Vegetable Varieties for Gardeners (VVfG)

Big Yields in Small Spaces

VVfG is a citizen science project developed by Cornell University's Cooperative Extension to collect and share data about growing vegetables in New York State. Last year, Rensselaer County Master Gardeners were invited to join the project. 

With a few adjustments to our Demonstration Garden Vegetable plot located at the Robert C. Parker School on Route 43 in Wynantskill, NY, we dug in. We created 10 raised bed areas, with most being about 4 ft by 4ft. Nine were planted using Cornell’s recommendations, the remaining bed contained garlic from the previous year. 

Cornell provided the plants and seeds. All beds had both a Spring and Summer planting, And two beds had Late Fall cover crop plantings and one bed had garlic. Employing the “square foot “method we grew around 40 different varieties, including edible flowers and pollinator beds. After tasting and rating the vegetables, produce was donated to local food pantries and data was added to the Cornell database.

Demonstration Garden

So this year, our group has decided to plant four of the beds using Cornell’s recommendations. The other beds will be planted using other varieties. We hope to gather and share as much data as possible to inform our Rensselaer County friends, as well as anyone else out there about our experiments.

After all, that’s what gardening is all about: trying something new and seeing what works. More details to follow.

Submitted by Nancy Scott, Rensselaer County Master Gardener