Hi Aubade,

I grew up gardening in Colts Neck NJ and also gardened in Jackson Township from 2002 through 2005. Now we live in Oklahoma, which is very different in climate.

I think your choice of squash is excellent. It should handle the borers, of which NJ seems to have many.

I have different taste in beans as I tend to like a bean with seed filled out in it. This is just one idea: back in 1985 I grew black seeded Blue Lake pole beans. They might just fit the bill for what you're looking for. Below is a link for them.

My family always grew Fordhook Swiss Chard. It did very well for us in NJ.

As for beets, you might consider Lutz, which is a large rough beet, which remains tender, produces good tops for eating and stores well. Jersey's climate should be ideal for most any beet. Sandhill Preservation Center (look them up on the Internet) sells this one.

You could also drop in on the beans and legumes forum and ask for more bean suggestions. You'll probably get deluged :)

Hope this helps!

George
Tahlequah, OK

Here is a link that might be useful: Seeds of Change/ Black Seeded Blue Lake

My favorites:

Zucchini
Tomatoes
Eggplant (Japanese Ichiban or the other varieties)
Chile peppers are easy and take up little space

My Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans did great, prolific, easy to grow and very tasty. You can pick them young and skinny or leave them on to fill out. Had to watch the Japanese Beatles though. They loved the leaves.

Kentucky Wonder was my folks' favorite. That's a very good bean. Blue Lake tends to be a bit more slender, which is why I mentioned it. I personally like a bean more filled out.

George

Thanks for the advice. :-) I placed my order today and did end up going with the Lutz beets and Fordhook Chard. This is the whole list I bought, copied from my blog- I can't wait to plant them!

* Emerité Pole Bean Seed
* Buttercrunch Lettuce Seed*
* Merveille De Quatre Saisons Butterhead Lettuce Seed
* Vivian Romaine Lettuce Seed
* "Astro" Arugula
* Red Ace Beet Seed*
* Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard Seed*
* Marketmore Cucumber Seed*
* White Icicle Radish Seed*
* Easter Egg II Radish Seed
* Purple Top White Globe Turnip Seed*
* Summer Squash Tromboncino
* Beet Lutz Green Leaf
* Pea Sugar Snap*
* Carrot Napoli Hybrid

Seeds with an asterisk* next to them were specifically listed as good types to grow in New Jersey by this thread or Rutgers @ http://njaes.rutgers.edu/pubs/download-free.asp?strPubID=FS681

Here is a link that might be useful: My gardening blog

I live in Edgewater, we benefit from some moderating effects from the river and an almost total lack of wind but lose out on the sun going down behind the palisade earlier than if we were further inland.

I have limited vegetable space because of trees.

Hot peppers have only done well in the sunniest spot and last year, with all the rain, they didn't do well at all. I've never had success with sweet peppers.

Tomatoes, always. I start turning over the soil where they're going to be in April to let it warm up (dunno if it makes a difference but it gives me something to do) and then buy them in May as soon as they show up in the garden centers. I get the largest ones I can find and bury them deep so much of the stem is underground. Maybe I've been lucky but I've never lost one and the early varieties give me tomatoes before my neighbors.

Cut & Come Again salad greens are a favorite, I use a mesclun mix of seeds and cast them densely over an area, it forms a carpet of small greens that I use scissors to cut bowls of salad from. Have to keep up with them, don't let any grow faster than their neighbors, and they get unhappy if it gets too hot.

Lots of success with lacinato kale and collard greens. They both thrive all summer and respond well to having leaves cut off. If you've haven't tried this kind of kale it's really good, more tasty than other varieties. Last year I put in collards from seedlings and I didn't get the leaves get too big and they were tender and tasty.

I also grew napa cabbage but with limited space I like things that I can take from all summer. I made cole slaw a few times with the napa and collards that was delicious.

I've had success with the larger bush beans but unfortunately not with the only green beans I really like, the small french haricot vertes.

Mondragon - did you have any problem with the imported cabbage worm on your kale? That's the same type I grew last year (planted on Aug. 1 for a fall crop) and the worms completely decimated them during Aug/Sep.

They did end up living through January, and look like they might even perk up again come spring- but they were so eaten up by the worms there were only a few decent leaves on them that grew in Oct. once the worms were gone.

I want to try again this year, so I'm thinking maybe covering them with some light row covers?

Here is a link that might be useful:

New Jersey is called the GARDEN STATE for a good reason. The climate will grow anything. What you grow would be to your own personal taste. I gardened in Union County for 30 years and now I am in Ocean county. Every year I grow something different, just for the fun of it!

Re: worms on my kale, none whatsoever. I've been pretty lucky with not getting many bugs. Once it got cold they got covered with what looked liked tiny aphids, though.

You better have one huge trellis for zuchetta rampicante. I grow it along a chain link fence, can easily get 15-20 feet in all directions