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Judi Segebarth
Friday, January 28, 2000 Page: 23
Outside, the vegetable garden is blanketed by the achingly white January
snow. Beneath the cold lie the crops of winter; Jerusalem artichokes rest in a
crunchy bed, and the asparagus patiently awaits yet another spring. Below the
powder-mulched rows resides fall-planted garlic gripping the soil with its
fat, white roots while the winter rye lives, still green beneath its great
ivory shelter of snow.
The earth is unplantable right now, but not so the imagination. Today it’s
time to plant a paper garden plot, full of properly rotated and precisely
planted produce. Let’s think about some annual vegetables to complement those
dormant, perennial ones. VEGETABLES 2000 The vegetable names in this year’s
All-America Selections sound like something from a nursery rhyme. Let me see
… Once upon a time There was a Blushing Beauty Seduced by Mr. Big, So green
and such a cutey. The Pepper and the Pea A most unlikely pair. They said,
“Let us go forth And see the great somewhere.” They got aboard Savoy
Express, Met a cabbage and a corn. Then set about for points out west That oh,
so special morn. Their honeymoons were spent Without a bit of slumber. And off
they went the very next day Into the Indian Summer. Here’s a profile of these
four adventurous, awarding-winning vegetables; the pepper and the pea, the
cabbage and the corn. Presenting the bell pepper, Blushing Beauty, a chameleon
of ivory, pink, then red and “sweet at any color.” Harvest beginning 72 days
after transplanting. Because this variety grows to a compact 18 inches, it can
be grown in containers. Mr. Big is, well, big. An easy shelling pea that would
be cute for the children’s garden. It matures at 60 days. It needs vertical
support. Savoy Express will be “the earliest cabbage on the block,” or so
the claim goes. Give it 55 days from transplanting for sweet flavored crinkled
leaves. It should be good for coleslaw. Indian Summer sweet corn promises to
keep multicolorful kernels after cooking. It matures in 79 days with 8-inch
ears, yellow, white, red and purple kernels. Gardeners will need to isolate
this super sweet hybrid. You could even put together a nutritious,
All-American salad with these four AAS 2000 winners. Just add a spicy, herby
vinaigrette. Serve with crusty bread and assorted cheeses.
Judi Segebarth is a master gardener and owner of an organic, educational
center near Zone 5 Wyalusing. Write to her in care of the Arts & Leisure Team,
The Times Leader, 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA 18711-0250.
The Blushing Beauty pepper is compact and can be grown in containers.
Mr. Big is a pea that needs vertical support.
Savoy Express cabbage matures as early as 55 days from transplanting.
The multicolors of Indian Summer sweet corn should hold even through the
cooking process.