Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: 2023 AAS winners – Edibles
Yesterday I talked about AAS annual flower winners. Today I’m going to share some of the edible winners so you can start planning!
I love watermelon but don’t grow it due to size. ‘Rubyfirm F1’ is a personal size, very sweet tasting 2023 winner with crisp flesh and minimal seeds.
It yields 2 to 3 fruits on a 10 ft. vine. It also has good disease resistance. It must be grown in full sun.
Another personal size edible that sounds fantastic is a Kobocha squash called ‘Sweet Jade F1’.
Each fruit is between 1-2 pounds and can be used for single servings of squash, as an edible soup bowl, or in any number of Asian-style dishes where a sweet, earthy nutritious squash is typically used. Sweet Jade’s deep orange flesh is dry yet sweet and very flavorful whether roasted, baked, or pureed. It’s a small cutie that grows on a trailing vine 6 to 8 ft. This one cannot be grown in a container. The judges found that it’s a giver with a high yield and the taste is so good it doesn’t even need butter or salt! YUM.
I’ve had issues the last couple of years with my roma tomatoes having little flesh inside. They were really disappointing. There is a new one and it’s a 2023 AAS winner.
Named ‘Zenzai F1’, the judges loved it for our midwest climate as it’s an early-maturing, high-yielding plant.
They say Zenzai produces a great yield of fleshy plum tomatoes that are perfect for canning and freezing.
Neat and tidy plants produce fruits that are uniformly shaped and easy to harvest on unique bushy yet indeterminate plants, although you will still want to stake or cage the plant. Good news, it’s resistant to blossom end rot! Very meaty and flavorful fruit works well in small gardens.