It is important to plant what you and your family enjoy eating and to plant enough to meet your family's needs. Other considerations include the disease resistance of a plant, the maturity date (early or late season variety), the size the plant gets relative to the available space, and taste of the variety. While it is not normally recommended that you plant something you don’t like, it is a good idea to try new types of vegetables every now and then just to keep it interesting. For specific variety listings contact your local Master Gardener Program, your favorite nursery, or seed company.
While there are 100s of varieties of many vegetables this listing of varieties (from the Master Gardener Handbook, pages 357-411) provides names of varieties that have been around for a long time and are commonly found in your local garden center.