Topic: What did discover this year.

[BarriedaleNick]

As the season draws to a close I wonder what wonderful new varieties or techniques have you discovered this year.

I have a couple of things to add to my "must do again" list.

Cabbage Surprise.  A great little cabbage - really quick to mature and doesn't take up much space so would be good for successionial sowings.  I guess a bit like Minicole?

Squash - Autumn Crown. .I got 9 squash of the one plant and they are supposed to be a butternut variety.

So what have you found that took your fancy?

[Paulh]

Cabbage 'Minicole' which has cropped perfectly, which is great because I've lost most of my other brassicas (apart from Tuscan kale) to clubroot.

Patty pan squash which just wowed everyone with their appearance and taste.

Climbing borlotti beans which really worked when previously I've ended up with the dwarf ones which the slugs got at.

Cucumber Long, green burpless (or some such name) which is a prolific outdoors cucumber and produces fruit that look like cucumbers. I've had to find ways of using the things - surprisingly good as a soup.

That I need to feed, weed and water ever more so!

[woodypecks]

Husband bought a Vegtrug ....which was very ,very expensive ..but it meant that ,with his poor aching back , he could join in the whole wonderfulness of growing veggies without having to bend or crouch down . He was very successful in growing a bumper crop of tomatoes , lettuces , spring onions, cucumbers  and one beautiful , shiny ,green pepper .    I would like ideas , as to what he might grow in it over winter ?  Debs 

[Crystalmoon]

Hi if he bought plug plants he could grow cabbages over the Winter as I've just put my baby ones out at my allotment....too late to grow from seed I think but plug plants should work well.

[johhnyco15]

pepper Astor and tasty grill yellow and red respectively they have been fantastic upto a foot long and so prolific had a good 20 of them so far  and plenty more to come one tip they like confined roots so i put them in a 2ltr pot then put the pot in a growbag 3pots to one bag and water every other day and feed twice a week

[Deb P]

Main lesson I guess is to grow more of what I like rather than trying new things I might not!

I'm not going to bother with autumn shallot sets this year, I'm going to grow a lot more banana shallots from seed instead, they grow much bigger and I don't lose any in a dry spring.

More squash to follow on from early potatoes, I never seem to have enough!

Sow sweet peas in autumn, they did so much better than spring sown.

Get better at successional sowing.......I say this every year!!

Fewer beans, we don't eat many.

Yes to more weeding, also to avoid late summer holidays, came home to a really dry plot with a lot of stuff ended prematurely due to lack of water or picking.

[sparrow]

I've discovered the absolute joy of growing basil in the greenhouse. I know it's a very simple thing, but it's been wonderful to have as much as I can carry all through the season.

I'm still trying to figure out how much of each crop I need, but new varieties/crops that appear to be working well are Egyptian and Crapaudine beetroot and yacon.

I have waaaaaaay too many chillies, but they are such beautiful things I don't think that I will be able to cut down on those next year.

Am also going to go 100% peat-free from next year after reading quite a few articles on peat bog depletion, and am building compost stocks as fast as I can in anticipation of that as SylvaGrow is a wonderful growing medium but not cheap.

Really looking forward to the seeds from this year's circle on here and the one on Twitter. My most exciting seeds usually come from seed circles!

[George the Pigman]

The importance of succession sowing for climbing French Beans.
I must cover my carrots with fleece even earlier in the season than I usually would to deter carrot root fly.
I love moolis and they are easy to grow
Don't bother sowing basil. Just buy a good quality plant from the supermarket and split the plants up and repot. They don't mind root disturbance at all!

[gwynleg]

Oh a little off topic but how do you use your Mooli George? Thanks

[George the Pigman]

Gwynleg I stir fry , boil or steam them. They are also nice shredded raw in salads. Pretty versatile really.