GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - What is your favourite vegetable to grow?

Baz[_3_] · 22-07-2012, 09:28 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening

Farmer Giles wrote in
o.uk:

On 22/07/2012 12:37, wrote:
In article ,
Farmer Giles wrote:
On 22/07/2012 11:46, Moonraker wrote:

Not for taste but other reasons, I think that broad beans are my
favourite. They have very few problems and they give three possible
pickings. First I use the tops when I pinch them out as a
"cabbage", then the beans when very young are delicious cooked in
their pods, finally the mature bean give another tasty option. Also
they freeze very well. What other vegetables give such good value?

Runner beans would be my choice. Easy to grow, fewer pest problems
and crops for a couple of months at least - and you can also save
your own reliable seed. What can beat that?

Nope. Sorry. In dry or cold summers, they crop very badly.
Both broad and French beans are more resistant to dry conditions.

But Moonraker's points are also good - you can't eat their tops
as a first crop, and you have to start boiling them well as soon
as the beans inside mature. You can also save and dry (and eat!)
both broad beans and runners.

Some of the cabbage tribe can be eaten multiple ways, too, including
their stems (inside the fibre).

I disagree, and I've been growing them for forty years - most years
with an excellent crop. It's largely a matter of opinion, of course,
but I don't believe that French beans are anywhere near as good eating
as runner beans. And broad beans are ok if you want to produce tons
more composting material than food!

Broad beans forever, (and yes they produce a good bit of compost material),
get them together with some freshly dug new potatoes and a feast is on for
us normally.
So I have 2 that I think go hand in hand. I could not choose between the
two for taste and reliability.

Baz