Explore New 2022 Seed Varieties for Your Garden
January is garden planning season, and seed catalog browsing becomes a favorite pastime for gardeners in the Northern Hemisphere. Whether you are a beginner gardener or a seasoned grower who already has an extensive seed collection, chances are you are looking for some new varieties to try out this upcoming season. Keep reading to hear about some eye-catching and unique varieties that are newly available for 2022. The list includes tomatoes, peppers, different lettuces and greens, herbs, and other vegetables that will add a pop of color to your garden and a variety of nutrients to your homegrown meals.
Tomatoes
With over 3,000 different heirloom varieties alone and well over 10,000 cultivars of new and hybrid varieties, there is no shortage of options when it comes to growing your own tomatoes. Most local nurseries and big box stores only offer you a fraction of the varieties available. When you grow your own from seed, the choices are endless, and you can find tomatoes in all shapes, sizes, and colors with a range of flavors and acidity levels. Below you can find a list of some of my favorite new tomato varieties available for the 2022 season.
Captain Lucky from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. This indeterminate variety yields beefy tomatoes that are between 10-16 ounces with a green bi-color skin. The stunning multicolored interior has shades of green, yellow, pink, and red.
Black Strawberry Tomato from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This new indeterminate variety seems to have it all: good looks, balanced flavor, and durability. This early variety is also very productive with 1 ounce fruits that have a gem-like appearance with marbled blue, scarlet, and gold skin.
Cherry Falls Tomato from Botanical Interests. This early-maturing and compact variety is perfect for containers or even large hanging baskets. Determinate plants will produce an abundance of cherry tomatoes throughout the growing season.
Ponderosa Pink Tomato from Sow Right Seeds: This is another determinate variety that produces 1-2 pound beefsteak tomatoes with a beautiful pink skin. The compact nature of the plants make it perfect for containers and small spaces.
Banana Legs from Territorial Seed Company. This low-acid variety is delicious in salads and sandwiches. The determinate plants produce 4 inch Roma-shaped fruits with a golden yellow skin and faint streaks of orange.
Black Strawberry Tomato from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Peppers
Peppers come in a wide range of colors, shapes, and spice levels with over 4,000 known varieties to choose from (and more being cultivated every day). Their capsaicin content (or heat level) can be measured and ranked on the Scoville Heat Unit Scale which was named after scientist Wilbur Scoville who was the first to create such a test. Most of the peppers on this list are sweet or only have a touch of heat. For a reference, jalapenos range from about 2,500 to 8,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). Keep reading to learn about five new and interesting varieties available for 2022.
Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry Pepper from Territorial Seed Company (0 SHU). This productive snacking pepper is crisp and sweet with bell-shaped fruits that are 3 ½ inches long and 2 ½ inches wide. They start out green with white stripes, and the green changes to red and fully ripening to a chocolate brown color with red stripes. The stunning fruit that is tasty at any stage and variegated foliage make this pepper variety both delicious and ornamental.
Aji Cachucha Pepper from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (500-1,000 SHU). Popular in the Caribbean and Latin America, this pepper has the looks of a hot pepper because of it’s Scotch Bonnet-like appearance but with only mild heat. This versatile pepper can also be used in a variety of dishes and eaten raw or cooked.
Red and Yellow Blend Biquinho Chile Pepper from Botanical Interests (1,000-2,000 SHU). These cute little Brazilian peppers are sweet and tangy with only a touch of heat. Also, known as a button, piquillo, or chupetinha pepper, these peppers come in red and yellow varieties both of which are included in this seed blend. The peppers are frequently pickled and can even be used as a drink garnish.
Dragonfly F1 Pepper from Harris Seeds (0 SHU). These blocky peppers start out as a pretty purple shade that ripens to red. The 3" fruits are thick walled with a green interior. This variety is also highly resistant to TMV (Tobacco Mosaic Virus) and ToMV (Tomato Mosaic Virus).
Mad Hatter Hybrid Pepper from Gurney’s Seeds (500-1,000 SHU). These uniquely shaped peppers are in the hot pepper family but are very mild and still offer floral, fruity and citrusy undertones. The high-yielding plants produce fruit that go from lime green to orange and finally ripening to red.
