Organic Gardening News

Finally, as temperatures continue to warm up, it’s time to plant the three most popular fruits that can be enjoyed well into late summer. Whether grown in garden beds or in containers, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are the favourites for summer menus.

There has been an explosion of plant breeding for each of these amazing edibles. It’s challenging to keep on top of all the new varieties because there is always the risk of missing out on some tasty new opportunity. In both the gardening and culinary worlds, when we select a favourite variety, it tends to become entrenched, and it’s hard to develop a relationship with a new introduction. In both disciplines, however, continually experimenting helps us discover even more delights.

Tomatoes are, perhaps, the most challenging. As a grower, it’s becoming more of an issue each year trying to decide which varieties to produce from the hundreds available. As with all edibles, it’s about the flavour, the ease of growing, weather adaptability and a variety’s tolerance of pests and diseases that determines the best ones to grow. Public demand, however, is the No. 1 reason to grow a particular variety.

I find it easier to break tomatoes into categories. Slicing tomatoes are still the most popular tomatoes, and yes, old heritage varieties, like Black Prince and Cherokee Purple, continue to hold the edge on flavour. However, many take 80 to 90 days to mature, and folks want to enjoy tomatoes in July, not wait until mid-August.

Slicing tomatoes, that mature in 60 to 70 days from an established plant, can provide fruit as early as mid-July. Early Girl and Early Girl Plus are among the earliest to mature, but varieties like Celebrity, Bush, Champion and Super Fantastic are all great. Coming in a few days later are the larger 8-ounce size Better Boy, the 8- to 10-ounce Big Beef and the 12- to 16-ounce Beefmaster, and all have good flavour. If you want the big, tasty giants, like the 32-ounce Supersteak, the 2- to 4-pound SteakHouse or the up to 4-pound Porterhouse, you will have to wait until mid-August.

As mentioned, in terms of timing, the heirloom varieties will take 80 to 90 days to harvest. The 8-12 ounce Black Krim is ready in 80 days; the 16- to 24-ounce Mortgage Lifter matures in 80 to 90 days; and the 32-ounce Pineapple will make you wait 90 days.

Small fruit tomatoes rank in popularity right after the slicers simply because they produce so many bite-sized fruits so quickly. The super sweet Sugar Rush is among the earliest, producing in 50 to 55 days. Some of my favourites, like Sweet Gold and Sun Sugar, produce in 62 days; while Sungold is ready in 65 days.  The traditional red Sweet 100 takes 65 days, and Sweet Million produces in 60-62 days.

The very best hanging basket or container varieties are Tumbler at 45 days, followed by Tumbling Tom Red and Tumbling Tom Yellow, both at 65 days. Because they are so prolific and produce continuously, these varieties are usually the earliest tomatoes you will enjoy each year and among the last of the season.

There are so many tomato novelties, like grape tomatoes, paste tomatoes, varieties with unique colours, such as Chocolate Sprinkles, tomatoes shaped like pears and dipping varieties. We almost have too many varieties, but it keeps gardening fun, and discovering new flavours is always exciting.

Peppers have become very much a part of our summer gardens and year-round cuisine. Their flavouring, and spicy heat make them incredibly versatile. In order to connect them in groupings for culinary uses, the Ball Horticultural Corporation, one of the world’s largest, has classified peppers in simpler terms such as sweet bell, sweet non-bell, Anaheim, ancho/poblano, chili, cubanelle, ethnic hot, habanero, jalapeño, serrano and specialty hot pepper.

The nice feature of sweet bell peppers is their wonderful, fresh garden flavour, as well as their stunning range of colours. From orange, green, red and lime to chocolate, purple, yellow and now candy stripe, they truly create a potpourri of colour. Sweet, non-bells excel in colour, flavour and unique shapes. In terms of spicy heat, the runaway favourites are the jalapeño varieties. Anaheims, ancho/poblanos and serranos have a comfortable heat with which to work. They rank in the range of 1 and 2 in Scoville heat units.

Today’s young gardeners and foodies love hot peppers and know their limits with the super hots. When experimenting with peppers, proceed gradually up the Scoville scale. Some very hot varieties, like Carolina Reaper, Trinidad Scorpion and Bhut Jolokia (Ghost), can cause serious burns, so be cautious.

Cucumbers are some of the easiest vegetables to grow, and they are among the most productive, especially planted in containers. Seedless or burpless varieties are becoming today’s favourites because they are sweet, easy to digest and bitter free. If you love the long, straight 12- to 14-inch varieties, then Burpless Supreme and Tasty Green are two of the varieties you may wish to try.  If you insist on the super long varieties, then English Telegraph, stretching up to 18 inches long, is the variety to look for. The trend, however, is to go shorter. One of the popular varieties today is a short burpless, called Perseus, which grows only 5-6 inches long, making it easy to finish up at one sitting.

The new superstars are the miniature burpless cucumbers. Mini-Me and Quick Snack are great container varieties and, when trellised, are very productive, producing an amazing number of 2-3.5-inch deliciously sweet, bite-size fruits all summer.

Pickling cucumbers are hugely popular for summer preserves, and new varieties, like Gherking, are bitter free and ideal for fresh eating or pickles.

The beauty of growing cucumbers is their short growing time, anywhere from 45 to 60 days, and they love the heat of summer.

Even though summer is still a little way off, having tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers growing in your garden or on your patio will mean the promise of some great summer flavours to look forward to.

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