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Talkin' vegetable varieties for spring planting

Tomatoes, of course, but also peppers, eggplant and more

Purple and white striped eggplants on plant
These are not my eggplants, that's for sure -- they were growing at the Fair Oaks
Horticulture Center in 2019. Pretty sure they are the Fairy Tale variety, which is
an All America Selection winner. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

The advice for beginning vegetable gardeners always is to grow what you like to eat. Makes sense -- you can test varieties of tomatoes or beans and eventually find your favorites.

Conversely, don't grow what you don't like to eat. That has always kept me from even thinking about growing eggplant. I. Just. Don't. Like. It. Though some are so pretty! The Fairy Tale variety always catches my eye, with its purple and white stripes.

And then I remind myself that the vegetables would go to waste, not to mention taking up valuable space in my plot. And food banks prefer mainstream vegetables (no green and purple tomatoes, for example).

About half of the gardeners at my community garden grow cucumbers in summer. And about half of those complain every year that the cukes came in too bitter. (I think that's a weather issue, but anyone with more experience please fill me in.) In any case, that's another problem I avoid. My household consumes maybe two cucumbers a year, and I can usually trade something for those, so I don't have to grow them.

But I do grow peppers, both sweet bells and somewhat hot ones. I've had excellent luck with shishitos, Emerald Fire jalapeños, Count Dracula peppers (so pretty!) and serrano peppers. My bell pepper plants all got mixed up last year, but generally Orange Blaze and any variety with Wonder in the name do well.

I gave up growing watermelons during the last drought; I also don't grow corn anymore because it's a water hog and you need a lot of plants to get a decent yield. (I did learn that Sloughhouse corn is the Bodacious variety -- or at least it was back when I was researching varieties.)

Ah, but melons and squash! For years I grew wonderfully fragrant little muskmelons with the uninspired name of French Orange. I haven't been able to find seeds lately, and I used up the last of the seeds I'd saved on my own. I has success with Papaya Dew, a hybrid variety that's shaped like a football. My garden buddy Dan touts Ambrosia and he gave me two of the plants last year. Delicious! More of a typical muskmelon size than the little French Orange, they are back on my list for this year.

Zucchini and other summer squash grow so well here it almost doesn't matter which variety you try. But I do like the Raven and Black Beauty dark green zucchinis, and the various straightneck yellow ones. Over the years I've also grown Sunny Delight yellow pattypans and light green 8-Ball and Ronde de Nice round zukes, too. I'm less of a fan of the bumpy yellow crookneck squash, but they certainly thrive.

I love to talk vegetables, so tell us what you grow, especially your can't-fail varieties.

We already heard from one reader about tomato plans for this year.

Patricia Carpenter is trying out Unicorn, Polish Giant, Champion II, Momotaro and Sunny Boy. (I've grown that last one and it's on my list to try again.) Her tried-and-true are Big Beef, Nova, Sungold, Celebrity, Roma II, Mortgage Lifter and Lemon Boy.

She has grown but is still testing Purple Boy, Damsel, Sakura, Chocolate Sprinkles, Goliath Sunny and Moonglow.

Moonglow is fascinating: It's a yellow-orange variety that was tested in New Zealand against a red variety,  Rosalita, for absorption of lycopene into the bloodstream. Both were consumed raw. The tests showed significantly higher levels of lycopene in people who ate the yellow-gold tomato.






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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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