As we stand in front of the rack of seed packets at the nursery or look through the seed catalog, our mouth may begin to water just imaging the taste of a red ripe tomato or ear of sweet corn. However, choosing what vegetables to grow in your garden can be an intimidating task. Will one variety of seeds give me a greater chance of success in the garden than another?

Choosing which vegetables to grow can be a great opportunity for a “family meeting” as you build your list. Everyone can have an input because most likely there will be a certain amount of “negotiation” in finalizing the list.

When you are buying seeds, there are many options to consider. The seed companies employ some very creative writers to describe their products. As an example: “For a sandwich, burger or salad to achieve the status of masterpiece, this flavor-packed tomato is a must.” How could you resist? This particular variety takes 90 days to mature. Chances are with our relatively cool summers, a tomato variety that takes that long to get the first tomato (and those are days after you put out a relatively good sized plant) may not produce much of a crop.

When I am choosing seeds, one of the first things I look at is the “days to maturity” for the variety. As a general rule, I look for the shorter “days to maturity” varieties, then I figure it will take about 25 percent longer than the seed company says it will.

How much space will you dedicate to your vegetable garden? If you have enough room for two 15-foot-long by 4-foot-wide beds, you will be able to grow some of just about anything you want. As you build your list, take into consideration the yield per square foot of space. You can grow 50 carrots, or four heads of lettuce, or 25 beets in the same space that you can grow one broccoli plant. That may be good news for those who do not like broccoli.

Some plants such as lettuce and spinach will grow well with only six hours of sun per day. Tomatoes and peppers will struggle to produce a crop without 8-10 hours of sun. So if your garden is “sunlight challenged,” you may have to take that into consideration when choosing what to grow.

At the Federal Way community garden, we grew 10 different varieties of tomatoes last year, and multiple varieties of most all of the vegetables you may want to grow. If you are looking for recommendations, feel free to contact me.

So my recommendation is that you grow vegetables that you like. Choose varieties that mature in the shortest time — and pray for a long warm summer like we had in 2009.