are there any vegetables to grow that really are trouble free pest and disease wise?

apprentice_tycoon

I'm trying to grow organically but in a very half hearted way, I don't have a lot of land to spare I just have 3 raised beds 4' wide and 10' long.

I know from experience that I can't grow brassicas without getting caterpillar and greenfly attacks so I've given up on them ( I know I could pick the bugs off but life really is too short to check every leaf every day)

I also know from experience that if I grow carrots in buckets I avoid carrot fly, I've not had any problems either with growing leeks, rocket (and herbs) and asparagus.

So the question is - are there any other veggies I can grow that are pretty much guaranteed trouble free?

Fran

I'd be interested too as any veg's I have tried growing get eaten by something - and not me! I've given up on them, just got some herbs growing now.

bargainqueen_2

I have just had incredible success with beetroot, it grows quickly, needs little attention and doesn't seem to be popular with the insect world (and just about everything else I grew was eaten!) They're quite versatile, too as you can bake, boil, pickle them and whatever else people think of.
I also had great success with Butter Beens, they were rust-free and again the insects didn't get to them. They are also really beneficial for the soil they grow in.

Fran

apprentice_tycoon wrote:

.......I also know from experience that if I grow carrots in buckets I avoid carrot fly, I've not had any problems either with growing leeks, rocket (and herbs) and asparagus.....

Do you grow these without treating them at all? Is it just carrots in buckets (do you do something special to them?) or do you grow the others in buckets too? I grow chives which get eaten but they grow at a fast enough rate that I still get some!

apprentice_tycoon

Hi Fran,

No special treatment - I just sow then in old buckets, I've used builders ones and tall food containing buckets that I picked up from a fudge making shop ( I've seen similar ones at boot sales). I drill holes around the sides and use HM garden compost with a little bought compost on top for aesthetic purposes (my compost always has tatty empty teabags in)

I believe that it's all to do with the height of the carrot plants because I'm told that the carrot fly don't do altitudes and fly close to the ground so if the carrots are raised up then they escape.

[Deleted User]

Runner beans up a wigwam. Very easy and takes up only a little space

courgettes are trouble free but need more room

If growing carrots then try planting alternate rows of carrots and onions as the smells off each deter carrot fly and onion fly

Leeks are very easy. Grow seedlings in trays. Make a hole with a dibber in the final growing place. Plop in and just water. The water takes enough soil down into the hole

Aril

Gardener's World did a piece on the easiest veg to grow- they said that the top ten are listed on the bbc site
Aril

nuttyrockeress

Try here at the right hand side there is a link to easy vegetables!

Caterina

Rocket salad is a totally pest-free leaf, it grows very quickly and tastes divine in salad (it also costs a fortune to buy in these teeny-weeny plastic sachets in the supermarket - I refuse to pay for a WEED!!!).

When rocket is overgrown, and the leaves no longer tender enough to eat as salad, they can be lightly fried in olive oil and garlic, or even eaten steamed and dressed with oil and lemon.

They are a dark green leaf veg., one of these that we are supposed to eat every day for health, and they last the whole winter. They also self-seed so you never run out of it!

The carrot/onion trick is good, for good measure you can plant some calendulas (marigolds) around your carrot bed.

I found zucchini impossible to grow in my small north-facing garden, they start but then they rot before maturity. I got loads of zucchini flowers, though, which are really good fried in batter, or stuffed with rice and anchovies (then fried in batter hehehe).

HTH

Caterina

culpepper

perpetual spinach is nice and easy especially if you cover it with a cloche(plastic /wire/fleece as birdies sometimes nibble on leaves. Mine has been growing since last summer and is still going strong.Ive got about 8 plants which do us a green veg for 1 meal a week.You just pick a few leaves from each one. The are best steamed.

SoScrooge

I am not a gardener (have not got a garden), but my mum is. She grows garlic along strawberries to deter flies and other intruders.

HTH