Topic: What are your "Go to" varieties?

[BarriedaleNick]

Just wondering on this wet day in London what everyone's "Go to" crops are - what do you always plant without fail?

Personally I have a few that go in without question.

Alto Beetroot has always done well for me.
Sarpo Mira spuds seem to stand up well to blight when others fail.
Red Alert toms - always early, good taste and plentiful.
Long Red Florence onions - don't seem to keep well so I don't do many but they grow well on my clay.
I think I will be adding Uchiki Kuri squash to that list as they have gone nuts this year...

So what is first on your shopping list?  Yes basically I want to nick your ideas!!

[Ellen K]

This is a great one to think about.

Here is my list:

Hurst Greenshaft peas
Lark sweetcorn
Orkado and Sungold tomatoes
Setton Onions
Cobra and Blauhilde French beans
Charlotte potatoes

All vigorous and tasty crops which are reasonably easy to grow.

[tricia]

Mine are: Harzfeuer and Sungold tomatoes, Hunter butternut squash, Cobra and Moonlight beans, Lark or Applause sweet corn,Parthenon and Cavili courgettes - and a mini cucumber (can't remember the variety).

I grow other tomatoes and squashes, leeks too, but my main list for my four small raised beds and mini greenhouse doesn't change much from year to year.

Tricia 

[Silverleaf]

I like to try lots of different varieties, but I do have a few favourites that I mean to grow again.

Telephone and Golden Sweet peas
Charlotte and Desirée potatoes
Latah tomatoes
Poletschka French beans

[Marlborough]

I am no Percy Thrower, but these work for me.

Potatoes Desiree and Charlotte.
Cabbage greyhound and spring hero
Lettuce Lakeland
Tomatoe su gold
Climbing French bean cobra

Hope this helps!

[Deb P]

Cavili courgettes are a must, pale green fruit with a very thin skin and yellow flesh, a bit like an avocado.

Charlotte salad potatoes, lovely when new and grow as big as bakers.

Banana shallots, grown from seed, also Red Florence salad onions as they grow as big as you need them.

Marco garlic, does well on my clay soil.

Annual dahlias, I'm building up a nice collection of different varieties grown from mixed packets of seeds from the past few years, and quite a few come up again the next year without any mollycoddling at all!

[ed dibbles]

Loads of stuff gets grown every year, something new is always tried as well as some crops not grown every year such a carrots for example. Some of the seeds are saved each year so the yellow podded dwarf beans grown and saved every year could now be classed a land race. Also tomato varieties now add up to over 15.

But these are the "always grown" veggies making up the "core" of the yearly crop.

tomato: lemon tree, reif red heart, black cherry, millefleur.

chilli: jalapeno and cayenne

squash: pink banana, onion (uchiki kuri)

radish: french breakfast, sicily giant, china rose, black spanish round (winter)

parsnip: tender and true

oca & yacon

bulb fennel: big Sicilian

kohl rabi: gigante

beet: boltardy, cylindra

brussels sprouts: cromwell

cabbage: golden acre, eminence, january king.

Cauliflower: aalsmeer

kale: Sutherland

sprouting broccoli

onion: sturon (sets)

leek: Musselburgh

elephant garlic

climbing beans: borlotto lingua di fourco, runners

broad beans: aquadulce, bunyards, crimson flowered

lettuce: little gem, webbs wonderful

sweet corn: ovation

These varieties work well for me providing good eating all year round.

[ed dibbles]

How silly not to mention the most indispensable veg of all - perpetual spinach. Easy to grow and crops ten months of the year.

What's not to like?

[johhnyco15]

moonlight runners bolthardy beetroot incredible sweetcorn little gem lettuce tamina tomatoes ruby swede vieches globe turnips vita longa carrots butternut butternut greyhound ,primo,brunswick, cabbage telegraph cue orange baby pepper and ill think of the rest later

[Digeroo]

Potatoes Desiree and Annabelle if I can get them
Carrots nantes no 5
Squash tromba d'Albenga
Beetroot burpee golden
Dwarfbean purple tepee and Pencil pod black wax
Runner Moonlight
Climbing Mrs Lewis's purple podded
Courgette Clarita
Tomato Sungold
Sweetcorn Earlybird
Parsnip gladiator
Broadbeans masterpiece green longpod

Too well draining alkaline soil and very windy site,

[squeezyjohn]

I have to admit that a lot of mine are from Real Seeds as I love their choices and germination rates - but there are others too:

Kohl Rabi - Gigant - massive and never woody
Chinese Cabbage - Yuki
Potatoes - Charlotte and Desirée ... snap!
Peas - Champion of England tall variety
Courgette/Summer Squash - Crookneck Squash ... better than courgettes and prolific
Tomatoes - Amish Paste & Tomatillo de Jalapo (the latter have been seeding themselves for 2 years!) ... big and little ones
Lettuce - Reine de Glace and Optima - delicious and different
Beetroot - Sanguina and Touchstone Gold - brilliant performers!
Leeks - Bulgarian Giant (not very winter hardy but massive and easy)
Broad Beans - Wizard Field beans ... brilliant every year except this one which was a blackfly disaster
Sweetcorn - Swiss Special ... fast to form cobs, very sweet and early ... shame the wildlife loves it too!
Drying beans - Gigandes & Cherokee trail of tears ... giant vigorous white beans and tiny red kidney beans
Kale - Taunton Deane Perennial Kale ... there's nothing like this out there - giant plants that last 7 years! Delicious.

I'm still trying to work on good varieties of cabbage, brussels sprouts, carrots, swedes, celery, celeriac, fennel, mange-tout ... I have a sneaking suspicion that what works is very dependent on your plot's microclimate and soil though so don't take my suggestions as gospel - but they work great for me.

[Digeroo]

I do think it depends very much on your growing conditions,  Real seeds just do not happen for me.  I would like seed packets to be labelled as to whether they have been grown in acid or alkaline soil.  I think anything switched on for acid just has a nervous breakdown when it is sown here.   

I missed Wizard really impressed but got mine from Tuckers.

[squeezyjohn]

I'm certain it does depend on your growing conditions - there's definitely some things that just won't grow for me at all.

I'm in quite a chalky area generally but the soil pH is bang on 7 where my plot is so growing things at home is very different to growing on the allotment.

[GREGME]

potato: harlequin, annabelle, red emallie. purple majesty, roseval
tomato : danko, black krim, sweet million, rose de berne
dwarf bean : purple teepee and speedy
broad bean : aquadulce claudia, Karmazyn
courgette/squash : tromba d'abenga
kale : cavalho negro
chard :bright lights
beetroot : burpees golden

the others i'm still trialling and not variety faithful

[strawberry1]

charlotte potatoes, lovely flavour. I cut the haulm right down to the ground 3 weeks ago as they were big enough and am taking some from the ground every few days. They are in lovely condition

cobra french beans, gorgeous

jermor shallots, I just grow the offspring year after year, almost the size of onions but shallot flavour

jolimont garlic, same reasons as shallots

boltardy beetroot, never fails

little gem lettuce, perfect for one person and stands well

I do experiment with brassicas. Am growing cabbice now and it is one I will grow again, easy and lovely mild flavour