Favourite veg cultivar?

[CharlotteE]

Hi everyone

Would anyone like to share which veg variety they'd recommend as a failsafe option, and why?

There's a chance to see your words in print in the March issue of GYO, just post on here and I'll pm you to ask whether we can use your tips

Thanks

Charlotte (Editorial Assistant)

[bluemoon]

Having tried just about every variety of Brussels Sprout I can heartily recommend 'Briggitte' It needs little care and attention, just stick the young plants in the ground and forget them until harvest time, but it has the best flavour by far of any that I've tried, even the kids noticed and commented.
We've also changed from being a family who loathed pumpkin to one which can't get enough of it due to 'Potti-marron' I grew them for a friend who is vegetarian and can't get much in the way of pumpkins and squash from the supermarket. I just kept the two smallest because I like to at least try what I've grown. The crops were large and they grew and ripened nicely even in the awful summer we had in 2008.

[sallym]

I have had great success with a yellow cherry Tomato called ILDI. I planted them out way too early last year, but they managed to survive howling winds and a couple of nights of frost.The flavour is unbeatable - Nice and sweet, but with a touch of acidity. I gave some to a neighbour that said she wasn't keen on tomatoes and her and her daughter were eating them like sweets.

[Two_Sheds]

My current fave is beetroot Cylindra ... a nice cylindrical (!) shape for slicing and peeling (round ones are a bit tricky).
It didn't bolt. I ate loads, really nice flavour, and there are still some sitting out in the frozen ground looking OK.

(I sowed Boltardy also ... it fared much worse ... small beets and quite scabby.

[Two_Sheds]

French Bean ... best for performance last year was Yin Yang ( a kidney bean ). Prolific, ripened ahead of some of the others (I grew a dozen varieties) ... and I managed to get lots of dry beans despite a wet summer and early autumn.

[BrideXIII]

French Breakfast Radish

I grew them in tubs, and in the ground, crop after crop after crop, just had to watch the slugs didn't get them when they first sprout, after that successional sowing kept me going right up until the end of november in the greenhouse. Nice size, juicy and crisp and not too 'harsh' tasting.

[Two_Sheds]

Carrot ... my fave carrot last year was Adelaide. Quick (3 months from seed to plate) and very sweet & tender. I have to sow them in loo rolls though, or the slugs eat the lot.

[Two_Sheds]

Cabbage: Rodima (red coleslaw type). Brilliant! It shrugged off caterpillars, slugs and aphids ~ which devoured all my other brassicas.
Quick growing, and stays well in the ground (I have 2 left, sat in frozen ground)

[Two_Sheds]

Onion: Stuttgarter was my best (I also grew Radar, Sturon, Red Baron, Duraldo & Centurion). It didn't get as much White Rot as the others, and produced the biggest onions. I still have lots in the shed for winter use.

Japanese Onion: Keepwell was really good. It kept well! (and didn't get white rot)

[Two_Sheds]

1st Early Spud: Arran Pilot. from seed to plate in 3 months. Delicious white potato. Didn't get as much scab as my others (possibly because it was dug up earlier)

Maincrop: Pink Fir Apple (I love a waxy potato). It's a salad spud, but I also like it in stews, where it retains its firmness. It stays in the ground until December in a mild year. I got a bit of slug damage this year (very wet), so my crop was less than 2007. I don't find the knobbliness a problem: just cut off the worst knobs, and scrub. No need to peel.

[Two_Sheds]

Radish: French Breakfast, without a doubt. I also tried Rougette, Cherry Belle and some horrible white ones. Quick, tasty, nice long roots easy to slice.
(all my radish got attacked by slugs though)

[Two_Sheds]

Pumpkin Mars F1: nice head size pumpkin, tasty orange flesh. From seed to turning orange in 3 months. A bit of a rambler, but made good ground cover for sweetcorn plants. Stored well into December, when I ran out (must sow more next year)

[Two_Sheds]

Sweetcorn: Swift F1. From seed to plate in 3 months. Big fat cobs, just not enough of them (we're pigs for sweetcorn). Must sow 300 plants next year. (I also grew Tuxedo, Conqueror (good) and Double Standard, which was rubbish)

[Two_Sheds]

Tomato: Sungold. From seed to plate in 3 months. It was the last one to get blight, and had the best flavour (I also grew Gartenperle, tomaska, SubArctic Plenty, Tigerella & Tamina)

[Alice]

I trialled 8 varieties of Pak Choi last year for spring growing.
Mei Quing Choi was by far the best. Very quick and easy to grow and with a good flavour. White Canton came second.
All varieties bolted in summer.
I'll trial them for autumn growing this year.