Choosing what kind of veggies to plant....

[Beekissed]

I was wondering how you folks chose your types of tomatoes, peppers, corn, etc. to plant? From prior experience, what you have read or heard, hardiness, good producers, etc.?

For me, I think its a combination of things I've read, what I've tried before and liked, wanting to save seed, and~now~what people in this area are more likely to purchase according to their likes.

For example:

Tomatoes for me this year will be ~Abe Lincolns (tried them long ago and really loved the color, size and taste.) Didn't hurt that they are an old type also.

Brandywines, heirloom~tried them before and like the flavor, size and that they are an old type mater.

Old Germans~they get HUGE!, the folks around here really like them, and they are very sweet tomatoes.

Big Boy~ Proliferant, good meaty mater with a nice, uniform fruit.

Sweet One Millions~very sweet, produce like crazy, and have a bigger frond than the Sweet One Hundreds.

Corn? I've planted Ambrosia for some time but am disappointed with its performance in this soil/climate....will try some Peaches'N'Cream this year, just out of the need to explore other kinds.

I won't go into the rest, but you get the idea.

 

[Cybercat]

 

[punkin]

I plant whatever doesn't get sold from the greenhouse.

I have discovered a couple of great varieties that otherwise I probably wouldn't have planted.

Brandywine -- love it, love it

Big Bertha Bell Pepper -- huge, firm pepper

German Stripe/Mr. Stripey -- a really great tasting tomato

Grape Tomatoes - produce so many that the chickens get their share

Silver Queen Corn -- so sweet we eat it raw right in the field

 

[Beekissed]

Punkin, when I was growing up, Silver Queen was all we ever planted and it was wonderful. Then I tasted some Ambrosia and it doesn't even need butter!!! But....when I moved deeper into the mountains where the soil was different, the Ambrosia just wasn't as tender, big or tastey.

I'm trying Peaches N Cream this year, as it seems to be a regional favorite....maybe it does better here.

Last year I planted Big Bertha green peppers and had a bumper crop of huge, thick-walled peppers! So, of course I am using them again. Same with Candy sweet onions....big, perfect and sweet..so I got about 250 of those to set out.

Lettuce is Parris Island Cos, Cimmaron, and Freckles Romaine lettuces. I enjoy the romaines more than the leaf lettuces, as I make enormous salads. They tolerate heat and cold better, and go to seed slower. They also grow slower,but its worth the wait and I will keep succession plantings of them going. I am also doing some mixed greens and butter crunch for selling.

I don't care for beans but everyone around here prefers the stringless...so it will be Tenderettes, Half-runners, Blue Lake Pole.

 

[me&thegals]

All of the above

I like to try lots of new things each year, but every once in a while something is so wonderfully tasty (first priority), productive (second priority) and disease resistant/hardy that I will always plant it forevermore.

Tomatoes: Green zebra, Black Cherokee and Amish paste.

Beans: Tenderettes

Corn: Serendipity--named the best corn ever eaten by EVERYbody we gave or sold it to the last 2 years.

Pumpkins: Amish pie pumpkin and Galeux d'Eysines. Mooregold is also excellent, but I haven't found the seeds in a while.

Spinach: Bloomsdale Longstanding--it overwinters in zone 4 WI and is there for me in the spring. Palm-sized leaves first year, head-sized leaves the next spring. Need I say more?

Lettuce: Heirloom blend from SSE. Sells VERY well. Got 1 customer's husband and another customer's grandkids hooked on salad for the first time in their lives

Carrots: Scarlet nantes and Dragon (purple, heirloom)

Can't think of any others for the moment but very much looking forward to my onions and potatoes, as I tried a pile of new varieties for both of those

 

[punkin]

Punkin, when I was growing up, Silver Queen was all we ever planted and it was wonderful. Then I tasted some Ambrosia and it doesn't even need butter!!! But....when I moved deeper into the mountains where the soil was different, the Ambrosia just wasn't as tender, big or tastey.

I'm trying Peaches N Cream this year, as it seems to be a regional favorite....maybe it does better here.

Last year I planted Big Bertha green peppers and had a bumper crop of huge, thick-walled peppers! So, of course I am using them again. Same with Candy sweet onions....big, perfect and sweet..so I got about 250 of those to set out.

Lettuce is Parris Island Cos, Cimmaron, and Freckles Romaine lettuces. I enjoy the romaines more than the leaf lettuces, as I make enormous salads. They tolerate heat and cold better, and go to seed slower. They also grow slower,but its worth the wait and I will keep succession plantings of them going. I am also doing some mixed greens and butter crunch for selling.

