Purple Cheroke tomatoes! So sweet and huge this year! One of my best producers. Nancy

Big Beef tomatoes. Highly crack resistant.

Ace hybrid bell pepper.

Aunt Gertie's Gold tomato has great flavor and large fruit. Kinda late, but worth the wait.

Rutgers tomato is reliable, good tasting and productive.

Yellow Crookneck squash is famous for its flavor. It is among my favorites of all vegetables. Slice and saute in butter.

Jim

For winter squash, we love spaghetti and butternut squash. There are a host of others... with acorn and buttercup right up there.

For summer squash - Butta Yellow ( gold zucchini , Pinetree seeds) - delicious and very productive

Tomatoes - Defiant - from Johnny's Seeds - good taste and very resistant to disease

My favorite tomato for many years was Sweet Chelsea - a large cherry type from Pinetree which they have discontinued to my dismay.

Cabbage - gonzoles - a small head type perfect for a very small family.

Elaina

"Diamond" eggplant. Wilt resistant, early, and prolific. I haven't had a summer yet where it didn't perform well. Planted it late this year - in pots, due to my main garden being flooded - and it has still given me a great harvest.

(Note on growing veggies in pots: buy topsoil by the yard, not by the bags sold in the big box stores. You get better soil, and better results.)

"Beaver Dam" pepper. Dwarf plants, moderately hot conical peppers 5-8" long, with thick bell-like flesh. This is my favorite for canning large amounts of salsa. It ripens very early, I get quite a few ripe even in cool summers or if planted late, and a huge harvest in good years. Also makes a pepper steak to die for, IMO.

"Tromboncino" summer squash. Long vines need a lot of space, but climb strongly & can be trellised. If you are tired of SVB wiping out your summer squash, grow this one. It is strongly resistant to them, I seldom lose a vine. The super-long immature squash can be up to 24" long or longer, and is 90% seedless (!!!). All of the seeds are in the bulb at the end, which I cut off. Because of this, it freezes better than regular zucchini. The harvest can be huge in late summer.

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"Elfin" tomato. This is a grape tomato with 1" ovoid red fruit in great abundance. They are meaty, with little juice, and great for salads. Unlike many cherry tomatoes, the plants won't take over your garden... I space them 24" apart, and just let them grow prostrate. The tomatoes keep for a long time off the vine.

All of these do great in short-season areas, and are open-pollinated, so you can save your own seeds for next year.

Trombetta squash. Pick them young (8 to 10 inches long) in the summer as a mild summer squash, or leave on the vine (2 to 3 feet long), let them mature to a gold color in the fall. I go ahead when they have cured a couple of weeks, cut them into sections, then in half length-wise and roast until tender. They are stringy at that point, but pureed become very smooth and taste like butternut squash. The long necks are all flesh. The bulb has a nice thick flesh wall and the seeds and webs in the center scoop out easily.

Thanks everyone! I've been keeping a tally. Zeedman, that picture of the Tromboncino squash is crazy! Elaina, thanks for the cabbage recommendation. Cabbages always grow well here, but I always wind up growing more than the DH & I can eat.

So here's the tally:

Tomatoes
-Purple Cherokee - I've never grown it, but have had good luck with purple / black tomatoes in the past
-Big Beef - I tend towards growing more heirlooms, but am not opposed to hybrids
-Aunt Gertie's gold - I've read nothing but good things about this one. don't know why I haven't tried it already
-Rutgers - always reliable. This was already on my short list for next year
-Defiant - I'll need to check out Johnny's Seeds on this one!
-Sweet Chelsea - Another I'm not familiar with.
-Elfin - yet another I'll have to look into
***********************
Peppers
-Ace - bell pepper - I think I've grown these before with goo luck
-Beaver Dam - Hot - I've grown these before and forgot about them. They did well here
***********************
Summer Squash
-Yellow Crookneck - always reliable. I already had these on the short list!
-Tromboncino - think I'll have to try these because of that picture!
-Butta Yellow - I'll need to look these up
-Trombetta - I'll need to look these up; like the idea on this doubling as a winter squash
***********************
Winter Squash
-Spaghetti Squash - I had forgotten about these but they've done well here in the past
-Butternut squash - Walthams were on the short list
-Acorn Squash - Table King or Table Queen were on the short list for next year
-Buttercup - I'll need to look into these
*********************************
Eggplants
Diamond - i think I grew these before with good luck
*********************************
Cabbage
Gonzoles - I'll have to look this one up

Thanks again everyone. Keep those recommendations coming!

