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February
6 , 2002
The questions
concerning ordering seeds though the mail are important these days
with postal authorities using irradiation machines to eliminate Anthrax
and other similar terrorist actions. Irradiation will destroy garden
seeds. As of now, the best information we have says that only specific
zip codes in the Washington DC area are being irradiated. These include
Senate and House of Representative addresses as well as the White
House. There doesn't seem to be any attempt by the post office to
irradiate mail to other addresses. So it should be safe to order seeds
by mail. However, should additional attacks be made through the mails,
this could change. Just what the post office plans to do to protect
its employees and the rest of us is not public information which is
understandable. If anyone continues to have concerns about the seeds
they will plant this year, obtain them from local sources. Many stores
in our area carry a wonderful selection of seeds and would be most
happy if we bought our seeds locally and supported local businesses.
The New
York State College of Agriculture in Ithaca has released their 2002
recommendations for vegetable varieties best suited for home garden
use in our area. These are the result of field trials in and around
central New York. A condensed form of this release showing the more
popular garden vegetables is listed below. Hard to find varieties
have been eliminated. Every home gardener has his or her own favorites
and while they may not all be included on this list that doesn't necessarily
mean they have been superseded by other varieties. Continue to grow
what does well in your own garden soil but at the same time try a
few "new" things every year.
Each
year hybridizers try to out do each other with newer and better vegetables
and flowers often showing increased disease resistance, drought/wet
tolerance as well as improved yields, flavors and storage capabilities.
It pays to keep abreast of what these dedicated hybridizers are turning
out. All America Selections awarded annually to the best vegetables
are a good bet when looking for something "new" or different
to try as well as this list from the College of Agriculture.
Selections
within each variety are listed in order of maturity from earliest
to late. New varieties are suffixed with (new).
Green
Bush Beans: Provider, Tendercrop, Bush Blue Lake, Improved Tendergreen.
Wax Bush Beans: Gold Crop, Sungold, Golden Butterwax.
Green Pole Beans: Blue Lake, Kentucky Wonder, Kentucky Blue.
Beets: Early Wonder, Warrior, Crosby Green Top, Detroit Dark Red,
Long Season, Golden (new), Ruby Queen (new), Red Ace (new).
Carrots: Pioneer, A-Plus, Royal Chantenay, Kinko, Healthmaster.
Sweet Corn: All yellow hybrids unless followed by (WH) white or (BC)
bi-color.
Early Corn: Seneca Spring (BC), Sprite (BC), Jester, Stardust (WH),
Sundance, Early Gold and Silver (BC), Stars-n'-Stripes (BC), Precocious,
Sugar Buns, Temptation (BC), Sweet Dawn, Geronimo (BC), Trinity (BC),
Fleet (BC)(new).
Mid-season Corn: Platinum Lady (WH), Silverado (WH), Seneca Scout,
Jubilee, Pristine, Precious Gem (BC)(new).
Late-season Corn: Sweet Sal, (BC), Sweet Sue (BC), Silver Queen (WH),
Sugar Ace, Bodacious, Sensor (BC) Delectable (BC)(new).
Supersweet Corn: Top-Notch (BC), Twice as Nice (BC), Ssupersweet#7210,
Camelot (WH), Even Sweeter (WH), Golden Gourmet, Northern Extra Sweet,
Candy Corner (BC), Punchline, Primetime, A-mazingly Sweet (BC), Jumpstart
(BC),
NOTE: Supersweet corn must be isolated from other varieties of sweet
corn by a few hundred feet to prevent cross pollination.
Cucumber-Slicing: Spacemaster (dwarf vine), Sweet Slice, Marketmore
80, Marketmore 76, Burpless Hybrid, Orient Express, Raider, Greensleeves.
Cucumber- Pickling: Premier, Regal, National Pickling.
Lettuce- Crisphead (Iceberg): Tom Thumb, Ithaca, Burpee Iceburg, Great
Lakes 659 (Fall), Summertime.
Lettuce-Butterhead (Bibb/Boston): Summer Bibb, Winter Density, Four
Seasons, Dark Green Boston, Sangria, Buttercrunch, Esmeralda.
