Most productive veggie varieties

13 years ago

Hi everyone! It's nice to be back at the forums after a couple year break to raise my daughter, now 2. Its seed catalog time, and I'm trying to pick varieities for my vegetable garden that are very prolific, and can take some mild neglect. Who knew it would be so difficult to keep a toddler in the yard while you try to weed???

Can any of you make some suggestions for very prolific vegetable (ok fruits count too, I love my melons) varieties, that have performed well for you in the past? I think its fun to think about what has worked well, as we gaze at all those beautiful catalog pictures.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (14)

hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
Pinot Noir has become one of my favorite peppers. It's prolific, can be used green, purple or my favorite is when it ripens to a very sweet red. There is also a very sweet mini orange pepper, but I'm going to have to look that one up as I can't remember the name at the moment.
leftwood
13 years ago
On the subject of peppers, I have never had anything more prolific than Paprika Supreme. large finger peppers that ripen red and sweet, but can also be eaten green when it has a more pungent flavor.

I grew a spaghetti squash that grew smaller size fruits. Golden something? Anyway, not many spaghetti squash varieties out there, so if you see one that grows smaller than normal squashes, but more of them, I'm sure that would be the one. LOTS of winter squashes, and only medium growth with the vines.
Related Discussions
veggie varieties
Q
Comments (5)
I'm not a market grower but the ones selling in Vienna, Virginia (D.C. area) seem to grow the latest and greatest super wiz bang hybrids. It's to the point where their vegetables taste like the ones from the super market. I sometimes wonder if they buy their produce from a distributor. ItÂs amazing to watch people, young and old, gleefully snatching up tomatoes that taste like cardboard. Last year, one grower proudly displayed a sign about their Hanover tomatoes. Their customers just didnÂt know that those tomatoes were nothing more than super hybrids bred for early & great production, disease & pest tolerance, no staking/pruning required, etc. without regard for flavor. And then there's corn, a subject that should be covered in its own posting. The corn sold at the farmer markets here has a yucky sweet taste and a terrible texture. The shame is that their customers don't know better! Then I find myself a good ways out in farm country. I stop at a roadside stand to check out the corn. The guy tells me it is Silver Queen. I'm delighted. Later that evening I find myself facing a juicy steak fresh from the grill and a nice looking ear of steamed corn on the cob. You guessed it, it wasn't Silver Queen and it was on par with the yucky stuff sold around here. I did get some good corn this year but I had to grow it myself and I don't have enough room to have fresh corn all season. Below are answers to some of my questions to market growers: Q: What variety of tomato is this? A: ItÂs a red beefstake. Q: What variety of green bean is this? A: I donÂt know. ThereÂs one grower that knows the variety of green bean that he is selling and he brags about them. He says that they sell them to a popular restaurant in the area. TheyÂre called Tema. Q: IÂve never seen a squash like this, whatÂs it called? A: I forget the name but it is an old heirloom. Later I find it at JohnnyÂs (www.johnnyseeds.com). ItÂs Zephyr, and it is not an heirloom. TheyÂre not all bad though and I do have a favorite one but she only sells tomatoes and fruits. I wonder if this is the case in other large metropolitan areas? Hopefully others will let us know their experiences. Paul
...See More
Veggie Varieties for Containers
Q
Comments (9)
Susan, You're welcome. You hill up potatoes when they're grown in the ground. When I plant in containers, I partially fill a tall container with soil and plant the potatoes. When the initial stolon emerges above the soil level, I add more soil to the container when the stolon is an inch or two tall. As it keeps growing, I keep adding soil until the soil is as high in the container as it is going to go...maybe 2 or 3" below the top of the container. That's one of the advantages to growing potatoes in containers---no hilling up, just adding soil in a container. Some folks on the vegetable forum have experimented with growing potatoes in bottomless 'frames' or 'trays' they stack on top of an existing soil-filled bed. As the potato plant grows taller, they add another frame and fill it with soil. They haven't had quite the results (tons of potatoes) they've hoped for as the potatoes will not form new potatoes endlessly along the stolons forever. I do not know if they had control plants grown in the ground to compare with the boxes or frames they kept stacking and adding vertically. To me, containers seem simpler than adding stacked boxes or frames. Potatoes make their best growth in our climate early in the season while the soil and air temps are cooler and while rain is (hopefully) falling. Research at Texas A&M University when I lived in Texas showed potatoes make their best growth when temperatures range between 60 and 75 degrees during the day and 45 and 55 degrees at night. We don't stay in that temperature range very long, so early potato planting is critical to success and also is key to getting bumper crops of potatoes. We get way too hot too early to expect amazing potato yields in our climate because once soil temps hit 85 degrees, potato initiation ceases. Our weather is really better-suited to sweet potatoes than regular potatoes. You'll notice that Oklahoma is not a hotbed (pun intended) of commercial potato growers. Dawn
...See More
Veggie and Flower Varieties on your keeper list for next year
Q
Comments (6)
Keepers: Spacemaster cucumbers: Vines are only 3 feet or so long. I had them planted in the same hill as the hybrid Salad Bush, which are MUCH longer vines. The Salad Bush cucumbers are delicious and prolific, but every single one has little worms in them (is that Cucumber beetle?), but the Spacemasters do not. (They are very good tasting. No bitterness at all.) Next year, cucumbers are going on a trellis, as I have read they produce more heavily that way. I should think they'd be easier to find that way too. Pung Tung Long Asian Eggplants: Wow. I picked 5 or 6 every single week from my one plant. And they are absolutely delicious. I doubt I will ever grow any other kind. The plants are nice looking too. Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans: This was my first year for them. They make really long vines, but they waited much longer than my others to stop producing in the heat, and have picked up again even though temps are still in the low nineties. They're yummy too. (not stringless) The vines still look super healthy. Louisiana Purple Pod Pole Beans: Still my all-time favorite tasting and beautiful looking beans. However, they looked so bad by July that I pulled them up and re-planted. I am going to try Fortex next year, but I will always grow these too. Zipper Cream Crowder peas: They are lovely plants, easy to pick, and crop up fast. I had two complete crops this summer. Love them. Still looking: for a tomato that doesn't get early blight, but is productive and delicious. I've had lots of fruit, but the vines are so ugly... SVB resistant yellow crookneck squash....sigh. Maybe next year I'll grow them under row covers and pollinate them by hand... Won't mess with cantaloupes again. What the worms didn't eat, the critters did. Not a single edible ripe melon. The vines were LONG, Long, long, and messy. No way did they earn their space. :( All in all, it was a beautiful and productive garden this year. I started planting fall veggies this week.
...See More
My most surprising veggie success of 2009!
Q
Comments (11)
This cold and snowy weekend, we've been cooking squash and making pies. Some notes: Those two from Johnny's are, squash-fruit-wise, about as good as it gets, if you can let it mature on the vine. The 'Confection' is the blue-grey one, and a bit dry and flakey, but boy, does it make a heckuva pie. The "Cha-Cha" is a Kabacha, again really dense, thick, but creamier flesh. My daughter will eat one with no salt/butter/anything, just a spoon. The Guatemalan blue is ok, but the two we opened up are still a bit watery. There's as much edible flesh in either a 7" dia Cha-Cha or Confection as in a 14" long Guatemalan blue. Seed and bake squash for an hour, let cool a bit, scrape flesh into food processor. Add two eggs. Add cinnamon, ginger, and honey, add milk. Whir up, pour into frozen store pastry shell, bake 60-70 min at 350. I like it refrigerated. For breakfast.
...See More
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
Paprika Supreme sounds good, I'll have to look for that one. I really like the French filet type green beans as well. I can't remember the names of the two I've grown but both were delicious and very productive.
I've been happy with Legend tomato and Quali-T 23 as well.
leftwood
13 years ago
Of course, you can make ground paprika from them if you want. I've done it with the red ripe ones and it is very good, but you get so little because it is dried.
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
Would be fun to try anyway, just so I could say I did it.
beverlymnz4
13 years ago
My lettuce crop was a whopper the last two years. I planted the usual varieties: black seeded simpson, butter crunch, and lolla rosa. All tasted great and grew well in part sun. Lolla rosa had the smallest head so I think I'm going to add "sea of red" leaf lettuce. It was recomended in Organic Gardening Magazine.

