Our staff at Cashman Nursery and I have come up with the varieties of vegetables we like best that we grow in our vegetable gardens. There are many other good varieties. You may have some that you like and are even better than this list. I have not listed all the vegetables that we can grow here. Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower grow well here. As do peppers if you plant them after the last frost. Onions, beets, leeks, and other root crops grow easily. Zucchini and other summer squash grow prolifically. Plant early varieties of winter squash and pumpkins. Try some of these great varieties and enjoy your vegetable garden!
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Classic Slenderette Bush Beans (or any other slender French bean)
I have found that a French type or any slender green bean isn’t tough even when it is picked when fully mature. Yields are early and high and flavor is delicate. Bush beans don’t need support.
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Nelson Hybrid Carrot
A Nantes-type carrot whose flavor is deliciously sweet. It is known for performing well in heavy soils. I like it because this carrot because it is a little shorter (6-7”) so it doesn’t break off as easily when digging them in the fall.
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Sugar Ann Snap Peas
Ripens about 10 days earlier than other snap peas. Sweet, tender, and stringless. Needs no support.
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Green Arrow Peas
An heirloom shelling pea that produces long pods and has heavy, reliable crops of sweet tasting peas. This is Don Mathre’s favorite from the Gallatin Gardeners Club.
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Patio Snacker Bush Cucumber
A early, 6 to 8 inch cucumber that grows on compact plants. Grow in a container or in the ground. Makes delicious cucumbers with a non-bitter peal. Diva is another cucumber that comes highly recommended by our customers and Don Mathre. It is slim, 6-8” long, and sweet with a tender, edible skin. And Diva needs no pollinator.
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Quickie Sweet Corn
We have been growing this sweet bicolor corn for years. It is one of the first sweet corns to ripen, (68 days) with sweetness that lasts. Quickie has good cold-soil vigor, needed for our cold springs here. Trinity is another early bicolor sweet corn we have grown with good cold soil vigor. Trinity is sugar enhanced (Se+) so its kernels hold their sweet taste long after picking.
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Yukon Gem Potatoes
Similar to Yukon Gold potatoes, but improved with higher yield. Scab resistant and also resistant to blights.
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Sunsugar Cherry Tomatoes
This orange cherry tomato wins every taste test. It has early, abundant crops.
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Quinalt Everbearing Strawberries
Last year at the early October Gallatin Gardeners Club meeting, a couple brought in a container full of huge, delicious Quinalt strawberries, grown in their garden near here. Remember, for best results, refurbish and replant your strawberry bed every 4 years or so. Strawberries do well in a raised bed.
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Sparkle Junebearing Strawberries
Junebearing strawberries bear only one crop per summer but that crop is often sweeter and has bigger berries than everbearing varieties. Sparkle strawberry is hardy for Northern climates, vigorous and easy to grow. Good for freezing, jam, or eating fresh.
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Boyne Raspberries
We have had Boyne raspberries in our garden for years. Our 18 foot row of Boynes gives us more raspberries than the two of us can eat, even when I freeze some. This tried and true raspberry is extremely hardy and productive, fruiting from mid-July to August.
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Sweet Purple Asparagus
Try this new, tender asparagus with a higher sugar content than most asparagus. The burgundy-colored spears turn green when cooked.