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2013 All-America Selection Vegetable Winners
submitted by Sarah Browning, UNL Extension Educator
Three All-America Selection vegetable winners have been released for this summer's gardening season- 'Melemon' melon, 'Jasper' cherry tomato, and 'Harvest Moon' watermelon.
'Melemon' melon was selected for its earliness, superior taste, and high yield on healthy, strong plants. Each personal-sized fruit, averaging 4.5 pounds, has refreshing crisp flesh and a unique sweet-tart taste. Fruits have a green rind, that ripens to light lime-green, and white flesh. The uniform fruit shape makes it perfect for market growers as well as home gardeners. Fruits can be harvested 70-80 days from transplant, or 89-95 days from seeding.
'Jasper' cherry tomato also has excellent taste, plus a long harvest window and outstanding performance in field trials. Judges liked the texture and sweetness of the tomato, as well as the uniformity of the 1" red fruits. 'Jasper' is a high yielding variety with fruits that hold well after ripening both on the vine and post-harvest. Vigorous indeterminate vines can grow to 7 feet, and require little or no fertilization. An added bonus is high disease resistance to late blight, Fusarium races 1 and 2, and early blight, along with the ability to overcome weather-related stresses. Begin harvesting these beautiful cherry tomatoes 60 days from transplant, or 90 days from seeding.
'Harvest Moon' watermelon is the first ever hybrid, triploid seedless watermelon to win a coveted AAS Award! Similar to the popular heirloom variety, 'Moon and Stars,' 'Harvest Moon' is an improvement featuring shorter vines, and medium-sized, 18-20 pound fruits with sweet, crisp pinkish-red flesh. 'Harvest Moon' has dark green rind with large and small yellow dots, but it's seedless, earlier to ripen, higher yielding and better tasting. Plants are vigorous and spreading. Fruits begin to ripen 100 days from transplanting.
All are available from Park Seed, www.parkseed.com
This resource was added January 2013 and appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star Newspaper Sunday edition. For information on reproducing this article or using any photographs or graphics, read the Terms of Use statement
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension in Lancaster County is your on-line yard and garden educational resource. The information on this Web site is valid for residents of southeastern Nebraska. It may or may not apply in your area. If you live outside southeastern Nebraska, visit your local Extension office
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Web site: lancaster.unl.edu
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