SCG’s favorite varieties

hey garden lovers!

over the years we have tried a lot of different vegetable varieties. we’re always testing / trialing varieties to see which will grow best in our growing environment, which is hot and dry for the majority of the year, even in the winter months we can get some warm weather, mid 80’s at times. we’re also at a higher elevation which brings lows, sometimes down to 28-ish degrees, so we get frost a few times a year as well.

we love finding ways to grow our favorite veggies year round, whether it be growing chilli peppers, tomatoes or cucumbers in a greenhouse in the winter months, or even growing cool season veggies like; radishes, lettuce & cilantro in the summer months. over the years we have learned techniques to grow lots of different vegetables and during this process we have identified varieties that perform best over others. they perform well in our hot deserty climate, they are the staple varieties we grow year after year and are listed below.

we also Love trying new varieties, i cannot resist grabbing seeds from my favorite seed company Bakercreek, especially rare colorful varieties, so we are always adding new favorites to our edible landscape.

what makes a variety a favorite of ours, could be anywhere from it being a productive plant, to it is heat tolerant which is a big deal here in inland southern california.

since we are continually trialing new varieties this list will change periodically so check back at the end of each growing season for updates.

also check out our monthly planting, sowing and growing video series on our youtube channel. they show the times of the year we are starting many of these staple varieties:

artichoke - purple globe, green globe
asian greens - purple lady, violetta
asparagus - purple passion
beans - kentucky wonder
beets - baby beets (johnny’s seeds)
berries - chandler strawberry (bareroot available in our shop), red & black goji berries, viking berry, blue berries, black berries, black rasberries
broccoli - green comet

cabbage - integro red
cantaloupe - hales jumbo
carrots - black nebula (bakercreek), cosmic purple, pusa asita black (bakercreek), red samurai
chard - fordhook, ruby red, bright lights
chilli peppers - hatch style green chillies, SCG serrano, SCG prolific jalapeno, chocolate habanero, 7 pot chocolate, chocolate trinidad scorpion
collards - collard greens, tree collards
corn (sweet) - natural sweet, true gold
corn (decorative) - painted mountain, bloody butcher
cucumber - tanja, beit alpha (bakercreek), unagi f1 (johnnys seeds)
garlic - music (hard neck), dunganski (hard neck), silver white (soft neck)
herbs - calypso cilantro (heat tolerant, seeds available in our shop) italian dandelion, red dragon arugula, genovese red freddy basil, upland water cress, aqua large leaf watercress, thai basil - check out our herb collection in our shop.

*heat tolerant lettuce collection - seeds available in our shop*

kale - black magic (san diego seed co), blue curled scotch (bakercreek), thousand head (bakercreek), dinosaur, nero toscana
kohlrabi - purple vienna
leek - giant musselburgh (scottish heirloom)
lettuce - top 6 heat tolerant varieties for high temperatures (summer months) - casey (johnnys seeds), skyphos (johnnys seeds), sierra (siskiyou seeds), panisse (san diego seed co), new red fire, monte carlo (johnnys seeds) - check back, trial going on for best cool season varieties
mustard - red giant, ruby streaks
onions - red creole (purple), keepsake f1 (white), expression f1 (yellow)
onions (bunching) - guardsman (green), apache (purple)

peas - sugar snap (urban farmer), king tut purple (bakercreek)
peppers (bell) - better bell, chocolate bell, ozark (red bell / bakercreek)
potatoes - magic molly (black / purple potato, rich in antioxidants)
radicchio - palla rossa
radish - crimson giant, roxanne, bacchus (johnny’s seeds)
spinach - bloomsdale (heat tolerant), red malbar
tomatillo - toma verde
tomatoes - ginfiz (pictured on the right), carbon, kelloggs breakfast, cherokee purple, new black beef (cross with a beefsteak & black beauty), black from tula
watermelon - sugar baby bush (Bakercreek), crimson sweet

although we have had great success growing these noted varieties in our garden, the key is starting off with nutrient rich soil. take a look at our article “it all starts in the soil”.

enjoy your garden,

tami🌱

It All Starts In The Soil