Topic: Nominate unusual and challenging crops that are well worth the effort?

[Vinlander]

After many years of growing disappointing fad fruits & veg, I've come to the conclusion that lots of stuff isn't worth growing - like Okra (damned difficult and better from the greengrocer) and Melons (difficult, greedy and can ripen off the vine - so with careful selection are just as good from the greengrocer).

Also, so much standard stuff can be so rewarding - if only from the freshness and flavour.

Nevertheless, I retain a love of challenge and experimentation, so there will always be a place for something exotic as long as the payback isn't completely disappointing...

I would nominate (in increasing difficulty):

Jostaberry (slightly less flavour than blackcurrants but much less acid 'out of hand' - and immune to reversion).

Hamburg Parsley (for roasts).

Skirret (mashed - the string in the middle spoils them otherwise).

Lychee Tomato (probably better tasting than moneymaker {ugh} and totally immune to blight).

Ground Cherry (easier, earlier, and with a 'lighter' taste than cape gooseberries).

Tayberries (so much better than their parents).

Apples - if you like them young, fresh and with zing (if you prefer apple pie then don't bother).

Plums (P. domestica - not the tasteless asian ones) - impossible to buy ripe, won't ripen off the tree.

Old-fashioned sweetcorn varieties (hard to source, impossible to store, but actually have more flavour than sugar).

Blueberries.

Meyers Lemons & Tahiti Limes (the only safe source of peel and zest in this pesticide-loaded world).

Carrots grown on heavy soil (a totally different taste).

Tuberous pea (really taste like chestnut - but sow in a pot or a membraned trench or they are impossible to find).

Rampion - wonderful fresh and crunchy.

There are many more but I'm interested in your suggestions.

Cheers.

[plainleaf]

Cassabanana
so much trouble but worth it to bad it would not grow well in UK due to many factors I can't list.

[chriscross1966]

Giganda beans.... massive bean in massive pod on massive plant that needs babying, early sowing indoors to get up to size and the plants need trimming too, but it's a lovely thing to eat freash butter-bean style monster beans and pretty good cooked up from dried too

Catawissa Tree Onions... the largest of the tree onions , the bullet hard, very tear-inducing bulbils make probably the best pickled onions you can make

[Digeroo]

UK due to many factors I can't list.

  I think that there is only one major factor, it simply is not warm enough.

Not sure it is very exotic but I like lebanese courgettes also called cousa.  35 year ago courgettes were on the exotic list. ;D

Mayan gold potatoes delicious but not a huge crop unfortunately.

Was going to grow some chick peas but not convinced they will taste better than the
bought ones.

[Robert_Brenchley]

Catawissa Tree Onions... the largest of the tree onions , the bullet hard, very tear-inducing bulbils make probably the best pickled onions you can make

Mine seems to have vanished over winter. I find the bulbils are good used green, but they're really strong.

[manicscousers]

I like to grow melons, nothing like a ripe, home grown one, peaches, too  :)

[luckycharlie]

I like to grow melons, nothing like a ripe, home grown one, peaches, too  :)

   Wow!! you grow peaches in Wigan!! very impressed BTW it was lovely meeting you at your plant sale last week my baskets are beautiful

  X Chas

[manicscousers]

Lovely to meet you, too. we did well with peaches last year, 40 off one tree and 8 off the other. only got 6 melons though, but they were worth it  ;D
Hope the baskets go on for ages  ;D

[macmac]

Digeroo my lottie mate grew chickpeas,they were very attractive and podded up ......
2 peas per pod  :o  and she painstakingly podded them !

[Jeannine]

Definately peaches and melons, both did well for me in  East Yorkshire.. so did Cassabanana by the way Plainleaf.

Our peach tree was in a huge pot in a fairly sheltered garden, again variety is paramount.  The only problem we had was Peach Leaf Curl which we watched for and stomped on straightaway.

I think with things like melons you have to pick your variety carefully, start early and grow on to big plants before they finally go out into their final spot in a greenhouse. This is also true of mnany of the winter squash that have a long growing perioid and also watermelons. The difference between a home grown watermelon and a store bought is huge.

Blueberries I found were a very easy crop to grow, we had 12 bushes, differentt varieties and different maturity times , so each  helped the other. As long as the ground was sufficiently acid they were zero problems for me.

Lima beans were a challenge but experimenting with differnt varieties and starting as soon as possible I got a good harvest after a couple of years of nothings.

Cousa has been my fave courgette for many years and if you have not grown it before then pleease  pleesse  try  it. Also check out the recipes for cousa or  kousa to use it.

