Growing anything new this year?

[alan refail]

Since I started vegetable gardening many years ago, I have tried to have a new venture every year. New things have included (in no particular order) endives and chicories, cut-and-come-again salad leaves, miners lettuce, flat-leaf parsley and coriander, Japanese and Chinese brassicas, Japanese bunching onions, kales (including Black Tuscan, Asparagus Kale, Purple Rapini, Ragged Jack, Red Russian), a wide variety of potatoes, any new courgettes and squashes I could lay my hands on, sweet peppers and chillies, ditto for tomatoes, climbing French beans, borlotti beans. All of these I am still growing, though less of a range of varieties. Things I have tried and abandoned include yard-long beans, melons, aubergines, tomatillos, and cardoons.

Having looked at my seed list for 2007, I find I am attempting nothing new, apart from different varieties.

What are you growing this year which is new to you? I’m after ideas for myself.

Any suggestions will be welcome, as also any comments on what I already grow.

Cofion gorau
Best wishes

Alan

[Jenny Green]

Why did you abandon tomatillos Alan? I was thinking of trying these this year as I love salsa.

[oldherbaceous]

Hello Alan, i must admit i don't try a new vegetable every year, but i do try one or two new varieties.
I must admit though, i nearly always go back to the varieties that i know grow well on my allotment.

It did make me smile when i saw cardoons in your tried and abandoned list, i remember growing a row of these years ago, they did grow really well, but what on earth can one do with them in terms of culinary uses, apart from soup.
I ended up adding them to the compost heap

[Tigger]

I'm going to grow a wider variety of greens and oriental veg this year and I'd like to try seed shoots like tha chap on Carol Klein's programme last week.

His name is Richard Vine and I think his nursery is in Wiltshire but I haven't found much detail about him or his 'cheffy' salads. I suppose it's unlikely that he's going to rush to tell evryone as he's captured a new market.

Maybe someone here knows more?

[alan refail]

Jenny

I didn't really abandon tomatillos - more giving them a rest. If you are thinking of trying them, do - they are brilliant - in salsa, cooked with tomatoes, onion and peppers, or just sliced raw in salad. They do need a lot of room to grow well.

Tigger

if you are trying oriental greens look for Golden Steaks mustard www.edwintucker.com amongst others.
It is the most beautiful plant,

very hardy (we have eaten some today in salad) and wonderful taste raw.

[Tigger]

Thanks Alan.

[Chantal]

I've just been sent a packet of Teenie Beanie runner beans. I've never seen them before; it appears they are runners but only grow to around 6" long and are stringless. Has anyone tried them?

[Colin Miles]

I often try to sow 2 varieties of a veg on the basis that if anything goes wrong with one, the other may survive. It also gives me an excuse to compare a new variety with an old and trusted one.

In terms of completely new veg, last year I grew Fennel. Got a reasonable crop but neither myself or my wife could stand the smell, so they went to the local pub. This year I am trying Melons in the greenhouse - namely Minnesota Midget from Alan Romans. Anyone any tips?

[Tigger]

Don't start me on melons....

First year - disaster - only got 2 fruits to ripen.

Second year - awash with the b*****s - couldn't eat them before they over-ripened.

Third year - as is this year - we're going for perfection and more than one type!

[peter]

Don't start me on melons....
Second year - awash with the b*****s - couldn't eat them before they over-ripened.

They sound ideal for throwing, "Run Herbie, run!"

[annettecourgette]

hi alan!! i noticed that you said you grow borlotti beans. ive had a recipe for borlotti bean pate for years and would love to grow some to try it out! any tips on growing them?

my list of things im trying out this year is, tomatoes, peppers, runner beans, courgettes, lettuces, some cut and come again leaves, raspberries, blackerries and rhubarb. im also considering some cabbages!

[alan refail]

Hi again Annette

Re Borlotti, if you can grow French Beans or Runners you'll be fine.
There are two possibilities with Borlotti - dwarf varieties and climbing varieties. For either I sow in pots/modules mid-May and plant out when about 4-5 inches high. I do this mainly so they survive the attentions of my hens and ducks which get into the vegetable garden. However you could well plant them in situ early June. As they are shelling beans they need a long season to mature, so you could try getting them in a little earlier than I suggest. We shell ours when they are ripe and freeze them. That way they are tastier and easier to cook through the winter.

The varieties wich are easiest to find are
Borlotto di Vigevano - dwarf
Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco - climbing (but also dwarf if called Lingua di Fuoco Nano)
it's always best to check.
Other varieties, all from www.seedsofitaly.com are
dwarf Saluggia, Stregonta (60cm tall)
climbing Centofiamme, Sanguino, LamonThe dwarf varieties I find to be heavier cropping but they are big plants and need support to keep the beans off the ground - and the slugs.

Hope this helps and you get a good crop.

Alan

[alan refail]

Oh, and by the way, can we have the recipe for borlotti pate please?


Still trying to get better at posting pictures.

Aaln

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Alan your picture posting would win awards compared to mine.

[alan refail]

OH

I'd give you advice on how to do it, if only I knew what I was doing. But thanks for the compliment.

Alan