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Miniature veggies are cute, tasty and perfect for spring gardens
• by Pat Eby
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March might still offer plenty of cold, blustery days, but the gardeners among us are already preparing for this summer’s harvest by purchasing, preparing and planting the seeds that will produce beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables throughout the coming season.
Steffie Littlefield, seed buyer and assistant manager for Garden Heights Nursery in Richmond Heights, suggested that this year gardeners consider planting varieties that bear mini-produce, a fun twist for both new and seasoned growers alike. Imagine harvesting 3-inch Little Finger carrots or Bambino black eggplants just a little more than an inch long. “The perfect size for shish-kabobs,” said Littlefield.
Jere Gettle, owner of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds in Mansfield, Mo., added that the space-saving qualities of mini-produce plants have made them increasingly popular choices. “People who live in town want to grow the smaller varieties in containers for decks or even rooftop gardens,” he said.
According to Littlefield, March 1 is the perfect time to start warm-season vegetable seeds like eggplant, squash, peppers and tomatoes indoors. “St. Patrick’s Day is the date for planting cool-season vegetables outdoors,” she said. Lettuce, spinach, beets, carrots, onions and potatoes can all be in the ground in mid-March.
“Early spring is the only time to grow peas in St. Louis,” Littlefield continued. “I like Oregon sugar pod peas, a dwarf variety with flat, Oriental pods and beautiful lavender flowers. I grow them in a large pot with a trellis.” (When sowing pea and bean seeds, she uses a soil innoculant, which fixes nitrogen. When the pea production stops, she plants tomatoes or eggplants in the same pot. “They love to be planted where peas have been,” she said.)
Tom Thumb lettuce, a Buttercrunch variety from the English seed company Thompson and Morgan, will produce small, compact heads by the first of May if planted in mid-March. Other miniature veggies to plant now include beets such as Baby Gladiator or Spinel. A beet blend from the seed company Botanical Interests includes two beets that can be picked as miniatures, golden and Chiogga.
When the nighttime temperatures reach 70 degrees, Littlefield will transplant the warm-season seedlings outdoors. She likes a blend of pattypan squash seeds featuring green Peter Pan, yellow Sunburst and Early White Bush Scallop. For small eggplants, in addition to Bambino, Littlefield touts Red Egg and Rosa Bianca, a small teardrop-shaped eggplant with light lavender- and white-streaked skin. For zucchini lovers, there’s a 2-inch, round French heirloom variety called Baby Round. Thompson and Morgan offers a similar zucchini by the name De Nice à Fruit Rond.
Other Littlefield seed picks include Lemon cucumbers, whose fruits are the size and color of lemons, and Cucino, a small “lunchbox” cuke that can be eaten right from the garden, peel and all. Also look for diCicco, an Italian heirloom sprouting broccoli.
Plants that are both beautiful and edible score high on Gettle’s list. “Turkish Orange eggplant, which produces fruits 2 inches or smaller, is a beautiful ornamental. Perfect to stir-fry,” he said. The leaves of the Trifetti pepper plant are splashed with white, purple, lavender and green, making them pretty enough for hanging baskets, but they still produce hot purple peppers in abundance.
Other minis offer unique tastes, like the Mexican Sour Gherkin. These cucumber-like fruits resemble miniature watermelons, just under an inch in size. “They taste like cucumbers splashed with lemon,” Gettle said. “It’s a great plant for kids.”
Gettle has heirloom tomatoes in all colors and shapes, but for containers, he recommended compact plants like Patio Orange. “This plant is only about 24 inches tall and produces 2- to 4-ounce, perfectly shaped orange globes. It’s beautiful in salads,” Gettle said. White Currant tomatoes, bearing mini-fruits that look like half-inch polka dots, grow well in large containers, but Gettle suggested trellising or staking them because of their vine-like growth habit. And for those gardeners who wait impatiently for the taste of homegrown tomatoes, Gettle suggested Sub-Arctic, a cherry variety developed in Canada that will fruit in cooler temperatures in just 50 days.
Little seeds. Big miracles. Baby vegetables. Grown-up flavors.
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Grilled Baby Vegetables
Courtesy of Steffie Littlefield
Yield: 8 servings
Spring assortment:
12 to 16 small (1 to 2 inches) red, golden or Chiogga beets
8 to 12 red or white onions, 1- to 2-inch bulbs
2 cups broccoli side shoots
2 cups Oregon sugar pea pods
Summer assortment:
8 to 12 red or white onions, 1- to 2-inch bulbs
10 to 12 whole Little Finger carrots, 3 inches or smaller, steamed
2 Rosa Bianca or Red Egg eggplants, sliced in half lengthwise
12 Bambino black eggplants, whole
1 each sweet red, green and yellow peppers, cut into 2-inch pieces
12 2-inch round baby zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
12 3- to 4-inch pattypan squash, cut in half
12 new potatoes, cut in half, or small fingerling potatoes, whole
3 Tbsp. coarse Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp. honey (1 tsp. sugar or brown sugar can be substituted)
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
• If using beets, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Trim the beets’ top greens to 1 1/2 inches. Leave the roots intact. Wash the beets carefully and place them in a single layer in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Add 1/4 inch of water to the pan. Cover it tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until fork-tender.
• Remove the beets from the oven, uncover and cool. Slice the tops off and, starting at the roots, slip the skins off.
• Combine the mustard, honey, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar in a deep bowl. Drizzle the olive oil into the bowl, whisking to emulsify. Add the salt and pepper.
• Pour it over the spring or summer vegetable assortment and let them marinate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the grill.
• Place a grill pan over the coals and arrange the vegetables in a single layer. Grill 4 to 6 minutes, tossing as needed to prevent scorching. Serve immediately.
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