Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: 2021 vegetables
The gardening industry had a huge year as so many of us turned to the outdoors due to covid-19. It’s the healthiest thing we can do now and in the future and for so many reasons. I won’t list them all today, instead I wanted to share some 2021 vegetable introductions!
As always, you need to understand what will work in YOUR garden situation but let’s consider these tasty options! Johnny Seeds is introducing ‘Butterbaby’, an organic butternut squash is a hybrid with improved qualities. It’s also adorable.
The fruits are small, about 4–6″ long and offer about two servings each. It’s vine is short, making it perfect for smaller gardens. It also has some resistance to powdery mildew.
One vegetable that’s easy to grow and delicious is the radish. This year, I introduce you to ‘Nero Tondo’, an organic Black Spanish radish. This elite strain is much more uniform and resistant to bolting than the ordinary Black Spanish variety.
The roots grow from 2–4″ (depending on harvest date). They are black-skinned, round roots with crisp, hot, white flesh.
I couldn’t resist telling you about ‘Armageddon’. This super hot habanero is from Burpee. Holy scoville units, it registers 1.3 million heat units. If you like it hot, this is your habanero.
The fruits are no bigger than 2 inches and turn fiery red about two weeks earlier than most, making them perfect for our shorter growing season. The knee-high plants are productive.
This past fall I ran out of kale but had a wonderful red cabbage. So I used that in my soup instead of the kale. It was delicious AND colorful.
I found a new red cabbage from Garden Trends called ‘Red Jewel’. With a beautiful deep purple-red color, dense head, and short core, Red Jewel is ideal for fresh use and shredding.
The uniform round 3-5 lb. heads tolerate tip burn and mature early, perfect for we northern gardeners!
