Do Your Plant 'Recommended' Veggie Varieties?

15 years ago

Since it is "wet and muddy" (how I love those words) outside, as well as "hot and humid", I am sitting here working on my fall garden plans, trying to decide what varieties I will plant, and where I will put them.

Some of these decisions are hard to make, because you have to second guess where "open space" will open up in the veggie garden after one spring crop or another is harvested and removed. As late as the veggies are this year, I am wondering where in the world I will plant anything for fall if I am to get it into the ground at the right time. (sigh)

I was looking at the list of OSU Vegetable Varieties recommended for home gardeners and, you know what, I do not necessarily heed many of their recommendations. How about the rest of you? How do you choose your vegetable varieties? Do you look at the OSU publication, and others like it, and search out, purchase and grow those specific varieties? Do you grow others of your own choice for specific reasons? Do you just grow whatever you find at local stores? I'm just curious.

I will say that I DO grow some of the veggies on OSU's list, but I was already growing them in Texas before I moved here, and not necessarily because TAMU recommended them, if they did. And, too, some of my choices are very deliberate ones because I often choose to grow heirloom veggies (not just heirloom tomatoes!) and not hybrids. Other veggies are sometimes chosen for their size because I garden bio-intensively with plants packed into the beds so tightly that you cannot see the ground, for the most part. Thus, I sometimes chose smaller, more compact plants that are more suited for square foot gardening than standard row gardening.

So, does anyone follow OSU's recommedations? And, in case you've never visited their website and used their many wonderful and informative webpages, I've linked the Recommended Vegetable Variety one below.

I guess, too, there is a part of me that is wondering this: IF I grew the OSU-recommended varieties, would I get even better results than I get now? I suppose there is only one way to really find out--which, of course, would be to do a side-by-side comparison in the same year.

Dawn

Here is a link that might be useful: OSU Recommended Varieties for Home Gardeners

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Comments (6)

very_blessed_mom
15 years ago
Dawn,

I go by recommendations from other gardeners. I'll take advice off this forum and put it pretty high on my list but also other gardeners I visit with locally and relatives that garden. If somebody swears by a variety I'm always anxious to give it a try and see what they're talking about. I've had to hunt pretty hard or order seed to get those varieties sometimes though; they aren't always the available on the seed racks you find in the stores. I haven't gardened many different vegetables long enough to have my own "list" of favorites yet, but I'm enjoying trying new varieties all the time.

No, don't really follow OSU's recommendations much. I find their fact sheets to be incredibly helpful and informative resource though.

BTW, we are not "wet and muddy" today for once and are doing our own happy dance. I've worked outside most of the day and am headed back for more in a few minutes. I am getting so excited about planting for the fall and actually quite surprised and pleased with what made it thru the extremely wet recent months.

Jill
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Jill,

I'm glad it WAS wet and muddy here, and glad it was NOT wet and muddy at your house. I guess, for once, both our gardens got what they needed at the same time!

I hope you were able to get a lot done.

It is terrific that so much of your garden has survived your excessively wet weather.

My list of favorites has taken a lifetime to develop, and I still make lots of additions and deletions. I have tried SO MANY wonderful tomatoes because of recommendations of people on Garden Web, but I think I am finally finished trying huge numbers of new ones every year and am now trying to whittle down and refine the tomato grow list to the best of the best of the ones I've tried.

Of course, I'll always try a handful of new ones every year.

I don't have anything against varieties recommended by OSU or TAMU or any other university, but over the years, it really does seem that other gardeners "know best", and I prefer the heirlooms most of them time, finding their flavor superior to most hybrids. (In the melon world, for example, there are many luscious and yummy heirloom melons that were dropped from commercial production because they don't travel well---but they do have superior flavor, and that is why I prefer them. And, since they are only traveling from my garden to my kitchen, it doesn't matter to me if they are thin-skinned, bruise easily, have a short shelf life or don't travel well.)

Dawn
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Macmex
15 years ago
I don't usually look at OSU's recommendations, though I'd have no qualms about doing it. Most of what I grow consists of "old friends:" varieties with which I have a history.

We have moved around a bit, over the years. And some varieties don't do so well in a given location. So, I do tend to pick up new varieties when we get to a new location. For instance, coming here to Oklahoma, I've picked up Sioux and come back (after more than 20 years) to Porter and Roma.

Another way that I've come to try new varieties is through seed exchanges. The best have often been unsolicited seeds which someone sends me, when I'm sending them something they asked for. I find that gardeners often can't resist sending a favorite. Often, when I do grow them out, I discover why they are a favorite : )

A couple years ago Neil Lockhart, in IL, sent me an unsolicited sample of Polish Pastel tomato. I almost didn't grow it out because I'm always pressed to renew seed of varieties I have. But my wife thought it might be interesting. Well, that tomato turned out to be very vigorous and the fruit the driest of any I've ever grown. The wife always comments on how I simply must grow it again, because it's such a good keeper and good for sauce. This is my third year to grow it and I'm still not absolutely sure that I should make it a permanent fixture in the garden. This is simply because it seems a little weak on setting fruit when it's hot. But at the end of the season: Bang! It usually loads up, and that fruit will last for months on the counter.

George
okiegarden
15 years ago
Dawn - I tend to look for plants that I or family had a history with... and those that I have been given from time to time in swaps. Anything else will be from Baker Creek Seeds - only.. If I dont keep the seeds I buy from them. They always know how to get me to buy more when I call up for some help for this and that..

Not much but that is the way I pick up what I grow here :-)

Mitch
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
Original Author
15 years ago
Mitch,

BC is one of my favorite heirloom seed sources.....and I remember when they were small and their catalog was soo-o tiny. It is wonderful to see how they have grown and how they continue to grow.

Dawn
okiegarden
15 years ago
Same here!!!

I love them all dawn - just a great place to visit and be a part of of. I always feel great in buying their seed.