What's your favorite vegetable variety?

so lucky said:

Pretty odd that some people say KY wonder pole is stringless, and others say it is too stringy. I wonder if there are different strains for sale that are incorrectly labeled KY Wonder. Are there any safeguards against genetic dilution or contamination of the old OP varieties? I guess I'm asking how we can be sure that the OP seed we buy is from the true stock. Buying from a tried and true company, perhaps. @Jared77, where do you buy your KY wonder pole bean seed? (sorry, you may have mentioned it, but I am kinda absent minded lately)

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So Lucky, I just completed 2 seed orders. There were a couple more earlier. I was just thinking how I could have placed my order for Early Girl (hybrid) tomatoes at any one of 3 of the companies. The last couple of years, the seed has come from the West Coast. This year, Early Girl seed will come from Florida.

I haven't been real happy about the Early Girls starting off the season small & "heart-shaped." It is no real problem. My understanding is that any tomato may have that shape early if they have started in cool conditions. Not sure but I believe it is a result of pollination problems. So, I'm thinking, "Well, sunny Florida! Maybe the 1st fruits off the plants won't all have that heart-shape!"

I think you know that I am - Wrong. That seed is likely to be ALL from the same location. Early Girl is a hybrid so a corporate someone owns the parents. The seed is likely to all be from exactly the same location, somewhere in the world and no matter who is selling it. Want consistency? Open-pollinated, non-patented varieties may not be the best choice.

Steve
Gandhi ~ "An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it." Okay, he wasn't talking about open-pollinated seeds. Sheesh!

so lucky said:

Pretty odd that some people say KY wonder pole is stringless, and others say it is too stringy. I wonder if there are different strains for sale that are incorrectly labeled KY Wonder. Are there any safeguards against genetic dilution or contamination of the old OP varieties? I guess I'm asking how we can be sure that the OP seed we buy is from the true stock. Buying from a tried and true company, perhaps. @Jared77, where do you buy your KY wonder pole bean seed? (sorry, you may have mentioned it, but I am kinda absent minded lately)

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There are many strains of Kentucky Wonder since it has been so popular for so long. Being a strain of Kentucky Wonder wouldn't make it incorrectly labeled, most strains just aren't labeled. This may have something to do with some having strings and others being stringless. I think that you got that explanation right on. Beans rarely cross-pollinate even when plants closely together, and even if many dry bean varieties also work well as green beans.

Nearly all seed companies go by a standard to make sure that they're seed stays uncontaminated by the pollen of another variety. For example, the minimum isolation distance for broccoli may be 1,000 ft. to keep separate varieties from cross-breeding. Although some of the smaller or privately owned companies may let crops like beans grow right next to each other just because they rarely cross. But they will put a small note (on their website or maybe in their catalog) like "beans varieties not likely to cross 1% of seed may be crossed, just weed out of-type plant or grow it on if you like."

I was going to try the Multicolored Butterbeans but Southern Exposure was out of stock by the time that I got around to ordering them.

Great suggestions in this thread.

I'll add Dragon's Tongue Wax Beans as a personal favorite - often they are gone by the time I get back to the kitchen!

I always have to have Goliath tomatoes(have to be staked) blue lake green beans and top crop, detroit dark red beets, prizehead lettuce kennebek potatoes (may be mispelled) calypso cucumbers.. great for eating and canning, bear a lot, holds up well. Champion radishes. Vidalia onions Big Bertha peppers, most years, those are the ones that come to mind at this time.