It’s that time of the year again. The seed catalogs are pouring in almost as fast as the Christmas advertisements. It’s time to start ordering seeds. Even though my seed bin runneth over, it doesn’t mean I’ll necessarily slow down on what I buy. My garden is as much about experimentation as production, and I can’t pass up new varieties that catch my eye, especially disease and pest resistant ones.

Choosing Plants for Disease Resistance

This week I had several interviews with professional growers, including Tom Stearns, the founder and CEO of High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont. Tom and I chatted about picking plants for disease resistance. If you’re someone who has issues with disease, you really need to pay attention to what’s out there.

For example, powdery mildew is pretty common to most gardens. Tom told me it doesn’t overwinter where they live in the north, but it’s a given in their
gardens. The powdery mildew spores survive as far north as Georgia, and then in the spring when the weather warms, they develop and are carried north on the wind. It leapfrogs like this until it reaches Vermont around August. So he knows they’re going to have to deal with it.

Sometimes when a plant has powdery mildew (depending on the plant and the time of the year), it’s not a huge deal. I’ve had powdery mildew on zucchini, and while it knocked the plant back pretty good it didn’t kill it. But, as Tom pointed out, if it affects plants such as melons, it can significantly decrease the amount of sugar in the fruit.

Now that’s something you don’t want.

You can spray plants with a fungicide, but if there’s a way to grow plants that are resistant from the start, doesn’t that make more sense?

Sivan Melon and Iron Lady Tomato

One new variety (for me) this year is the melon ‘Sivan.’ Tom says it’s delicious, plus it’s an 80-85 day variety, which should work for us. It’s also resistant
to powdery mildew. Since we’re touchy on whether melons even ripen around here, I don’t want to risk the plant to powdery mildew.

Another new variety I’m going to plant is ‘Iron Lady,’ the only tomato on the market resistant to late blight, early blight and Septoria leaf spot. Tom says it
tastes excellent, as well as being resistant to some of the worst tomato diseases out there, so I want to give it a try. I don’t feel good recommending something unless I grow it.

What really surprised me when I spoke with Tom are the varieties vegetables (particularly many of the lettuces) that are resistant to pests. They’ve developed hybrids (these are traditional hybrids, not the GMO strains) that have some component in them that certain pests don’t like. Pest resistance can be helpful to have in place of disease.

The insect, such as an aphid, might land on them and take a bite, but they don’t stick around. That’s very good news to commercial growers, as well as home growers who have big issues with some of these pests.

So while you’re perusing those gorgeous seed catalogs filled with varieties that show so much promise next season, be sure to read deeper into their descriptions and find those varieties that not only taste great, but offer a lot fewer headaches with natural resistant qualities.