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Some Of The Vegetables I’ll Be Growing In 2017

January 5, 2017 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

2017 is going to be the year of growing vegetables again.

Not having an allotment anymore & the new garden being re-done in 2016, meant thin pickings. I missed having freshly picked vegetables, ones that I knew hadn’t been sprayed with any chemicals. I also missed having unusual vegetables, I never got complacent with the coloured stems of Swiss chard.

I’ve already planted garlic, broad beans & a few winter lettuce in the raised vegetable beds at the end of the garden. I have a lot less room than I did at the allotment, just 6 raised beds, so I’ll have to plan more carefully.

My list of what to grow is made up of:

what we really like to eat

what’s been easy to grow in the past

what vegetables are difficult or impossible to buy:

Beetroot:

This is a real favourite, & it’s a very pretty plant. I love it roasted, & the young leaves can be used in salads. At the allotment I grew different coloured varieties which made them even more desirable. Chioggia has white flesh with pink concentric circles when you cut through it.

I tried preserving beetroot when I had a real glut of it at the allotment, but they turned an unappetising brown colour. Are there any good beetroot preserving recipes out there? The moral of this tale is not to grow far to much & then be obliged to ‘deal’ with it in some way, when there’s already lots to do in the garden.

How: I’ll sow a few directly into the soil outside in mid-March, then a few more every 4 weeks until the end of July.

Some Of The Vegetables I'll Be Growing In 2017-beetroot

Borlotti beans:

I haven’t grow these before but they’ve made the list because they taste great & are difficult to buy. The beans & pods are a lovely red/white marbled colour. To be more space efficient, I’m getting the climbing variety, Lingua diFuoco 2.

My neighbour at the allotment grew them, & left them to dry on the their tripods, then stored them for winter.

Another good thing about beans, is that by cutting off the stalks but leaving the roots in the ground nitrogen gets fixed into the soil. Leafy vegetables planted in that bed next year will be very happy.

How: Start off in the greenhouse in mid-March & plant outside after frosts. Ready from late summer to mid-autumn.

Runner beans:

I  love these when they’re small & tender. They earn their place because they go on producing for weeks.

How: I start these off under cover in individual small pots in the greenhouse in the beginning of April. They’ll be planted outside after the frosts.

Carrots:

These are very cheap to buy, but so sweet & tender when freshly picked. They’re also really easy to grow & the purple ones make harvesting quite exciting, especially if you have small grandchildren around.

How: sow a few in mid-March, then I’ll sow a few seeds every couple of weeks to keep them coming.

Chard:

Could this be the easiest vegetable to grow? It can be a bit slow to germinate, but once it gets going, it goes on & on right into winter. It’s another good-looker, especially the coloured varieties like ‘Bright Lights’

How: sow a few seeds outside in mid-March, then a few more about a month later.

swiss chard

swiss chard ‘bright lights’

Courgettes:

At the allotment I grew green & yellow ones, but there’s probably only room for 1 plant in the garden because they’re such big, sprawling plants.

How: I’ll plant at least 4 seeds in the greenhouse to ensure I get one healthy plant. It’ll be planted outside after the frosts.

courgette plant

small courgette plant grown from seed

Kale:

This lovely vegetable is a must. It has a great flavour & grows through the winter, when obviously there’s not much else around.

I planted Cavolo nero [black Tuscan kale] at the allotment. It was plagued with white-fly, I think because I planted them too close together, which made for a cosy space under the netting. The netting is essential to protect the plants from pigeons & cabbage white butterflies.

How: I’ll start the seeds off in the greenhouse in April, & plant them outside when the frosts are over.

allotment-kale chard plants

chard & kale (under the netting) at the allotment.

Some Of The Vegetables I'll Be Growing In 2017-vegetables from the allotment

box of delights from the allotment.

Looks like March is going to be busy.

I’ll write more about growing vegetables over the next few weeks, it’s such a big topic. Sign up on the right of this page & you’ll get an email telling you when the next post is published.

I hope the weather makes gardening possible for you this month, have you planned what to grow in 2017?

Jill.

Related posts:

Daucus carota, faveourite flowers & vegetables at RHS Hampton Court 2014, www.growingnicely.co.ukFavourite flowers & vegetables at RHS Hampton Court 2014 Using wood-ash in the garden Attracting pollinating insects into your garden My Garden & The War Against Slugs

Related posts:

Daucus carota, faveourite flowers & vegetables at RHS Hampton Court 2014, www.growingnicely.co.ukFavourite flowers & vegetables at RHS Hampton Court 2014 Using wood-ash in the garden Attracting pollinating insects into your garden My Garden & The War Against Slugs
Filed Under: Blog, Growing Food, Plants Tagged With: beetroot chioggia, plant list for the vegetable garden

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Comments

  1. Hannah says

    January 9, 2017 at 3:15 pm

    Beautiful post. I also adore beetroot and plan to make good space for it in my garden this year. I’m not sure about recipes for preserving beetroot, but I am a little addicted to Hugh FW’s recipe for beetroot and walnut hummus, and Antonio Carluccio for beetroot lasagne.

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      January 16, 2017 at 10:23 am

      Hello Hannah, those recipes sound fabulous, I am a big fan of both of those cooks. Maybe beetroot is just one of those vegetables that has to be enjoyed in season?!
      Thank you for your kind comments.

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
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Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
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I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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