–W. Atlee Burpee & Co.
‘Little Finger’ carrot
■ Adequate soil depth is important for developing a strong, healthy root system in a container. Keep these depths in mind:
6 INCHES lettuce, spinach, beans, and round beets
8 INCHES carrots, peas, and peppers
10 INCHES eggplant, squash, and cucumbers
12 INCHES tomatoes
True midget vegetables, the kind preferred by gourmet cooks and seen in farmers’ markets, grow on dwarf plants. As real space savers, they are perfect for a small garden plot or for container growing. Here are a few suggestions:
■ ‘Straight ’N Narrow’bush beans are delicate, 5- inch-long, French gourmet beans on compact but prolific plants. For tender wax beans, try ‘Goldcrop’, which bears 5- to 6-inch-long pods.
■ ‘Pablo’ is a smooth, dark-red beet with a small taproot, making it perfect for harvesting as a tender baby beet. ‘Little Chicago’, a true baby beet, is perfect for pickling or in salads, with no slicing required. Thin plants to 1 inch apart and harvest baby beets when they reach golf-ball size. (By picking beets frequently and replanting, you can get several crops per season.)
■ ‘Gonzales’ cabbage is a tender, sweet, single-serving-size vegetable that is as big as a softball when fully grown. All-America Selections (AAS) winner ‘Dynamo’is another true mini-cabbage that produces a small head on a small plant.
■ ‘Little Finger’ is a tiny carrot, only 5⁄ 8 of an inch in diameter, and ‘Thumbelina’, an AAS winner, is a gourmet, 1-inch, round carrot. ‘MiniCor’ and ‘Baby Sweet’ are high in soluble sugar, making them extra-sweet, true baby carrots.
■ Most of the “baby” carrots available in grocery stores are full-size carrots that have been cut and shaped to look like minis.
■ Store-bought “baby” corn is actually immature ears that are picked before they are pollinated, just as the silk appears at the tip of the husk.
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