Test garden results 2013

February has come, and with it a deluge of seed catalogs. Each one promising better yields, more flavor and bigger produce if you just pick the right variety. As some of you know, when I started the 2013 gardening season I decided to grow a smorgasbord of vegetables and varieties to find good options for growers with small spaces. Many delicious varieties exist, but if space is limited you want the most you can get out of your space. Before I start telling you my favorites or least favorite a quick disclaimer is necessary. In many cases, these varieties were not replicated in multiple locations and I did not collect metrics such as total number of fruits or plant height. What you will hear are how the varieties performed relative to each other, in terms of productivity, earliest fruit, how soon I saw disease, space, and flavor. These are the results of my test gardens:

Turnips and greens
Purple Globe turnip: Early producer with good flavor... extremely susceptible to wireworms.
Lettuce: Bolted early in the summer heat
Spinach: Bitter flavor, but was likely due to the summer heat

Beans and peas
Purple, Green, Yellow mix: Highly slug susceptible, very prolific, and good flavor
Peas

 Tomatoes*
* Tomatoes were grown in three locations (a home garden in Royal Oak, a home garden in Lansing, and a community garden in Lansing)

		Variety
	Location	Banana Legs	Tigerella	Indigo Rose	Snow White
Productivity	Royal Oak	Moderate	Moderate	High	*
	Lansing	Low	High	Moderate	High
Flavor	Royal Oak	Mild flavor, a bit mealy	Slightly sweet and juicy	Good flavor, meaty tomato	*
	Lansing	Bland with mealy texture	Average flavor, quite juicy	Good flavor	Excellent flavor, very sweet, low acid
Color	Royal Oak	Bright yellow	Orange with yellow stripes	Red and Purple	Pale yellow
	Lansing	Bright yellow	Orange with yellow stripes	Red and Purple	Pale yellow
Maturity	Royal Oak	Late	Early	Late	*
	Lansing	Mid-Season	Early	Mid-Season	*
Septoria	Royal Oak	*	*	*	*
	Lansing	None	Highly Susceptible	None	None
Cracking	Royal Oak	None	Minor	Minor	*
	Lansing	None	Highly Susceptible	None	Minor
Size		3-4"	1-1 1/2"	2"	<1"

Tigerella tomato (you can see a growth crack on the left)

Indigo Rose tomatoes

Squashes
Spaghetti squash: mid-sized vines, good production
Early acorn hybrid: very prolific, moderate plant size with good acorn squash flavor
Greyzini zucchini: Long gray and green fruit, extremely prolific, of the three zucchini varieties this was the last to get powdery mildew

Early Acorn hybrid squash

Pumpkins
Lil' Pump-ke-mon hybrid: Prolific, bushy pumpkin with small (3" wide) yellow and white fruits
Fairytale: a mid-sized flattened pumpkin with mahogany color, the flesh is supposed to be tasty, but mine were stolen

Cucumbers
Burpless Beauty: highly susceptible to downy mildew, good yields, good flavor, compact vines
Burpee Pickler hybrid: highly susceptible to downy mildew, good yields, good flavor, compact vines

Carrots
Cosmic purple, good flavor, no disease or insect damage visible

Ali Baba Watermelon fruit

Delice de la table Melon

Green Nutmeg Melon

Melons
Green Nutmeg: late maturity, moderate production, tiny fruit, highly susceptible to downy mildew
Golden Midget watermelon: low fruit set, flavor is mediocre, weak and sprawling vines, small fruit
Ali Baba watermelon: average flavor, sweet, moderate production, mid-sized melons
Delice de la table melon: good flavor, good production, sprawling vines

Leaves and vines of Golden Midget Watermelon

Golden Midget Watermelon (it's about 8" long)

Potato
Purple Peruvian: Vigorous plants, good production, fingerling potatoes with average flavor


I'm excited to see what 2014 brings us!