This Sweet Gene
hybrid has pale yellow kernels that are tender and filled
with flavor. It freezes well, too. I also like Mevak, the
Asgrow midseason corn offered by Vesey's, because the short
shank allows for easy picking (which isn't true of a lot of
the new supersweets), and its good ear cover also fights
off birds and insects.
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