Candy Cane Chocolate Cherry Pepper from Territorial Seed Company
Greens
No garden is complete without a variety of fresh greens. The varieties on this list are newly available for the 2022 growing season and all have their own unique characteristics and benefits.
Dazzling Blue Kale from Botanical Interests. As the name implies, this variety of kale displays dazzling blue-green leaves that can take on a purple shade during the colder months. This type of kale is also more cold tolerant than other lacinato varieties.
Granaat Chinese Cabbage from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This is a high-yielding Chinese cabbage variety that is perfect for home gardeners and small spaces due to their tall growth habit.
Bauer Lettuce from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. This award-winning dark green oakleaf lettuce is crisper than others. The disease resistant plants are compact with heads that are higher off the ground making for easy harvesting and less rotting. This seed variety also comes pelleted.
Dragon’s Fire Arugula from Harris Seeds. This variety of arugula has red veins that are a beautiful contrast to the green leaves. They are vigorous plants with a great spicy flavor.
Bokoboko Spinach from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This variety of spinach from Ghana is both drought and heat tolerant. The entire plant is edible including the tender stems and pink flowers.
Bokoboko Spinach from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Herbs
Herbs are another essential to any garden and are also one of the more cost-effective crops to grow. Herbs tend to be expensive and sold in bunches that are usually larger than what you need for a recipe leading to food waste. I am especially excited about the orange varieties of lemon balm and thyme - both of which will be new additions to my own garden in 2022. Keep reading to learn more about these new varieties along with others.
Mandarina Lemon Balm from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: This variety of lemon balm has an amazing mandarin scent with a sprawling growth habit that makes it perfect for spilling over the sides of containers or even as a ground cover. It is perennial in USDA growing zones 4-9 and is excellent for making tea.
Everleaf Thai Tower Basil from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. These tidy towering plants are slow to bolt and have slightly larger leaves than regular sweet Thai basil. The tall growth habit makes the plants highly productive and much later to flower.
Orangelo Thyme from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This citrusy scented thyme can thrive in the poorest of soils making it perfect for edible landscaping. It is perennial in USDA growing zones 5-10 and can be harvested for culinary use or allowed to flower to attract pollinators.
Lovage from Sow Right Seeds. The leaves of lovage have a celery-like flavor, and the yellow flowers and seeds are also edible. This perennial herb produces abundant foliage all summer long.
Purple Ball Basil from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. This beautiful variety of basil has a tidy round growing habit with vibrant purple foliage making it both edible and ornamental.
Everleaf Thai Towers Basil from Johnny’s Selected Seeds
Grow the Rainbow
Here are some other veggies that caught my eye that are new for 2022. They come in a range of hues that will allow you to grow a rainbow of colors each containing different pigments or phytonutrients offering their own unique health benefits.
Burgundy Broccoli from Botanical Interests. This is my favorite variety of purple sprouting broccoli with its stunning color and better tolerance for a range of temperatures. After the main head is harvested, it produces an abundance of side shoots. It is tender and flavorful, and the main head can also be pinched early to promote more side shoot growth.
Blue Hopi Corn from Sow Right Seeds. The gorgeous blue-black ears with reddish-purple tassels make this a standout plant in any summer garden. This is the variety used to make blue corn tortillas, chips, and breads. The plants are also drought tolerant and high-yielding.
Depurple Cauliflower from Territorial Seed Company. This variety of cauliflower has colorful lilac florets topping creamy stems and maintains its color after cooking. This variety is supposed to be more reliable than other purple cauliflower varieties.
Colorful Mixture Beets from Sow Right Seeds. A stunning mix of beets in various shades and sizes makes for a wonderful surprise in your cool weather garden. The entire plant is edible, and the leaves can be used similar to kale.
Bamako Bush Beans from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. These bright yellow filet beans are straight and dainty. They are also highly resistant to anthracnose, halo blight, and bean mosaic virus.
Depurple Cauliflower from Territorial Seed Company
Please note: I have included links to products on this page for your convenience. Some of them are affiliate links (Amazon, Vego Garden, Subpod, and Botanical Interests). This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn a small commission from purchases made through those links which helps me keep this site up and running. Thank you!
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