Preparing the garden is all well and good, but let’s cut to the fun part. What do we grow?
You want to select vegetables and varieties that are right for your particular climate, says Contra Costa Master Gardener Janet Miller, but you should grow what you like to eat.
If you’re still uncertain, here are some favorites of the warm season garden to get you started.
Artichokes
Green Globe is a classic artichoke and will produce multiple artichokes through about July, when production slows. Cut it back and it will produce more chokes in the fall. Romanesco is a beautiful, large purple artichoke with great flavor.
Beans
Bean varieties vary from snap to fresh shelling or dried, and they come in bush or pole types.
Bush beans set all their fruit at the same time, leading to a harvest that can last up to six weeks. A plus for bush beans is that you don’t have to stake them or provide additional support.
Pole beans have a much longer harvest time and are good producers. However, they will need a pole or other structure to climb. They are easier to harvest, however, as they don’t require as much bending and stooping on the gardener’s part.
Snap varieties
Jade bush beans are amazing producers, guaranteeing you plenty of beans. They also are tolerant of higher temperatures.
Provider bush beans are good for those who live in the cooler areas of the Bay Area.
Amethyst bush beans produce purple pods, which make them easier to see against the green foliage. The tasty bean pods can be up to 6½ inches long, and they are heavy producers. They’re good raw or cooked.
Royalty Purple bush beans make beautiful plants with purple foliage, flowers and beans. The pods are stringless. They are a lovely addition to the vegetable garden and even germinate well in cool, damp soil.
Pole varieties
Rattlesnake Pole beans have an attractive streaked pod and excellent flavor. Vines grow to 10 feet with excellent production over a long period. They also are somewhat drought tolerant.
Climbing French pole beans are tasty and easy to grow.
Blue Lake pole beans have been around since the ’60s and for good reason. They are vigorous producers, have great flavor and are a favorite for canning.
Hilda Romano pole beans are very tasty, stringless and among the first to produce each season and the last to stop. The plant will be heavy, however, and will need a strong support.
Shelling
For shelling beans, you’ll leave the pods on the vine until they are just about to open, then harvest.
Borlotti, bush or pole, beans are one of Miller’s favorites. They are very flavorful. Miller likes to cook them for them about 20 minutes, then dress them with olive oil, garlic and salt. Pick Borlotti, an Italian classic, just as the pods begin to turn pink.
Flagrano bush beans are probably the easiest beans to shell.
Dried beans
Leave the pods on the plant until both the pods and the plant are dry, but harvest before the pods pop open.
Tiger’s eye are very tasty, Miller says.
Black Coco are tasty and good producers.
Cannellini Lingot bush beans are a staple in Italian cooking
Midnight Black beans are top notch. You can get nice fresh ones from Rancho Gordo, cook most of them and save a handful to grow your own.
Cucumbers
Beit Alpha are classic Persian cucumbers. They are sweet and the skin is edible. You can expect high yields with this one.
Diva cucumbers are big producers. They were developed for field production and so don’t require staking. They also are seedless.
Lemon cucumbers are a favorite of many people and are big producers. Miller says they can be pickled or eaten right off the vine.
Natsu Fushinari are the most disease-resistant cucumbers and are less likely to get powdery mildew. They are a good choice for those living in the hotter zones.
Itachi is another Miller favorite. It is a strong producing, white skinned, non-bitter cuke that stays sweet even when left on the vine too long. This one actually holds up well to cooking and is a nice addition to a stir fry.
Eggplant
Amadeo is a new favorite. It has medium sized, dark purple fruit that are abundantly produced on large attractive plants.
Casper is a white eggplant, a big producer and a fairly early one. Plants will continue to produce into December. Their white meat is creamy, has few seed pockets and a slight mushroom taste.
Dancer is a lovely lavender eggplant with white, creamy flesh and few seed pockets.
Galine is a classic Italian eggplant, dark purple and smaller than its cousins.
Listada de Ganda is a European heirloom and is fairly productive.
Orient Charm is an Asian variety that is an early producer.
Melons
Wait until the soil is very warm before planting melons. They love the heat.
Crane melons were developed in Sonoma County and are not widely available. They are one of the sweetest melons you can grow.
