5 Vegetables Every Gardener Should Plant Right Now
Whether you’re a newbie or a pro, here are five fresh ideas for upgrading your summer harvest from edible gardening expert Logan Williams
Hugh Garvey
Like many nursery owners, Logan Williams has been fielding more questions than ever this year from an influx of new customers who’ve gotten into gardening as a result of the renewed interest in home-based activities in the era of Covid-19. “People will come to me and they’ll say: ‘But the book said you couldn’t grow cucumbers right now,'” he laughs. Logan, who runs Logan’s Gardens in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles with his father Jimmy, says everyone should relax. “My dad and I like to joke that these people have a ‘back East’ gardening mentality.” While lettuce might need some shade cloth, or you might want to move your arugula out of the sun, Jimmy says: “The fact is there’s not not much we can’t grow in the summer months, particularly in Southern California.”
Jimmy and Logan (pictured above, with Logan’s mother and his sister, Porter) built their business on expanding people’s notions of what a backyard garden can be, selling plants at farmer’s markets and planting and maintaining edible gardens for homeowners and restaurants. For years they ran the business out of their house near Hollywood, planting every available spot of their yard with tomatoes, peppers, and papayas, as well as heirloom varieties of produce yet unseen in the L.A. area. Their nursery is believed to be the only African American-owned nursery in Southern California.
Of the dozens of tomatoes they grow, one is the Goose Creek tomato, an heirloom variety Williams’ enslaved ancestors cultivated in North Carolina and handed down through his family over the generations. While Williams has already sold out of Goose Creek for the season, the nursery offers numerous varieties of tomatoes and other vegetables—from heirloom peppers and cucumbers to oversized lettuce-leaf basil to papalote, the Mexican herb that’s been described as a cross between arugula and cilantro. If you’re in the L.A. area, you can find Logan’s Gardens selling at the Santa Monica Third Street Farmer’s Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, the Hollywood Farmer’s Market on Sundays, and by appointment on Fridays and Saturdays at their nursery on Silverlake. Here are five exciting and unexpected edible plants that Logan suggests you should grow right now, regardless of your skill level.
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Chocolate Sprinkles Tomatoes
“Cherry tomatoes are one of most requested types of tomatoes, and everybody seems to go for Sweet 100 or Sungolds,” says Logan. For a change of pace, he suggests folks try the Chocolate Sprinkles variety: “They’re a darkish almost brownish color with red and green stripes. They’re really productive and really tasty.” Logan says people should think of tomato planting as a summer-long affair as there are three waves—and we’re just in the second one. (There are even some Russian, Polish, and Czech varieties you can plant in August and be harvesting into fall.)
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Tree Collards
“We’re known for tree collards,” says Logan. ”Traditionally it’s thought of as an African American or Southern black sort of food. It’s the second-most nutritional green on earth, after dandelion greens. A lot of vegans are into it as it’s super-high in protein.” Consider perennial heirloom varieties like purple collard green, Alabama blue, and Green Glaze, which boasts glossy leaves and the highest oil content of all the collard varieties. If you don’t feel like doing the typical 45-minute slow cook, slice it super thin and mix it into a salad.
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Fish Pepper
“One interesting African American heirloom we sell is the fish pepper, which does really well this time of year,” says Logan. “It’s variegated green and white stripes. It’s hot, but not too hot and works really well in fish dishes, hence its name.” Bonus: It boasts beautiful blossoms before producing its striking striped fruit.
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Ruby Wallace’s Old Time White Cucumber
While he currently has nine or so varieties of cucumbers on hand, Logan is particularly fond of this distinctive heirloom cucumber grown in North Carolina for at least 50 years. “It’s white to pale yellow and has a thin skin,” he says. “In addition to the Ruby Wallace, we’ve also got the lemon cucumbers,” which are round in shape and yellow in color.
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Nepitella
Low-maintenance, high-yield herbs are always a good thing to have on hand for final flourishes for a dish. Logan suggests planting nepitella. “It’s a really great type of Italian mint. The best way to describe it is if mint and oregano had a baby, this is what it would taste like. Before quarantine it had a place in the craft cocktail scene. “When bars were a thing we’d have bartenders making vermouth and amaros from nepitella, but it’s great in meatballs too.” Like any mint it likes to grow on its own. “Put it in a big old pot by itself and you’ll be fine.”