Vegetables - plant varieties and innovations - Brief Article

Flower & Garden Magazine, Jan, 2000

The Green Giant has been synonymous with fresh wholesome vegetables for years. In 1925 the Green Giant was conceived and named to describe the company's new unusually large peas. Flower & Garden finds it fitting for the Green Giant, on his 75th anniversary, to introduce our Vegetables for 2000 section.

Hybrid carrot `Chantilly and has the earliest maturity of 72 days. It adapts to a wide range of soil types and has an excellent sweet carrot flavor. It is tolerant of mismanagement, has a bright orange color and a big root size. This is truly a highly nutritious hybrid which is high in vitamins A, B complex and C. Seminis Garden

Sweet Corn `Legend' combines the best flavors of the super-sweet and sugar-enhanced hybrids. It is sweet with a rich, milky consistency. Plants mature in 68 days while yielding 7-9 inch ears tightly packed from base to tip with 16 to 18 rows of firm, juicy kernels. Park Seed Co.

Sweet Corn `For Heavens Sake' is a hybrid sweet corn which was bred specifically for home gardening. It will produce a big crop most anywhere sweet corn is grown. It has a very sweet, sugary enhanced taste. The ear length is eight inches, and the maturity is 79 days. Seminis Garden

`Labrador' beans have thick, fleshy pods and are known to be extremely tender. They do well in mild temperatures and are especially suited for the Midwest, Northern states and Canada. The bean size is 5.5 inches and weighs 1.25 oz. Maturity is about 57 days. Serrdnis Garden

`Hi-Beta Gold' spaghetti squash has a unique orange color and huge yield potential. It is high in beta carotene and has a good, mild taste. It is a bush variety with a much earlier maturity than most spaghetti squash. Plant at least 10 feet apart, since it is known to spread. The maturity is 75 days. Seminis Garden, Pinetree Garden Seeds

Eggplant `Cloudnine' hybrid is a mild, sweet, bitter-flee tasting variety. The skin color is unique in itself, being pure white. Don't set out the plants too early, since temperatures under 70 degrees Fahrenheit may stunt their growth. It is also well adapted to container growing, so if your space is limited, this might make a good choice. Maturity is 75 days. Seminis Garden

Pepper `Cherry Pick' is a sweet-tasting, heatless hybrid pepper. The plant grows upright about 24 inches and spreads around 20 inches. Used for canning or pickling, peppers mature in 68 days. Seminis Garden, Tomato Growers Supply Co.

Pepper `Bounty Hybrid' is a version of a sweet banana type. It definitely lives up to its name in that it puts out an incredible harvest of large banana peppers that measure nearly a foot long. Maturity is 65 days from harvest. Tomato Growers Supply Co.

Pepper `Lafayette Hybrid' is an extra-large green bell pepper which matures to bright yellow and becomes wonderfully sweet while remaining crispy. Resistant to 3 races of bacterial leaf spot, this hybrid has excellent yields and impressive size. Tomato Growers Supply Co.

Pepper `Maraca Mix' is a trio of crunchy-sweet bells which are festive in color and shape and are shiny, smooth and firm with thick walls and 3 to 4 plump lobes. Peppers are 7 inches long and up to 5 inches wide. They are full of vitamins A and C and are not only festive but nutritious as well. Park Seed Co.

Spinach `Catalina,' a hybrid spinach variety, has small extremely dark green leaves. The smallish leaves are perfect for "baby leaf" spinach salad and/or salad mixers. It is full of vitamins and has a strong mildew resistance. Catalina has an excellent, mild, never bitter taste and may be used as a Border or in a container. Maturity is 42 days. Seminis Garden