vegetable varieties for 2024

plant key

• Open-pollinated, unless otherwise noted with “F-1 hybrid.”
• Annual, unless otherwise marked “P” for Perennial or “SSA” for Self Sowing Annual
• Days to maturity are from transplant. (This means start counting when you put the plant in the ground. Take these numbers with a grain of salt; there are a lot of variables to take into consideration.)
• Varieties may fluctuate year to year

Size pot available:
2.75” = 2.75” round biodegradable pot (21 / tray) - $3.50 each or 6/$18
3” = 3” round biodegradable pot (18 / tray) - $4.00 each
3.5” = 3.5” square biodegradable pot (18 / tray) - $4.50 each

Asparagus

Milennium
P. 3”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
In the quest to grow new things from seed, I landed on asparagus. These are first year seedling plants, not bare root crowns like you might be used to seeing. Baby these along, as you don’t want to start harvesting the spears until the third season. 'Milennium’ is a well-adapted variety with many attributes. Its long harvest window and a higher proportion of male plants make it a great choice for productivity of spears.

Broccoli

Bay Meadows
F-1 hybrid. 69 days. 2.75”
Broccoli is a great vegetable to grow for yourself because it’s so healthy, but starts losing its cancer-fighting compounds soon after harvest. This variety was chosen for its heat tolerance and its side shoot production. After you lop off the 6-8” main head, keep coming back for florets that are just the right size for tossing right into a recipe. Johnny's Selected Seeds' "Easy Choice" variety for spring and summer broccoli plantings.

Green Magic
Description coming soon

Brussels Sprouts

Gustus
F-1 hybrid. 99 days. 2.75”
Medium sized, uniform sprouts that store really well. You might consider topping the plant around early September for better sprout production. Brussels sprouts take a loooong season; this variety is a little earlier than most so you've got a better shot.

Speedia
Description coming soon

Cauliflower

Snow Crown
Description coming soon

Celery

Ventura
80 days. 2.75”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Celery’s a little tricky with its long maturity time and a little fussy with its moisture, nutrient and temperature requirements. But for those of you looking for a new gardening challenge, give this a try! This variety might help, as it’s widely adapted for less-than-ideal conditions. Ventura is a glossy bright green reaching 28-30” tall with 12” stalks and well-developed hearts.

Chard

Bali
55 days (bunching), 35-40 days (baby leaf). 2.75”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Chard is a no brainer. With a long cut-n-come-again harvest window and fewer pest problems that its brassica greens cousins, it will provide you with fresh greens from the garden all season long. If you’re unfamiliar, use it any way you would use spinach. This is a beautiful variety with a dark green savoyed leaf and bright pink/red leaf stalks and veins.

Cucumbers

Cross Country
F-1 hybrid. 57 days. 3”
By request - a pickling cuke. Widely adaptable, this was FEDCO’s favorite in their trials. A good producer of blocky and straight dark green fruits with very small seed cavities. Resistant to scab, anthracnose, alternaria leaf spot, powdery mildew and downy mildew.

Cucamelon (Mexican Sour Gherkin)
65 days. 3”
Also called “mouse melons,” these are super fun to grow with kids or to garnish adult beverages! Producing tiny, tangy cucumbers, the plants will rampantly climb a trellis with adorable little tendrils. The fruits are 1” long with green and white stripes. They keep well and make excellent pickles.

Marketmore 76
53 days. 3”
A classic open-pollinated slicing variety. Uniform 8” dark green fruits. Tolerant to cucumber mosaic virus, downy mildew and powdery mildew; resistant to scab.

Shintokiwa
62 days. 3”
(replaces Tasty Jade, unavailable this season) For those of you who love Tasty Jade - a long, smooth and highly productive Asian-style cucumber - this is its counterpart for 2021. With similar characteristics, the fruits average 9-10” in length and are sweet and crisp without being bitter. One of FEDCO’s trialers even described it as “flowery, buttery and delicious.”

