Home gardeners may have a stack of seed catalogs — or multiple open tabs on their browsers or apps — and have been perusing them, dreaming of sun, warm soil and endless planting possibilities.
One tried-and-true way to ensure the seeds you purchase will perform well in your garden is to rely on the work of the nonprofit All-American Selections.
For the past 90 years, the group has tested hundreds of new, unsold seed varieties of all types and in all growing zones, and then selected its yearly winners — from annuals and perennials to vegetables — for home gardeners to try.
As you begin to plan out your spring garden, leave a good-sized portion for some new and different veggies to try, and perhaps choose one or two from the AAS Winners list, like a corn crop that looks ornamental but tastes sweet, a sprouting purple cauliflower, and a summer squash that can resist many of its usual garden foes.
Murasaki Fioretto cauliflower
"Murasaki" is the Japanese word for "purple," and "fioretto" in Italian is "flowering," and this purple flowering cauliflower lives up to its name!
Instead of growing into the traditional domed shape, this All-American Selections winner is a warm-weather tolerant cauliflower that turns a beautiful shade of purple. Once ready to harvest, you can cut individual sprouts without having to cut the whole head, and it holds well in the garden, too.
Ultraviolet sweet corn
Usually, it's the ornamental corn varieties that have kernels growing in both light and deep shades of burgundy, but this one is a sweet corn for eating fresh or cooked. Its flavor is described as both sugary and savory.
Gimlet cucumber
Whether you add cucumbers to your cocktail or just snack on them straight from the garden, this lime-green cuke variety will add color, crunch and taste to any occasion.
These cukes grow about 6 to 8 inches long with smooth skin, and they're a great vegetable to grow in a container, if you've got limited garden space.
The plant grows on a short vine and is also parthenocarpic, meaning it can set its fruit without pollination.
Little Lemon summer squash
Choose this type of summer squash to try, especially if you've been bugged by common pests in previous seasons, namely squash bugs and cucumber beetles. These seeds are pest-resistant and grow into petite, lemon-shaped squashes.
Palla di Fuoco Rossa radicchio
If pests have been an issue for the greens in your garden, too, go for this new green and white radicchio variety. This one grows into a very pale green with a white center and a milder, less bitter flavor.
Contessa beefsteak tomato
Tomato lovers looking to try a different beefsteak variety could plant the Contessa. It boasts an impressive list of disease resistance and grows fruits about 8 to 10 ounces each.
Looking for even more veggie variety inspiration? Scan this list for more All-American Selection winners.
Forcing cherry blossoms indoors
Q: I would like to force some cherry blossoms for an event in early February. We have a five-year old sour cherry bush in our backyard that has never fruited but had lots of blossoms for the first time last spring. Is forcing blossoms in early February possible? If so, when should I bring the branches in? - Eve, via email
A: Once you hit the new year, the physiological dormancy of all those spring flowering trees and shrubs has been met. And once it gets warm enough — indoors or outside — they'll start flowering.
If the event is in early February, do the harvesting of those branches in mid-January.
It may take a while for the blossoms to come out of dormancy and actually flower. In fact, you might want to harvest a branch every few days or so and try different branches, just to make sure you have some of them flowering in time for the event.
When to cut back raspberry bushes and when to compost
Q: I have a hard time knowing what to cut back or how to trim my raspberry plants, how far to cut for next year’s crop. Do you have any suggestions? - Mary, in North Hero
A: If you've planted the "everbearing" type, these produce raspberries all summer and fall. Let this type go dormant all through this winter, and then in the summer, they'll grow and fruit.
Harvest the berries in summer, and then prune the raspberry canes that you harvested from. Removing them allows new canes to come up, and then you'll get a second crop in the fall.
Alternately, you can also cut down the whole patch this time of year, or in early spring. Then remove that summer crop and the berry bushes will grow to produce a bigger fall crop.
All Things Gardening is powered by you, our audience! Send us your toughest conundrums and join the fun. Email your question to gardening@vermontpublic.org or better yet, leave a voicemail with your gardening question so we can use your voice on the air! Call Vermont Public at 1-800-639-2192.
Listen to All Things Gardening Friday evenings at 5:44 p.m., or Sunday mornings at 9:35 a.m., and subscribe to the podcast to listen any time.