They also reccomend Pinot Noir Bell Pepper. Especially for northern gardens - "first to set fruit". Thats 2 recomendations so its on my list to try this year.

Beans are another one of my favorites. I read that "Beananza Greenbeans" have a longer productive season. Has anyone tried them? If so how did they taste? It would be nice to plant just once in my small vegi patch.
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
I haven't tried that bean variety but have found most of them to have a long production time so long as I keep picking them.
northwoodswis4
13 years ago
The year I planted Legend tomatoes, they all died, while the other varieties grew fine. I especially like Jungs' Perfect Pick zucchini. It has a better flavor than the other kinds. My carrots did poorly until I tried Envy carrots. My granddaughter loves Cupid grape tomatoes. How Sweet It Is corn does very well here. Cherry Belle are my favorite radish. Super Sugar Snap peas are wonderful right off the vine. The Dwarf Gray sugar peas were terrible! For many other crops, the variety didn't seem to make much difference. Have given up on melons. I live 2 miles from Minnesota. Northwoodswis
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
Sorry to hear your Legend toms died for you. They are one of my never fail varieties here. I've been growing them for about 6 or 7 years now.
pjewles30305
13 years ago
Has anyone had luck with Melons? I have tried watermelons and cantaloupe for 2 years with no luck.
hostaholic2 z 4, MN
13 years ago
My neighbor grows them on black plastic. She lays soaker hoses out and covers them with black plastic, with holes cut through for planting the melons. She almost always has great melons. Being a somewhat lazy veggie gardener I just buy melons from her. lol
leftwood
13 years ago
You could try Minnesota Midget muskmelon...
giantslug
13 years ago
I have grown Athena cantaloupe and Passport honeydew melons for several years and they have been very reliable and productive.
kaptainkr
13 years ago
I grew Minnesota Midget melons last year with success. In the end I got probably two dozed softball to bowling ball size fruits from two plants. I grew them in containers and had them climb a trellis.

Most productive veggie varieties

Comments (14)

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

leftwood

Related Discussions

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

leftwood

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

beverlymnz4

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

northwoodswis4

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

pjewles30305

hostaholic2 z 4, MN

leftwood

giantslug

kaptainkr

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US