Spirits Dampened
Amy Jordan
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Between the freeze and flood, gardeners’ spirits may be dampened. However, Mother’s Day signals that we are now past the threat of frost, so planting may proceed. That is, when soils dry out enough to accommodate planting.
Deciding what to plant in the vegetable garden is difficult for some, easy for others. Hopefully part of the winter was spent thinking about what would go in this year. If not, consider what you’ll be able to manage, and what you like to eat.
My garden always contains Swiss chard, which is essentially a beet that doesn’t produce a storage root. It tastes a lot like spinach, and can be used instead of spinach. It can be harvested all summer, when spinach can not, and it is not widely available in supermarkets. It is nutritious and very productive. Swiss chard is a good source of vitamin A, as well as many other nutrients like calcium, iron, folate and potassium. Its one of the easiest vegetables to grow in Kansas, yet is fairly uncommon. “Bright Lights” is a variety that produces stems of various colors and is fun for kids to grow.
Tomatoes are a garden favorite, yet the countless varieties that are available make it hard to choose which ones to plant. Some of them have letters after the name, which further complicate matters. So where do you begin?
The letters after the name indicate disease resistance, so the more letters the greater the resistance. For instance, “Mountain Fresh VF12, EB” indicates that it is resistant to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt races 1 and 2, and Early Blight.
Slicers are good for eating fresh, plum-types are good for canning, and cherry or grape tomatoes are both smaller and are great for salads or for snacking. Heirloom tomatoes are a popular trend, many of which are quite interesting, but lack the disease resistance of newer varieties. Yellow or orange tomatoes are sweeter, but not less acidic (the higher sugar content just masks the acidity). Vines may be determinant, meaning they are more compact and tend to set fruit at once, or indeterminate, meaning the vines grow longer and set fruit as they grow.
Peppers are another popular garden vegetable. Peppers may be sweet or hot, and come in many shapes, sizes, and colors. The heat of peppers (capsaicin) is measured in Scoville units. A jalapeno pepper measures between 2,500-10,000 units, and a habanero measures 80,000 to +300,000 Scoville units.
Garden produce is best eaten fresh, but can be easily preserved by freezing or canning. Contact the Extension office for a list of recommended vegetable varieties for Kansas or information on preserving.
• Amy Jordan is a horticulturist with K-State Research and Extension in Lyon County.