New England Vegetable Garden Pack

Basil, Italian Large Leaf (Sweet)
A native to Europe and cultivated for centuries as a fresh and dried culinary herb. Common in America by the late 1700s. The plants grow to about eighteen inches, and provide several harvests. The leaves are used fresh to make pesto, and can be dried and used as a seasoning. A favorite in Italian dishes. Prefers well-drained soil, even moisture, and full sun.

Blue Lake 274 Bush Green Bean
Pick the pods while young as they are more tender and succulent and less likely to be stringy. This variety is a canner's favorite as it tends to mature its heavy crop all at once.

Detroit Dark Red Beet
Very tasty fresh out of the garden, it also maintains its taste and texture well after being canned or pickled. Globe shaped, excellent color, sweet, smooth and tender.

Di Ciccio Broccoli
An old European variety Introduced in 1890. Compact, 2 to 3 feet high plants, that produce a central 3 to 4 inch head with many side shoots. Freezes well.

Catskill Brussels Sprouts
The 20 to 24 inch tall plants produce heavily. The sprouts are large (up to 1¾ inches), dark-green and firm. Used for fall harvests, it is good fresh or frozen. Developed in 1941.

All Seasons Cabbage
Also known as 'Vandergaw', this variety is heat resistant, fine-flavored and produces good, hard heads that are ten inches in diameter, average about 12 pounds and are round but flattened on top. Released in 1886.

Cosmic Purple Carrot
Bright purple on the outside and orange on the inside. They make an interesting and tasty, sweet addition to a veggie platter. Six to eight inch long, sweet Danvers-type carrot.

Early Snowball Cauliflower
Uniform maturing, smooth, pure white heads weighing three to five pounds and six inches across. It is a medium sized plant with good leaf coverage. Released in 1941. It is reliable. Freezes well also.

Perpetual Swiss Chard
Leaves are smooth, dark-green in color with fine midribs. It is very vigorous and provides an almost "perpetual" harvest. If you garden in an area with a hot climate, it is a great choice for a continuous supply of tasty summertime greens.

Vates Collards
Large, upright, twenty-four inches tall, dark green leaves with a mild, cabbage-like flavor. Used for boiling. It is bolt and frost resistant and the veins do not purple.

Boston Pickling Improved Cucumber
Originally released about 1880, it is a dependable variety that bears over a long period of time if kept picked. This improved strain is disease resistant. The plants have blocky, bright green fruit that are perfect for pickling.

Burgess Buttercup Winter Squash
Good maritime variety. Under optimum conditions, these vines can reach fifteen feet and set twenty or more fruit per vine!

Early Prolific Straightneck Summer Squash
Best harvested (our opinion) when the fruit is five to six inches long and still tender. Mature size is 12 to 14 inches.

Black Beauty Zucchini Summer Squash
The bush-type plants of 'Black Beauty' zucchini are early and very productive. Although you can use this summer squash at just about any size, we start picking fruit when they are about six to eight inches long by two inches in diameter and dark green in color. We prefer them at this young and tender stage when they are excellent lightly steamed, sautéed, or stir-fried. They reach a black-green to almost black at maturity.

Ping Tung Long Eggplant
Ping Tung Long Eggplant is a popular variety of eggplant that is known for its long and slender shape and tender, mild flavor. Originally from Taiwan.

Bok Choy (Pak Choi)
Plant indoors 5 weeks prior to your last expected frost date. Sow at a depth of about ¼ inch keeping moist until the seedlings appear. Use as much light as possible, watering as required. Before transplanting, the seedlings should be acclimated to the outdoors. Do this about two weeks before you expect to transplant by moving outside into the shade and then return indoors at night. Expose the plants to more direct sunlight every day. Check moisture regularly. Transplant 16 inches apart in rows spaced 24 inches.

Arugula

Also known as rocket or roquette and is popular in Italian cuisine. Adds an interesting tangy flavor to an otherwise bland salad. All plant parts are edible and harvest is enjoyed over a long period as it is a cut and come again plant.

It prefers cool weather so start sowing successive plantings directly in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked in the spring. Also try an early to mid-fall planting in a cold frame or greenhouse for harvest throughout the winter.

Sow seed ¼ inch deep in a location that receives full sun to partial shade. Best soil temperatures for germination is 40 to 50ºF. Sow about one inch apart thinning plants to a spacing of about six inches. Harvest when the leaves are 2 to 3 inches long.

Premier Kale
Used fresh in salads or on sandwiches as a more nutritional alternative to lettuce, when young and tender. Also good as a cooked green or roasted with a little olive oil and salt.

