Rather than choosing carrots, opting for broccoli or nabbing your old stand-by squash in the produce aisle this spring, why not meander over to the more curious veggies available in local stores? Your efforts could be — pardon the pun — fruitful.

Casey Millstein, owner of the Casbah Market, 803 Mass., says her produce section stocks different heirloom vegetables throughout the summer, and she suggests the market’s purple Russian tomatoes.

“They’re absolutely delicious and so pretty,” Millstein says. “You can cook with (heirlooms) as usual with any tomatoes; you can make tomato salad that’s colorful.”

The Casbah also sells different dehydrated fruits. Incan golden berries are a popular item, especially among those sticking to a raw food diet.

“They have a tangy flavor and kind of resemble a mix between a cranberry and a fig,” Millstein says.

If your home has room for a garden, Kansas’ summer climate boasts multiple possibilities for unique produce, and you can buy seeds at area nurseries. Greg McDonald, owner of Sunrise Garden Center, 1501 Learnard Ave., keeps his garden packed with vegetables.

“I grow 15 different varieties of peppers,” McDonald says.

The pepper expert recommends the mild habanero and Jimmy Nardello’s sweet Italian frying pepper.

“If you like peppers and you’ve got a bowl of habaneros, put the mild ones at the top and take a big bite in front of your friend,” McDonald jokes. “But I’m not sure that would be smart, considering how hot the real habaneros are.”

You can also pick sweet peppers right off the vine and eat them, McDonald says.

For greens or decoration, climbing spinach, also called red Malabar spinach, will grow fast and well in hot weather. Because it grows vertically, you can plant it in the back of your garden bed and save space for other vegetables.

Eggplants also thrive in hot weather, and you can add flair to traditional summer dishes, such as grilled eggplant, with the Thai Lao green stripe variety. It’s small, round and resembles a baby watermelon.

Throw in regular cucumbers with heirloom tomato salads, or for something slightly different, try growing a jelly melon cucumber. Also called the African horned cucumber, it looks like a sea creature and more closely resembles a fruit than a vegetable.

If you want more fruits in your garden, consider the sweet Siberian watermelon. It’s smaller and has bright yellow fruit inside its rinds. You could also try the garden huckleberry, a small bush that looks like the size of a pepper plant when adult. Be careful: The fruit is somewhat toxic if you eat it raw.

If you’re sick of red tomatoes, try the German green tomato or the white heirloom tomato.

“You can test to see if they’re ripe by testing their firmness,” McDonald says.

Even if you’re new to gardening, you can choose creative growing choices. McDonald says just stick to three words: site, soil and selection.

Make sure you plan out your garden bed appropriately and know how much room each plant will need. You’ll also want to see how much sunlight will reach the plants, and ensure they’re getting enough.

“Make sure you have good soil,” McDonald says.

You can make poor soil better with manure or compost, which can be purchased at most gardening centers.

“Fertilization alone won’t cure bad soil,” McDonald says.