This week we three are picking out the vegetables that we think are really worth the effort of growing.
Elaine, as a great all-round gardener, is speaking from personal experience, Laura finds vegetable-growing a bit too mundane, but still has opinions on what is most rewarding for her long-suffering husband to grow. And Caroline – well, she tries …..
It’s horribly easy to become seduced by all those tempting seed packets, put in 16-hour days with all the germination, pricking-out, potting-on, planting-out, protection, feeding and harvesting required, only to end up with stringy runner beans that no one likes, rows of moth-eaten cabbages or wooden (and revolting) black radishes.
So here are three vegetables that I reckon ARE worth growing – one for usefulness, one for taste, and one for the sheer fun of growing it!
Shallots – Although cheap to buy in the shops, they are so easy and so generous. I grow the ubiquitous ‘Golden Gourmet’ and it has never let me down. Start them off as ‘sets’ in a tray though – the birds love to haul them out of the ground if their flimsy juvenile roots allow.
Broad Beans – Again, so easy. Sow inside or outside. Pinch out the tips if blackfly are a problem, and pick the pods before they get old and gnarly. And please can I implore you to shuck off the thick bitter outer coating of the beans after you’ve cooked them – it’s the green bits inside that are so delectable (check me out, giving cookery tips! This is very unusual and only thanks to my own husband NOT being a grower of veg, but a wonderful cooker of them).
Chillies – These are a bit more of a faff , needing warmth for germination, a long growing season, sun, feeding, blah, blah, blah. But stick with it, because they are so vibrant and lovely both in appearance and taste, in their huge range of sizes, colour and heat. Really good fun as well as being attractive – remind you of anyone (cue, cheesy smile)?
Over to Laura now, who frankly wouldn’t know an Ailsa Craig if it jumped up and bit her on the bum.
Yes it’s true, the only vegetables I have ever grown are ornamental gourds in order to save money on not having to buy them at Halloween. But luckily Tim is a dab hand and so I am able to speak with some authority about which vegetables taste so much better than their shop-bought counterparts, so definitely worth the effort (not mine obvs…. and don’t be fooled by this week’s video in which I shamelessly try to pass off Tim’s skill in building the perfect runner bean A-frame as my own – link at the end).
Radish. A freshly picked radish is a revelation to anyone who has only ever had shop-bought specimens. Crunchy, juicy and peppery and just lovely with a wedge of cheddar for lunch.
Tomatoes – The spicy smell of a sun-warmed tomato picked straight from the vine and pressed against your nostrils is something else that you will never experience unless you grow your own. There are loads of lovely varieties to choose from but it’s hard to better the good old ‘Gardeners Delight’.
Strawberries – Even in the English strawberry season, supermarket ones still lack that special hedonistic sweetness that comes from plucking your own, warm and juicy in the July sunshine.
Peaches – You can never buy English peaches in shops as they bruise too easily to be stored or transported but their fragrant taste and juicy succulence is something very special. Do not be swayed by the promise of new heavy-cropping varieties, with peaches, quality is all, the heirloom, quintessentially English ‘Peregrine’ is the one to go for.
Peaches? No these won’t do as an edible veg option here in Scotland (+ they’re not veg right?) Robert the Bruce’s army did not send Edward home ‘tae think again’ on a belly-full of fan-trained peaches! It would have been more like:
Potatoes – OK so not freely available in the 14thcentury but sterling carbs suited to our climate up North nonetheless and so much fun to grow. I put mine in yesterday – encouraged by our Mediterranean weather this week. Waxy ‘Pink Fir Apple’ and floury ‘Arran Victory’ provide as much tattie excitement as our weekly menus require. Is there anyone who doesn’t experience that ‘I’ve found treasure’ feeling when they dig up their own potatoes?
Sweet Peppers – Needing a sunny lobby or glasshouse in Scotland in my opinion (if you don’t have a sheltered outdoor spot) but then all that’s required is a simple gro-bag, no TLC, and suddenly they produce beautiful, gleaming fruits almost overnight when you least expect it. Perfect for hopeless veg growers!
Rocket – I know the wildlife in my garden are keeping their wings/antennae/paws crossed I’ll try to grow a brassica again this year, but they can sod off. Chortles about my search for any trace of the broccoli I’d planted 24 hours previously, are probably still doing the rounds in various nests and burrows.
No this year I’m, sticking to rocket for my greens. It’s definitely one that we eat and the hotter the better. Have you tried ‘Wildfire’, a real wowser or ‘Dragons Tongue’ which isn’t as hot but has stunning red veins? Get cracking on a tray now. They don’t need warmth to germinate but the heat of their leaves clearly blows the beaks and gnashers off my ‘auld adversaries’. Who’s laughing now guys!
- You can buy our book ‘Beginner’s Veg – Easier to Grow than you Think’ in our shop on sale at £6.99.
- And here is that link to a masterclass in building runner bean frames
- And if you like the look of the wire harvesting basket in our featured picture at the top of the blog – that’s in our shop too!
NB Louise’s Great Plant this Month is a stunner and tolerant of partial or full shade – not many of these to the pound!
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2 replies on “10 Best veg to grow”
Although our space is tiny I do enjoy growing fruit and veg. After years of refusing to grow any brassicas due to cabbage white butterflies we are enjoying our first crop of purple sprouting broccoli at the moment, it is amazing! Sown in July, the little plants were easy to protect until planted out once the butterfly season had passed. Started sprouting a couple of weeks ago and still growing well. “Seeds to suit” have small packs of seeds for pennies making them economical to experiment with.
Other fruit and veg grown are those that taste so much better than shop bought varieties.
If I could only grow one tomato it would be Sun Gold, huge amount of fruit and so tasty. Trying Paoline for the first time this year. Another first for us will be Jerusalem artichokes. Chillies and capsicums are growing on in the house waiting for risk of frost to pass.
I also have a window ledge tomato plant already covered in fruit. I found it growing in a crack in some concrete last autumn and thought that if I could pull it up with enough root I would have it as a houseplant through winter and take cuttings in spring. No idea what variety it is and certainly didn’t expect it to flower so early, we’ve named the plant Frank and have really enjoyed watching it grow.
Happy gardening to all 💐
you cant beat gairden tatties