Post by karta on Aug 28, 2016 8:23:03 GMT -8
Hi, I am putting together a short booklet on modern Victory Gardens. It's just an introduction, 24 pages and 250 to 350 words per page, so not enough to cover everything, or anything with a lot of depth. Three of those pages are covering different recommended varieties. I am posting the list here just looking for recommendations. My criteria are loosely: 1) I live in Texas, so everything needs to do well here. 2) the booklet will be read all over, so the varieties have to be widely adaptable. 3) each variety has to give the gardener an excellent return on their effort 4) as often as possible it should have charisma, meaning a good story behind it, a cool name, or something that catches people's interest and makes them WANT to try it. 5) Everything is OP or heirloom.
Because this is just an introduction, I am recommending six books for further reading; Food Grown Right in Your Backyard by Colin Mccrate and Brad Halm, The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe, Will Bonsall's Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening by Will Bonsall, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth, Notes of a Potato Watcher by James Lang, The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman Thought?
Thanks for looking it over!
64 Garden Favorites
Proven heirloom and open-pollinated varieties, non-hybrid, non-GMO
Beans
Contender (bush bean, high-yield, good for canning and freezing)
Fortex (pole bean, extra long, great taste)
Jade (bush bean, stays tender and non-stringy, soil must be warm and moist to germinate)
Broccoli
Calabrese (Italian heirloom, popular market variety)
Waltham 29 (large heads, cold resistant)
Carrots
Chantenay Red Core (classic heirloom, good for juicing)
Cosmic Purple (purple, kid friendly, popular market variety)
Danvers 126 (classic heirloom)
Corn (Heirloom, non-GMO)
Bloody Butcher (all-purpose red dent corn for roasting, cornmeal)
Oaxacan Green (green dent corn used to make tamales, cornmeal)
Cucumbers
Armenian (a thing of wonder, don’t start a garden without it)
Beit Alpha (Israeli variety, drought resistant, no need to peel, best when picked small)
Suyo Long (Chinese variety, heat and drought tolerant, popular)
Greens
Bloomsdale Spinach (heirloom)
Bright Lights/Five Color/Rainbow Swiss Chard (several names, popular with kids)
Champion Collards (improved version of classic Vates)
Detroit Dark Red Beet (heirloom, dual purpose beet, tops make excellent greens)
Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale (blue-green heirloom, name varies, hardy)
Southern Giant Curled Mustard (heirloom)
Toscano/Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale (classic Italian heirloom, known by several names)
Eggplant
Mitoyo (black Japanese variety)
Ping Tung (purple Taiwanese variety)
Lettuce
Black Seeded Simpson (heirloom loose leaf, widely adaptive)
Buttercrunch (heirloom butterhead)
Jericho (Israeli-bred romaine, heat tolerant)
New Red Fire (loose leaf, green base with dark red ruffled leaves)
Melons
Charentais (French heirloom, best flavor, softball size, don’t overwater, cut from vine when ripe)
Hale's Best (California heirloom, popular cantaloupe of the 1920’s through the 1950’s, hill up)
Okra
Clemson Spineless (most common variety of Okra grown, pick when 2 to 4 inches long)
Emerald (smooth and spineless, prolific, pick when 3 inches long)
Stewart's Zeebest (Louisiana heirloom, long but tender, very productive, wide plants need space)
Peas
Cascadia (snap pea, edible shell)
Oregon Sugar Pod II (snow pea, edible shell)
Super Sugar Snap (snap pea, edible shell)
Wando (shelling pea)
Peppers
Aleppo (Syrian heirloom, used for crushed red pepper flakes, should be crushed not ground)
Corno di Toro (flavorful alternative to bell peppers, great for stuffing/roasting/grilling)
