WARM WEATHER VEGETABLE PLANT DESCRIPTIONS

 

 

Hybrid Slicing Tomatoes:

 

Japanese Black:  85 days, indeterminate:  Heavy producer of pear-shaped 3-5 ounce fruits ranging in color from intense black to dark gray blushed with magenta.  Good slicer and canner.

 

Big Beef:  73 days, indeterminate:  Deep red 10-12 ounce slicers with superior disease resistance

 

Early Girl:  60 days indeterminate 6-7 ounce bright red slicer with good disease resistance

 

Better Boy:  75 days, indeterminate:  Large, globe-shaped red fruit, disease resistant

 

Jubilee:  80 days, indeterminate: Uniform yellow 8 ounce fruits with long shelf-life and great, non-acid taste

 

Heirloom Slicers:

 

Black Krim:  80 days, indeterminate: 12 to 18 ounce fruits, harvest when half green and still firm.  Iridescent purple on the outside, part black on inside, have a juicy yet meaty taste and texture.  Hail from Krymsk on the Black Sea. 

 

Brandywine:  72 days, indeterminate:  Ύ to 1 pound fruits, deep red with orange undertone, very tasty and fragile

 

Peron Sprayless:  Argentinean heirloom – Large, defect-free and disease resistant light red slicers

 

Pruden’s Purple:  72 days, indeterminate:  Irregular pink 1 pound fruits with great flavor

 

Rose de Berne:  80 days indeterminate:  French heirloom , 5 ounce perfectly round pink very sweet fruits

 

Mortgage Lifter:  79 days indeterminate:  Large, slightly flattened, pink-red tomatoes are meaty and flavorful with few seeds and can reach over 2 pounds each.

 

Paste Tomatoes:

 

Yellow Bell:  60 days heirloom – 1 ½ inch wide x 3 inch long fruits, ripen from green to creamy yellow to yellow, great for slicing or canning

 

Striped Roma: 80 days, indeterminate:  Gorgeous orange and red striped 7 ounce fruits with great dense flavor fresh or canned

 

Roma VF:  75 days:  pear-shaped, highly productive, disease resistant red paste

 

Bellstar:  74 days:  4 ounce round paste-type good for salads and canning

 

Amish Paste:  85 days, indeterminate, Wisconsin heirloom from Amish farmers about 1900.  Fruits up to 8 ounces, bright red, heart-shaped, great flavor, good in drought and wet conditions, needs room and light.

 

Illini Gold:  75 days, indeterminate:  4 to 6 ounce yellow/orange fruit attractive in salads and makes a rich, sweet, golden sauce.

 

Black Plum: 70-80 days, indeterminate:  This Russian heirloom is a prolific producer of 2 ounce elongated deep mahogany-brown fruit with a touch of green on the stem end. Rich, complex, full-bodied flavor

 

 

 

Cherry Tomatoes:

 

Sweetie: 75 days indeterminate: Very sweet and productive cherry tomatoes

 

 

Tomatillos

 

Verde Puebla:  77 days – Harvest golf-ball sized fruits for salsa verde when their paper husk splits or wait until they turn slightly yellow for a tangy, nutty raw snack

 

Purple de Milpa:  70-90 days, deep purple 2 to 3 ounce fruits make delicious raw eating, tangy salsas, and a decorative garnish.

 

 

Bell Peppers:

 

Purple Beauty:  70-80 days – ready to pick when fruits turn a stunning deep purple with green undertone

 

California Wonder:  75 days – mature from green to red – 4 inch by 4 ½ inch

 

Golden Cal. Wonder:  72 days – matures from green to gold – 4 to 5 inches long

 

Yellow Belle:  65 days (yellow - yellow/orange - crimson red) very reliable and heavily productive

 

Early Red Sweet:  70 days, medium-small thin-walled bell-type fruit turn red long before other bells

 

Cal Wonder Orange Bell: 60-80 days, beautiful glossy orange bell peppers 3 ½” x 4”, turn orange at 80 days

 

Kevin’s Early Orange: 70-80 days, large, bulky bells with thick walls, turns from green to orange allegedly 2 weeks earlier than Orange Bells.

 

 

Sweet Peppers for eating fresh, canning, frying:

 

Antohi – 65 days – Heirloom from Romania – 4 inch long x 2 inch tapering fruit matures from golden yellow to red.  Very early and productive

 

Corno di Toro – 80 days – 8 to 10 inch long thick, bull’s-horn shaped ripens to gorgeous red with great flavor

 

Corno di Capra (goat horn): 80 days - Sweet frying pepper from southern Italy.  Very sweet bright red, very productive 4-5” long fruits.

