One big advantage to having your own vegetable garden is being able to pick what ever varieties you want to grow.
For example, in my garden I always grow at least one ‘Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato’ plant. This plant produces dozens of tiny tomatoes that are about the size of a blueberry. These little, red pearls are not overly sweet but have an intense tomato flavor.
You won’t normally find these in a farmer’s market. Since they are so small, it takes a lot of tomatoes to make a quart — or even a pint for that matter. So, not many market growers want to fuss with them. That leaves it up to you to grow your own.
Matt's Wild Cherry tomato.
There are other vegetables that fall into this category — baby corn is another one that comes to mind.
Sometimes, if you want something special, you just have to grow it yourself.
Bob