Tomatoes are so subjective that it's hard to reccommend one, but Sungold is very popular. It is quite sweet and very prolific. I had very good luck with Brandyboy tomaotes this year. I gave up on Cherokee Purples, they just weren't very good tasting. I think some of that has to do with variation in local soils, I used to love Yukon Gold potatoes, but grown here they have a funky flavor.

Potatoes I'm not well versed in the different varieties yet, but besides the aforementioned Yukon Gold, I always grow red Pontiacs. I use them for mashing, potato salad and I even like them for baking though they are more round than the classic shape. I do love potatoes.

Peppers it is hard to go wrong with a good jalapeno, pick the cultivar based on characteristics you might want, like hotter or less hot, colored yellow, small or large pods. I also highly reccommend either Aji Limon or Aji Pineapple. Crisp, bright citrusy flavor with a good heat that lingers but not too long. Those make excellent hot sauce.

Melons I certainly reccomend any charentais melon. I tried Escorial this year, it looked pretty good but the whole harvest was ruined by untimely rains, alas. But I've tried others and the flavor is always good, just some are harder to judge "just right" for ripeness than others.

If you have a squash vine borer problem, I would stick with the moschata winter squash varieties (butternut, seminole, long island cheese). They have denser, smaller vines and they re-root often. They're not immune, but quite resistant, to SVBs. I think they have wonderful flavor too.

-Anne

We've had good luck with Red Delicious bell peppers. They are really good both green and fully fully ripe and the peppers get a good size, make great stuffers, if you like stuffed peppers (which we do!) Cucumbers - kind of depends on what you are looking for. Fresh eating or pickling? For fresh eating we really love Straight-8's. I don't pickle, so I can't help there. We tried a new-to-us little summer squash this year, got the seeds from Henry Fields, it's called "Dinosaur Eggs". They are round and very delicious and very prolific, even in the difficult weather we had this summer. Definitely a grow-again for us. Sliced about 1/2" thick, brushed with a little olive oil and grilled. Yum!! Glad you are ready to take the plunge again! Wishing you good luck and happy gardening!
Edie

"-Trombetta - I'll need to look these up; like the idea on this doubling as a winter squash"

Trombetta, Tromboncino, and Zucchetta Rampicante are all synonyms for the same squash.

Gretel and Pot Black eggplants (picture). Prolific, with tender skins.

Pruden's Purple, Cher Purple, Momotaro, and Black Krim tomatoes (all long season beefsteaks), but, worth the wait.

Still trying to grow a decent sized bell pepper...

"Still trying to grow a decent sized bell pepper..."

Try "Big Bertha" (hybrid) or "Napolean Sweet" (open pollinated). Both have very large, elongated bells, and ripen fairly early.

Thanks for the clarification on the squash, zeedman. I had forgotten about Big Bertha peppers. They did well for me. They were the first bell pepper I had luck with! Napolean Sweet was another I had forgotten about that had done well for me in the past.

I'm still lurking everyone! I'll update the tally in a day or two. In the meantime, keep those fuzzy warm thoughts about next years gardening season and keep the recommendations coming!

I have had grown ICHIBAN eggplants before . But that was down in GA. This year, being the first year in PNW, I wasn't sure it is the right climate for eggplant here . But surprisingly the Ichibans have been doing great , despit an aphid infestation. They are truly PROLIFERIC.

I've been growing fairy tale eggplants for a few years now. They're small, but produce prolifically. Can be a bit of a pain to cook with, since they're so tiny.

I don't think you can go wrong with good old black beauty eggplant either. Both of mine have produced a ton, and the plants are huge and healthy. I'm going to take a ruler to one of them once I cut them down after the frosts come and see just how big it got.

Black Beauty eggplant, 8 lbs. 11" tall...

