Vegetables I Grow
ASPARAGUS
The plants are only 2 years old so we will only be taking a very light amount. Variety Gijnlim F.1
AUBERGINE
This is a hot weather crop but with luck we should have supplies from approx July to October. Variety Moneymaker F.1.
BEETROOT
With module sown seed in the greenhouse to be transplanted outside later, we should have a constant supply of beetroot from May to November and if we store any surplus it can be consumed in the winter period but it does lose its fresh flavour.
Variety Bolt Hardy.
BEANS
Broad beans October sown will provide Broad beans to eat and freeze. From May to July fresh, and the rest of the year frozen. Variety Aquadulce Claudia
FRENCH BEANS
Climbing French beans early greenhouse grown and later outside grown, will keep us going from May to September with fresh beans and by freezing supplies on a weekly basis , we will have French beans 12 months of the year. Variety Cobra
RUNNER BEANS
Not as popular in our household as French beans. Grown outside with plenty to eat, freeze and give away from approx. 12 plants grown. Quintisential allotment plant, with pretty red or white flowers. Variety Lady Di.
BROCCOLI
I don’t grow this every year because unusually you sow it one year to harvest the next Spring. The good thing about it is it is available when there is very little else to harvest. Variety Purple Sprouting .
BRUSSEL SPROUTS
If you get it right you can have sprouts from August until March the next year but to do this you need two varieties one early maturing and one late maturing. Varieties Maximus F1 and Brigette F1.
CABBAGE
Cabbage should be available 12 months of the year. To achieve this I grow Spring Cabbage that I cut as Spring Greens early in the year, and I also let some of these heart up to become pointed Sweetheart type. This is followed by Ballhead types for cooking and coleslaws after which the winter heading types and Savoys take us into Spring once more. Varieties: Spring - Regency F1. Ballhead –Primo. Winter – Tundra, and Savoy - Vertus
CARROTS
Up to now I have managed to have carrots for 12 months of the year using methods I have developed over the years. Greenhouse pot grown in early Spring, pot grown transplants early Summer and overwintering variety for the winter period. Varieties Amsterdam forcing, Flukkee, and Autumn King.
CALABRESE
Unfortunately Calabrese is at its best at a time when we tend to be eating salads and mediteranean vegetables and so I just pop in one or two plants and when they are ready I freeze them for winter usage. I’ll be honest I usually buy a punnet of six or eight plants from a garden centre as this costs about the same price as a packet of seeds, and is less hassle.
CAULIFLOWER
S The same applies to caulies as calabrese – they mature when the weather gets sunny but when this happens no one wants fresh caulie. I grow them for freezing and we eat some in the summer because well grown and properly cooked caulie takes a lot of beating. Variety All year Round
CELERY
I use celery mainly as a flavouring agent and so I need to have it available all year. As the self blanching types are not winter hardy I grow these and an old fashioned trenching type to supply me with leaves and stems throughout the year. Varieties Victoria F1 Self Blanching - Giant Pink Trenching
COURGETTES
Battered courgette fritters are one of my favourite Tapas dishes. My veg patch is quite a cold area and I have to give my courgettes plenty of T.L.C. in the early stages. I grow three plants so that if there is a casualty we still have sufficient to keep us well supplied. Variety All green bush or sometimes a yellow variety.
CUCUMBERS
Always grown in the greenhouse. I grow two plants of the small fruited type, so that you use the whole cucumber each time with no small bits lying around in the fridge. Variety Passandra F1
GARLIC
What would we do in the kitchen without Garlic? I grow 50 bulbs a year from saved previous years crop. Unfortunately, I always get a severe attack of rust before harvest time each year, despite trying different preventative measures . Varieties Gemmidor, Thermidrome, Iberian white – all soft neck varieties.
LEEKS
– Just grown for winter use from August to March and April - use for flavouring soups, casseroles and eaten as a veg – nice creamed with cheese sauce. Variety Musselburgh.
LETTUCE
Huge choice of variety available – I just stick to one variety. I don’t think it is as popular as it was – salads have changed. Two or three sowings per year. Variety Little Gem.
ONIONS
– I use plenty of onions as a keen cook – most recipes seem to start with sweating the onions or shallots! I have just worked out that approximately twenty percent of my available space is taken with onion/shallot culture. I try to grow a sweet variety for sandwiches, stir-fries etc. and a good strong variety for winter use. I grow from seed or sets – both ways have their advantages. Salad onions grown in succession starting with module sown seeds early Spring under glass. Varieties Seed grown-Bedfordshire Champion, Red Brunswick. Set grown Stuttgart or Sturon. Salad- White Lispon.
PARSNIPS
– Not just for roasting – I use in soups, stews and casseroles to add that unique sweet flavour. Three one metre rows of smallish close grown roots are usually sufficient. Variety Tender and True.
PEAS
In summer when I am in the kitchen garden I am constantly munching fresh garden peas or baby carrots or cherry tomatoes. I think half of all I grow is consumed in this way. I start with greenhouse module sown plants early Spring which are planted out when the weather permits (peas are quite hardy). Midsummer I sow a very old variety called Alderman and grow it up canes or a net as it grows to five or six feet and crops into Autumn. Varieties early Kelvedon Wonder – Douce Provence. Midsummer – Hurst green shaft. Later – Onward Alderman - Sugarsnaps - Nairobi.
PEPPERS
– CAPSICUMS –These like a bit of summer heat and so are grown in large pots on a bench in the greenhouse. I grow pointed and bell type and try every year to extend the period when red peppers are unavailable but always seem to be lucky to achieve ripe fruit late July – October. Varieties Chillie – home saved seed of a variety which was purchased from a supermarket and so I don’t know the nname. Pointed Pepper - Thor F1. Bell Pepper New Ace F1 – Redskin. Sometimes grow padrons for tapas (deep fried and sea salted)
POTATOES
– Self sufficient in potatoes twelve months of the year – with the pot grown early pots coming on stream as the stored old potatoes finish. Varieties Moris Peer – Merabel for early potato production. Estima good all round variety reliable. Merabel good baker and buttery flesh. Maris Piper roasting and chipper. Desiree’ waxy multi purpose heavy cropper.
RADISH
First grew these when I was four years old and got the gardening bug. I still get a thrill when I grow them as they are usually the first produce of the year. Variety French Breakfast.
SWEDE
Grow much closer than recommended spacing on the seed packet to produce lots of small roots the size of a tennis ball. Variety Sweet Marion.
TOMATOES
– Probably the most important of all subjects I grow. To supply my culinary needs I grow three types – cherry tomatoes for snacking – salad use and mediteranean style recipes – look up Pasta Putenesca. Beefsteaks for salad use, sandwiches, freezing as a pulp, and whenever large slices or wedges are required. Plum tomatoes which I use in large quantities, throughout the summer for Italian style recipes. On a weekly basis when they are at their best mid- summer I skin them reduce them to a pulp concentrate together with Beefsteaks and freeze them – approximately 50 half kg blocks take me through until fresh ones are available. I think the flavour of home grown fresh picked tomatoes is just not available from shop bought fruit. Varieties Cherry Tomatoes Gardeners Delight – Beefsteaks – Big Daddy – Plums San Morzano.