Are brassicas and potatoes worth it?

[Gman]

So, coming to end of my 1st season after buying house with existing veggie patch and keeping it going.

Some things have been great (tomatoes, cucumbers, autumn raspberries, plums, rhubarb, apples, French beans, runner beans, garlic, lettuce).

Other things more mixed and probably need to improve technique (peas, radishes, beetroot, red and blackcurrants, blackberries).

Some things I just am not sure have been worth it (leeks, broccoli/brokali, kohlrabi).

The kohlrabi was nice and hard to find in shops. The brokali was fine but no better than shop bought tenderstem broccoli. They took up a lot of space and loads of time from chasing pigeons away and picking caterpillars off, despite purchasing a net to place over it.

I already fail to see the point in planting potatoes as they are so cheap anyway. Now I feel like broccoli is no better than shop bought and probably not worth the bother.

Is the only reason to keep planting brassicas and potatoes about maintaining a crop rotation or am I missing something?

[veggiechicken]

Hi Gman and welcome.
Sounds like you've done very well with your new garden, especially as this has been a challenging year with the hot, dry summer.
You don't need to grow brassicas and potatoes if you don't want to. Its best to concentrate on what's the most rewarding - that you like, gives you a good return and isn't too much hassle to grow.
We've been discussing this at https://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gr...ain_97894.html and it may give you some ideas on what to avoid.

[Jay-ell]

If you're not going to grow spuds or brassicas again don't worry - it won't mess up your crop rotation you can just slip something else in their place. Just focus on what you like to eat. There's a lot of people who swear by growing their own potatoes for the variety and flavour, others just grow new potatoes, some grow them in buckets and others don't bother with them at all.

Are you looking for things you like but can't get, you like but are expensive or even things you've never seen in the shops/tasted/heard of? The space freed up can give you a chance to experiment.

[Jimmy]

Whilst veg gardening can provide cheap veg that is not the point.
The main reason I garden is the joy of growning something I like.
Also the health benifits both physical and mental.
When you head starts spinning from the stress of modern life, pop in the garden for 10 minutes and your brain goes into neutral!
I came to the conclusion to grown only what I like and what works.
I only grow a few spuds, Charlottes because I like them.
Brussel sprouts don't seem to grow for me so I stick with Kale which always does well.
Climbing french beans, yellow courgettes, cherry toms are at the top of my list.
One thing I like is gaining experience from other people or my own failures.
I now know what varities work best, like Cobra beans or courgette Orelia.
So just enjoy what you like and shruge your shoulders at what does not work.
Whew, another rant, Jimmy

[Small pumpkin]

Welcome to the vine
Like others have said it's entirely up to you what grows in your veggie garden.
I grow spuds in bags for the different varieties as much as anything.
I grow brassicas because first and foremost I like to. A very close second reason is nearest shops are sill along way, veg selection is pants ( both in choose and quality) and expensive.

[bario1]

As you say, brassicas take a lot of time to mature, and a lot of space, particularly sprouting broccoli and large head cabbages. I no longer grow those things, but still wouldn't be without kale, which you can start cropping as soon as you like, and Spring greens, which taste fantastic and grow through Winter and early Spring when nothing much else is growing.
Potatoes, I'm coming to the conclusion that they're not worth too much bother... like Jimmy, I might just grow a few Charlottes or Pink Fir Apples in future - I don't have room for storing sacks of spuds - but there's nothing more satisfying than lifting a potato plant to see what you've got!

[1Bee]

It's completely up to you.

Mind you, for me your question is the wrong way round... is there any point to a plot if you don't grow potatoes or brassicas? I just love how potatoes grown, the magic of digging them up, the mass of in-your-face foliage and the condition they leave the soil. And, for us, I wouldn't get half the tolerance of the time I spend on the plot from Husband if I wasn't producing the sainted sprout for the Christmas table...

But grow what you want to grow. No-one's going to rescind your membership if you decide you don't want to grow potatoes or brassicas.

[Miss Mousetrousers]

I must admit to liking growing my own potatoes (Charlotte and Elfe) because as said it's nice to dig up a root or two and they have different uses. I love broccoli but the ones I've grown this last few years don't have the taste just like you've found. Previously I grew Corvet but it's vanished from our shores, then I found a supplier abroad and a little packet of them is currently sleeping in my seed box ready for next year. Leeks do well here and all I do is grow from seed sprinkled in pots sometime in late April - early May then when they've about 4 leaves I separate them 9 to a bigger pot and give them some feed to bulk them up. When they've put on a bit of weight sometime in July I separate them, trim the long roots off then plant them into 6" dibbed holes with a sprinkle of BFB and later on with some chicken manure pellets. It's been a funny growing year so see how it goes next year.

[Snadger]

It depends a bit on how big your garden is and will you be able to fill it with produce you like to eat, if you don't grow spuds and brassicas?

[Greenleaves]

As already suggested, your garden your choice

I on the other hand am a grower of lots of brassics but I have plenty of space. Welcome to the vine, enjoy the benefits of the advice and humour

[annie8]

Have to say I will always grow potatoes. They are easy, good at clearing the ground and they taste lovely much nicer than shop bought. Unlike other veg they don’t have a glut as I store and use when I need them for months.

[Gman]

Thanks

Thanks everyone.

So long story short, grow what I want and if I don’t think brassicas are worth it, I can still sort an acceptable crop rotation.

Also, not growing potatoes seems like an unusual choice so maybe I should reconsider.

And I read the “seeds I won’t be growing again thread” lol. I also tried cucamelons. I also won’t be growing them again. Manky. And after reading this, don’t think i’ll try sweet corn.

[Derbydal]

it's not been a good year for spuds or brasicas for me this year apart from 1 row of penland dell which I dug up yesterday.
re your coment about potatoes being cheap ! a friend who works on a potato farm told me that this year thier spuds where £10 a bag lasts year they where £4 a bag and he'd heard that they where wanting £14 in Linconshire ! atb Dal.

[toomanytommytoes]

Even the best tasting supermarket potatoes weren't a patch on our homegrown Kestrel or Red Duke of York, though the yield from containers is never as big as I wish for. We don't bother with maincrop types due to space constraints.

Sprouting broccoli is definitely a space hog. For me, cimi di rapa (broccoli raab) is better in taste and the plants are much smaller and much quicker to yield. I found it really easy to grow and the early sowings cropped before the aphids and caterpillars invaded. We've got some seedlings in pots in the greenhouse to see if we can get another crop before November. Also a big fan of turnip greens and Asian-type greens since they are quick to crop and can be grown through winter under cover.

If I had the space I'd grow everything!

[rary]

The veg that you want to grow is up to you, and it is not necessary to grow what everyone else grows, but you must ask yourself why do so many other gardeners grow the likes of potatoes and brassicas when you can easily buy them in the shops, personally I find the taste of fresh veg from the garden better than shop bought one's, also you know what or if they have been sprayed with anything, (read the list of chemicals that makes up some of the bug sprays, and with some you don't consume the veg for a day or more after spraying) but one of the main reasons I grow my my own veg is to ensure that there is a good mineral content in the veg, the food we consume nowadays has lost more than 50% of the mineral content compared to the late fifties, early sixties, an other reason is that I enjoy growing my own