PSPR-Space-Saving-Veggies-Plants

Millennials often cite lack of garden space and lack of money as barriers preventing them from growing their own food. Three new 2017 All-America Selection vegetable seed varieties may help to change that, announces Park Seed Brand Manager Ginger Long. These delicious new veggies make it possible to grow in less space than ever, and priced at just pennies per plant, they will keep fresh home-grown food on the table from spring through fall.

Pea Patio Pride Hybrid harvests less than 6 weeks after sowing, and is so compact it can be grown in any container 8 inches or more in diameter. A cool-season crop, Patio Pride sets its delectable peas in spring, offering several dozen plump pods per plant. No garden space is needed; this variety grows in pots on urban balconies, along the edge of driveways, and on decks and porches everywhere. And if garden soil is available, all the better: as a legume, Patio Pride is a nitrogen-fixing plant, so it can be chopped up and worked back into the soil.

For summer, Mini Love Hybrid Watermelon offers big 7- to 9-pound striped melons in less space than ever before. This vine reaches just 3 feet wide, but produces generously. Park Seed's Long considers it a breakthrough in vegetable gardening: "Most gardeners these days just don't have the time or space to maintain a huge veggie patch, and Mini Love brings a vining plant front and center. If you have enough garden space for a rose, you can grow this watermelon!"

And for autumn and beyond, an award-winning butternut squash delivers mini, single-serving fruit on a plant so compact, it can be grown in containers. Honeybaby Hybrid sets delectable orange squash that store for months after harvest and are so lightweight they can be grown on a small trellis in a planter or large flowerpot. Ready just three months after sowing, Honeybaby is easy and very prolific.

"The All-America Selection judges recognize the need for compact, low-cost alternatives to traditional vegetable varieties," Long notes. "These awards will bring awareness of today's space-saving veggie varieties to a whole new generation of gardeners, and get them started growing their own food even if they don't have a handful of garden space."

For more gardening information, visit parkseed.com or contact us directly by calling our public relations department at 1-864-941-4521.

Founded in 1868, Park Seed is one of America's oldest and most beloved mail-order seed and plant companies for home gardeners and wholesale nurseries. Operated by the Park family until the early 2000's, it is now under the aegis of JPPA, Inc. Park Seed's philosophy, as stated by founder George W. Park, has guided our business for generations: "Your success and pleasure are more to Park than your money."

Happy gardening!