Our 2008 Vegetable Varieties
We specialize in growing open-pollinated heirloom varieties, many of which are on the Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste. We only purchase our seed from suppliers who are members of the Safe Seed Initiative.
Arugula | Pungent, tangy, spicy green that you either love or hate. Great addition to salads and sandwiches. |
Provider Bush Bean | An early green bean that tastes great and give high yields that was developed by the USDA in 1965. |
Indy Gold Bush Wax Bean | A hybrid yellow bean that makes a great companion to our fresh green beans. Packer fans can show their team spirit with a fresh green and gold bean salad. |
Cherokee Trail of Tears | Cherokee Indians brought this bean on the Trail of Tears death march in 1839. |
Christmas Lima Bean | A white pole bean with maroon swirls that dates back to the 1840. |
Hidatsa Shield Figure Beans | A heirloom dry bean from the Hidasta Indians of the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota. |
Hutterite Dry Beans | Australian Anabaptists brought this bean to Canada in the 1750’s. |
True Red Cranberry Pole | A pole bean that looks like a real cranberry . It was cited in a 1700’s gardening encyclopedia. |
Sayamusume Edamame | One of the best tasting fresh soybeans. Stacey likes to eat them raw out in the field. |
Detroit Dark Red Beets | The standard beet introduced back in 1892. |
Golden Beets | Burpee seed company introduced this variety in 1828. Sweet and mild. |
Green King Broccoli | A best-tasting mid season variety that puts out lots of side chutes – bonus! |
Marathon Broccoli | A long – 97 day variety to end the season. |
Tendergreen Broccoli | Pretty blue green heads, its our choice to begin the season |
Oliver Brussel Sprouts | An early mild tasting hybrid that’s ready to harvest in September |
Gonzalez Cabbage | Small, early, sweet, and spicey. What else can a modern family ask from a cabbage? |
Super Red Cabbage | Mid season red cabbage. |
Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage | An 1889 open-pollinated introduction from Maine. Large, late, with good storage qualities. |
Nelson Carrots | A short season sweet carrot from Holland to help get our season going. |
Red Core Chantenay Carrots | Another French heirloom from 1879 that can tolerate heavy soils like ours. |
Charming Snow Cauliflower | A new variety for us from Taiwan. It’s a early variety with a pretty name |
Conquestador Celery | A sweet crisp modern hybrid that tolerates drought – but not our kids mowing it down with the estate trimmer. |
Golden Self Blanching Celery | A French heirloom that Burpee brought to the United States in 1884. |
Bright Lights Swiss Chard | It took the folks at Johnny’s seeds fifteen years to develop this blend. We include it in our flower gardens. This variety lets us have fun with our food. |
Abenaki Calais Flint | A strain of Roy’s Calais Flint corn which was grown by the Abvenaki tribe and given to settlers. We can wait to make corn meal. |
Hopi Blue Flour Corn | This variety has been raised for 800 years on the mesas of northern Arizona. As a child, Stacey and her family spent a week on the Hopi mesas and fell in love with piki bread. This makes wonderful blue cornmeal. |
Mandan Bride Corn | An heirloom from the Mandan Indians of Minnesota and North Dakota for corn meal or ornamental fall displays. |
Diva Cucumber | Johnny’s 2002 All-American selection produces the best tasting cucumbers that you don’t have to peel. |
Marketmore 86 Cucumber | Open pollinated semi-bush slicing cucumber. |
Olympian Cucumber | A hybrid slicing cucumber that is disease resistant. |
Diamond Eggplant | A cold climate variety from the Ukraine. |
Rosa Bianca Eggplant | A finicky Italian heirloom that is said to be the best tasting in the world. |
Listada de Gandia | Purple striped heirloom eggplant that produces 6”-8” fruits. |
Red Bor Kale | High yielding hybrid with ruffly red-purple leaves. |
Wild Gardens Kale Mix | A mix of all kinds of kales from Wild Garden Farm in Oregon. |
Winter Bor Kale | High yielding hybrid with ruffly blue green leaves. |
Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi | A dwarf heirloom variety that is dark purple on the outside and white on the inside. |
Winner Kohlrabi | Our late summer – fall variety. Great in slaws. Crunchy sweet like apples. |
King Richard Leeks | A hybrid introduced in 1978 produces full sized leeks in 75 days. |
Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce | Old Amish variety with triangular leaves. |
Anuenue Lettuce | A 1987 introduction from the University of Hawaii. It can stand the heat. |
Trout Back Lettuce | One of the best tasting lettuces comes from Germany and dates back to 1793. |
Grandpa Admire’s Lettuce | Bronze tipped leaf after lettuce that came after a Civil war veteran who was born in 1822. |
Green Ice Leaf Lettuce | Loose leaf. A 1974 introduction from Burpee. |
Jericho Lettuce | A romaine that cam from Israel in 1984. Another heal tolerating variety to take us into summer |
Nancy Lettuce | An elegant butter head lettuce. |
Paris Island Cos Romaine Lettuce | Developed by the USDA and Clemson Agricultural Experimental Station in 1952. |
Pirat Butterhead Lettuce | A German butter head variety |
Red Sails Lettuce | All America red leaf lettuce |
Royal Oak Leaf Lettuce | Green oak leaf lettuce |
Slobolt Leaf Lettuce | A green leaf lettuce that we hope will take us into summer |
Speckled Amish Lettuce | A bibb lettuce introduced to the trade 1880 by Mennonites. |
Summertime Lettuce | A heat resistant head lettuce from the folks at Oregon State University. |
Webb’s Wonderful Lettuce | An 1890 head lettuce introduction form England. |
Crane Crenshaw Melon | A rare California introduction form the 1920’s. |
Delicious Muskmelon | a nearly round, medium sized delicious hybrid muskmelon. |
Minnesota Midget Muskmelon | An early muskmelon that the University of Minnesota introduced back in 1948. |
Evergreen Bunching Onions | A Ferry Morse introduction that is good for salads. |
Cherry Belle Radish | A red skinned radish from 1949. |
Coral Peas | One of the earliest peas, which has become more important as we seem to have earlier and warmer Springs. |
Green Arrow Peas | Our standard mid season variety. A reliable heirloom from England |
Sugar Ann Peas | A 1983 variety that is the sweetest and earliest of the sugar snaps. Doesn’t give us big yields, but gets us started and that’s important in Minnesota. |
Sugarsnap Peas | Stacey grew this variety in 1979, the first year it debuted and no other varieties compare. Eat them raw or slightly blanched with lemon butter. |
Ancho Chile Pepper | A pablano pepper from Mexico used for stuffing and mole sauce that turns from black-green to red. |
Beaver Dam | This hot Hungarian heirloom came to Wisconsin in 1912. |
Bull Nose Large Bell | Grown by Thomas Jefferson and introduced to the trade in 1863. |
Early Jalapeño Pepper | Hot pepper from Jalapa in Veracruz, Mexico. |
Fish Pepper | A version of the serano pepper from the 1870s that has historical significance because it was widely grown within African American communities. |
Habanero Pepper | Probably our hottest pepper that originally comes from Cuba and the Yucatan. |
Jimmy Nardello’s | Sweet Italian frying pepper brought to Connecticut from Ruoti, southern Italy in 1887. |