Craig's Grande Jalapeno (large medium heat Jalapeño, good for Jalapeño poppers/stuffing)
Heritage Big Jim (6”-8” New Mexico/Hatch type, make sure its “Heritage” Big Jim, full-flavor)
Hot Lemon/Lemon Drop/Aji Limon (C. baccatum, hot, very prolific, good for container gardens)
Jimmy Nardello (classic Italian frying pepper, thin-walled sweet pepper for roasting/stir fry)
Shinutso (sweet pepper, mild-flavored Japanese gourmet pepper, pick while green)
Potatoes
Kennebec (heirloom, white skin, white flesh, all-purpose, baking)
Red La Soda (heirloom, red skin, white flesh, boiled potatoes, does well in warm areas)
Purple Viking (purple skin, white flesh, all-purpose, versatile, compact plants, excellent storage)
Yukon Gold (yellow skin, yellow flesh, buttery flavor, all-purpose, stores well)
Radish
French Breakfast Radish (classic heirloom, for spring and summer planting)
Miyashige Daikon (white Japanese variety, harvest when 12 inches long, fall harvest)
Tomatoes
Abu Rawan (determinate, red, good for container gardens, does well in high heat)
Amos Coli (extra large paste tomato, red, for sauces)
Black Cherry (cherry tomato, excellent flavor, marbled purple/black, high yield, drought resistant)
Cherokee Purple (most popular heirloom variety, dusky pink)
Green Zebra (tangy green/yellow striped, let fully ripen (deep yellow stripes) before picking)
Ozark Pink (productive, great taste, heat and humidity resistant, disease tolerant)
Paul Robeson (Russian heirloom, red/black with dark green shoulders, beefsteak, flavorful)
Peron Sprayless (Argentinian heirloom, red, productive and reliable, resistant to fungus diseases)
Rutgers (determinate, red, good for container gardens, old-time flavor, good for canning)
Winter Squash
Queensland Blue (Australian heirloom, slate/blue-grey, large productive plants, 7 to 12 pounds)
Thelma Sanders (cream colored acorn squash, Missouri heirloom, 3 to 5 pounds)
Triamble (Australian heirloom, ugly with wonderful taste, slate blue, long storing, 8 to 12 pounds)
Waltham Butternut (most popular winter squash, cure for two month for best flavor, 4 to 6 pounds)
Zeppelin Delicata (heirloom, thin shelled, sweet smooth flavor, 1½ to 2 pounds)
Zucchini
Costata Romanesco (classic Italian heirloom, noted for its flavor)
Dark Star (drought resistant, improved version of Black Beauty)
Because this is just an introduction, I am recommending six books for further reading; Food Grown Right in Your Backyard by Colin Mccrate and Brad Halm, The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe, Will Bonsall's Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening by Will Bonsall, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth, Notes of a Potato Watcher by James Lang, The Winter Harvest Handbook by Eliot Coleman Thought?
Thanks for looking it over!
64 Garden Favorites
Proven heirloom and open-pollinated varieties, non-hybrid, non-GMO
Beans
Contender (bush bean, high-yield, good for canning and freezing)
Fortex (pole bean, extra long, great taste)
Jade (bush bean, stays tender and non-stringy, soil must be warm and moist to germinate)
Broccoli
Calabrese (Italian heirloom, popular market variety)
Waltham 29 (large heads, cold resistant)
Carrots
Chantenay Red Core (classic heirloom, good for juicing)
Cosmic Purple (purple, kid friendly, popular market variety)
Danvers 126 (classic heirloom)
Corn (Heirloom, non-GMO)
Bloody Butcher (all-purpose red dent corn for roasting, cornmeal)
Oaxacan Green (green dent corn used to make tamales, cornmeal)
Cucumbers
Armenian (a thing of wonder, don’t start a garden without it)
Beit Alpha (Israeli variety, drought resistant, no need to peel, best when picked small)
Suyo Long (Chinese variety, heat and drought tolerant, popular)
Greens
Bloomsdale Spinach (heirloom)
