Top Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs for 2011
Try these brand-new, mouthwatering varieties that offer better flavor are easier to grow, or have other features perfect for your garden and kitchen.
By Justin W. Hancock
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'Green Envy' stands out on the dinner plate! It bears a big crop of 1-inch-long emerald-green cherry tomatoes. The fruits have a meaty texture and sweet, juicy taste.
Name: Tomato 'Green Envy'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 70
Type: Indeterminate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
Offering a trailing habit great for hanging baskets or containers, 'Lizzano' is a disease-resistant 20x20-inch plant with lots of bright red 1-inch fruits. It's an All-America Selections award winner for 2011.
Name: Tomato 'Lizzano'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 63
Type: Semideterminate
Source: Look for 'Lizzano' tomato at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
Looking for something a little different? Try this beefsteak tomato! 'Sunny Boy' offers great-tasting, shiny yellow fruits that reach up to 16 ounces.
Name: Tomato 'Sunny Boy'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 75
Type: Indeterminate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
Showing off big, 16-ounce beefsteak-type fruits, 'Pink Pounder' tomato will delight your taste buds. You'll love its steady supply of delicious treats!
Name: Tomato 'Pink Pounder'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 75
Type: Indeterminate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
A perfect pick for containers, 'Terenzo' is an All-America Selections winner for 2011 that offers an abundance of extra-sweet red cherry tomatoes (that resist cracking) on a 20-inch-tall plant.
Name: Tomato 'Terenzo'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 56
Type: Determinate
Source: Look for 'Terenzo' tomato at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
A fun Roma-type tomato with meaty 5-ounce fruits that are extra sweet and a glowing golden-yellow color, 'Golden Salsa' is a bushy plant great for smaller spaces.
Name: Tomato 'Golden Salsa'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 70
Type: Determinate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
A modern variety with heirloom characteristics, 'Heritage' bears big, 16-ounce rich red fruits that look beautiful and taste great. You'll be able to count on it for a steady crop of tomato sandwiches!
Name: Tomato 'Heritage'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 75
Type: Indeterminate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
Give your salad (or salsa) a little extra color with 'Orange Slice' tomato. It's a high-yielding variety that offers yummy, plump orange fruits all summer long.
Name: Tomato 'Orange Slice'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 75
Type: Indeterminate
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
A delight to short-summer gardeners, 'King Kool' sweet corn offers good cold resistance, so it gets an earlier start in the garden. The plant produces ears of extra-sweet bicolor kernels.
Name: Sweet Corn 'King Kool'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 73
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
Bearing creamy-green fruits and a rich taste, 'Limelight' zucchini is a novelty we think you'll consider a must-have in the vegetable garden.
Name: Zucchini 'Limelight'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 50
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
The sweetest sweet potato around, 'Evangeline' is an easy-to-grow variety that offers nutritious orange tubers packed with flavor.
Name: Sweet potato 'Evangeline'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 110
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: No
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
And now for something a little different: 'Murasaki' is a purple-skin Japanese sweet potato with nutty-tasting white flesh. The plant grows fast and offers great disease resistance.
Name: Sweet potato 'Murasaki 29'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 110
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: No
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
Bearing tapered green fruits that ripen to rich red, this sweet pepper is easy to use in the kitchen. It's wonderfully colorful, tasty, and disease resistant!
Name: Pepper 'Sublime'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 80
Source: burpee.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of burpee.com
An All-America Selections winner for 2011, 'Orange Blaze' is a sweet pepper that is easy to grow and has great flavor and good disease resistance.
Name: Pepper 'Orange Blaze'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 70
Source: Look for 'Orange Blaze' pepper at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
A great pick for gardeners with small spaces, this quick-maturing variety offers 5-inch heads packed with crispy green leaves. It offers great heat and cold tolerance, too!
Name: Cabbage 'Pixie'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 60
Source: reneesgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of reneesgarden.com
Gorgeous and tasty, 'Pink Punch' radish shows off magenta-pink skins and crispy white flesh. It's great fresh out of the garden in spring or fall.
Name: Radish 'Pink Punch'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 28
Source: reneesgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of reneesgarden.com
'Garden Ferns' is a fun heirloom looseleaf lettuce from Italy that shows off dense clusters of narrow leaves that have delightful ruffled edges. The leaves have a distinct, delicate taste.
Name: Lettuce 'Garden Ferns'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 58
Source: reneesgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of reneesgarden.com
A great choice for growing if you have kids, 'Hijinks' pumpkin is an All-America Selections winner for 2011. It bears a lot of 7-pound fruits with a uniform shape and rich, deep orange skin, and it has great disease resistance and strong stems (which make for great jack-o'-lantern handles).
Name: Pumpkin 'Hijinks'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 58
Source: Look for 'Hijinks' pumpkin at your local garden center
Available from seed: Yes
Enjoy winter squash in small spaces with 'Amazonka', a semibush-type plant that bears nutty-tasting 2-pound fruits with bright orange rinds.
Name: Squash 'Amazonka'
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Days to maturity: 70
Source: cooksgarden.com
Available from seed: Yes
Photo courtesy of cooksgarden.com
Grow your own antioxidants! Angel Red pomegranate will give you a crop of beautiful bright red fruits in early fall. They're packed with soft seeds that are easy to use in cooking.
Name: Angel Red pomegranate (Punica granatum 'Smith')
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 10 feet tall and wide
Zones: 7-11
Days to maturity: N/A
Available from seed: No
Source: monrovia.com
Photo courtesy of Monrovia.com
Bountiful Blue is a wonderful shrub that provides a plethora of large, sweet berries in summer. Even without the fruits, we bet you'll love the blue-blushed foliage, bright red fall color, and white springtime flowers.
Name: Bountiful Blue blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum 'FLX-2')
Growing conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil
Size: To 4 feet tall and wide
Zones: 6-10
Days to maturity: N/A
Available from seed: No
Source: monrovia.com
Photo courtesy of Monrovia.com
I can't see anything!?
8/19/2011 07:37:38 AM Report Abusewhere can I order the bountiful blue berry? used all the zip codes in my aream, not found Myra
3/16/2011 10:28:50 AM Report Abusethanks you people at BHG for the many informative articles you send me. Im a vggie gardener mainly but also plan to landscape this spring.
3/10/2011 10:18:17 AM Report Abusegreat little tomato
2/10/2010 08:48:46 AM Report Abuse