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Gardening

green veg that do not need regular picking

(7 Posts)
craftyone Wed 13-Feb-19 08:54:59

I am an experienced grower of vegetables, 40+ years under my belt but having reached my 8th decade, things are changing. I will be keeping half my allotment, full of good fruits and flowers and I will have space for some veg. It is not worth my while to grow shallots and garlic and squash takes up too much room

I want green veg, not brassicas, I can buy organic clean brassicas cheaply. So far I have only come up with fordhook chard, which I have grown for years, never gets eaten by bugs and never has bolted. Beans etc are a no for me as I will only be visiting to weed etc every 2 weeks because of the distance

Is there anything I can add to the green veg supply? Not interested in any roots etc

Greyduster Wed 13-Feb-19 09:41:07

There is a perpetual cut and come again spinach that you can grow easily from seed. I can’t remember it ever bolting. I used to grow it a lot on our allotment. Good stir fried.

Grammaretto Wed 13-Feb-19 09:55:09

I was also going to suggest perpetual spinach or rainbow chard. It is so good for you!!! Then there's kale or cavolo negro.
Since discovering kale crisps it has become a firm favourite.
It looks so pretty growing too. I'm a sucker for that.

Fennel Wed 13-Feb-19 09:55:49

I was going to say spinach too. There's a similar one, ?sorrel?
very deep roots, but good leaves.

mumofmadboys Wed 13-Feb-19 09:55:52

Courgettes?

HildaW Wed 13-Feb-19 10:10:53

Mange tout or sugar snap peas are good. Planted in succession and can be eaten at all stages i.e. the whole pod when first out and if they get left behind and the pod really develops you eat them shelled. Also there are slow growing varieties of courgette that do not get so big and are a much better texture. Sara Raven has some. You can also try heritage vegetables, they tend to crop less and have a lot more flavour.

craftyone Thu 14-Feb-19 08:09:55

Thank you. I never thought of peas, so yes a distinct possibility, they can hang about between visits to the allotment. I only have bits and pieces of space left so will get dwarf peas that don`t need staking. I have ordered fordinghook as it has never bolted for me, rainbow chard bolts on my plot as does spinach. I will not be up there to water if we have a drought, ie bolting conditions

I will look at the slow courgettes and have ordered mazur lettuce, grown for a few years and another green that never bolts. Kale is out of the picture, gets absolutely covered in white fly and I have given all my butterfly protection away. I also ordered flat parsley as it cuts and freezes so well. This is a complete change from being self-sufficient for many years