Brian Minter: Mini vegetable varieties have so much potential in our gardens

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It’s frustrating when a great idea fails to capture the imagination of folks and sits on the sidelines.

We had a visit last week from Felicia Vandervelde, who is the Canadian regional account manager and manager of product development with the PanAmerican Seed Company in Chicago.

I had been so excited a couple of years ago about their new line of miniature vegetables and wrote an article on them. So my first question for her was, “How are the Kitchen Minis series of tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers going?”

“Not great”, she said. “They’re not yet meeting our expectations. We have to find the right niche for them.”

Essentially, kitchen minis are a new type of smaller tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers that overproduce delicious fruits comparative to the size of the plants.

The intent was to copycat window sill herbs like basil, and to pick them fresh until they finish, compost them, and start new plants. They were especially suitable for patios and small space gardens, and for windowsill and container growing.

The tomatoes will produce an abundant crop over a few weeks and then, as determinate varieties, will finish producing. If you plant them in the garden in late spring, Vandervelde says, they will grow and continue to produce crops over the summer. The peppers and cucumbers will just keep on producing smaller but delicious fruits.

PanAmerican has three tomato varieties: Red Velvet F1, Cocoa F1, and Siam F1. All three do best in six-inch (15 cm) pots, and while the two red cherry types produce sweet red fruits, Cocoa F1 has delightful, delicious