Winners and losers.

Some plants are always winners and some have  big  'hit or miss' years.  We've made a list of this years planted vegetables and fruits called "foolproof, very insecty, not worth the hassle and just enough to eat".

Under foolproof comes strawberries, every type of bean, peas, kohlrabi, chillis, aubergines, sugarbeets, garlic, cucumbers and lettuce.

Under the insect heading comes cabbages, brussels and kale.

Not worth it (cheap to buy for the amount we need) cauliflowers, sweet potatoes, onions, sweetcorn, courgettes, celeriac, parsnip, swede, leeks, peanuts, radish.

Grow enough just to eat as an extra - carrots, tomatoes and potatoes.

A bit of a mixed up list as things like courgettes should grow well and some years they do, but we don't eat that many and when they don't do well like this year, it's something we think is easier to buy when needed rather than digging and planting then getting a glut that we don't want.

Onions are a strange one, they always grow but never swell very much - I use them more for salads and pickling.  Bought a sack last week - 30cents a kilo.  Is it worth buying the plants and then looking after them for the  6 months they are in the ground? 

Tomatoes we have always grown lots of, this year no-ones have done well and although we have lots dried, they are cheap to buy in season (3 kilos for 1 euro) and large tins of tomato triturada (sort of pulped) work out even cheaper per kilo than that.

Potatoes need loads of space as we seem to eat lots over a year and I'm not sure we could ever be self-sufficient but if they sprout in the kitchen, then we plant them and eat them as tiny ones with mint and butter - so we grow them as an extra.

This years carrot crop was amazing, we grew round carrots, and for using in salads and as a baby veg they were lovely.  But now they've all gone so we're back to buying them.

Cauliflowers took a lot of space for many months, some bolted and some didn't stay white but sort of tasted ok, especially under cheese sauce when you couldn't see the colour.  Worth it? Probably not,  but worth trying. 

The biggest disappointment as always are the cabbage family.  Love sprouts, red cabbage and green cabbage,  no problem growing them but those pesky butterflies and caterpillars drive me mad!  This years kale is growing very well and tastes wonderful - but needs so much cleaning before cooking as the little grey flies are tucked up tight in the curly edges.......but we'll persevere.   We always plant them in different places - this year they are spread over 3 different areas in the hope the butterflies won't find some.  One year we'll win!


But the gold star of the crop has to go to the strawberries  and the bean family.  Never let us down,  no insect damage, the beans bend with the wind, the birds eat other fruit and leave the strawberries to us, just give them plenty of water and sun and pick and eat.  Wonderful.  I wish all fruits and vegetables were so easy.