A Cast of Good Characters!

Hey Everyone,

While many are fighting the cold and flu season, spring fever has hit me like a ton of bricks.  I know it is only the start of January but fever induced moments of purchasing wonderful seed varieties and cultivars without rhyme or reason has struck hard.  Descriptions such as prolific producer, disease resistance, heat tolerance and incredible flavor get me every time.  It's a terrible bug and one can only hope it passes quickly!  Be careful, it may be contagious!

Lettuce varieties chosen for their resistance
to Downy Mildew and Heat.

Who will be the cast of characters for the 2014 growing season?  Who will take the leading role?  Equally exciting, who will receive the best supporting roles in the form of companion plants?  When a moment of strength finally presents itself, much thought will go into proper planning and looking towards seed varieties and cultivars that will perform well under the adverse growing conditions of our zone 7.

The link below is to a web page at Cornell University's Department of Plant Pathology.  If you click on some of the different vegetables to grow, a chart appears showing you varieties that offer the best resistance to disease and physiological disorders.  Choosing resistant varieties when deciding what to plant affords greater success for maintaining a healthy garden, especially in a community garden type-growing environment.  Some of the cultivars listed in these charts will be readily available at local garden centers; however, most do require growth from seed.

http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/Tables/TableList.htm - link to the charts at Cornell University offering information on disease resistance and physiological disorders among cultivars.

Similar in size and appearance
to Iron Lady tomato!

Cornell also published an interesting article last March on a newly developed tomato cultivar called Iron Lady.  This particular variety shows great promise at preventing not only both of the blights but septoria leaf spot as well.  By controlling all three of these fungal disorders, any dependence on fungicides is dramatically decreased, if not eliminated.  It has been difficult to obtain any true unbiased reviews on the taste of this variety or the brix content for those that like their tomatoes sweet, but a home trial this year should provide us with first-hand knowledge.  The links to Cornell's article and a nice write up on the cultivar are also below for your convenience.

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2013/03/ready-plant-iron-lady-tomato-punches-out-blights - interesting article on a new blight resistant tomato out of Cornell.  It also contains the link to High Mowing Seeds who carry Iron Lady exclusively.

http://www.greenstar.coop/produce/108-news/983-new-tomato-fights-blight-high-mowing-organic-seeds-releases-qiron-ladyq - link to a nice write up on the Iron Lady tomato.

Similar in size and appearance
to Mountain Magic!

Many of the major seed companies will include traits and characteristics unique to each vegetable written within their descriptions.  For example, this link to Park Seed Company highlights Mountain Magic Hybrid Tomato Seeds.  If you scroll down to the resistance category, you will see it is resistant to both types of blight as well as several others of the common tomato diseases we face.  This makes Mountain Magic a nice variety to choose for planting in the garden.

http://parkseed.com/mountain-magic-hybrid-tomato-seeds/p/52522-PK-P1/ - link to a blight resistant tomato variety from Park Seed Company.

Mountain Magic actually originates from Dr. Randy Gardner, a retired tomato plant breeder out of North Carolina State University. Even while retired he still does amazing plant breeding work in collaboration with Cornell and NCSU and his varieties have been gracing my garden for years.  A link showing his other tomato discoveries is below and most are incredible hybrid performers without sacrificing taste or quality.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/staff/rgardner/ - link to Randy Gardner, Ph.D. profile and the tomatoes he has bred.

It is impossible to find a one size fits all when choosing the cast of characters for your garden.  The codes and claims you find on charts, tables, and written descriptions are only indicators for tilting the odds in your favor.  The environmental conditions you set the plant up to face, factors such as how you care for your soil, deal with pests, fertilization practices, as well as weather, are all integral parts of how well that particular plant will thrive and produce.  However, armed with the knowledge on how to choose plants wisely and tilting those odds in our favor should help us all succeed in our gardening endeavors.

Happy Gardening,

Denise, Beds 25 & 29