Promote your favourite Vegetable or Fruit!

[veggiechicken]

Tell us all about your favourite Veg or Fruit, why you grow it, what makes it special, why should others grow it. How to save seeds, how to eat it, in fact tell us so much about it that we all want to grow it next year

It can be a class of veg, like Kale or a particular variety, like Red Ursa.

Waiting to be tempted

[burnie]

Tough to choose just one of either, wild Blackberry is probably my favourite fruit, with apple close behind, both versatile on their own, raw, cooked or made into alcoholic beverages, nice together in a crumble.
I think Sweetcorn might be my favourite veg closely followed by tatties(in particular Pink Fir Apple or King Edwards).
I shall try to grow Sweetcorn in the new greenhouse as we don't get enough heat up here in NE Scotland and I shall not bother trying to grow spuds in grow bags like it I did this year, back to growing in the ground next year.
Now which fruit and veg do I enjoy growing the most would probably have different answers, Onions and maybe Strawberries are challenging and enjoyable in equal measure.
I don't collect my own seeds, nor do I do much cooking or baking(I'm in charge of the booze production)indeed I like most fruit and veg raw rather than cooked, all my Sweetcorn was eaten in the garden this summer, straight from the plant and most of the fruit that isn't in a demi john was eaten raw too.
I heartily recommend growing your own just to enjoy the fresh taste of a cob of corn or a carrot with a bit of mud on it. Tatties do need cooking though.

[veggiechicken]

Bijou Mangetout

I'd like to encourage you to grow Bijou Mangetout.

Its easy to grow, has beautiful pink/purple flowers that rival sweetpeas and the pods are enormous. Just a few are all you need for a stirfry or side dish.
If you forget to pick them regularly it doesn't matter, you can shell them like ordinary peas. Anyway, they stay tender until they're huge - 6" or bigger. Very productive if you keep picking them too.
They're a great nibble when mooching round the garden - and the pups like them too
Over winter, I grow some in a bucket in the GH - I have some germinating as we speak. I resow them 3 or 4 times a year to keep a succession going.
The original seeds came from Peas and Mange-Tout Peas vegetable seed from The Real Seed Catalogue several years ago and I've been saving them and resowing ever since.
Its my Must-grow veg and its never let me down.
Grow them in 2017 - you won't regret it

[Guest]

Depends what there is at the time.

Toms (I like the smell of the plants and reminds me of being younger and my Dad growing toms)- cherry types like black cherry as they are sweet and yummy and just right for thinking I will just have the one. Then paste types like black icicle, buffalo horn, banana legs and striped roman as they are fleshy and flavoursome. I love the range of colours with toms as well.

Courgettes - It just isn't right if you don't have courgettes. Fav. varieties are yellow zucchini for colour, black beauty or green bush for reliability, rond de nice for shape and lungo bianco for colour, flavour and it is slightly drier.

Apples - I have only learnt and started to appreciate the range of varieties. Favs include Worcester pearmain or katy for early eating, queen cox for eating/cooking/storing (which goes a fantastic orange when stored), bramley for traditional sauce, henry vii for cooking and eating when you don't want anything too sweet (although it is only meant to be a cooker) and norfolk beefing for a cooker which keeps its shape. These could all change as I try more.

Winter squash - these are like the comfort food of the veg world. Favs include tuffy sweet (an acorn type) and sweet dumpling. My mind has gone blank but there are more. I seem to favour the smaller types.

[Lumpy]

My ultimate favourite is new tatties - Charlottes

Out of their bucket - quick wipe over with a damp cloth - into a steamer (with skins) for about 10mins - huge amounts of butter, a bit of salt - on the plate.

Just on their own.....nothing else needed.

Don't have a clue about tattie seeds so I don't do it.

The Reason - none shop bought can compare to the taste.

Oh and radish but thats another story.

[Jay-ell]

Not fare. Haven't really grown any variety /crop long enough to establish itself above all others. Ask again in another 20 years and I might have a list.

Started to do grow offs - planting loads of varieties of one veg to compare against each other, this year it was courgettes and next year it's beans.

Of the courgettes I've brought it down to three varieties.

Romanescue, a nice stripped scalloped courgette with good flavour and was the most prolific producer during the recording period.

Tondo di Piacenza - a nice tasting round courgette which can be let to grow larger and stuffs well.

Tromboncino - out of the three climbers this is the only on that wanted to climb. Although it got off to a late start and didn't perform too well during the recording period it is the only one covered with fruit now. The long seedless necks mean that you can let it get a bit bigger and still have a lot of seed free courgette slices per fruit. Although it does need pointing in the right direction once it gets going it will happily climb away.

[maverick451]

Id put forward the case for strawberries

Cheap to buy, can produce fruit in as little as 60 days after planting, taste fantastic, you can multiply your stock super easy, nothing better imo than eating a warm freshly picked strawberry

[Greenleaves]

Raspberries especially Joan J....i just wished they last longer once picked....mainly because I eat most off them before getting home.