Bright Lights/Five Color/Rainbow Swiss Chard (several names, popular with kids)
Champion Collards (improved version of classic Vates)
Detroit Dark Red Beet (heirloom, dual purpose beet, tops make excellent greens)
Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale (blue-green heirloom, name varies, hardy)
Southern Giant Curled Mustard (heirloom)
Toscano/Lacinato/Dinosaur Kale (classic Italian heirloom, known by several names)
Eggplant
Mitoyo (black Japanese variety)
Ping Tung (purple Taiwanese variety)
Lettuce
Black Seeded Simpson (heirloom loose leaf, widely adaptive)
Buttercrunch (heirloom butterhead)
Jericho (Israeli-bred romaine, heat tolerant)
New Red Fire (loose leaf, green base with dark red ruffled leaves)
Melons
Charentais (French heirloom, best flavor, softball size, don’t overwater, cut from vine when ripe)
Hale's Best (California heirloom, popular cantaloupe of the 1920’s through the 1950’s, hill up)
Okra
Clemson Spineless (most common variety of Okra grown, pick when 2 to 4 inches long)
Emerald (smooth and spineless, prolific, pick when 3 inches long)
Stewart's Zeebest (Louisiana heirloom, long but tender, very productive, wide plants need space)
Peas
Cascadia (snap pea, edible shell)
Oregon Sugar Pod II (snow pea, edible shell)
Super Sugar Snap (snap pea, edible shell)
Wando (shelling pea)
Peppers
Aleppo (Syrian heirloom, used for crushed red pepper flakes, should be crushed not ground)
Corno di Toro (flavorful alternative to bell peppers, great for stuffing/roasting/grilling)
Craig's Grande Jalapeno (large medium heat Jalapeño, good for Jalapeño poppers/stuffing)
Heritage Big Jim (6”-8” New Mexico/Hatch type, make sure its “Heritage” Big Jim, full-flavor)
Hot Lemon/Lemon Drop/Aji Limon (C. baccatum, hot, very prolific, good for container gardens)
Jimmy Nardello (classic Italian frying pepper, thin-walled sweet pepper for roasting/stir fry)
Shinutso (sweet pepper, mild-flavored Japanese gourmet pepper, pick while green)
Potatoes
Kennebec (heirloom, white skin, white flesh, all-purpose, baking)
Red La Soda (heirloom, red skin, white flesh, boiled potatoes, does well in warm areas)
Purple Viking (purple skin, white flesh, all-purpose, versatile, compact plants, excellent storage)
Yukon Gold (yellow skin, yellow flesh, buttery flavor, all-purpose, stores well)
Radish
French Breakfast Radish (classic heirloom, for spring and summer planting)
Miyashige Daikon (white Japanese variety, harvest when 12 inches long, fall harvest)
Tomatoes
Abu Rawan (determinate, red, good for container gardens, does well in high heat)
Amos Coli (extra large paste tomato, red, for sauces)
Black Cherry (cherry tomato, excellent flavor, marbled purple/black, high yield, drought resistant)
Cherokee Purple (most popular heirloom variety, dusky pink)
Green Zebra (tangy green/yellow striped, let fully ripen (deep yellow stripes) before picking)
Ozark Pink (productive, great taste, heat and humidity resistant, disease tolerant)
Paul Robeson (Russian heirloom, red/black with dark green shoulders, beefsteak, flavorful)
Peron Sprayless (Argentinian heirloom, red, productive and reliable, resistant to fungus diseases)
Rutgers (determinate, red, good for container gardens, old-time flavor, good for canning)
Winter Squash
Queensland Blue (Australian heirloom, slate/blue-grey, large productive plants, 7 to 12 pounds)
Thelma Sanders (cream colored acorn squash, Missouri heirloom, 3 to 5 pounds)
Triamble (Australian heirloom, ugly with wonderful taste, slate blue, long storing, 8 to 12 pounds)
Waltham Butternut (most popular winter squash, cure for two month for best flavor, 4 to 6 pounds)
Zeppelin Delicata (heirloom, thin shelled, sweet smooth flavor, 1½ to 2 pounds)
Zucchini
Costata Romanesco (classic Italian heirloom, noted for its flavor)
Dark Star (drought resistant, improved version of Black Beauty)