Variety Recommendations Please

earthmother

So, the time has come to start sorting out the seeds for our veggie patch - we didn't get to plant in it when we moved in last year, so this is all new to us.

I know what I want to (try to) grow - but then I stand in front of the seed display or look through the plant catalogues, and despite reading up etc wherever I can, I still get confuddled by all the different choices - so can I have some recommendations of tried and tested varieties please.

I want to grow;
Carrots - small and sweet,
Peas - small ones, and easy podders for the kids,
Sweetcorn - we don't tend to eat off the cob, so something that de-cobs (is that a word?) easily.
Beans - fine, not broad, and stringless,
Potatoes - I think I have these sorted as I know Nadines and Maris Peers are popular with the family - will they see me through the season, or would another crop also be needed?
Strawberries - don't mind if it's not the heaviest cropper, flavour is more important.
Grapes - white, preferably seedless.
I'd also quite like some rhubarb - proper old-fashioned stuff I can dip in a bag of sugar (habit from mum) or make a crumble with.

Easy-growing, infestation resistant varieties would be good - this will be as much the kids (8, 6 & 3) project as mine and DHs, so it would be nice to avoid as much disappointment as possible to keep them enthusiastic - and as the name suggests, there'll be no chemicals etc - so any companion planting ideas etc gratefully received.


It's a good-sized patch - 5 beds, greenhouse and room for tubs, along with a fair sized flower bed I'll be turning over to herbs and the like, and a nice large south facing kitchen windowsill for seedlings - so plenty of space for everything, I hope.

Ken68

You won't grow perfect peas, Earthmother unless you spray them twice during flowering, against the moth.
That makes it uneconomic and not organic.
And I only grow Norfolk Giant carrots,(or that Dutch one callled Fik or similar name) and thin them by eating the small ones as they grow.
Runner beans is another mainstay, both green and as dried beans for the winter.Did used to salt them down but not healthy.
Agree about the rhubarb. Have three sorts, one called Champagne.
Mildew got the Black Hamburg grapes years ago.
Might not grow onion sets this year, so cheap at the farm shop, although perhaps spring onions. Get strawberries from my neighbour. Think they are called Cambridge Favourite.

earthmother

Thank you - I'll look out for the strawberries and rhubarb, and bear in mind what you say about the peas.

conradmum

I think it might be a little pessimistic to say you can't get perfect peas without spraying them twice while flowering. I've grown peas for many years and generally the early ones are moth-free. In my garden it's only the later ones that get a bit of moth (and mildew if I'm not careful). It probably depends on your conditions and what other people around you are growing.

I can't recommend a small pea in particular, but Kelvedon Wonder for early peas and Hurst Greenshaft are tried and tested varieties. If you want small peas, pick them before they grow big! It's pretty easy to tell from the size of the pod.

Zazen999

You can grow perfect peas without spraying; grow kelvedon wonders, in blocks rather than rows and fleece them.

Carrots - chantenay are lovely and pointy small ones.

sweetcorn; F1 swift but do eat it off the cob; pick it, put it straight into boiling water for 10 mins, drain, add butter and sink your teeth in. nothing like it.

French beans is what you want, there are so many types - and if you pick them smaller they aren't stringy anyway.

earthmother

Thank you both

Had a nosy around a little local nursery this morning - picked up a couple of seed packs they recommended - Sweetcorn Incredible and Carrot Early Nantes - apparently both good for kids - I think it'll be a good idea to try more than one type this year though, so I'll take a look for those you recommended.

They are having their peas and beans delivered next week (sell loose, so it'll be easier and cheaper to try a few), along with most seed potatoes, so at least I now have an idea of what I'm looking for.

Just got to get planting now - picked up a couple of windowsill seedling trays from B&M - £1.99 for 30 fair-sized cells, and I can fit 3 onto my kitchen window, so we can get started this weekend with some plants that can handle the early start.

ALIBOBSY

We grew peas all last year without any fleece or netting and had no moth issues at all. Mind you I companion planted with some onions and garlic (same for the carrots) so not sure if this helped?
My understanding is the females lay their eggs in August time so early peas (I agree about K wonder-lovely and tasty as well) miss the whole thing.

We also found to our suprise that small broad beans are lovely. Oh got a few plants cheap at the local garden centre and we stuck them in just to see what happened. Loved the young ones, but they do go bitter as they get bigger. We picked them when the beans were just slightly bigger than say baked beans up to say double the size of baked beans. Once they were the size of those in the shops they were naff and the kids wouldn't eat them.

We kind of did our own thing to see what we liked and what worked for us. EG we didn't thin carrots at all. Just sowned as thinly as possible and then picked some small, which effectively is like thinning as you go along lol. Just couldn't face throwing plants away.
Strawberries are good and the kids love them. We got 6 plants cheap in aldi 2 years ago and let some grow runners so we now have about 16 plants. I can also recommend the everybearing varieties. We got 2 in hanging baskets from Morrisons last year and we had strawberries for months of them, small and tasty.

ali x

cootambear

For strawberries, mara de bois or failing that, gariguette (sp)
Avoid like the plague - Elsanta (supermarket rubber ball)