Lettuce- Looseleaf: Oak Leaf, Black Seeded Simpson, Green Ice, Salad
Bowl, Lollo Rossa, Prizehead, Red Sails, Slobolt, Ibis, Ruby, New
Red Fire (new).
Lettuce-Cos (Romaine): Cosmo, Little Gem, Valmaine, Parris Island,
Green Towers.
Lettuce- French: Sierra.
Muskmelon: Sweet'n Early, Earlisweet, Earli-dew, Early Queen, Fastbreak,
Burpee Hybrid, Gold Star, Superstar, Iroquois, Harper Hybrid, Roadside,
Saticoy, Ambrosia, Pulsar.
Parsnips: Hollow Crown, All American, Harris' Model.
Peas-Early: Sparkle, Early Market, Little Marvel, Knight.
Peas-Late: Frosty, Lincoln, Green Arrow, Wando.
Snow Peas: Oregon Sugar Pod II, Little Sweetie, Mammoth Melting Sugar,
Dwarf Gray Sugar.
Snap Peas: Sugar Ann, Early Snap, Super Sugar Mel, Sugar Snap.
Peppers- Sweet Early: Ace, New Ace, Gypsy, Canape, Golden Bell.
Peppers- Sweet Main Season: Lady Bell, Sweet Banana, Klondike Bell,
Wizard, Renegade, Enterprise, Belle Star, King Arthur, Golden Bell,
Early Sunsatiion, Yellow.
Peppers- Hot: Cayenne, Jalapeno, Super Chili, Anaheim Chile, Serrano,
Habanero, Sweet Chili.
Potatoes-Early: Andover, Superior, Norland, Carole.
Potatoes-Mid-season: Chieftain, Reba, Russet Bake-King, Salem, Yukon
Gold, Yellow Finn, Purple#5.
Potatoes- Late: Elba, Genesee, Katahdin.
Pumpkins-Mini: Munchkin, Baby Boo, Jack-be-little.
Pumpkins-Small: Small Baby, Baby Penn, Jackpot, Spookie, Baby Bear,
Lil' Ironsides, Lumina (white),
Pumpkins-Large: Autumn Gold, Howden, Rocket, Tom Fox, Goldrush, Merlin.
Pumpkins- Giant: Bix Max, Atlantic Giant, Prizewinner.
Radish: Cherry Belle, Sparkler, Champion, Scarlet Knight, Icicle,
French Breakfast.
Spinach- Spring: Melody, Indian Summer, Dark Green Bloomsdale, Winter
Bloomsdale, America.
Spinach-Summer: New Zealand, Malabar.
Summer Yellow Squash: Sunburst, Seneca Prolific, Early Prolific Straightneck,
Sundance, Yellow Crookneck, Fortune (new).
Squash-Zucchini: Gold Rush, Eldorado, Burpee's Golden Zucchini, Multipak,
Midnight Zucchini, Zucchini Elite (new), Revenue (new), Dividend (new).
Squash-Winter, Butternut: Ponca, Puritan, Walthan, Harris Butternut,
Zenith.
Squash- Winter, Acorn: Table Ace, Ebony, Table Queen, Carnival, Table
King, Tuffy.
Squash- Hubbard: Red Kuri, Blue Ballet, Hubbard.
Swiss Chard: Lucullus, Fordhook Giant, Large White Rib, Rhubarb, Ruby
Red, Rainbow, Bright Lights.
Tomato-Cherry: Sungold.
Tomato-Grape: Jubilee
Tomato- Extra Early: Early Cherry, Supersweet 100, Current, Cosmonaut
Volkove, Early Cascade, Tomato- Early: Cascade, Sunrise, Springset,
Early Girl, Lemon Boy.
Tomato-Mid-season: Better Boy, Big Beef, Celebrity, Jet Star, Supersonic,
Brandywine, Big Boy.
Tomato-Paste: Nova, Roma, Viva Italia.
Turnips: Tokyo Cross, Purple Top Globe.
Watermelon: Yellow Baby, Sugar Baby, Crimson Sweet.
Watermelon- Seedless: Disko, Favorite Ball, Millionaire, Tri-X Carousel.
www.cce.cornell.edu/yates/mgindex.htm.
Cornell
Cooperative Extension Yates Association
Last updated: 1/29/02
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