Extension Master Gardeners 2024 seed trial winners

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu

Shallots ready for harvest during the 2024 seed trials. Varieties are marked with codes so growers don't know their names during the trial. Photo: Jenna Kahly

Seed-buying season is in full swing for Minnesota gardeners, who are now beginning to start seeds indoors under lights or gathering seed packets to be planted outside this spring. The trouble is that there are thousands of varieties of veggie and flower seeds for sale now — with some seeds offered at more than $5 a packet — and it’s hard to know which ones will thrive in Minnesota.

Fortunately, the University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program has created a list of recommended plant varieties. New top performers are added each year to the list, which includes results of more than 40 years of data-driven seed trials.

2024 winners

Painstakingly tested by 298 Master Gardeners in 55 Minnesota counties this past year, some of the 2024 standouts include: 

• ‘Calypso’ cilantro: Tired of your potted cilantro bolting and dying before you can get a harvest? Try this variety, bred to last longer and produce a bigger harvest when direct-sown in late May. One trial gardener reported a harvest that continued into October.
• ‘Happy Rich’ broccoli: This variety won out due to its excellent cooked flavor, high yield and minimal stem diameter. It beat out competitors such as ‘ButterStem,’ ‘Apollo,’ ‘Artwork,’ ‘DiCicco’ and ‘Melody.’
• ‘Yu Long Noodle Kin’ yard-long bean: If you’ve never grown Asian long beans, you’ll love watching this top edible performer grow. Best practices used by all the testers included soaking the seeds overnight before planting them outside in mid-May.

Those are just a few examples of the 256 recommended plants featured in the Master Gardeners’ seed trial spreadsheet, which shows more than 1,000 lesser performers ranked in order following the winners as far back as 1982.

Other 2024 trials included seed winners for shallot (‘Davidor’), Swiss chard (‘Bright Lights’), snacking pepper (‘Cupid’), strawflowers (‘Scarlet Choice Double’), and bachelor buttons (‘Blue Boy’).

Master Gardeners put in the work

Comparing six varieties of bachelor buttons. Photo: Katherine Bjorndahl

Testers didn’t know the identities of the varieties they were growing, said Anoka County Master Gardener Joanna Plante. Instead, they used codes to keep them anonymous and to root out bias.

“What a big difference there was in the results,” Plante said. “Some were great, and some were lousy. The seeds you purchase matter. Do your research. It will make a difference.”

Read detailed report results for 2024 or visit past years’ reports on the University Digital Conservancy.

Find out more about the Master Gardener Volunteer program.