The Best Vegetables You Can Grow

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These vegetables have won awards for being some of the best around.
These vegetables have won awards for being some of the best around.
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Growing organic produce for farmers’ markets for seven years gave me a tremendous opportunity to try out dozens of varieties each year. All in all, we’ve grown nearly 100 kinds of tomatoes, more than 50 peppers and at least three dozen lettuce varieties, along with an endless medley of others. occasionally I was disappointed by varieties that performed poorly or were lacking in flavor, but sometimes it was like discovering gold. When I find a winner these days, it joins the ranks of outstanding favorites I can count on for their high quality, adaptability and prolificness.

While our farmers’ markets days are now over, we still take on the challenge of trying out new varieties in our large country garden. The majority of space, however, goes to a select group of outstanding vegetables and companion flowers that shine throughout the country. Some are award-winning heirlooms and hybrids, and all are treasured and grown for their dependability, productivity and winning flavor.

Best Beans and Peas

These days I usually try only one or two new varieties of beans and peas each year-I know that nothing will beat the sweet flavor of Sugar Snap and Sugar Ann. With vines growing to two feet, Sugar Ann (1984 All-America Selections winner) produces pods about two weeks earlier than Sugar Snap (1979 AAS winner), a pole variety that grows to six feet. I grow both, which extends my season of culinary joy with the sweetest peas this side of heaven.

Bean pods can be different sizes and shapes that range in shade from yellow to green to purple — sometimes even speckled. For ornamental appeal, the choices are limitless, and many bring great taste to the kitchen as well. Though there are several worth mentioning, tasty and tender pods make French/filet beans like Totem (a bush variety) and Kentucky Blue (a pole bean; AAS 1991) a must-have delicacy. Another renowned all-star is climbing Kentucky Wonder. Fresh lima beans are in a class by themselves, and so is King of the Garden, a pole variety that produces full-flavored pods even on cool summer nights.

  • Published on Apr 1, 2001
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