Varieties and Yield Review 2007

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Varieties and Yield Review 2007
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frewen

Joined: 08 Sep 2005
Posts: 11405

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 07 2:34 pm Post subject:

Been away for a bit so apologies if any of these have been replicated - and I posted them in the wrong place first off

First early - "foremost" excellent yield and flavour
Second early - "ulster chieftain" not as good as above - fell apart on cooking
Maincrop - "cara" - been a godsend this year - all the other plot holder's have had problems with blight except for us. It is a thin skinned white though so wire worm like it.

Sweetcorn "jubilee" small cobs - and went woody overnight

Climbing bean "blue lake" pretty colour (shame these purple varieties lose their colour on cooking) - good yields starting quite early. Jury is out as to its usefulness as a haricot bean.

Climbing bean "blauhilde" - later than the blue lake but prolific and plump nice tasting pods

Courgette "taxi" yellow variety - poor yield "green bush" on the other hand went totally mad.

Broccoli/calabrese "hydra" - nice sized heads but didn't get a second crop from any side shoots

Tomato "sub arctic" bushy and not been got by the blight. I've grown this outside as it's not supposed to need the same amount of heat - but to be honest it's yield is disappointing and it's only just ripening.

Swiss chard "yellow lights" - fantastic beautiful plant which gave me nearly 100% germination

Nasturtium "st clements" lots of lovely acid coloured flowers and sooooo many pods for nasturtium capers.

Pea "oregon sugar pod" - I think every seed germinated and we were inundated with big tender sugar snap peas

Broad bean "the sutton" gave a better crop then the "giant exhibition longpod". I wasn't overly impressed with either. Next year I am growing a red flower variety (seed came through the post today )

Beetroot "crimson globe" sowed this three times!! and got no germination

Also on the no show front was the parsnip "countess"

Every thing else was given to us so I don't know what varieties of thing we were growing.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 07 2:45 pm Post subject:

Potatoes

Charlotte - good yield and flavour.
Homeguard - good yield, OK flavour but disintegrates v quickly. Good for soups.

Broad Beans - Sutton, and express, good yield, this year no probs on either, slightly preferred the Sutton.

Cabbage - Goldenacre - tasy and crunchy. I've also got some sort of purple cabbage doing well but the packet's all in portuguese.

Peas - Klevedon - nice.

Climbing beans - All been very slow to get going this year. Tongue of Fire are tasty.

Courgettes - slow stumpy plants. Yellow globe ones are nice but again it's Portugese packet.

tahir

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 45442
Location: Essex

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 07 2:47 pm Post subject:
Courgettes- Striato De Italia Verde De Milano Both from Vida Verde, both excellent

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 07 2:55 pm Post subject:
Turnip - Milan purple top - gre really well from a spring sowing. Very tasty. Second later sowing a bit of a disaster but so was everything else.

bernie-woman

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 7824
Location: shropshire

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 07 2:56 pm Post subject:

Outdoor cucs - total disaster, just haven't got going at all this year

Courgettes - yellow globe and defender - slow start but good yields so far

Tomato "jack Hawkins' - excellent beefsteak with great flavour and heavy yield

Tomato 'Ailsa Craig' excellent again

Tomato 'Diplom' - good yield but slow to ripen outdoors - have yet to taste one

Tomato 'Yellow Pear' - lovely pear shaped, sweet tom not a massive yield

Tomato'Moneymaker' - excellent taste and yield again

Parsnip 'Gladiator' - complete no show of any seedlings at all despite having a fab crop lat year - seems to have been a problem at our allotments with parsnips this year

Sweet pepper 'Gypsy' - good yield but slow to ripen this year, resulting in not having actually tasted one yet

Chilli Pepper 'Jalapeno Summer Heat' - a suppsoedly mild jalapeno which has been plagued this year by slugs but has now eventually got going to roduce some fine looking chillis - yet to ripen though

Mr O

Joined: 13 Feb 2005
Posts: 5512
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 07 4:36 pm Post subject:

Pumpkin Ebisu ( delica ) Good producer but not harvested yet.

Pumpkin Conneticut Field Great producer lots of large fruit. Again not harvested

We have had loads of beetroot but must check the variety.

Swiss Chard Brightlights a reliable versatile veg. One would not be without.

Spuds Rocket and Kestral both good producers.

Spinach failed

French beans were Marginal

Onions Red Baron, Sturon and Stutgarten all did well too with some huge bulbs.

pricey

Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Posts: 6444

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 07 4:57 pm Post subject:

Behemoth wrote:

I've also got some sort of purple cabbage doing well but the packet's all in portuguese.

All you have to do is ask

emilyluddite

Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 50
Location: cricklade wiltshire

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 07 9:58 pm Post subject:
Tomato Sungold delicious and very sweet Potato Lady Chrystl first early good yield Rest of outdoor toms and potatoes blighted this year due to continuous heavy rain

lettucewoman

Joined: 26 Sep 2006
Posts: 7834
Location: Tiptoe in the Forest!!

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 07 10:08 pm Post subject:
Tomatoes...nope... er... thats it.... due to moving only planted toms and they didn't do a thing. oooh.....lots of blackberries on huge brambled in the hedge tho'...does that count??? ...oh yes and hazelnuts...LOADS....

wizz

Joined: 06 Apr 2005
Posts: 561

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 07 12:25 pm Post subject:

Potatoes...Duke of York... pretty good until blighted, as were the pink fir apple but the blight resistant variety ?sarpo i think it was (planted between the devastated DoY & PFA) have resisted valiantly and are pretty good! will definitely do them again next year.

purple podded peas... (saved from seed when member of HDRA seed bank) good as ever,

Cheap "value" B&Q carrots remarkably good!

behind on the tomatoes... looking forward to sampling the first harvet tonight!

parsnips failed (as they always do despite new seed every year!)

