Your source for fruit and vegetable news

By Bobbie Whitehead

Looking to grow lettuce in containers or sweet corn with longer shelf life? Seed companies across the country most likely have the new varieties with improved or specific characteristics growers want.

For 2010, gardeners and growers can find  new varieties aplenty as well as hard-to-find heirlooms.

With 15 new items this year, Renee’s Garden of Felton, Calif., which sells products via its online catalog and at garden centers, has an exclusive new container lettuce called Sweetie Baby Romaine. In addition, growers can find a gourmet beet variety called Golden that’s described as tender with a golden orange color.

The Sweetie Baby Romaine, according to the product description, grows “petite vase-shaped heads” that are “heavy for their size with a wonderful, sweet flavor and crisp texture.” Also, Renee’s Gardens describes the Sweetie Baby Romaine as a “long-lasting, slow bolting and heat tolerant” variety.

Whether gardeners want tomatoes, peppers or eggplants, the Tomato Growers Supply Company, a Fort Myers, Fla., seed company specializing in tomatoes, has a variety shapes, colors and sizes to suit their needs. Tomato Growers has introduced a new eggplant variety called White Lightning Eggplant, described as a variety “great” for home gardening and specialty markets, as well as the Marmara tomato.

The Marmara tomato, an indeterminate hybrid tomato, is disease resistant to verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt and the tobacco mosaic virus. Tomato Growers describes the Marmara as “a modern version of the Marmande tomato, a type grown in Southern France.” Marmaras grow to 5-6 ounces and have a “scalloped exterior, intense red color, and wonderful sweet flavor,” the product description notes.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, based in Mansfield, Mo., offers more than 1,275 seed varieties from 70 countries. This year, a couple of Baker’s newest introductions include the Tomato Mushroom Basket, a large, ribbed and pleated tomato with a watermelon-pink color, and the Tomato Monomakh’s Hat, among many others.

The Tomato Monomakh’s Hat, as stated in the product description, is “delicious, with a honey-like sweetness.” These large tomatoes, from Novosibirsk, Siberia, turn a raspberry color and were said to be named for “the diamond-encrusted, coronation crown that Peter the Great and other Russian Tsars wore,” according to Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

At Seeds of Change of Spicer, Minn., which sells certified, 100 percent organic seeds, some of the new fruit and vegetable varieties for 2010 include the Rio Grande Russet Potato and White Sicilian Garlic, an early-maturing, silverskin garlic.

The Rio Grande Russet Potato, described as a “recently developed,” mid-season russet potato ready to harvest in 95-100 days, “has exceptionally high yields, stores well, and is higher in health-promoting antioxidants than most other potatoes,” as indicated in the product description. The Rio Grand Russet features brown skin with white flesh and grows to 4-5 inches long with a diameter of 2 ½-3 inches, the product description notes.

The non-profit, member-supported organization, Seed Savers Exchange of Decorah, Iowa, saves and shares heirloom seeds, and this year, the organization introduces many new heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties. One unique-looking cucumber is the Poona Kheera, originally from India, which resembles a russet potato but is described as tender crisp. Another new introduction is the Kenearly Yellow Eye bean.

An early bean developed in Kentville, Nova Scotia, the Kenearly Yellow Eye grows a white bean with yellow-brown eyes, has “excellent” yields, and is ready to harvest in 80-95 days, as stated in the product description

Gardeners also can find many new varieties at Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co. of Greendale, Ind. For example, this year Gurneys introduces the Gotta Have It™ White Sweet Corn, which grows to 7 ½ feet tall and produces ears 7 ½-8 inches long, as stated in the product description. Also, Gotta Have It™ White Sweet Corn is described as offering a long shelf life.

For more information on the latest 2010 fruit and vegetable varieties, visit the seed and garden center web sites:

1. Renee’s Garden, http://www.reneesgarden.com
2. Tomato Growers Supply Company, http://www.tomatogrowers.com
3. Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, http://www.rareseeds.com
4. Seeds of Change, http://www.seedsofchange.com
5. Seed Savers Exchange, http://www.seedsavers.org
6. Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co., http://www.gurneys.com