Top 5 best veg to grow.

AdamsMummy_2

We lived on courgettes last summer, it was my first year with a veg patch and I didn't know quite how many they would produce! Cut and come again salads kept my other half in lunches for work and the kids loved ating the peas straight from the garden. Chillis went down really well as did the baby carrots.

gavvallance

1: Raspberries - crop to £££ in shop ratio is amazing!

2: Runner Bean - easy, crop well , taste great!

3: Leek - tasty, VFM, can sit in the ground months on end while you harvest

4:Cucumbers - get an outdoor variety, plant out next to a fence, bamboo or mesh structure and watch em go!!

5:Cut and come again salad leaves - Wilko's do a good cheap pack that will grow enough salad to feed your whole town!


Good topic Sally A

themull1

Kohl Rabi (dont think right spelling) bottom like turnip, top leaves like cabbage - two veg for the price of one.!!

Andy_Davies

1 - Parsnips, there is really nothing like pulling your own parsnips on Christmas morning and then roasting them
2 - Broad beans, pick them when they are still babies and they're lush
3 - Shallots, still got a string left in the shed
4 - Rocket (although ours bolts so quickly)
5 - Courgettes, produce like mad, so many things you can do with them luckily

(can I only have five?)

Trinny

Hello All

Novice Allotment keeper but raised on grow your own

1. Lettuce - marmite and lettuce sandwiches anyone:)
2. Beetroot - love it and soo tasty
3. Runner/French Beans
4. Spring onions - can be grown in large container easy and tasty
5. Spuds in bags - best ever flavour - keep for ages

(would love to include Hanging basket toms, blueberries, Chard (how easy is chard to grow) but i know i am way WAY! over my limit.

Just reading HFW "Veg Plot" book - getting excited and inspired for my first year as a grower

Trin

A._Badger

French beans grown in pots. Easy, far better tasting that imports and a lot cheaper.

Agree about soft fruit, though. If saving money is what it's about fruit is a winner - especially slightly 'out of season', like Autumn raspberries etc.

cootambear

lostinrates wrote: »

I read that as 1000 at first! 100 is a lot still. What varieties do you recommend?

I love alpine strawberries I know they are even more fuss to pick but the taste is worth it. We have normal strawberries too and I love that we et a few ripening each day..perfect for breakfast or after supper with some soft goats cheese or in a glass with something cold and sparkly.


I have to say it though...I'm more of a raspberry/gooseberry/rhubarb kinda gal really.

1. Alpines of course, very low croppers but the most flavoursome and aromatic I think, of all strawberries. Pretty pink/red purple flowers
2. mara de bois. hybrid of a woodland strawb with a medium sized berry for fantastic flavour and decent cropping
3. gariguiette (sp). until mara came out, the top chefs favourite.
4. cambridge favourite. for the simple reason it has a decent enough flavour and there always seem to be many cheap offers on it (ive seen as low as 17p a plant, that was for a minimum 100 though). compare that to £1 a plant for other varieties from some suppliers.

Avoid like the plague the supermarket varieties like elsanta. They are bred for shelf life not flavour. I know some have grown them and are happy with them, I suspect that is because they are picking them when fully ripe, rather than the supermarket ones which are picked a little early to enhance shelf life. Thus they compare well with supermarket elsanta which I suppose is the comparison that is being made. In my view they are a waste of valuable gardening space. Be suspicious when a berry is described as `firm`.

Varieties are often described as mid, early, or late croppers. Thus you can have cambridge favourite cropping from mid june to early july, or mara de bois cropping in little flushes all the way to the harsh frosts. I ate two in early november

Thus, with a few different varieties, you can make the season last for more than four months.

puss14

1.loose leaf lettuce
2. Rocket
3. herbs (yes I am being naughty lumping them all under the same banner:p)
4. Snow peas
5. Spinach

I also agree alpine strawberries are divine:j

cootambear

john prescott recommends mara de bois

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF2PXQGjYoY

zarazara

1. Soft fruit
2. Salad leaves
3. Herbs
4 New potatoes
5. Beans
extra Onion family eg leeks and shallots.