XX Jeannine

[darkbrowneggs]

These aren't really unusual but at least I get a good crop - I often try different things, but mostly they seem to be rare because they aren't really worth the effort of growing

Unusual fruit trees presently
Mulberry
Medlar - interesting but I could live without them
Quince - ditto
Greengages - lovely
Mirabelle plums - Delicious good croppers and very easy
Have one peach outdoors, but young and hasn't done anything much yet
Figs - nice to have and a few fruits, but not fully there on growing them yet
Tried a pomegranate and banana but no luck even keeping them alive

I am hoping to sort out more fruit for a greenhouse, which is hopefully to be finished before winter  Intending to maybe try
Fig
Peach
Apricot



Sweetcorn in the polytunnel
Melons ditto
Long Cucumbers ditto
Seakale
Globe Artichokes
Salsify and Scorzonera- make a moderately nice change and not difficult
Radicchio always a surprise it when it comes though not always that reliable for me
Romanesco and similar cultivars - again nice change and no caterpillars
Some oranges and lemons, I never seem to get a reliable crop but they are fun to have
Cape Gooseberry  - very easy in the polytunnel

Things I have tried and occasionally succeeded with
Trench celery
Mushrooms  oyster shitake cauliflower

Things I always mean to try
Endive the type you force in the winter

Oh - and asparagus peas (rubbish) and those little chinese cucumbers (rubbish) and one that was supposed to taste like avacado (rubbish) and that bugderigar seed thing (rubbish) - shall I go on !!!!  Of course it could be my growing/cooking abilties at fault ::)

all the best
Sue

[Alex133]

Trying to grow ginger after reading suggestion in gardening mag - just bought at chunk, cut into sections and put in compost with a bit of the ginger showing (in greenhouse). Supposed to look handsome and be able to dig up crop in autumn.
Nothing's happened yet..............

[1066]

hi Alex I'm trying to grow some Ginger as well as Turmeric and Galangal, didn't see the article on Ginger, I hadn't thought about cutting a piece up 1st before you planted it. Thanks  :)

[Melbourne12]

We're not all that adventurous these days, since most of our attempts at exotica have produced rather scant results.

But I'd recommend tomatillos for anyone interested in Mexican food.  Grew like weeds and produced copious amounts.

[Mrs Gumboot]

Can't beat fresh just picked sun warmed figs & peaches. Nothing in the supermarket touches them.

I should point out that I worked until recently in a stately home with some very nice old fig & peach trees in very large greenhouses! Tempted to try peaches but never thought I'd get enough crop off them to make it worth the while. What variety are you growing Manic? Are they permanently outside?

[cleo]

My fig tree is the thug inside the greenhouse so the only challenge is to keep it under control.

But for other crops it has to be melons-not easy but the reward!!-No shop bought one gets close

[manicscousers]

I should point out that I worked until recently in a stately home with some very nice old fig & peach trees in very large greenhouses! Tempted to try peaches but never thought I'd get enough crop off them to make it worth the while. What variety are you growing Manic? Are they permanently outside?

they are both outside in the fruit cage, Ray has put a permanent cover to stop leaf curl, it worked, too.
One is from Lidl, bought as an apricot, the other was from Victoriana nursery
Red Haven, we keep them topped to about 7' as that's the height of the fruit cage  ;D
forgot about figs, oh, yes, much better than shop bought

[Mrs Gumboot]

Hmmm. Might be worth investigating. Mind you I already have five fruit trees brought from Aldi in pots that I have to find homes for so maybe I'd better not get ahead of myself til i've got the garden laid out.  ::)   ;D

[irridium]

hiya mrs gumboot

i've also got one of two fruit trees from Aldi - a Peach 'Red Haven' which was planted out in Feb. Tho' much to my dismay, there was hardly anything what you call a root system as most of it had been hacked off by the supplier :( :( :( :( so i wasn't best pleased. It took a long time for it to come into leaf as I was expecting it should of done by April, but it was only about a week ago, the main trunk finally did. The rest of the branches hadn't tho'. Just be vigilant that your trees don't dry out if they're not planted in yet.

[Vinlander]

I quickly get fed up with yellow peaches from the shops - I really love white peaches - and Peregrine is both white and the easiest/best peach for the UK. I get more than a kilo every year from a fan-trained tree that's only 2m wide and less tall.

In a poor season there is a hint of bitterness, but it's mostly in the skin, and I tend to peel the skin anyway because it comes off Peregrine so easily.

Lord Napier nectarine is even nicer - the green flesh tastes even better than the white - but I only get one fruit every 5 years or so.

Has anyone had real success with doughnut/saturn type white peaches? - I had one once but it turned out to be much more tender than advertised and died - I should have planted it in a greenhouse.

Has anyone tried growing a pluot in the UK? I had some great ones from the supermarket about 10 years ago but haven't seen any since. The big advantage as I see it is that you get the real plum/greengage  taste with a little apricot, but they actually seem to ripen off the tree!.

Instead of selling us wonderful pluots they insist on selling absolutely useless watery (probably unripe) asian plums - madness.

Cheers.