Eden’s Gem is a small, sweet melon with green meat.
Honey White is a big, meaty melon that will sweeten up on the vine. They are very easy to grow and are early producers.
Arava are similar in taste to cantaloupes.
Peppers
When growing sweet peppers, once fruit has set be sure to protect them from the heat with 50 percent shade cloth to prevent sun scald. Hot peppers are less susceptible to sun scald.
Ajvarski is an outstanding roasting pepper that turns a deep, dark red, is thick walled, fragrant and tasty when cooked.
Corno di Toro Giallo is a sweet yellow pepper.
Lunch Box peppers are small and sweet. Miller has had better luck with the orange varieties, which she thinks are the tastiest.
Gypsy is another sweet pepper that will produce different colors of peppers on the same plant. If not harvested, however, they all will eventually turn to yellow.
Aleppo is a much-prized hot pepper. Miller waits until they turn red, then dehydrates and grinds them. They make a wonderful red pepper flake for seasoning.
Jalapeno Jalafuego is a very hot pepper that produces scores of fruit on bushy 3-foot plants.
Jalapeño Felicity is a mild pepper with classic jalapeño flavor without the heat.
Padron is a flavorful pepper that ranges from mild to hot, and there’s no way to tell — other than tasting — which pepper is which, adding a bit of excitement to your tapas party. They’re from Spain and should be picked when they are 1 to 1½ inches long. Best sautéed in a bit of olive oil with salt and eaten whole. Delicious.
Shishito peppers also range from mild to hot, although most are mild. Small 1-foot tall plants produce hundreds of peppers. Great sautéed as an appetizer.
Pumpkins
Cargo is a short vine pumpkin that is a good producer. Short vine varieties help keep the pumpkins in their patch and not all over the garden.
New Racer is also a short vine variety. They are smaller than Cargo pumpkins.
Rouge Vif D’etampes is a French pumpkin also called a Cinderella pumpkin. They produce big, classic pumpkins that are lovely to behold.
Summer squash
Dunja is a tasty dark zucchini that is an excellent producer. They also are slower to develop powdery mildew.
Mexican Gray zucchini is a popular variety. It has a mild taste and thin skin. It also is an excellent producer.
Golden Glory is a classic yellow summer squash with a mild flavor. It is a good producer and is disease resistant.
Zephyr squash are tasty and good producers, but one reason to grow them is for their color. One end is yellow and the other end is green.
Tomatoes
Mortgage Lifter is a big, beefy tomato that is delicious and a good producer. It was developed during the Great Depression and was so popular that the cultivator was able to pay off his mortgage through the sale of the tomatoes, giving the plant its name.
Cherokee Purple is a beautifully colored tomato and a good producer. If you are planning to dry farm your tomatoes, the Cherokee is a good choice as it is hardy.
Chef’s Choice Pink is another new favorite. It is an abundant producer of delicious pink-red meaty beefsteak type tomatoes, and has good disease resistance.
Bloody Butcher is a classic red slicer and very productive.
Persimmon is an orange beefsteak that loves the heat. It is prized for its lovely orange color, but also because it has only a few seed pockets, making it a beefy tomato. It is only a medium producer, however.
Big Beef is a hybrid that is a good producer of large attractive red beefsteaks. Great flavor and good disease resistance.
Big Mama is a large Roma tomato that doesn’t tend to get the blossom end rot so common in Romas.
Black Cherry is a cherry tomato that produces big, sweet cherries. It also can be a large plant.
Supersweet 100 is a popular cherry tomato. The fruit is bright red and, as the name testifies, very sweet.
Vorlon is a dark purple tomato that is a good producer. The fruit is a little bit flat and odd looking but the flavor is terrific.
Winter squash
Waldo butternut is a slightly smaller butternut, but it’s sweeter than most.
Honey Bear acorn is a sweet squash and an excellent producer.
Sunshine Kabocha is deep orange in color and looks a lot like a pumpkin. It is very sweet and tasty.
Sweet Dumpling Delicata is a small round winter squash that produces a very sweet fruit. The plant itself doesn’t get too large, if space is an issue in your garden.
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