If you’re a vegetable gardener, you want to grow the best varieties for the area.
Cornell’s Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners (VVfG) Program is here to help. The concept is simple: gardeners across the state visit the VVfG website and report on which varieties perform well, or not, in their gardens.
You can view the variety of ratings and read reviews. The Vegetable Variety Trial Gardens (VVTG) is a companion program to the VVfG which allows individual county extensions to cultivate vegetable demonstration gardens. Various New York State seed companies work with Cornell to provide seeds and plants while Cornell provides a project guide.
The 2026 VVTG project guide is “Cultural Roots of the Mediterranean.” Cornell is partnering with the Hudson Valley Seed Company from Accord, New York, to provide seeds and plants. You can see these unique vegetables growing at our CCE of Oneida County’s Parker F. Scripture vegetable garden.
Many vegetables we eat today have their cultural associations from Europe and the Mediterranean area due to the long history of people immigrating to New York. Here is a sample of the plants growing in raised beds and containers in our gardens.
‘Cesare’s Canestrino Di Lucca’ tomato. This is a rare and prized heirloom with its origins in Lucca, Italy. The fruits are basket/purse shaped and are good for sauces and salsa.
‘Cocozelle’ zucchini. This is a yellow and green striped zucchini from Italy. It’s a bush plant and fruits are known for their rich flavor, whether baked or fried.
‘Scarlet Nantes’ carrot. This is one of the oldest heirloom carrot varieties. It boasts six-inch roots with a deep orange color.
We’re also growing: ‘Reine De Glaces’ lettuce (a French heirloom); ‘Red Long of Tropea’ onion; ‘Garnet Stem’ dandelion; Spring Broccoli Raab; ‘Gigante d’Italia’ parsley; Italian Large Leaf Basil; ‘Listada di Gandia’ eggplant; ‘Keystone Giant’ sweet bell pepper; ‘Hot Portugal’ hot pepper; ‘Firminio’s Plum’ tomato; and ‘Florence’ fennel. We will be demonstrating succession planting by starting the broccoli raab followed by a late summer planting of the dandelion greens.
We’re also planting a tillage radish to demonstrate the use of cover crops.
You’ll see more information about the vegetables on the signs posted in the garden. Our gardens are free and open to the public during the daylight hours. Learn more about the Cornell VVTG or download a copy of Cornell’s Vegetable Varieties for 2026 at https://cceoneida.com/resources/vegetable-varieties-for-2026.
Cornell Cooperative Extension Oneida County answers home and garden questions which can be emailed to homeandgarden@cornell.edu or call 315-736-3394, ext. 333. Leave your question, name, and phone number. Questions are answered on weekdays, 8am to 4pm. Also, visit our website at http://cceoneida.com/ or phone 315-736-3394, press 1 and then ext.100.
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Cornell’s vegetable program is here to help
Reporting by Rosanne Loparco, / Observer-Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Rosanne Loparco, | USA TODAY Network
