Best Beans for Making Dilly Beans
Roc d'Or Bush Bean - a lovely color to mix in with the green beans, a nice buttery flavor and good disease resistance.
French Emirite Pole Bean and French Gold Filet Pole Bean - I like to have these beans growing for when the bush beans are done producing. They make decent Dilly Beans, but you have to cut them down more.
All of these varieties work well for Pressure Canned beans as well. I save the end pieces and the not so straight beans to can for green beans.
Cucumber for Fresh Eating and Pickles
Green Fingers Persian Baby Cucumbers - These were great for fresh eating, smooth thin skin and appealing dark color. They produced so heavily that we couldn't keep up with eating them, and they are best picked small. It says that it is mildew resistant, but it was attacked by some fungus in my garden late in the summer (which was a very wet year).
Endeavor Pickling Cucumber - This is a nice classic pickling cuke. Last year's extra moisture was great for the cucumbers, and I had a bumper crop to fill my shelves with pickles. They are also fine for fresh eating, but I prefer to peel the thicker skin on these.
Peas of all Sorts
Magnolia Blossom Tall Snap Peas - This was our favorite pea for it's looks (high climbing vines with gorgeous purple flowers) and for it's abundant sweet snap peas. My kids snacked all spring on these, it produced for a long time.
Sabre Shelling Pea - This is what I use for shelled peas. It is a good producer, but not very tall, so you don't need too high of a trellis. I don't can peas because they are too good and get eaten right away, barely making it to the pot!
Best Pepper Mixes
Southwestern Chili Trio - This mix contains 3 types of peppers perfect for making salsa. The combination gives it an amazing flavor and just the right amount of heat for a medium salsa. I use the Zesty Salsa recipe from Ball with these peppers and a few green peppers and it is amazing!
Orange Sun and Jupiter Sweet Bell Peppers - This is mix of red and orange peppers and they are so sweet and delicious (and good for you!) I can't grow enough of them.
Baby Belle Mini Snack Peppers - This mix of red and yellow mini sweet peppers are great for snacking, sometimes right in the garden. The kids love them (and the grownups too). In my experience, the yellow is a little bigger of a pepper and a more vigorous plant.
 |
| I Love Black Krim Tomatoes! |
Tomatoes for Different Purposes
Black Krim - This is our favorite tomato for slicing. The delicious sweet and juicy flavor is great on sandwiches, especially BLTs! It is a large fruit, which can get you one nice big slice that fits perfect on your sandwich.
Chianti Rose - I started growing this tomato as an improvement on Brandywine. It is lovely pink, good sized fruit, with less cracking than the Brandywine. We like it for slicing and juicing.
Italian San Marzano - This is my favorite paste tomato, with good fruit and better disease resistance than the Amish Paste. The plant tend to be more sturdy as well.
I get the majority of my seeds from Renee's Garden. Their quality and prices are excellent, they are always adding new interesting seeds, and they sell Heirloom varieties, which I feel is very important.