Fennel

Perfection
Description coming soon

Kale

While peak kale may have come and gone, my hope is that this powerhouse vegetable becomes another household staple, like carrots or zucchini.

Red Russian
46 days. 2.75”
Flat, tender leaves with beautiful red-purple stems and veins. A more mild, delicate kale well-suited to salads and green drinks.

Winterbor
36 days. 2.75”
A green crinkly kale, very flavorful. Kale in general prefers cooler weather. This one is very cold tolerant, so can last for a very long season, and the flavor improves after frost! Massage with olive oil & salt for kale salad.

Lettuce

Various varieties, head lettuce. 2.75”

Melon

Hannah’s Choice
F-1 hybrid. 75 days. 3”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Bred by Cornell University, this canteloupe produces very sweet and flavorful aromatic fruits that average 3-5 pounds. Intermediate resistance to fusarium wilt 1 & 2, powdery mildew, papaya ringspot virus, watermelon mosaic virus and zucchini yellow mosaic virus.

Moon & Stars
100 days. 3"
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
OK, not a vegetable, but where else to put these? An out of this world heirloom watermelon, named after its beautiful yellow spots of varying sizes. With a sweet pink grainy flesh and spotted foliage.

Onion

The one vegetable we sell that I’d recommend splitting and bare-rooting before planting. Soak the pot well before splitting to saturate the roots to minimize damage. 6 plants per pot.

Expression
F-1 hybrid. 98 days. 3”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
A yellow storage type onion that can get big (averaging 12 oz) with a sweet, mild flavor. Can store for up to 4 months

Patterson
F-1 hybrid. 104 days. 3"
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
A full size onion averaging 1.3 lbs that is an excellent option for long storage.

Peppers - Hot

Anaheim
78 days. 3.5”
Also known as California Chile and Chile Verde. This is the variety for chile rellenos. 7” long, tapered fruits that turn from dark green to red. 900 - 2500 Scovilles.

Ancho/Poblano, ‘Baron’
F-1 hybrid. 65 days green/85 days red. 3.5”
Relatively mild, this pepper is known as “poblano” when green and then “ancho” when dried. Perfect for roasting, chile powder and the classic mole pepper. Large, glossy dark green 3-lobed and horn-shaped fruits. 2000 Scovilles.

Cayenne, ‘Red Rocket’
75 days. 3.5”
An early maturing cayenne with thin walls well-suited to drying and making ristras. Even dry, the flesh is tender, perfect for cooking. Medium heat.

Habanero
90 days. 3.5”
A Scotch Bonnet type of pepper with extreme heat. Little lantern-looking fruits that turn from dark green to bright orange... let that be your warning sign! 200,000 - 325,000 Scovilles.

Hungarian Hot Wax
68 days. 3.5”
Beautiful, smooth long tapered fruits that you can pick at three stages - yellow, orange and red - for a colorful assortment. Perfect for pickling. Originated in 1941 in Hungary. 5000 - 10,000 Scovilles.

Jalapeno, ‘Early Jalapeno’
75 days. 3.5”
Classic jalapeno heat and shape - blunt fruits 3” x 1” that develop a brown “netting” as fruit ripens from green to red. From Jalapa in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. 4000 - 6500 Scovilles.

Lemon Drop (Aji Limon)
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
100 days. 3.5”
By request. This Peruvian seasoning pepper produces clusters of lots of bright yellow elongated fruit 2-3” in length. With thin walls, the fruit have a citrusy heat. 15,000 - 30,000 Scovilles.

Serrano
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
73 days. 3.5”
With a fruity flavor and a bit more heat than a jalapeno. Very prolific, with bright red fruits 3” x 1/2”; perfect for making salsa or hot sauce. 6000 - 17,000 Scovilles.

Shishito
60 days green/80 days red. 3.5”
A thin-walled Japanese frying pepper. The fruit are wrinkled and 3 - 3.5” long. Traditionally used green, they are very mild with a compelling pungent flavor that is brought out when roasted, grilled or sauteed.

