The weather’s been too bad recently to do much beyond checking on plants in the greenhouse and potting shed, topping up the bird feeders and admiring the snowdrops. It is the perfect month though for looking back over last year’s vegetable gardening trials.
Two firms gave me seed for what turned out to be the star of the season. Both Chiltern Seeds and Mr Fothergill’s supplied Chard ‘Peppermint’, a variety that has stems that really do remind you of peppermint rock.
I was sent all seeds free in return for a fair review.
This was my top vegetable from the 2020 season. Like most chard, it’s easy to grow, versatile to use and this variety has the bonus of looking stunning. It’s also long-lasting – I’m still picking it.
Another star for looks as well as taste was Kale ‘Midnight Sun’, also from Chiltern Seeds. This made stocky plants so didn’t need staking – always a bonus.
It has purple/pink-tinged leaves and a striking pink vein. The flavour is excellent. I’ve already bought some more seed for this year.
Burpee Europe, who supply seed firms rather than the public, sent me a couple of unusual aubergines to try. ‘Green Knight’ and ‘White Knight’ produce long fruits that are, as the names suggest, either white or a pale green.
Each plant was small enough to sit in a pot on benching in the greenhouse but they were prolific, with about three or four fruits per bush.
The flavour was excellent, and they are certainly something different.
Sweet pepper ‘Popti’ also from Burpee was particularly successful. I often struggle to get good peppers that have flesh that’s thick enough to be juicy. These fitted the bill. They also produced a lot of fruit over a long season – I picked the last from the greenhouse this week.
Two of the more unusual things in the vegetable gardening trials were a pair of squash from Thompson & Morgan.
Winter Squash ‘Mashed Potatoes’ and Winter Squash ‘Baked Potatoes’ are billed as a high fibre, low calorie substitutes for either mashed or baked potato. So far, we’ve tried the baked potato variety and loved it. The texture is reminiscent of a baked potato but it has a delicate squash flavour. It was particularly good with kale and cheese, and I would certainly grow them again.
Another squash that is still to be sampled is ‘Long Pie’ from Suttons. This is a good ‘keeper’ and is being saved for later in the winter.
Unlike many winter squash, you harvest these when the first sign of orange appears rather than waiting for them to ripen outdoors. Several months on, they are now a fantastic orange all over. Another easy variety that needed little attention over the growing season.
I was sent a couple of cucumbers to try for the vegetable gardening trials. The wonderfully named ‘Merlin’ from Burpee Europe was the favourite with lots of small cucumbers with a good flavour.
‘Swing’ from Mr Fothergill’s was rather ‘prickly’ and needed to be peeled before eating, making it less convenient to use.
Dill ‘Nano’ from Mr Fothergill’s was straightforward though. Easy to germinate and with a good flavour. I grew it in pots in the greenhouse.
The firm’s chilli pepper ‘Devil’s Brew’ has proved to be somewhat of a game of Russian roulette with the fruit either very mild or extremely hot, although it’s supposed to be a mix of different hot varieties. You need to sow several to get the different plants. Those I had were easy to grow and free-fruiting and the flavour varied even among fruit on the same plant.
Garden Organic, which holds the Heritage Seed Library, sent me a couple of vegetables with an interesting history.
‘Taiwan Climbing French Bean’ is so named because it was discovered by a cleaner on a flight that had arrived at Heathrow from Taiwan in the 1970s. It produced a lot of green beans with a good flavour.
I had less success with ‘Blackdown Blue Pea’ thanks to the mice. They had most of the plants, leaving me with just one. It produced a couple of pods and, rather than eating them, I’ve saved the seed to try again this year.
It’s another variety with a good back story. The seeds originate in northern France and were given to a young soldier after the Battle of the Somme. He took them back to Somerset where they’ve been grown by his friends and family ever since.
Onions were another crop that fared badly in 2020. Nothing seemed to grow well and the harvest was disappointing.
I did manage a few Onion ‘Borettana’ from Suttons, the first time I’ve tried growing onions from seed. These are the flat onions we love in Italy where they are often found served pickled. I didn’t have enough to try that! Another to attempt again this year.
A couple of things that weren’t completely successful last year came good this season. Chilli pepper ‘Lancer’ from Marshalls produced masses of tiny red-orange fruit. They did go soft very quickly so needed picking rapidly and either using or freezing. The flavour was mild to mediumly hot.
And I can’t not mention my cabbages. I usually buy in plug plants from a local nursery and, when I have grown from seed, they’ve not done particularly well. This year, ‘Serpentine’ a Savoy-type from Suttons has been an outstanding success. It’s cabbage with everything in our house!
You can read about my 2020 cut flower gardening trials here
Do sign up to follow my blog and make sure you don’t miss a post.