The folks at Renee’s Garden, known for its awesome selection of tasty vegetables and beautiful cottage garden flowers, hooked me up with a bunch of seed packet samples for 2012. Here are three of their new vegetable varieties:

Container Zucchini Astia

We LOVE zucchini, but with a small urban garden, the traditional sprawling squash has been taking up way too much real estate in my plot. I was going to try some sort of trellising this year for vegetables. But when I saw Renee’s had a new bush variety of zucchini, I just had to order it.

Bush zucchini? Yes! It’s small, compact, and can actually be grown in a container. Astia bears its fruit at the base of the plant instead of along rambling vines. Astia also is said to produce lots of zucchini and early in the season. They recommend sowing these seeds in May-June rather than start indoors. That is a nice perk, too. This is the variety Im looking forward to growing the most.

Vegetable Paradise: Portuguese Kale Beira

We can’t get enough of kale. But have we ever successfully grown it? No. It’s high time we do, too.

This Beira kale is right up our alley. Here’s why: Its leaves are paddle-shaped. That means its very easy to wash, unlike the curly-leaved vegetable varieties. I always miss some sand and grit in those types. According to Renee’s description, Beira kale has a mild but rich flavor and the added bonus of being heat tolerant. Kale in the depths of summer—yay!

Baby Napa Cabbage Little Jade

For the last two years, I have planted cabbage transplants I’ve received from my farmer brother. His vegetable varieties are the commercial types, bred for large heads. Well, turns out I don’t need a dozen very large heads of cabbage.

So this year I’m excited to plant this baby Napa cabbage called Little Jade. It’s a Chinese cabbage, and those are the types that are a bit elongated, not perfectly round. And it is mini, at just 8-10 inches in head size. And it claims to have excellent disease resistance. As long as the mealy bugs stay away, Ill be very happy.

There are other Renee’s Garden seeds I’m trying, too, such as the Braising Mix of gourmet greens. It includes Ruby Queen and Bulls Blood beets with Silverado and Eldorado chards! Very cool. And there’s also a Wasabi Arugula. You guessed itthe leaves have a spicy wasabi-like flavor. I have a hope theyll be just as potent as wasabi. Maybe that way the flea beetles will be foiled.