and the veg which make your allotment all worth while for you are....

[trautigan]

I'm having a rethink about which veg to grow for next year.

I wondered which vegetables (particular varieties preferably) make your allotment all worth while for you?

Particularly interested in the slightly less known varieties of veg., but all are welcome.

Apologies if this kind of thread has been done before - couldn't immediately spot anything.

Don't need a great amount of details, somewhere between a simple list and a veg version of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Thanks in advance!

[bario1]

Hi Trautigan,

Here's a similar thread from earlier in the year....

https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ies_97711.html

[Scarlet]

Do you use a greenhouse as well or just grow in the open?

On reading the link above...snadger suggested this was also worth a look.
https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ties_8325.html

[Small pumpkin]

I'm going to to be incredibly unhelpful and say all of them .
Always trying new varieties of everything. Some end up as favourites some get added to the never growing that again.

[Baldy]

In all honesty - as long as something does well I'm (somewhat) happy. This year saw a few folks give up their plot - some because of the long hot dry spell that did for a lot of veg. Well, for me it was the best ever year for chillies and outdoor toms and a pretty terrible one for most everything else. That probably means I like the idea of growing on the plot more than the actuality and actually I like being on the plot more than more or less anything else
So - Ring of Fire and Orange Thai chillies and a multitude of o/d toms whose nomenclature I can't recall at present!

[Scarlet]

Yep, some people hate mexican tree spinach I love it, love the colour, fab picked young for salads, not tooo bad cooked. Birds go mad fon the seed in the Autumn. Self seeds so much you never need to sow it again ....can be a right nuisance to others
On my list is always a a purple climbing bean - Kew blue or cosse violette.
I like beans so will grow beans for drying too. These change most years as they are so pretty I like to mix it up a bit.
Runner beans - I've been saving seed for years and I can't remember what I started with.
Courgette would be a paler skin variety. Not a yellow one as I don't like their taste as much.
Cucumber is usually an F1...probably Carmen
Cabbage - I use Durham early usually for spring greens.
Kale - Usually Cavo Nero
Rainbow chard
If I grow beetroot I like to pickle it so I will look for a cyclindrical one so they fit in the jars
I used to grow the purple cauli by Franchi - Di Sicilia violetto and always had great success but the pigeons have increased around here so I don't bother anymore. I can't be bothered with making frames and netting.
Lettuce is something we love to eat so I usually have a variety growing, giant red mustard, red streaks, freckles, an iceberg variety - Great Lakes, a few other loose leaf lettuce that I can pick leaves as and when.
Spuds I love pink fir Apple.

[SarrissUK]

Carrots - any type, no favourites.. The taste is so vastly improved compared to shop bought carrots.
Cabbage - same reason as above.

Cucumbers - so prolific!

Cucamelons - so cool!

Tromboncino - so tasty and hugely prolific

[lottie dolly]

Hi there,welcome to the vine,have a go at what you like to eat,if your new to growing,come on here and ask how WE do things,also time of year to sow/plant,you will see several others asking,and no question is ever daft to answer,thats what the vine is all about,some years a veg will do briliant,another year rubbish,but to see the little seeds start to grow does your mood proud,you find yourself going into nurture mode,even in bad years,come on here and peeps will give advice if and how to rescue,

[Chestnut]

lots of people have said this has been a funny year for growing with the odd weather patterns.
My onions, broccoli and carrots were almost non existent, despite that they all grew last year (or maybe that was beginners luck?). So, maybe don’t give up completely on stuff which didn’t work so well this year.
I haven’t been growing long enough to have favourites, but you might like to have a look at a website which VC suggested called moreveg which sells smaller (and cheaper) packets of seeds if you want to test a few varieties head-to-head next year.

[trautigan]

thanks to everyone for the helpful responses. Some useful information.

[mcdood]

1st year allotmenteer and best for me were Beetroot boltardy, Dw Fr Bean Ferrari ,
Runner bean Enorma - (although I used this for dry beans rather than pods).
All of them were easy to grow and tasty

[Aberdeenplotter]

coming up for Christmas it must be sprouts and parsnips

[Teds Mum]

It's got to be Asparagus.

I can't pick that yet though so for now the veg I love to grow the most are runner beans, sweet corn, Squash and potatoes.

And fruit too - we are all about the blackberries here.

[kitty12345]

Best for me was sprouting calabrese (planted quite late so still giving little sprouts now that there's not much going on). Cavolo Nero also good as it just sits there until you want to use it.
Beans are also a favourite - lots of different types and colour.

[Snoop Puss]

Just about everything is worth it for me. Even the excitement of starting off new seeds. And even before that, the promise held out by the planning stage.

By and large, I grow things I know we like to eat plus a couple of experiments to add to the variety. Some of the experiments are failures (I don't like physallis, it seems), but you live and learn. Would never have grown winter squash ordinarily. Mr Snoop resented watering them, as he was convinced he wouldn't like them. But turns out he does, so they're a must every year now.

As for successes and failures, conditions aren't good for everything every year, but you don't know that till at the time or even after the event. Better to try than not.