New Fruit & Vegetable Varieties for the Decade

New Fruit & Vegetable Varieties for the

Decade

By Beth Wilson Agent for Horticulture, Pulaski Co. Cooperative Extension

It’s okay to have a few good standbys when it comes to the varieties of vegetables and fruits that you grow. But every once in a while, a new variety comes out that you just have to try. Here are a few new (and newish) varieties. It’s okay to have a few good standbys when it comes to the varieties of vegetables and fruits that you grow. But every once in a while, a new variety comes out that you just have to try. Here are a few new (and newish) varieties. • Loose-curd cauliflower –This different type of cauliflower doesn’t touted as ideal for light –All-America Selections • Grafted tomato or borne diseases like Fusarium

form one large head. It Photo: Loose-curd Cauliflower by is stemmier and is Johnny’s Seeds: Loo cooking or serving raw rootstocks have strong root for dipping. system and can thereby • Apple-shaped tomato the scion cultivar. (AAS) gave the thumbs • UFO-shaped pepper –‘Mad up to this variety called Hatter’ was an AAS winner ‘Tomato Apple Yellow’. back in 2017. It’s just a weird The small tomatoes are looking pepper that will not bright yellow and the only be good eating but will plant could result in ‘up also be a conversation piece. to 1000 fruits per plant’. Slightly warm, great for wilt or bacterial wilt. Most confer higher plant vigor to stuffing. pepper plants –There is • Potato from seed –AAS consensus that grating a chose ‘Clancy’ as a winner. desirable variety of Yes, you plant the seed, grow tomato/pepper onto a the transplant (just like a strong rootstock can tomato transplant), and plant help to control soilout into the garden. Growing

from seed is a good way to avoid any diseases that may be laying dormant on seed potato pieces. Interesting. • Joan J raspberry –This variety came out several years ago. It is a thornless, primocane berry that produces red raspberries. • Caddo blackberry –This new thornless variety comes out of the breeding program at the University of Arkansas by John Clark. No orange rust, anthracnose, or cane/ leaf rust has been detected in research trials.