Vegetable growing 2023

Wilko have a good choice of seed Potatoes in stock, I will be getting a few bags next week.

 

I don't think I'll grow many vegetables this year, I want to move my raised bed and rearrange the garden a bit, so maybe I'll skip growing them. I thought of just having some salad things in troughs, and potatoes I always grow in tubs anyway so they can be put anywhere. As for roots and beans etc I think I'll give them a miss this year.

 

I've found a shop that sells pink fir apple spuds so I'm not bothering this year, it's been too dry any way.

I'm thinking more red onions and might try sweet corn, I just like growing that, probably give most of it away.
Got some broad bean seed to go in next month and a small patch of overwintered garlic.
Tomatoes and some sweet peppers.

 

Focus is on expensibe to buy in the shops veg. Toms, Peppers, elephant garlic, Greek Gigantes, Herbs, Lettuce leaves.
Tomato shortage in shops this year so passata time.

Btw

Thomson Morgan seed clearance 72 hours prices from 49p!

 

I still have sprouts, parsnip and swede in the ground to eat. The purple sprouting looks like it couldn't take the cold snap and subsequent low light, I think I might have to write that off. I have 120 garlic in the ground, about 20 or so in the greenhouse for hopefully larger cloves. Already sown chillis and some mizuna/komatsuma to replace the salad leaves lost to a rodent. I won't be sowing anything else till end of February.

This year I will grow far less endive and chicory. Gave it a good go last year but no matter how I prepared it it was still too bitter for me. The occasional leaf in a salad is what I will aim for this year, I like them then.

Will grow more sweet corn, Brussels sprouts and romanesco this year. Also got gifted a 2mx2m pop up thing that came with a net and polythene cover, so will try my peppers under that this year. Will only bother with crimson crush toms outside.

 

A few pictures of this year's produce.

 

If you don't mind SHEPS, could you name the type of lettuce you have grown along with your bulbous spring onions, I really liking the idea of growing them myself. I don't have a lot of space so I'm considering using a drip tray once drainage holes have been put in? (3 x 3ft square - Depth 5 inches)

 

Some garlic. Mainly germidor here, grew well outside for me . Same with thermidrome but I left those to dry more down the allotment.

The white ones were from Waitrose British soft neck garlic that were absolutely massive bulbs. I grew them inside the greenhouse and outside. Those are the three biggest bulbs from inside the greenhouse. The outside ones all died or were real tiddlers. Cannot recommend

 

I picked and podded some broad beans (my very late dinner is waiting for me in in the kitchen with some small whole pods included, lovely).



I have more to pick; I will try to get some nice tender young ones, before bird pests eat them. I hope to cook the beans very briefly, and have them with butter and a little freshly cracked coarse-ground pepper plus (unusually for me) a little coarsely ground salt, AND a couple of breasts of freshly shot or trapped jackdaw, and a nice Chianti...

If you get my meaning.

Actually, I don't think I have any Chianti right now, but some Agramont "Old Vine" Garnacha (£5.99 the bottle, Lidl, a true bargain) will do very, very nicely.

 

Do you eat the pods too.?

 

If they're small & tender, around 3" (75mm) "ish". Just like mangetout or like thick-cut runners. A quick look shows there are actual varieties for the purpose; "Mangetout Broad", "Statissa". This year though I've grown "Bunyard's Exhibition".

 

Hi @Grandma Sue really sorry for the very late reply, for some reason I've stopped receiving alerts.

The lettuce is Little Gem and the onions are White Lisbon.

Sorry once again.

 

Thank you for getting back to me, I would like to be growing all my salad next year. I started off with tomatoes this year and with a little luck I will be adding lettuce/onion /radish/and hopefully watercress

 

You're welcome @Grandma Sue