Peppers - Sweet

Note: all peppers start out as green. If you want a green pepper, just pick it before it colors.

Carmen
F-1 hybrid. 60 days green/80 days red. 3.5”
This is the red pepper I grow for myself. A perfectly sweet Italian frying pepper, its tapered ‘Corno di Toro’ or ‘bull’s horn’ shape makes it easy to work with. Great fresh or roasted. Fruit are a uniform 6” long and 2.5” wide.

Golden Star
F-1 hybrid. 72 days. 3.5”
A Cal-Wonder-type blocky bell pepper that can handle cooler summers. 4-lobed, 4” fruits have thick walls and ripen to yellow.

Gilboa
F-1 hybrid. 66 days. 3.5”
An early-ripening blocky and thick-walled orange bell pepper.

Intruder
Sorry, seed not available this year, try Red Knight for a hybrid red bell.
F-1 hybrid. 72 days. 3.5”
It may sound scary, but you’ll welcome it into your garden for its disease resistance. Large, blocky, thick-walled fruits turn to deep red.

King of the North
70 days. 3.5”
A sweet red bell that’s especially good for shorter and cooler summers. With a blocky & uniform shape, it’s suited to eating fresh or using for stuffing.

Purple Beauty
74 days. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Blocky 3” x 3” fruits turn to a true purple before heading to red. While purple, green inside and with the flavor of a green pepper. Use for crudites, as it also turns green when cooked.

Red Knight
F-1 hybrid. 57 days green/77 days red. 3.5”
An improved “King Arthur” type red bell pepper. With big, blocky and early fruits, this disease resistant, compact plant is ideal for home gardeners.

Red Lunchbox
75 days. 3.5”
The cutest thing in your garden. “Snack-sized” bells, small and sweet, and perfect for - you guessed it - the lunchbox. Kid-approved!

Round of Hungary
55 days green/ 75 days red. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
A beautiful deep maroon red sweet pepper with a distinctive shape. The fruits are ribbed and flattened and reach 2.5” x 3.5”. With thick walls and a sweet delicious flavor, you’ll be tempted to eat these raw out of hand, but they’re also great in salads and for stuffing.

Sweet Banana, ‘Goddess’
F-1 hybrid. 63 days yellow/83 days red. 3.5”
Great for pickling, this sweet banana pepper measures 8-9” long. Its pretty fruits are smooth and thick-walled with a mild flavor.

Physalis

Just a fancy word for the tomato relatives that grow a papery husk.

Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry
72 days. 3.5”
Also called “husk cherries,” this variety has great, nutty flavor. Listed on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. Wait until the berries turn from green to golden yellow.

Toma Verde Tomatillo
60 days. 3.5”
What you want for a real salsa verde. Harvest the green fruits when golf-ball sized and the papery husks start to split.

Tomatoes

Indeterminate - Climbing, vining types. Should be staked, trellised or caged. The fruit ripens gradually over an extended period of time and the plants keep growing until killed by frost. You might consider pruning.

Determinate - Bush types. Some may be grown without support. The fruit comes on all at once and then the plant is done. No pruning necessary.

For more on how to plant your tomatoes, here's a quick how-to I wrote.

Cherry Tomatoes

Black Cherry
Indeterminate. 75 days. 3.5”
Yum. A purple/black tomato in miniature. Complex, plummy flavor. Let ripen until dark with a rose-pink undertone.

Chadwick Cherry
Indeterminate. 80 days. 3.5”
aka “Camp Joy.” I’ve chosen this as “my” red cherry because it was developed by the great Alan Chadwick who started the farm & garden program at UC Santa Cruz where I studied for a season. But it’s also an all-around great cherry tomato with large round fruits, high yields and good disease resistance.

Chocolate Cherry
Indeterminate. 70 days. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
I searched this one out by request. Some vegetables just get good names! These “chocolate-y” wine-colored cherries are 1 inch in size, on super productive plants.