 

Sweet Banana: 70 days -  3 to 6 inch long pointed fruit ripen from light yellow to bright red – good for frying or pickling

 

Super Shepherd:  66 days:  Early Italian heirloom 3 inches wide by 7 inches long matures from green to red-brown to red – good for fresh eating, frying, pickling  Very productive

 

Chocolate Sweet: 80 days - 6 to 8 inch hybrid fruits turn from green to brown.  Flesh is burgundy-red and great tasting.  Many peppers per plant

 

Jimmy Nardello: 76 days - Italian heirloom, 8 inch long frying peppers turn deep red with shiny wrinkled skin when ripe - very sweet

 

 

 

 

Hot Peppers

 

Chinese 5-Color:  70 – 90 days – turn from purple to creamy yellow to yellow to orange to red.  Highly ornamental with lovely lavender flowers, purple-veined leaves and 5/8 inch wide x 1 ½ inch long fruits.  Hot, fiery flavor

 

Jalapeno:  72 days – small, thick-walled classic salsa chili peppers, turn from green to red.  Many peppers per plant

 

Cayenne:  72 days - 5 to 6 inch long, ½ inch wide tapered to point, dark green matures to bright red.  Good fresh or dried.  Hot.

 

Hungarian Wax: 60 days – long, banana-shaped, 1 ½ inch wide by 6-7 inches long, turn from pale green to yellow to crimson red. Medium Hot, known as “half-hots”

 

 

Spice Pepper

 

Hungarian Paprika: 70 days, Hungarian heirloom.  Peppers are 1 inch by 5 inches, matures from green to red.  Ideal for drying and grinding for superb paprika seasoning

 

 

Eggplant

 

Listada de Gandia – 75 days – French heirloom:  egg-shaped 5 to 6 inch purple fruit with irregular white stripes.

 

Rosita:  84 days – Puerto Rican heirloom; pear-shaped pink/lavender fruits with white shoulders 6 to 8 inches long and 4 to 6 inches wide. Very sweet.

 

Ping Tung Long:  60 days, originally from Taiwan:  long, slender, light purple fruits have every few seeds and great flavor

 

Swallow hybrid:  51 days 1 Ύ inch by 7 inch purple-black very early fruits

 

 

 

Rosa Bianca:  84 days -  Italian heirloom 3-4” across and 5” long , white with lavender streaking, indented in folds like draped fabric, 2 pounds average weight, creamy, pudding-like consistency

 

 

Basil:

 

Genovese:  Classic Italian basil, 14-20” tall plants, very frost sensitive

 

Greek:  Classic Greek basil, 6-9” plants, tiny leaves, very frost sensitive

 

 

 

 

 

COOL WEATHER VEGETABLE PLANT DESCRIPTIONS

 

 

Onions:

 

Red Cipollini:  105 days, 6 ounce light red flat bulbs store till mid-February and get sweeter as they age

 

Valencia:  105-130 days, mild, sweet, 4 to 6” bulbs with golden yellow to brown skin

 

 

Leeks:

 

King Richard:  75 days, 1” x 1’ early leeks, ready in late August

 

King Sieg:  85 days, 6” tall and up to 3” thick, blue-green color

 

Sherwood:  75-85 days, tall, thin stems

 

 

Cabbage:

 

Red Acre: 76 days, produces round, reddish-purple 5-7” heads

 

Early Jersey Wakefield:  64 days, light green sweet conical heads averaging 5” in diameter

 

 

Stonehead Hybrid:  60 days - Small, compact, early-maturing green heads

 

 

Broccoli:

 

Tendergreen:  67 days, 6-7” blue-green heads, no side shoots

 

Diplomat:   90 days, large, up to 10” blue-green heads

 

Nutri-Bud:   55-70 days, 6-8” heads with medium-size side shoots

 

 

Kale:

 

Red and White Russian:  45 days, Russian heirloom kales that get sweeter with frost.  White is extremely hardy

 

Winterbor, Lacinato, Premier, Vates: 60 days, broad-leafed kales, very cold-hardy, get sweeter with frosts

 

 

Chard: Red, yellow, orange, and white-stemmed: Separate seedlings and plant 8-10” apart.  To harvest, cut all leaves above growing tip.  Plant will re-grow several times in season. 

 

 

Chives:  Perennial herb.  Separate clumps every 3rd year.   Can freeze, dry, or use fresh.  Flowers are edible 

 

 

Parsley:  Biannual herb.  Flat and curly-leafed varieties.  May over-winter if mulched.