Best for baking, grilling or Parmesan. I prefer the smaller (yeah, a pain) Asian eggplants for stir fry because the skins are thinner and generally don't need to be peeled before cooking.

This Beauty grew in the 5-gallon eBucket I built and filled with Tapla's (Al) container mix. My container recipe was a 3:1:1 ratio of pine bark fines, peat and coarse perlite. The built-in reservoir in the eBucket kept Beauty well hydrated when I couldn't get around to watering her.

Enjoy!

Hi everyone!

Still lurking. I appreciate everyone's input. I'm a little behind the eight ball but I will get this updated!

Jimster - Thank you! Sent you an email.

Hello! Thank you everyone for taking the time to make some suggestions for me. Even though I've been gardening for over 10 years now, I kinda feel like I'm starting all over again with these veggies.

So here's the updated list of recommendations:
TOMATOES
Aunt Gertie's Gold
Big Beef
Black Krim
Cherokee Purple
Defiant
Elfin grape
Momotaro
Pruden's Purple
Purple Cherokee
Rutgers
Sweet Chelsea
Sungold
***********************
PEPPERS - SWEET
Ace
Big Bertha
Napolean Sweet
Red Delicious - this one is new to me
***********************
PEPPERS - HOT
Aji Limon - this one is new to me
Aji Pineapple - this one is new to me
Beaver Dam
Jalapeno
***********************
EGGPLANTS
Black Beauty
Diamond
Fairy Tale
Gretel
Ichiban
Pot Black - this one is new to me
*********************
POTATOES
Yukon Gold
Pontiacs - this is new to me
*********************
CUCUMBERS
Straight 8's
*********************
SUMMER SQUASHES
Butta Yellow - this is new to me
Dinosaur eggs
Tromboncino (Trombetta)
Yellow
*********************
WINTER SQUASHES
Acorn
Buttercup
Butternut (Waltham)
Moschata types
Spaghetti squash
**********************
MELONS
Charentais
**********************
CABBAGES
Gonzoles

I think thats all of them. Thanks again for the recommendations!

This post was edited by booberry85 on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 8:43

How many of those will you plant? :-)

Jim

Black Krim are often recommended. I grew them for the first time and plants had low productivity and very bland tomatoes. I'm starting to think the seeds I bought were the result of cross pollination.

Here's whats on the short list, Jim!

TOMATOES - Aunt Gertie's Gold, Rutgers, Cherokee Purple or Black Krim, Matt's Wild Cherry (my favorite!), Black cherry (another favorite of mine), one more red or black roma style or beefsteak style
*************************
SWEET PEPPERS - If I can find Big Bertha, I'll try those again, Napolean Sweet, maybe a bullnose pepper - I had good luck with those in the past.
**************************
HOT PEPPERS - I'm being a "Plain Jane" with these - Jalapenos, Habaneros, Cayennes, Hungarian Hot Wax (a favorite of mine) seriously considering Beaver Dam
**************************
EGGPLANTS - I've generally had good luck with smaller ones, but the Ichibans had tough skin and that was about it. So I'm thinking Diamond, Gretel,& Fairy Tale (still need to do some homework on Pot Black)
**************************
POTATOES - I had good luck growing Yukon Golds. I need to look up Pontiacs.
*********************
CUCUMBERS - will probably try a few Straight 8's but was looking for more fancy - Boothby's Blonde did well here. I have seeds for a Greek one (maybe from Fedco?) that I'm thinking of trying too.
*************************
SUMMER SQUASHES - definitely the Tromboncinos, Yellow Crook neck,Yellow Straightneck and a zucchini (don't know what one)
***************************
WINTER SQUASHES - Waltham Butternut (A favorite), Acorn (don't know which one yet - DH's favorite, Adapazzari (King's Show - if I still have seeds), Spaghetti squash(???)
************************
MELONS - they're a real trick to grow here. The two I had luck with were Pike and Noire Des Carmes. I have to try and find the seeds again for these. The dogs ate them when they were puppies and decided the seeds were delicious for both - sigh

That's the list for right now!

This post was edited by booberry85 on Mon, Sep 30, 13 at 8:47