Top of the Crops

[cupcake]

Tomatoes yes, but I grow enough garlic to see me through the year!

[scarey55]

I'm with the sweetcorn lovers. In 4 years of growing my own I haven't yet got one to the pot though. For me, sweetcorn is at it's very best picked off the plant and eaten raw.
note to self - plant more sweetcorn next year!

[Rabidbun]

Garlic, french beans and tomatoes here. Then all the weird stuff that I can't buy (not much room for the normal stuff, alas)

[Loudbarker1]

And how come we all forgot PSB? Easy, (if you keep the pigeons/catterpillers off it, tasty and so cheap compared to the shops

[Aberdeenplotter]

Purple sprouting broccoli, now there's a thought to make your mouth water. I grew it the first year I had my present plot back in 1996, nurtured it from a seed, got it through the trials and tribulations of the caterpillar of the cabbage white butterfly, watered it through the drought, cleared off the wooly aphids, protected it from rabbits and finally admired it as it battled its way through the winter - only to have it eaten by marauding roe deer before I could get my teeth into it. Now I have 5ft fence around my plot which keeps out the roe deer, I have rabbit netting but I have never again grown this vegetable. I just don't think that something that takes such a long time to grow is worth the effort. By the way, if you leave swedes, cabbage or brussels to go to seed in the springtime, the flowerheads before they open are every bit as good as PS Broccoli.

[Aberdeenplotter]

Excuse me Miss Holly, although I love tomatoes and as they are leading the poll and I didn't vote for them ermhh I feel I should point out that a tomato is a fruit. <smug look>

[Aberdeenplotter]

Now, what can I say about french beans?

[northmaid]

Sweetcorn has to be number 1 for me. Have only grown it for the last two years and found it crops well and the taste when cooked within minutes of picking is unbeatable. Closely followed by peas, had to grow loads this year to ensue there was a chance of actually getting some home from the plot. Then there's tomatoes; grew 5 varieties this year and now wish I had a bigger greenhouse for next year.

[Jelliebabe]

Squash! I Grew them for the first time this year and found them really exciting! I am planning on lots of different varieties next year from spaghetti to mini pumpkins to butternut!!! Cant wait!

[Jelliebabe]

Ooooooh and Chillis!!!

[coreopsis]

There's so much choice...
Beetroot and celeriac are no.1 for me,closely followed by french bean,cauli and broccoli(calabrese).Spinach is fab with garlic,onion goes everywhere,the same as leeks.Lettuce on every sandwich.Tomato-freshly picked on a chunk of buttered bred with some sea salt.Summer cabbage with good handful of dill or sauerkraut in the autumn/winter.Carrots-no meal without them and in between as a snack.Potatoes-name it-mashed,boiled,chipped or whatever.
Where are cukes?Crispy and crunchy either on a sanny or salad/pickled/soured?
Chillies/peppers?Sweet or hot?
Off to rumble the fridge now-cress&radish cottage cheese roll should do

[planetologist]

All my favourites give a lot of produce per effort and taste great to boot: sorrel, sage, parsley, nettle, beetroot, parsnip, courgette, pumpkin, broad bean, climbing french bean, carrot.

[Bren In Pots]

Mines got to be broad beans you can eat them complete with pods when they're tiny, after that you've got the choice of eating fresh podded beans, freezing or drying them so they last all year round.

[gojiberry]

I have to go with peas as they are my staple break-time snack throughout the summer months. Forget the coffee and biscuits, it's coffee and peas anytime. However potatoes have to come a very close second as there is nothing to beat those first early potatoes cooked with a sprig of mint and served with lashings of real butter (not so good for the diet).

Ian

[blue411]

Ivd discovered the joys of leeks this year, ive never grown them before but i grew some last year and wow! Ive used them to make potato & leek soup, i add them to cottage pies, stir fry's, savoury mince, colcannon and the list goes on, such a versatile veg, i wouldnt be without it on my allotment now.