Honey Bunch Red Grape
Sorry, seed not available this year. Try Juliet for a grape tomato.
F-1 hybrid. Indeterminate. 62 days. 3.5”
A super sweet grape tomato. Let ‘em really ripen on the vine to fully develop their sweetness.

Honeydrop
Indeterminate. 62 days. 3.5”
Created in the never-ending search for an open-pollinated Sungold or Sunsugar that matches up. This lovely blushing honey-colored cherry has a light and sweet flavor and is less prone to cracking than Sungold.

Juliet
Description coming soon

Sungold
F-1 hybrid. 57 days. 3.5”
It’s not summer without Sungolds. I’m a sucker for these super sweet, bright orange, perfectly round cherries. They’re early - often the first in my garden to ripen, signaling the start of tomato season!

Super Sweet 100
F-1 hybrid. 78 days. 3.5”
If you want an easy, popular and productive red cherry tomato, this one’s a no-brainer. Fruits are 1” and round, plants have some disease resistance.

Yellow Pear
Indeterminate. 70 days. 3.5”
A popular favorite. A bit of a tart, tangy flavor and its distinctive shape set this one apart.

Red Tomatoes

Big Beef
F-1 hybrid. Indeterminate. 70 days. 3.5”
I’ve noticed guys tend to go for the big red tomatoes with “beef” in the name, so here ya’ go, bro. 10-12 oz globe-shaped fruits with varied disease resistance.

Bobcat
F-1 hybrid. Determinate. 68 days. 3.5”
By request - another determinate option. An early, classic red slicing tomato with firm, meaty texture. Reaches 10 oz in size and tolerant to fusarium wilt, gray leaf spot and verticillium wilt.

Fantastic
F-1 hybrid. 70 - 75 days. 3.5”
A crack-resistant and high-yielding vining tomato that will do better if staked. While the fruits are medium-sied (3 - 5”), they’re meaty and rich in beefsteak flavor.

Italian Heirloom
Indeterminate. 75 days. 3.5”
An outstanding classic red tomato from Seed Savers Exchange. Productive plants producing round one pounders.

Jet Star
F-1 hybrid. Compact Indeterminate. 72 days. 3.5”
A high yielding producer of classically pretty 7-8” round red tomatoes. A great choice for a reliable and early tomato. Resistant to fusarium and verticillium wilts.

Mortgage Lifter
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
By popular request. A Kentucky heirloom, this is the Halladay’s strain from Seed Savers Exchange. Pink/red 1-2 lb beefsteak tomatoes that will make you so rich you pay off your mortgage. Let me know how that goes. A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety.

Rosso Sicilian
Determinate. 70-90 days. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
We call this one “the grandma tomato” because of childhood memories, but we found the seed with Seed Savers Exchange. Ribbed or “costoluta” bright red fruits are hollow, so that you might stuff them like a bell pepper. A bit of a diva, the fancy fruits can be difficult to pick and the thin skin bruises easily, but she’s a beauty!

Rutgers
Indeterminate. 75 days. 3.5”
If you’ve spent time on the East Coast, you’ve heard of the fabled “Jersey Tomato,” and this is it. Bred in 1934 by Rutgers University with Campbell’s Soup for the fledgling canning industry, these 6-8 oz fruits are bright red throughout with hearty, old-fashioned flavor that’s good for slicing or canning.

Silvery Fir Tree
Determinate. 60 days. 3.5”
For those of you looking for a “patio” tomato or wanting to grow in a container, try ‘Silvery Fir Tree.’ This is a traditional Russian variety with compact 24” plants. It produces lots of slightly flattened 3-4” fruits against striking lacy silvery-gray leaves. From Seed Savers Exchange.

Pink Tomatoes

Pink Brandywine
Indeterminate. 82 days. 3.5”
The heirloom tomato. Great heirloom flavor comes with heirloom fussiness. Are you up to the challenge? This Slow Food Ark of Taste variety is a beefsteak that averages about a pound each, but can reach up to 2 lbs. Rich classic tomato flavor.

