Vegetable Variety List

This list was developed by Doug Jones, the Land Lab manager for Central Carolina Community College's Sustainable Farming Program in Pittsboro. The Land Lab is CCCC's five-acre outdoor classroom for research, demonstration, and crop production and is located about 1 mile west of downtown Pittsboro in Chatham County.

These are varieties that are currently performing well for Doug at CCCC. He has dropped some good hybrids so he can emphasize non-hybrid varieties, as part of his ongoing search for varieties that have potential to be locally adapted and improved to approach the yield and quality of some of the better hybrids. Seeds of such improved open-pollinated varieties could then be produced locally.

This list will always be a work in progress, with recognition that there are more good varieties out there waiting to be trialed and proven under Piedmont conditions. If you would like to recommend favorites of your own, please email Doug or Cricket Rakita of CFSA’s Save Our Seed Project. If you would like to try some of the promising varieties from Doug’s trials and seed-saving work, please contact him for seed. He will also be selling slips of 10 proven and promising sweet potato varieties in May, and bulbs of proven garlic varieties in October.

Rating System: Doug recommends all these varieties. He assigned a rating scale of +, ++, and +++.

+++ is the highest rating. T means it is still undergoing testing.

Seed Sources: Click on the Original Source link in the chart to see where to find the seeds. Seed suppliers are listed at the bottom of the page. Consult the Grower Resource List on this website for more suppliers.

Consult the Planting and Harvesting Guide for Piedmont Vegetables for information on crop planning.