Vegetable Gardening Trials 2021

I’ve been looking back at the vegetable gardening trials for 2021 and starting to think about what I might grow next year.

This season was an odd one with long periods of cool weather that definitely affected things such as squash. I had a poor crop, which was disappointing.

Other things performed well, including some of the varieties in the vegetable gardening trials. Others are going to be tried again next year.

I was given seeds in return for a fair review.

First prize for sheer quantity has to go to cucumber ‘Party Time’, grown from seeds given to me by Burpee – the firm doesn’t supply the public but you can buy via many of the big seed firms.

I normally struggle a bit with cucumbers, getting three or four fruit before the plant gives up, probably because it can’t compete with the tomatoes in my greenhouse.

This cucumber started cropping early and just didn’t know when to stop. I still had one fruit developing when I came to insulate the greenhouse and get it ready for winter.

There were times when it literally was cucumber with everything in our house. Not a hardship as the fruit were well-flavoured and smooth – none of those irritating spiky skins that need peeling. A variety to look out for.

Beans had another good year as the picture at the top of this blog illustrates. Alongside my regular runner bean ‘Moonlight’, which I find never goes stringy, I grew two new French beans, one a dwarf variety and the other a climber.

The dwarf, ‘Elba’ from Mr Fothergill’s was a good, straightforward French bean that grew well and had a good flavour.

Dwarf varieties are great for fitting in around other crops, filling up those odd spaces and are also ideal for growing in containers.

The climber was the yellow ‘Sunshine’ from Chiltern Seeds. Again, a strong grower and prolific. The only drawback, as with many of the non-green beans, was that it didn’t keep its colour when cooked, turning a dull yellow-green. If you could get past the appearance, the taste was excellent.

Aubergines were another successful crop and we ate the last of them only a few weeks ago. Alongside ‘Green Knight’ and ‘White Knight’, part of the 2020 gardening trials, I grew ‘Genie’ from Burpee.

It produced beautifully glossy purple fruits with that classic aubergine shape. A good flavour and a good crop.

There were two new lettuces this year, both from Dobies – ‘Speckled Trout’ and ‘Bronze Beauty’. Both are Heritage varieties, grew well and produced lettuces with a good flavour and texture.

I always cut the plants to within about an inch of the soil and they resprouted, giving a second crop of leaves. Well worth the space and the unusual markings made them a great addition to a salad.

For some reason, I seem to be the only person who is never inundated with courgettes. In fact, the plants often struggle, probably due to my sandy soil.

Courgette ‘Piccolo’ from Chilterns didn’t produce a lot but I doubt that’s a true indication of its cropping potential. It’s one of the round fruit varieties and has a lovely stripe, giving it more visual interest. The flavour was good too and I’m going to try it again next year.

A mini pak choy ‘Macau’ from Dobies was good – so good the slugs had a taste as well. In spite of the tatty leaves, it was great in a stir fry and took up little space. Another crop to slot into a spare piece of ground.

So, a few things that I would definitely grow again. I wonder what new varieties 2022 will bring?

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