German Pink
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety via Seed Savers Exchange, where it was one of two Bavarian heirlooms from the co-founder’s own family. Meaty beefsteak fruit with few seeds reach 1 -2 lbs and grow on potato leaf plants.

Rose
Indeterminate. 78 days. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Taste test: Brandywine vs Rose? This one’s a bit smoother but I’ll leave the call on flavor up to you. Fruits are 10 oz on up.

Yellow/Orange Tomatoes

Gold Medal
Indeterminate. 90 days. 3.5”
Yellow-orange blushed with red. A great low acid bi-colored slicer, and big!

Kellogg’s Breakfast
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
An orange beefsteak heirloom hailing from West Virginia. A great way to start the day, I’m sure.

Pineapple
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
I love striped tomatoes. Marbled yellow and red, inside and out, this one can get pretty huge. Low acid and fruity flavor. This and a jar of mayonnaise, and I’m set.

Purple (or "Black") Tomatoes

Black Krim
Indeterminate. 80 days. 3.5”
A purple-green “black” tomato with famous flavor. As FEDCO Seeds so delicately puts it, “If you wait until they are fully purple, you will not be able to get them from garden to table intact and they will disintegrate like a hunk of road-kill.” Consider that your challenge.

Cherokee Purple
Indeterminate. 77 days. 3.5”
Like Brandywine, another of the heirloom must-haves. A shorter-vined plant, this Tennessee heirloom is said to have originated with the Cherokee people. Oblate fruit reach 10-13 oz with purple skin, green shoulders and brick red flesh. Fruits are delicate and may sunburn easily, so go easy on the pruning. A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety.

Green Tomatoes

Aunt Ruby’s German Green
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
Don’t be scared of the ripe-when-green color. This is the first tomato I grab for a simple sandwich, when the tomato flavor is shining through. It’s fun to hand out samples at farmers markets and shock people with red tomato sensibilities. This beefsteak can get pretty huge. Wait for a pink-yellow tinge on the blossom end, but don’t let it get too soft on the vine! A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety.

Green Zebra
Indeterminate. 75 days. 3.5”
This was the first heirloom tomato I fell in love with, for obvious reasons, at the tender age of 19 at my first farming job. Blushing yellow with neon green stripes when ripe. A 4-5 oz salad sized tomato with a tangy rich flavor.

Paste or Plum Tomatoes

Amish Paste
Indeterminate. 85 days. 3.5”
A classic choice for sauces, salsas and canning. Larger than Roma (8 oz) and more oxheart-shaped, another flavorful, bright red option. A Slow Food Ark of Taste variety.

Roma VF
Determinate. 65 days. 3.5”
With great productivity and disease resistance in an open-pollinated variety! Deep red, 4 oz fruits.

Zucchini (Summer Squash)

Costata Romanesco
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
60 days. 3”
If you’re looking for flavor, try this heirloom squash. Seed saver Will Bonsall calls it “the only summer squash worth bothering with, unless you’re just thirsty.” With a dense texture and sweet and nutty flavor, it will give you a new appreciation for the vegetable if your reference point is zucchini bread. The ribbed fruits are striped with attractive light & dark greens. Its lower yields and tender skin make it more suited to the home garden than commercial growing. Sorry, seed was unavailable in time this year.

Golden Glory
On the backburner due to low sales. Let me know if you’d like to see it back!
F-1 hybrid. 50 days. 3”
A bright yellow zucchini. Hassle-free with its disease-resistance, open growth habit and spinelessness. (That’s a good thing in zucchini!)

Noche
Description coming soon

Raven
Not available this year. Try Noche for a green zuchinni.
F-1 hybrid. 48 days. 3”
A classic dark green zucchini with great flavor. Best picked at around 6”. Trust me. Be vigilant.