High temperatures and little rain made it a challenging season in the veg plot. Some things seemed to ignore the abnormal British summer but others definitely struggled on my free-draining, sandy soil, giving me some very mixed results for my vegetable trials.
I grew a wide range from micro veg to huge pumpkins. There were some unexpected hits and a few failures.
Everything has now been harvested although not all of it has been tasted. Here are my thoughts so far.
Seed and plants were supplied free in return for a fair review.
The vegetable trials stars
I must confess to not being aware of edamame beans before Thompson & Morgan gave me a packet of ‘Green Shell’ and I sowed them more out of curiosity than anything else.
They proved to be one of the favourites of the 2018 vegetable trials and I only wish I’d grown more than six plants.
They were quick to germinate, easy to grow and the beans, served warm with a sprinkling of salt, were an immediate hit with the family. Definitely one to repeat next year.
Also new to my veg plot this year were Asia-bred radish ‘Bluemoon and Redmoon Mix’, again from Thompson & Morgan.
Larger than the usual radish, these had a crisp texture, fabulous colour and were ideal for stir fries or sliced into salads.
The onion family
I’ve grown red onions for years but this season decided to try shallots, and bought some from my local Dundry Nurseries in the autumn.
Marshalls also sent me ‘Golden Gourmet’ shallots and ‘Stuttgart Stanfield’, a flat, white onion, and garlic ‘Picardy Wight’ to try, all for planting in the spring.
The shallots and particularly the garlic were smaller than my autumn-started crops, possibly due to the dry summer, and some of the white onions also made little size, though I did really like their flavour and they roast well.
Squashes and pumpkins
Squashes seemed to take an age to get going this year and their size was definitely affected by the weather, despite regular watering.
‘Honey Boat’ squash from Suttons scored highly when it came to flavour – and it looks pretty too.
I also liked the nutty flavour of ‘Uchiki Kuri’, also from Suttons, which produced bright orange fruit.
Courgette ‘Zucchini’ from Unwins wasn’t prolific – probably a good thing – but produced courgettes that had a good flavour.
I was successful in finally getting a ‘Polar Bear’ pumpkin (Marshalls) after last year’s suffered a fatal slug attack. The creamy white skin is certainly eye-catching and it’s produced a big fruit. Whether it tastes as good as it looks remains to be seen but I’m hopeful.
The rest of the vegetable trials
The hardest part of growing ‘Cannellino’ beans from Suttons was stopping my ‘gardening assistants’ picking them early as I wanted to harvest them as cannellini beans.
With space limited, I grew only half-a-dozen plants but still got a fair number of beans. They have now been dried and will be used over the winter – a great way of making the harvest last.
In contrast, Mangetout ‘Spring Blush’ from Dobies (pictured top) needs picking before the pods get too big and it’s also worth growing a lot of plants to make sure you have enough to make a decent harvest. The flavour of these was good and the red tinge to the pods a bit different.
Another hit in taste trials was ‘Speedo’ carrot, from Mr Fothergill’s, which also grew quickly, as the name suggests. Mine were a bit uneven in terms of size, again probably due to the weather.
Much smaller was ‘Short N Sweet’ from Unwins. These produced the sort of carrots you eat whole and again had a very good flavour. They would be ideal for growing in a container.
Mr Fothergill’s also asked me to try ‘Curry Pepper’ pepper, a hot variety. The plants produced several fruits each and were straightforward to grow. It certainly added some heat to a recent curry.
Beetroot ‘Alexis’ from Unwins produces long rather than the more usual round beets. The flavour was good but I’ve decided I prefer round varieties.
Strawberries are a family favourite and we had three new varieties to try this year, thanks to Marshalls. Our favourite was ‘Royal Sovereign’, which had a good flavour though was possibly a bit watery.
‘Red Gauntlet’ was the second choice and had firmer fruit. Our least favourite was ‘Cambridge’ because none of us liked the more perfumed and slightly tart fruit.
The plants established really well and I’m expecting a bigger crop next year in their second season.
The vegetable trials misses
There were a couple of things that didn’t really impress. I grew a selection of micro veg from Unwins, among them coriander, broccoli and fenugreek.
I put the crops in small containers and grew them on the kitchen windowsill where they came up quickly and thrived. Certainly, they looked pretty on a plate but I wasn’t convinced that they had much taste. Perhaps I didn’t harvest them soon enough. Another to try again next year.
Dobies runner bean ‘Jackpot Mixed’ is a cross between dwarf French beans and runners. The plants certainly cropped well and the beans tasted just like the normal high-climbing varieties.
The problem was I found the beans were so long they trailed on the ground, getting splashed with earth when we watered. Growing them in a pot so the beans could hang over the side could be one solution.
Soil and slugs
Finally, the vegetable trials included a couple of non-food products.
I battle constantly against slugs and snails and anything that can stop them is welcome. Vitax gave me some of their Slug Gone pellets to try. Made from wool, they form a barrier around vulnerable plants.
They worked well and I particularly like the fact that they are a natural barrier and, unlike slug pellets, won’t harm wildlife. My packet was very quickly used.
I have also been part of a group of gardeners trialling Bloomin Amazing no-dig soil conditioner that’s designed to act as a mulch and provide nutrients. It’s peat-free and is made from a by-product of an anerobic digester plant in Dorset.
I used it around the brassicas and first impressions are good. It’s formed a thick mat that has been effective in suppressing all but the most persistent weeds and the cabbages have never looked so healthy.
I’m not sure about the colour – it dries to a sort of red-brown – and it hasn’t yet worked into the soil but, it’s easy to use and the plants seem to love it.
• You can read about my flower gardening trials here
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