Broad beans... tried a new variety can't remember name (will come back and edit when i remeber!) OK ish but not as good a bunyards exhibition

Calbrese.. cheated...bought as plants from B&Q - pretty good.. again will come back with the variety when I remeber!

Fairly hopeless year really... juggling the demands of growing baby and the plot is a bit more challenging than i had imagined!!! Hopefully young William will be able to help tend the plot with me soon!

Wizz

Kinnopio

Joined: 14 Aug 2006
Posts: 356

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 07 9:37 pm Post subject:

Summer squash - Maiden Poll - has completely outperformed all of my courgettes. The fruit is very like a courgette (just a little fatter) but in my opinion a more delicate, finer flavour - great raw. Very productive.

Pea - Celebration - 'petis pois' style pea, self supporting, tastes wonderful but little to compare as it's my first go at peas.

Oh and very happy with my fig tree, brown turkey, only cost me about £8 in spring and currently enjoying my first crop of about 13 figs.

emilyluddite

Joined: 25 Aug 2006
Posts: 50
Location: cricklade wiltshire

Posted: Tue Aug 28, 07 10:45 pm Post subject: recommended cabbage variety
May I recommend a cabbage variety that I grow every year - brassica lepidoptera var "Lace Doily" - looks like a normal cabbage at first then suddenly when you're away for the weekend viola!- a lace doily!

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 07 9:04 am Post subject: Re: recommended cabbage variety

emilyluddite wrote:

May I recommend a cabbage variety that I grow every year - brassica lepidoptera var "Lace Doily" - looks like a normal cabbage at first then suddenly when you're away for the weekend viola!- a lace doily!

I've just come home from a week away to a similar set of plants - purple sprouting skeletons. The edible bits have all been eaten already

I'm just about to grub them all up to give the squashes and courgettes more space.

James

Joined: 11 Jan 2006
Posts: 2866
Location: York

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 07 6:51 pm Post subject:

Potato: Red Duke of York (second early) Very badly effected by blight, rotted quickly, lost half my spuds and the ground smells bad. Probably wont grow them again. The ones that were salvageable looked good- nice big smooth tubers.

Potato – Anya. I’m addicted to these lovely little dumplings. Blight didn’t go into the tubers much at all, and never fully got hold of the halms, even though they were right next to the r.d’s of yorks. They’re just lovely spuds.

Cabbage “Hipsi” good yield of loose pointy heads, quite a ‘green’ taste. An easy cabbage to grow

Mizuana (real seeds) ran to seed faster than I expected, and leaves a little stringy

Tatsoi (offspring from real seeds) nice fast crop of little heads.

Broad Bean "Optica" (suttons seeds) . Small plants with lots of not very long pods, containing very tender small beans. Not a bad plant.

Courgette “ Defender F1 “ (Sutton seeds) growth is so dense its hard to get to the courgettes. High yield of light greenish fleshed fruit. Fruits are often bulbous, then thin.

Rainbow chard- looks really funky, good food, high yield for space.

Tomato “Alaskan fancy” (given to me by someone here.) Unfortunately succumbed to blight, growing close to the red duke of yorks. But they were looking early & vigorous until death…..if that’s any consolation….

Tomato- self seeded, possibly from “Latah” (real seeds) parentage. This large cherry/ small salad tomato appeared in the middle of a rose bush. It was the most blight resistant of all the tomatoes (outdoor or greenhouse), even though it was in a damp area. Fruit is a little late (maybe because it’s a late start self seeded plant).

Tomato “Costoluto Fiorentino” (offspring from real seeds). Strong growing plants, large yields of big fleshy fruit. Quite tasty, but maybe not the tastiest tomato I’ve eaten. Reliable all rounder. With a bit of tender loving care they appear to have fought off blight.

Tomato “Plum Fig” (given to me by someone here.). Nice plum tomato, not reached its peak production yet. Quite dense foliage, some plants have fought off blight, some look like they’re still trying.

Chilli “hot paprika” (a local small seed co.), big yields of large chillis, medium hot, quite a bit of variability in the growth pattern and the heat of the chillis (…but that’s the fun part ..)

Chilli “jalapeno” (swapped on free-cycle)- small dense plant, chunky chillis, but only a few so far

Chilli “Big Jim” (Nicki’s Seeds) apparently this is supposed to make a wapping great big mild chilli, good for baking or salsa. Wake me up when it gets there…

Cucumber “Palermo F1”, all female. (Suttons seeds). Greenhouse. Slow start, but its going well now, producing plenty of long straight cuc’s. I reckon its not quite as tasty as a more traditional cucumber like “market-more”, but my partner prefers it. It’s a lot easier to grow, and not too out of control.

Butternut Squash “cobnut” (B&Q). Rotted in the ground during the heavy rains.

Lindsay

Joined: 03 Nov 2004
Posts: 61
Location: Stuck in the suburbs

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 07 4:03 pm Post subject:

My cherry "bush", which we put in two years ago after being hoiked around with us in a pot for a few years, realy put its roots down this year. We had a good two pounds of fruit from it, fat and sweet (it's Stella). With all the rain and getting itself settled, it's now 8 feet tall

I was late getting tomatoes and chillies started so my mum gave me a couple of tomato plants. My first lot of chilli seedlings were eaten by the snails... they've been a terrible problem this year. I have tomatoes and flowers coming now (albeit late) but they and the chillies are in the greenhouse so there's a good chance of late cropping. The chillies might produce something by November, maybe...

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