Buttercrunch Bibb Lettuce
Long lasting, heat tolerant, dark green with reddish tints. The heads are rosette shaped with thick leaves. Introduced in 1963 and an "All-American Selection®" winner the same year.

All The Year Round Butterhead Lettuce
Medium-sized heads stay firm and solid even in hot weather. Can be sown in most locations from about March through August for a nearly "year-round" harvest periods. It does well in both hot and cooler locations.

Honey Rock Melon
The fruit are up to 6 inches in diameter with a tough, coarsely netted skin and sweet, flavorful salmon colored flesh. The plants are vigorous, produce 5 to 7 fruit per plant and are disease resistant. Introduced in about 1920.

Tatsoi Mustard
The leaves are harvested and used the same as spinach leaves; as salad greens or lightly cooked. Reportedly can withstand cold temperatures down to 15°F (–10°C).

Emerald Okra

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onion
Extra large (up to six inch) globe shaped onion. The skin is a straw color and the flesh is white. It has a popular mild and sweet flavor. 'Yellow Sweet Spanish' is an indeterminate variety that reportedly does well in long day regions and stores well.

Italian Parsley
Plants have deeply cut, dark green leaves with a rich, strong flavor; generally stronger in flavor than the curled types. Excellent for flavoring. Parsley has been cultivated for centuries and is used as a garnish, palate cleanser, flavoring in soups, salads, as a seasoning in other recipes, and medicinally.

Sugar Snap Pea
Young pods are tasty and tender but develop strings at maturity. Vines can reach 6 feet and need trellised. Freezes well but will not stand up to canning temperatures. Released and an " All-American Selection®" winner in 1979.

Golden California Wonder Bell Pepper
The plants are upright, strong, and produce 4 or 5 fruit that are mostly four-lobed, blocky, and 4 by 4½ inches with thick flesh that is mild and sweet. The skin is a bright gold, changing to orange-red when mature.

Jalapeno Hot Pepper
The fruit are dark green, tapered, three inches by one inch, turning red when mature. Good for pickling or used fresh in salsas. They have thick walls so do not dry well. They can range from 2,500 to 10,000 Scoville units in heat.

Watermelon Radish
The roots are large with white skin and tender, sweet, bright-red interiors.

Bloomsdale Longstanding Spinach
Leaves are dark green and crumpled. Stands well in hot weather. Named after their farm in Bristol, PA, D. Landreth & Co. released ‘Bloomsdale’ in the 19th century. 'Long Standing Bloomsdale' was developed and introduced in 1925 by Zwaan and Van der Molen, Voorburg, Netherlands.

Sunflower, Giant Greystripe
Planting Instructions: Sunflowers are very easy to grow and because of their size, quite spectacular for a child’s garden. Sow directly outdoors, ¾ inches deep. Thin the plants at first to 8 inches and then to two feet to avoid crowding. (We have had good luck transplanting) Water regularly and weed between the plants to eliminate competition. Harvest the seeds by cutting the flowering heads when the backs have turned yellow. Complete the drying by hanging them upside down in a warm, dry place. Scan the QR code below for more information.

Toma Verde Tomatillo (Green Tomatillo)
Sow seeds indoors (do not direct sow into the garden), using sterile seed starting mix, 6 to 8 weeks prior to your last expected frost date. Plant ¼ inch deep, water lightly, but keep moist until emergence. Optimal soil temps for germination is between 75 to 90°F. After emergence water as needed. Full light and cooler temps (60 to 70°F) will help to prevent the seedlings from becoming too leggy. If plants become root bound before you can safely set them into the ground, transplant into larger pots. Harden off plants before planting outside. Young plants are very susceptible to frost and sunburn damage. Avoid too much nitrogen. Water evenly but not in excess.

Dwarf Eagle Smiley Tomato
60 days, dwarf — Extremely productive, rugose, regular leaf plants reach 5-feet tall. Bright to golden-yellow, 1oz, globe-shaped fruit that are borne in clusters of 8 to 10 tomatoes.

Brandywine, Red - Tomato
100 days, indeterminate — The disease tolerant, regular leaf plants yield fruit that are red, globe shaped, and full of flavor.

Purple Top White Globe Turnip
Round roots that are bright purple on the upper part and white below. The globes grow four to five inches in diameter but are best when harvested a little smaller.

Cal Sweet Bush Watermelon
What a treat it is to grow a bush watermelon on your patio! This bright red fleshed, round, 5-7 pound personal size watermelon has only 20-inch vines and can be grown in nearly any size garden or large container.