The Idler

A Country Diary – 41

9 March 2006

A WORD ON varieties. To be able to choose your own variety of vegetable and therefore to free yourself of the narrow choice available in the supermarkets is one of the great pleasures of growing your own vegetables. In the first year I couldn’t get my head round all the different varieties and just chose the first that came to hand. But now I am beginning to understand the differences and I thought I might list what I have chosen this year.

Potatoes: Duke Of York. I only have one 10 ft by 4 ft space for potatoes, so this year I am not going to bother with maincrop, or with growing a lot of different varieties, and instead I am going to grow the early variety Duke of York and see how we go. Duke of York is recommended by Lawrence D Hills. I have just put about about fifty tubers in egg boxes for chitting, and I���ll have room for 40, so maybe the rest can be chucked on the compost heap.

Peas: Alderman. Last year I grew Alderman and Early Onward, but this year I’m going to simplify things and stick with Alderman, which is an old-fashioned variety and grows six foot tall. It was also absolutely delicious. It gave me a few problems with support last year, but this year I have cut loads of tall sticks from the tops of the ash hedges, which I hope will work. Alderman: I like the name. Aldermen were 18th century local government officers. John Wilkes was Alderman of Farringdon Without.

Carrots: Autumn King and Chantenay. Last year I grew some random variety from the garden centre. But these are both from the Organic Gardening Catalogue, as are all these seeds, where they recommend growing a few varieties. Well, they would, wouldn’t they?

Cabbage: Marner Early Red, January King, Offenham, Vertus. The idea here is that you have cabbage all the year round, I think. Maybe I’ve been a bit ambitious, but last year the cabbages were really easy so this year I thought I’d get serious.

Radish: French Breakfast, Scarlet Globe. Again, these are both recommended by Lawrence Hills, so that’s good enough for me. It will be nice to have two different varieties and since radish is so easy and so quick I thought I might as well.

Courgette: Nero di Milan. Last year I planted out courgette plants that were given to me, but this year I thoguht I might try and grown my own from seed. But I’m beginning to think I’ve taken on too much.

Leek: Hannibal. Last year’s leeks were dead easy so this year I’m going to do more, and I think this is a more interesting variety.

Lettuce: All Year Round. What with the varieties I’ve still got left in my biscuit tin, I’m going to make more effort with salads this year. Last year I was attacked by slugs and also I didn’t do my successional sowing properly. Really, salad should be in abundance all year. I might do it in the front garden this time instead of up on the veg patch.

Pumpkin: Connecticut Field. Well, this sounds like fun, and it will be an opportunity to tes my new mulch bed, which I made with cardboard and piles of compost and cow manure.

Celery: Solid Pink. Am I crazy to try celery? It looks hard. And I don’t think I’ve got room. Besides, why am I lumbering myself with al this work? I thik I wqent a bit mad with the seed catalogue. It all looks so easy when you’re leafing through it by the fire on a cold February night.

Tomato: Beefsteak. In the past I have had zero success with tomatoes but I am going to try again, and I thought I’d just try the biggest variety I could find. I don’t really like those little sharp-tasting tomatoes, anyway.

Climbing French Bean: Blauhilde. These are purple, just to add a bit of colour to the patch. I tried French climbing bean last year and they all died, so who knows.

Leaf Beet: Bright Lights. This is a colourful chard-type thing.

Brussels sprouts: Early Half Tall. Why am I bothering? The brussels, like the kale and broccoli, were a total disaster last year.

Melon: melon? The most difficult thing to grow in the world? What am I doing?

Sweet corn: Double standard. Now this really would be great fun t grow. But again, have I got the room or the energy?

Parsnip: I don’t seem to have bought any parsnip seeds, and they’re the one seed that you apparently cannot save from last year. Quelle fool.

Beetroot: I have quite a few left over from last year.

I’ve also bought marigold seeds, sunflower, swet pea, echninacea, lupins and wild poppy. Blimey, when I am going to get all those going? Some of them need to be planted in a greenhouse, and my study windowsill will be the greenhouse. I picked up five nice old sash windows from the rubbish dump the other day, with the intention of making a cold frame. Then I remembered that I didn’t know what a cold frame was for. Cucumbers?