Down the Garden Path: Veggie garden inspiration

We all like to grow vegetables that our family enjoys eating, that favorite tomato (or pepper or bean) which produces faithfully throughout the season. But there may be “new to you” vegetables or varieties of your favorite vegetables that can add excitement to your life. And it’s not too late in the growing season to try something new.

Beans, beets, lettuce, radishes, spinach and turnips still can be started by seed in early summer.

Look to your local nursery, small online specialty or legacy companies, or public libraries with free seed lending programs for inspiration. Here are a few of my favorite uncommon plants that can be direct seeded into the garden in summer:

Winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus)

This bean has four “wings” that run along the length of the bean pod. Mature pods are 6-9 inches and high in protein. All parts of the plant can be eaten, and taste like a cross between green bean and asparagus. These climb like pole beans and need a support structure. Be sure to get a day-neutral variety which will flower in our long daylight summers.

Golden beets (Beta vulgaris)

These are the beets for people who don’t like beets. Golden beets generally have orange skin with flesh that ranges in color from white to yellow. Their sweeter taste is milder than red beets because they contain lower levels of geosmin, the compound that creates the “earthy” beet taste that some folks dislike. One variety, Badger Flame, has a mix of orange and yellow flesh in an attractive flame pattern.

Rat-tail radish (Raphanus sativus ‘Caudatus’)

This is a radish with no round root to eat. The catchy name describes the seed pod that this plant has been bred for. The pods, which can be several inches long, are crisp and less spicy than the roots of tradition radishes. You can eat them raw in salads, pickled or even cooked in stir fries.

New Zealand Spinach (Tetragonia tetragonioides)

Here’s a spinach that can take the heat! Not a true spinach, this plant is a great summer spinach substitute and can be eaten cooked or raw in salads. It can take two to three weeks for the seeds to germinate but New Zealand Spinach is a rapid grower that is more resistant to diseases and pests of common spinach.

Malabar spinach (Basella alba ‘Rubra’)

This is another heat loving spinach substitute that can be eaten raw or cooked. It is a viny, fast grower that can reach up to 10 feet high, so it will need a support structure. This variety of Malabar spinach stands out with its attractive burgundy stems and leaves with pink veins and can even be incorporated into your landscape outside of the vegetable garden for interest as well as food.

Take time this summer to explore seeds of unusual vegetables for some veggie garden inspiration!

• Sue Styer is a certified Master Gardener and Naturalist volunteer with University of Illinois Extension serving DuPage, Kane, and Kendall counties.