 Welcome to planting the garden variety selections. So where to begin? First of all think about what your family enjoys eating most. It's best if you plant what you know you will eat. If space is limited choose longer season crops or high value crops such as tomato, okra, peppers and snap beans and leave the low value crops to purchase at the local farmers market. Keep a journal each year so that you know what varieties you have grown in the past and the success that you've had so that you will continue to be successful from year to year. So how to choose the best variety? There are so many choices. Numerous vegetable varieties are available newer bigger and better every year. But if you're new to gardening stick with those that are proven to be successful in the area that you're growing. There are many that are advertised as proven winners or proven recommended varieties. Why is variety so important? The variety chosen will have many factors in the success of your garden. Whether the variety is well suited for the area in which you live, how large the plant will be at maturity and how many days it will take for you to get your first harvest. Even the continuation of harvest if it produces all at once or if it gradually produces all throughout the season. Variety plays a role in that. What is your intended use of the produce? Are you planning to can or eat it fresh? Disease resistance or susceptibility? Hybrid varieties are grown specifically for disease resistance as well as some size variations. But a hybrid will have disease resistance bred into it. So generally you're going to be more successful with a hybrid variety than you would be an heirloom or open pollinated variety. Also whether it's a hybrid or open pollinated would determine whether or not you be able to save seed from one year to the next. Adaptability. Some varieties do well in northern parts of Alabama that do not do well in south Alabama. Some like sandier soils. Some like more clay soils. So overall the adaptability of different varieties does vary across the state. There also is a microclimate effect where the climate in the plant's immediate vicinity may differ from somewhere else and success can definitely be impacted based on variety. Earliness. The number of days from planting to maturity can vary depending upon the variety. Some varieties will produce in 30 to 50 days where others may take 90 to 100 before they'll begin to produce a crop. So that's definitely something to take into consideration when you're choosing varieties. You would never want to choose something that takes 90 days to produce that you may wait to plant until July as a frost would kill the plant back before it would even begin to produce a crop. Also succession planting. If you plant early of a tomato variety that produces say an heirloom that takes 90 days you wouldn't want to succession plant or continue to plant every two to three weeks more of that same variety as you get later in the summer or else you won't end up with a harvest. You would want to plant earlier quicker maturing varieties as you go later into the season. Size determinant or indeterminate is something to take into consideration especially with tomatoes. It's a popular plant in the vegetable garden but they do come in two different forms either determinant which means it will grow to a determined height and produce most of all of its crop in about a three week time frame where an indeterminate will grow continually into a long vine. It takes more intensive trellising structures but it will produce all the way till a frost kills it back or an environmental condition were to kill it or a disease but it will produce just a few fruits here and there all along the way until the plant dies. Given the variety of beans also would determine whether or not you needed a more intensive trellising structure for the vining crop or if it's more of a bush form where no trellis is required. Again mature plant size is definitely something to consider when you're selecting the variety. How many plants are you even going to fit in your garden space? Do you want indeterminate or determinant tomatoes or do you have room for pole beans or bush or top pick that will all be determined by them size of your garden the space that's available and the varieties that you choose to place in your garden. Productivity even with the same care some varieties yield considerably more than others but usually your hybrids are going to out yield your non-hybrids due to bread resistance to diseases and also their production capabilities the size of fruit that's all been incorporated in that plant while when it was hybridized. Some plants do respond well to fertilizers and need other nutrients more specific to that crop than others for example corn is a grass and requires a lot of nitrogen while a bean is a legumin will fixate nitrogen to the soil so the productivity of your garden due to fertilizer requirements or nutrient requirement needs of each crop does need to be considered when you plant your garden so that you don't end up with long lush vines and no fruit if you were to over apply nitrogen to the garden for example the quality of your product also is a determining factor in the variety varieties differ greatly and the flavor of the fruit texture size of the fruit whether it's a cherry size tomato or a large sandwich tomato the ability to keep as some produce keeps longer on it has a longer shelf life than others when you store it in your refrigerator or the adaptability to be able to can it or freeze it based on to the amount of pulp that's to water ratio that is inside the fruit all that determines the quality of the fruit how long the fruit will keep but then also the way that you decide to use the fruit whether you're going to make sauces or pastes you would choose a different variety of tomato like aroma that's got the doesn't have as much water and pulp in it as you would if you were going to grow tomatoes to use for tomato salad or BLT buy wisely buy seed for your garden from a reputable dealer make sure that the kind of seed the variety percentage of germination date of testing are all marked on each package cheaper bargain seeds may be a liability as the longer you keep them the germination rate will continue to go down and you don't want to invest a lot of time into seed that are not going to come up well in your garden don't save your seed unless they are from a desired variety that's no longer available and know whether or not it's a hybrid as hybrid seeds are not going to come back true to the parent plant it will have genetic variations it will still grow the same crop but the plant will produce different offspring there will be different variations in the produce when buying transplants from a garden center buy plants that are healthy on the shelf never purchase plants that already have problems that you may bring home to your garden examine the roots for presence of nematodes or even circling in the pot indicating that they have been in that container too long also discard of all infected weak or damaged plants so that you do do not introduce new problems to your garden here are some helpful links alabama cooperative extension has a vast resource of information through our publications online here are a few that you would want to check out the alabama vegetable gardener less many different varieties as well as the fall vegetable gardening basics publication that will tell you varieties that do well based on the area and what you live also more information on growing garlic or growing lettuce all of these will tell you the time of year the plant spacing information that needs to be taken into account when you plant your garden based on the season and time of the year also we have free apps that are available with so much information free to check out the so app is through alabama cooperative extension and is free and it will tell you every day what you could plant on that day varieties that are recommended for the area and what you live and other general information common insect disease problems and things like that as well as the farming basics app which also gives you pictures of insects and diseases that commonly affect vegetables and fruits that you may have in your garden so again they're free check them out and if you have gardening questions call our toll free master gardener helpline 1-877-ALA-GRO or 252-424-769 and we'll be happy to assist you