I don't care for beans but everyone around here prefers the stringless...so it will be Tenderettes, Half-runners, Blue Lake Pole.

I've heard of Ambrosia, but have never tried it. If I come across any at the farmer's market, I'll get some. (Especially if it's better than Silver Queen)

 

[Tallman]

I've heard of Ambrosia, but have never tried it. If I come across any at the farmer's market, I'll get some. (Especially if it's better than Silver Queen)

We have planted Ambrosia for years. At first it was hard to find the seed; however, now it seems readily available. BTW what do you pay for a dozen ears of corn at the farmers' market?

 

[farmerlor]

I plant whatever doesn't get sold from the greenhouse.

I have discovered a couple of great varieties that otherwise I probably wouldn't have planted.

Brandywine -- love it, love it

Big Bertha Bell Pepper -- huge, firm pepper

German Stripe/Mr. Stripey -- a really great tasting tomato

Grape Tomatoes - produce so many that the chickens get their share

Silver Queen Corn -- so sweet we eat it raw right in the field

LOL! Same here. I just sold a customer my last Rutgers.
I'm sort of an heirloom snob because I like to save seed so my tomatoes tend to be stuff like Caspian Pinks, Rutgers, Kelloggs, and lots of old pastes because I LOVE to can them, like Amish, Polish Linguisa, Mom's, Opalka and Roma.
We weren't planting potatoes for a few years because they were cheaper in the store and we wanted to get as much produce per square foot as we could but we're going back to potatoes this year as the price gets higher and higher in the store.
Everything else is planted because we like to eat it and because we like to know it's pesticide and herbicide free so we grow peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, beets, (wish I could grow celery here), corn, ......etc, etc,/./

 

[2dream]

Some of our plantings and why.

We have always planted Big Boy, Better Boy and last year I found some sweet 1000's. DH has never had luck with tomato seed starting and I had never tried my hand at it. So until this year we just planted whatever Walmart or Lowes or the local nursery had.
I added Brandywine to my list this year.

Since I was experimenting with seed starting this year I only ordered Paul Robeson Purple tomato seed. Every seed I planted came up, lived and is now in my garden. The rest we purchased plants at of course Walmart, etc. Next year I will order more and different types of heirloom seed to start, now that I know I can do it.

As for the beans and peas. Mississippi Silver, (my favorite pea) plus this year I have added crowders, and kidney beans plus a few other varities of peas that I can't remember the name of right now.

Lettuce is always just the mixed leaf lettuce, several different mixes because that is about all we eat. I like the spring mix plus I add dandelion leaves along with a few other wild things from the yard plus different edible flowers for color and interest.

Corn is also in our garden this year. DH insisted on Merrit (a hybrid) that grows great here. I ordered Orchard Baby and something or other Bantum heirloom to add to the corn list so I could save the seed.

We have planted a lot of things this year that we have never tried before and a lot of the tried and true. I am driving DH crazy with my record keeping so we will know exactly when, where, how much seed we used so I can make choices based on yield and taste for next years choices. I have so much in the ground right now I need my notebook to list it all.

 

[punkin]

I plant whatever doesn't get sold from the greenhouse.

I have discovered a couple of great varieties that otherwise I probably wouldn't have planted.

Brandywine -- love it, love it

Big Bertha Bell Pepper -- huge, firm pepper

German Stripe/Mr. Stripey -- a really great tasting tomato

Grape Tomatoes - produce so many that the chickens get their share

Silver Queen Corn -- so sweet we eat it raw right in the field

LOL! Same here. I just sold a customer my last Rutgers.
I'm sort of an heirloom snob because I like to save seed so my tomatoes tend to be stuff like Caspian Pinks, Rutgers, Kelloggs, and lots of old pastes because I LOVE to can them, like Amish, Polish Linguisa, Mom's, Opalka and Roma.
We weren't planting potatoes for a few years because they were cheaper in the store and we wanted to get as much produce per square foot as we could but we're going back to potatoes this year as the price gets higher and higher in the store.
Everything else is planted because we like to eat it and because we like to know it's pesticide and herbicide free so we grow peas, green beans, broccoli, carrots, beets, (wish I could grow celery here), corn, ......etc, etc,/./

farmelor, if you're around Athens, TN, I still have a couple of great looking flats of Rutgers and a few in gallon containers.

Last year, everyone wanted Romas and Rutgers. This year it's Big Boy or Better Boys.