I’ve been clearing the vegetable beds, adding compost and starting to make plans for next season. This year’s gardening trials brought the usual mixed fortunes. Some things fell victim to the resident wildlife, others were a surprising success. Each season is different and you can never predict what will work and what won’t.
The hits and the misses
All seeds and plants were supplied free of charge for me to trial.
There’s been a bit of an unplanned ‘red’ theme in the gardening trials this year. Salads, in particular, have had a fiery touch.
I grew Chiltern Seeds’ ‘Flaming Brilliant’ red salad leaves and it certainly lived up to its name. There’s a mix of leaves that are ideal for cut and come again, including red-leaved rocket, pak choi and amaranth – an amaranth plant I missed produced a wonderful red flower head, quite a bonus. The selection of leaves proved a good way to add a bit of interest to the salad bowl.
Then there was Suttons’ ‘OutREDgeous’ lettuce. This a romaine type lettuce and proved resilient to the weather and easy to grow. The flavour was also popular with the family. Definitely one to grow again.
Dwarf French bean ‘Red Swan’ from Mr Fothergill’s has, as the name suggests, a lovely pink blush to the pods, which did disappear on cooking. These were sturdy little plants, ideal for popping into odd corners, and produced good flavoured beans.
I struggle with brassicas – thanks to light soil and resident pigeons – but did manage to produce ‘Romanov’ red cabbage from seed by Mr Fothergill’s. They won’t win any prizes for size but taste good (pictured at top).
The ‘Jewel Jet’ aubergine, also from Mr Fothergill’s, are meant to be smaller as the plants are suitable for container growing. The plants had a setback early on when snails found them in the greenhouse but they shrugged this off and went on to make good-sized plants. The aubergines were excellent roasted with some of the many tomatoes I grew this year and the ‘Summer Holiday’ courgette, also from Mr Fothergill’s. This had pretty round yellow courgettes that were far more colourful than the usual green.
I grew two different types of basil in this year’s gardening trials. The first, from Chiltern Seeds, was ‘British Basil’, which is able to cope with cooler weather. It was straightforward to grow and had a good flavour.
More tricky but worth it for the taste was ‘Lime Mrs Burns’ from Suttons Seeds. There was a distinct lime tinge to the usual basil flavour. The only problem I found was that the seedlings disliked being transplanted and keeled over. Sowing more thinly and not thinning out after germination solved that.
Suttons also sent me Peruvian Black Mint. This was easy to grow and produced long, thin leaves with a strong citrus-mint flavour. Another that I will repeat.
Pipiche, also known as Mexican Coriander, would look good in the flower bed. It has an unusual flavour, definitely citrus-like – and pretty little blue flowers that reminded me of French lavender without the petals. I was sent the seed by Chiltern Seeds.
Turnips are a family favourite and Mr Fothergill’s ‘Oregon’ was a bit different to our usual white varieties. This is a golden turnip that was milder in flavour. It grew easily and even those I missed until they were quite big didn’t get woody.
Marshalls Seeds’ carrot ‘Charisma’ proved another winner, producing squat roots with a good flavour. As ever, I struggled to get the seed to germinate but that’s always a problem, regardless of variety.
Something a bit different was broad bean ‘Luz de Otono’ from Suttons. This is a bean that tolerates cold and was being sold in plug plants to put out in summer and harvest in the autumn.
I was intrigued about picking broad beans that late in the season so gave them a try. Unfortunately, the plants got caught up in the delivery system and were less than perfect when they arrived.
They did rally and we got a harvest, albeit it small. It’s an interesting idea but it needs careful planning to ensure you have a space ready for the plants in mid-summer. Seeds are also available for sowing in July for a November crop.
A surprise in this year’s gardening trials came via Thompson & Morgan, who sent me a number of ‘experimental’ seeds. These had no name, just a number; the variety was revealed later. The star of the selection was the spaghetti squash, something I’d never tried before. In a season that saw squashes succumb to slug attack and the weather, this was a success and the family have already asked for more next year.
Probably the biggest disappointment this year was not getting to taste the ‘Gold Crest’ sweetcorn from Mr Fothergill’s. The plants were doing well and starting to set cobs when the badger discovered them. I’m undecided whether to grow sweetcorn again next year.
Enjoyed this? Look out for my review of this year’s flower seeds gardening trials. Sign up to the blog for an email alert.