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Despite "red" being part of the variety name, the heads of this cabbage were a deep, almost bluish, purple when I grew it. The color fades somewhat when cooked, but chopped and kept raw, it makes a gorgeous addition to a salad or slaw.

Although this plant was listed in garden guides as being winter hardy only in zone 9, I tried it in my zone 8 garden as a winter crop with great success. It grew slowly when the weather was cold, but never showed damage from frost, and was tender and mild when harvested.

My husband had never eaten kohlrabi and doesn't like a lot of unusual veggies, but even he was impressed with this kohlrabi when I sautéed it with herbs and a tiny bit of butter.

Chard is the only food plant that was productive 12 months of the year in my zone 8 garden. Stands up to light freezes as well as intense heat without wilting or changing its flavor.

Although it is less attractive, I found the 'Perpetual' variety to be slightly hardier and slower to bolt than 'Bright lights.' It also had a milder flavor, a plus for anyone who is new to the world of chard or who doesn't like the beet-like taste.

One of the most beatiful vegetables, this plant creates fractal shapes in its head and has a vibrant pale green color. Even more striking is the flavor, mild and nutty, with no bitterness at all. It has the best qualities of both broccoli and cauliflower. The leaves are also edible, although they have a stronger flavor than the head and can be tough when they are large.

On the downside, it is a relatively slow grower, and it produces only one head.

Excellent, well-balanced flavor and produced well in my garden (zone 8, sandy soil, humid summers). Fruits ripened somewhat unevenly, so would not transport well for market, but a wonderful fresh-eating tomato. Probably my favorite all-around slicing tomato.

A very sweet and fruity tomato with large, fleshy fruits, but less prolific than other large slicing tomatoes I grew simultaneously. Worth growing for the flavor if you have plenty of space.

This little cucumber starts out white and turns bright yellow as it matures. It's fine to eat at either stage, and it makes good pickles with an unusual shape when immature. I've never had bitterness from Lemon Cucumbers, and their unique look makes them popular for kids and party platters. Because the individual fruits are fairly small, a healthy vine will produce them in large numbers.

Do you like fresh edamame, but not the price? Soybeans are very easy to grow at home, and seed can be purchased inexpensively in gourmet grocery stores, as the beans are often sprouted and eaten. Because it fixes nitrogen, the soybean requires very little fertilizer, and it also tolerates intermittent watering well. They do not require staking or trellising, and they grow to about 3' high on sturdy stems. Collect pods when they are plump but still green for edamame, or allow them to brown and dry on the plant for other uses (dry beans, animal feed, seed saving, etc.). Flowers are less showy than most beans, being only about 1/4" across and held close to the plant's stem.

More than most Brassicas, Brussels sprouts are dependent on the soil type to produce properly. In soil that is not sufficiently compacted, sprouts will be loose and leafy rather than tight and round. For illustration of this, compare photos submitted by vic (tight sprouts) to the one from bitbit (looser sprouts). However, flavor is not affected, so you can grow tasty Brussels sprouts even if your garden, like mine, is built on sandy soil.

Like most mints, this is a vigorous grower and survives quite a bit of abuse. Very easy to start from cuttings, and this is the preferred propagation method, as Mentha x piperita is a sterile hybrid, and therefore will not set viable seeds.

Flavor is sweet and a little bit "dark," but definitely not reminiscent of chocolate. The name likely comes from the brown color of the stems more than from the flavor profile.

This is a very mild-flavored cucumber, and the fruits grow to a good size before the seeds become tough. However, it is much spinier than other varieties, so I recommend wearing gloves to harvest, and running an old rag over the surface of the fruits prior to washing them.

Jalapeno M is the most prolific pepper plant I've grown. A single plant can produce enough peppers to keep a spice-loving household stocked from early summer until first frost, and with a second plant you can easily be freezing and canning them as well. I find the plant benefits from being caged, or else it can fall over when it is heavy with fruit. Very little pest damage, though Japanese beetles do leave small holes in the fruit occasionally.

A short, stout, dark green chili pepper, the poblano is fairly mild and has a dark, almost smoky flavor. Dried, it's also called an Ancho pepper. One of my favorite salsa peppers, it gives a complexity of flavor without adding much heat.

A large, mild chili pepper. Makes a great salsa if you don't like things too hot (or combined with other peppers if you do). Production and timing are not as good as other hot peppers (e.g. jalapeno and cayenne), but still earlier and more prolific than bell peppers.

This is my favorite green zucchini. It has a tender skin, even if you let the fruit get a bit too big, and it always has a nice texture when cooked, not at all mealy. Mild flavor complements many other flavors. I like to prepare it with golden zucchini for a colorful side dish.

Most resistant to vine borer of all zucchinis I've grown. I can usually harvest black zucchinis for two to three weeks after my goldens have died.

This is my favorite summer squash. It has the mild, buttery flavor of a yellow squash with the soft skin and slow-maturing seeds of a zucchini. A beautiful deep gold color, it makes a lovely presentation when mixed with one of the dark green zucchinis to serve. However, it seems more susceptible to vine borers than other zucchinis, so the harvest season is short for me.

The largest tomato plants I've ever grown - they went up my five foot cages, down to the ground over the outside, and back up to the top again! Produced heavily and over a long season, they were both my earliest and latest tomatoes this year. Good, savory flavor and a perfect size for snacking. Three plants produced many more cherry tomatoes than my husband and I could eat, whereas with most varieties three plants is just enough. Fruit often cracked and attracted insects, but keeping them picked should prevent that.

Plants produce prolifically. Fairly small sauce tomatoes, bright yellow when ripe. Have a hard core that must be cut out, and lots of flesh with little seed or juice. Not particularly flavorful, but a versatile cooking tomato, and the color really livens up salsas and other recipes.

Fruit are tennis ball sized or a bit larger, deep gold color (more orange than yellow). Firm enough to stand up well to slicing, not too juicy, but very flavorful. Production is not particularly heavy, but is steady through the season.

This purple, fall-blooming crocus is the source of the spice saffron, which is actually the red stigmas of the saffron flower. Although it is very expensive to buy saffron, the plant is easy to grow and provides a nice source of color in the fall when not much else is in bloom. Saffron likes a dry summer, so it is important not to overwater it when dormant to prevent the corms from rotting.