Gardening : New Tastes, Old Favorites in Spring Vegetables : Produce: Squash, watermelon and pole beans top the list as 1991 All-America Winners.

There is a cornucopia of exciting new vegetables for your 1991 spring garden. They run the gamut from novelties, such as blue and black peppers, to practical items, such as dwarf space-saving varieties that are designed for our rapidly diminishing garden space.

And all are not new--heirloom vegetables are being revived. Let’s examine some of the new vegetable introductions and where to find them.

First, let’s look at the 1991 All-America Selection Vegetable Winners. There were three this year: a spaghetti squash called Tivoli, a watermelon named Golden Crown and a pole bean called Kentucky Blue. I made an advance test of them last year in my spring garden and I was generally pleased with the results.

Tivoli spaghetti squash produced a generous harvest of squash that weighed 3 to 5 pounds on compact, space-saving plants. Most varieties of this squash require copious garden space as the vines sprawl. Tivoli plants may be spaced two feet apart and are ideal for small gardens.

Golden Crown is an icebox-type watermelon with a pretty golden rind and sweet red flesh. For me it produced about three fruit per plant. The melons averaged 6 pounds each. I found the eating quality to be quite good.

Kentucky Blue pole bean is a cross of the popular Kentucky Wonder and Blue Lake beans. It is earlier and more disease-resistant than its ancestors. I found the flavor to be good, but not as tender as Blue Lake. Kentucky Blue has to be trained on a trellis or other structure.

Tomatoes. Tomatoes are still the favorite vegetable among home gardeners and for 1991 the seed companies are offering us a wide selection of new introductions.

Yellow Canary tomato is a new yellow tomato that has been bred for container and small-space gardening. The plants are quite small and bushy, and suitable for small containers. The 1 1/4-inch fruits are ideal for snacks. And speaking of small, Micro Tom is being billed as the world’s smallest tomato variety.

The tiny plants will grow in three-inch pots and produce tasty, miniature tomatoes about the size of salad croutons. Micro Tom is ideal for growing indoors on a sunny windowsill or outdoors in hanging baskets. Orange Pixie is a new miniature tomato in Burpee’s Pixie series. It bears bright-orange tomatoes about the size of golf balls on compact plants.

Ruby Pearl tomato comes from China and produces beautiful sprays of small grape-sized ruby-red tomatoes. Although the tomatoes are small, the plants are large and require support. The fruit is easy to pick because it comes off in bunches like grapes.

From Russia with flavor comes Fakel tomato. This new variety comes from Moscow and is touted for its exceptionally fine flavor. It also keeps longer than most tomatoes without spoiling.

Old becomes new for 1991 with the reintroduction of the old-fashioned Yellow Oxheart tomato. This is a true heirloom variety that was popular many years ago. It produces large heart-shaped tomatoes on large plants. The fruit is solid and meaty with great flavor. Brandywine is another new old-timer. It is an Amish tomato with an exceptional sweet-tart flavor.

Peppers. In recent years, there has been a color revolution in vegetables ranging from purple peppers to white beets, and 1991 is no exception.

A new series of sweet bell-type peppers contains some unusual items. Blue Jay bears violet-blue peppers, Dove produces an almost pure white fruit, and Blackbird bears black (actually a very purplish-brown color with the appearance of black).

New hot peppers include Numex Sunrise which is bright yellow and Numex Sunset which is orange. Note that all peppers will eventually turn red if allowed to fully ripen on the vine.

From Europe comes Vidi pepper which sets huge amounts of elongated, seven-inch bell peppers. A good bet for gardeners in the coastal areas of the Southland is North Star, a bell pepper that matures early and does not require as much heat as most other peppers.

Eggplant. Colorful eggplant includes Italian Pink Bicolor with beautiful rose-pink fruit, and Casper, an ivory-white eggplant.

Squash. Winter squash, such as acorn and butternut, are becoming much more popular because of their outstanding nutritional qualities and ease of preparation, while zucchini and other summer squash are staples in most vegetable gardens.

Honeybunch Mini-Buttercup squash is a terrific new winter squash that produces cantaloupe-sized buttercup squash with a sweet, rich nutty flavor. They grow on compact plants which are real space-savers.

Butter Scallop is a unique yellow patty-pan type squash that is touted for its buttery flavor and high production. Raven zucchini is an extra early zucchini that bears flavorful fruit in only 43 days after planting.

Beans. From Europe come two new extra tender green beans, Emerite French Filet bean and Early Riser; both are pole beans. There is a new series of sweet corn, the Summer Sweet Series. It contains supersweet varieties in yellow, white and bicolor ears. A-Plus carrot provides 75% more vitamin-A than most other carrot types. Sweet Bush Hybrid is a new cantaloupe that produces 2-pound cantaloupes on dwarf plants.

Mail-order seed com You probably won’t find seeds for many of the new vegetables in local nurseries. You will find them at the following mail-order seed companies:

Stokes Seeds, Box 548, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240 (free catalogue). Blue Jay, Dove and Blackbird peppers, Italian Pink Bicolor and Casper Eggplants.

Twilley Seeds, Box 65, Trevose, Pa. 19053 (free catalogue). Tivoli spaghetti squash, Golden Crown watermelon, Kentucky Blue bean and Summer Sweet Series sweet corn.

Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 N. Pacific Highway, Albany, Ore. 97321 (free catalogue). A-Plus carrot, Fakel and Brandywine tomatoes, and North Star pepper.

Shepherd’s Garden Seeds, 6116 Highway 9, Felton, Calif. 95018 (catalogue $1). Emerite French Filet bean, Honeybunch Mini-Buttercup squash, Raven zucchini and Vidi pepper.

Tomato Growers Supply Co., Box 2237, Ft. Myers, Fla. 33902 (free catalogue). Micro Tom and Yellow Oxheart tomatoes, and Numex Sunrise and Numex Sunset peppers.

Park Seeds, Cokesbury Road, Greenwood, S.C. 29647 (free catalogue). Butter Scallop summer squash and Early Riser pole bean.

Burpee Seeds, 300 Park Ave., Warminster, Pa. 18991 (free catalogue). Orange Pixie tomato and Sweet Bush Hybrid cantaloupe.