[Small pumpkin]

Pumpkins, all varieties especially small sugar. Love them! the plants grow so quickly. You don't know exactly how big the actual pumpkin is going to get. I sow them in big modules March, April depends what the packet says. Pot on several times then Get planted out late May, I do try to hand pollinat as well as letting the insects do there thing. I don't worry about isolating flowers because all seeds get eaten. The pumpkins them selves are so incredibly versatile, roast, soup, chutney, curry, pie, chips and you can draw pretty pictures in them with a knife! they probably have more good points but can't think of any at the moment.

[Finley]

Globe artichokes. Whole heads or hearts, stuffed or preserved or just leaf by leaf. I have about ten first year foot-high plants and am hoping for a giant crop next year.. Unless I kill them over the winter with too much/not enough/misguided attention

[Penellype]

Oh dear, another impossible question to answer! I could make a case for tomato Sungold, carrot Nantes Frubund fastcrop, pea Hurst Green Shaft, potato Desiree, cucumber Cucino, pepper Snackbite orange, strawberry Marshmello, blueberries...

Ok, I'll choose one that most people are probably unfamiliar with, which I grew for the first time last year (one plant) and was very impressed with, and that's brokali Endeavour. Other varieties may be available and may be better - I don't know. Brokali (tenderstem broccoli) is a cross between broccoli and kale. Broccoli is one of my favourite veg, but I struggle to grow PSB, finding it temperamental to get going and rather too large for my garden, where I grow all my broccoli in 30 litre buckets. The variety of PSB (Early Purple) that I grow produces edible shoots from March to May.

Last year the first brokali shoot was ready in mid December. The shoots have a milder taste than PSB and the stems lack the tough outer skin that rather spoils PSB shoots sometimes. The plant then produced a slow but steady stream of shoots throughout the winter and was still producing edible shoots through until May, although these were more inclined to flower and the stems were a bit tougher.

Comparison of this year's plants - PSB on the right and brokali on the left:



The PSB is looking worse for wear, having outgrown its net, whereas the brokali has remained a much more sensible size, - these are on a par with last year's plant.

I haven't tried eating the leaves as I reckon the plant needs them to produce the flower stems, but like most brassicas the leaves are edible.

[sparrow100]

If I am allowed to plug more than one...(please?)

a) Achocha fat babies - It will ramble up, over and around any structure you have. It is largely unbothered by slugs once past seedling stage and it doesn't cross with anything other than other achochas so saving seeds is easy-peasy. I use them when tiny to pop into salads and when large as a substitute for green peppers, which I just can't seem to grow. They give a huge harvest from July to the first frosts - we have 4 plants usually and that feeds us happily. Plus friends, family, random people on the street...

b) Nasturtiums. I love everything about these. They are pretty, grow into big rambunctious plants and you can eat every bit of them. Unless you want to save specific colours you can grow lots of varieties together and salads are enlivened by putting flowers or leaves in. And the seed pods are amazing pickled. I've only started doing that this year, but they will now be a yearly staple. They are at least as good as capers, and crunchier, which I like.

c) Padron peppers - cost loads in the shops (where they are often withered sad things) but will happily grow into big bushes outside in pots or in the ground. I grow 6 minimum each year which gives an average harvest of 4kg from early July to the first frosts, and they can be incredibly hot. I isolate flowers with bags to save seed as I grow a lot of chillies and they would otherwise cross.

d) winter squash - again I isolate to save seeds. Varieties I wouldn't be without are Black Futsu, Potimarron and Flat White Boer. They taste (respectively) of hazlenuts, chestnuts and sweet potato. Plus they are amazingly pretty, store well in my flat and fun to grow. You can eat the leaves too, but so far I haven't.

[Elfeda]

If it one crop I can grow in the ground, it should be : 'Gongura'

From Wiki:

Gongura is a plant, either Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) or Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), grown for its edible leaves in India. Gongura pacchadi is .... quintessentially Telugu cuisine along with pacchadi (chutney or relish). Telugu people, mainly from the states of Andhra Pradesh, India, locally called as Andhra Matha in Telugu due to significance in their day to day diet. While it has many culinary uses, the most popular is the pickled version. Although Gongura is widely consumed all over Andhra Pradesh, Gongura is more popular in hotels, restaurants, eateries and food joints. It is also grown in Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh (north east region of India) and also some parts of Chittagong Hill Tracts region in Bangladesh (which is mainly a tribal people region). It is a very popular green vegetable in Chakma community and it is known as "Aamelli". Gongura is a very rich source of iron, vitamins, folic acid and anti-oxidants essential for human nutrition.


Other well known recipes made with Gongura as the main ingredient are Gongura pappu (lentils), Gongura mamsam (goat/mutton) and Gongura royyalu (shrimp). In recent times, Gongura Chicken is also being served in restaurants. Gongura and calabash is extremely popular with the Telugu community in South Africa. It is also eaten by Acholi people in northern Uganda, where it is known as malakwang.

Apart from the curries there are many varieties of pickles made with gongura such as:

Pulla Gongura (Gongura + Red Chillies)
Pulihara Gongura (Gongura and Tamarind)

[Elfeda]

can I assume who ever liked my above post are wanting 'Gongura' (Roselle) seeds

[veggiechicken]

I've never heard of Gongura before, Elfeda, but I liked your post because its sounds interesting!
Is it a large plant?