Buying vegetable seeds

[Meg]

As i am  now getting excited about what to grow next year, and browsing the seed catalogues i wondered if anyone had any 'favorite' varieties to recommend! (What area and what soil you are on would may be useful!!) Also varieties you would definitely avoid.

Personally  i wouldn't buy the garlic from a brico again. The cloves were too small giving very small heads. I have just got some from a local market (Violet Garlic) on recommendation, and they look fantastic. The cloves are huge! They were marked as semences and sold by the Kg.

Also just found this http://www.telegraph.co.uk

No shortage here. (Unless there is more than one type of violet garlic??)

[Llwyncelyn]

Here I have no connection whatsoever with the book the author or the publisher.  But have you read Sarah Raven's book on vegetable gardening?  Its available on Amazon.

[Meg]

Is it this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/Great-Vegetable-Plot

Someone mentioned her book the other day.

I have this book which is excellent The New Kitchen Garden

[Llwyncelyn]

It is the first book I think its a bible.

[Meg]

Ta..........may go on xmas list!

So got any of your own fave varieties of veggies Llwynelyn??

Any one know of a really hot radish or sweetcorn resistant to s m u t?? (not allowed to write that!!)

[Llwyncelyn]

As to sweetcorn you grow them in blocks not lines or rows.  You have to get a super sweet variety and if you do plant them well away from non-sweet varieties otherwise mother nature intervenes.  I grow mine in pots and then plant out.  I have a greenhouse with heat and heat mats and thus I can grow things much quicker.  Again I can have sweet peas in the greenhouse borders in April or May as well as courgettes.

As to Horseradish the roots or thongs as they are called are normally in the UK sold by Trevor Sore  of Bury St Edmunds who is the UK leading producer of horseradish and his crop goes to the producers of horseradish.  He does not ship to France but I believe that they are available here.

Watch horseradish it is almost a weed plant it someone if you can that does not matter for it will and I mean will take over.

[Llwyncelyn]

Sorry I forgot I keep my horseradish roots in the freezer get them out from time to time and then just grate enough for a sauce and put them back in the freezer.  I grate some horseradish then add creme fraiche and some lemon juice thats all.  Once you have done your own you will not go back.  However in our fridge at the moment are a couple of pots of Sainsbury own brand plus an independent of hot horseradish.  Apart from beef I like it on smoked salmon and other things.

[hoverfrog]

definitely not going to bother with runner beans again - it's too hot and they go very stringy.

In the UK I used to grow climbing french beans but here dwarf ones do better - stringless varieties are best, such as Delinel, and purple ones do very well (amethyst queen) and are a talking point with the neighbours!

Garlic has to be planted in November - according to the locals it doesn't grow here, but mine were excellent this year :)

Lots of free muck available - the locals don't seem to use it much on the garden! 3" layer of rotted rabbit manure = tomato forrest :)

[Meg]

I tried runner beans this year with out much success, so also won't bother again. My dwarf bean 'Opera' did well, but i  needed to plant more.  Garlic now planted, apparently the moon was right so did it yesterday!

What Tomatoes do you grow Hoverfrog? I normally do Gardeners Delight (in uk), but now in France they really struggled with the heat, and they were in pots. Next year i'll plant them out but don't know if i should risk G.D again. I have got some seeds for 'moneymaker' (i picked up a few packets of seeds from Lidl in the spring as they were so cheap).

[hoverfrog]

I grow cherry tomatoes, marmande (or other beef tomatoes) and 'ordinary' tomatoes. No favourite varieties yet - they all seem to do very well here! The best ones tasted so far were from 6 spindly plants I picked up cheap at Castorama :)

I'm still using up the contents of my seed box, and also Dad's that I inherited a couple of years ago, so have been using mainly UK varieties.

Things in pots are a pain as they need watering several times a day in the summer, so I put everything in the ground and water daily with 'eau de la pluie'. In spite of what the neighbours say, tapwater works just as well even if it is cold - although its use is frowned upon in these days of water shortages!