Sometimes the choice in seed catalogues is so daunting and tempting it’s hard to narrow down my list of potential purchases to a vaguely sensible, and affordable, order. One thing I did have in mind this year was a desire to grow really colourful varieties. It has been suggested, in recent years, that eating a wide range of different coloured fruit and vegetables is good for us, as they are packed full of anti-oxidants, important for fighting disease and slowing down the ageing process. I do like to eat healthily but I have to admit my desire to grow a rainbow of vegetables had more to do with them looking so good on the plate and the feeling of achievement, that I’d have some crops I couldn’t even get at my excellent local farmers’ market.
Carrots are impossible to grow on the plot, as carrot fly are just too much of a problem. A fellow allotmenteer has an impressive wooden and enviromesh construction, in an attempt to keep out them out, which seems to work but as he said, ‘they’re damn expensive carrots’. The soil on the plot isn’t ideal either, so I decided to give them a go at home, away from the carrot fly ridden allotment, in containers. Back in April, I sowed half a packet of ‘Bambino’, a baby, orange coloured carrot with some ‘Yellowstone’, a lemony coloured variety. About 6 weeks later I sowed another pot with ‘Cosmic Purple’. I’ve been picking from the first container for a couple of weeks now and pulled the first purple ones last night.
I certainly won’t be self-sufficient in carrots this way. It’s more about providing some small, super fresh, carrots for adding to salads and eating raw with dips. So far, it’s worked well. The idea with growing carrots like this is to sow quite densely and as you harvest them you thin them allowing those left to grow a little bigger. I’ve just sown a couple more containers so I should have carrots to pick into the autumn.
The gloriously, and intriguingly, named ‘Ezeta’s Krombek Blauwschokker’ purple mangetout pea was another purchase. I’ll admit I picked this one simply because of the name. Not the best reason, I know, rather like picking a car because you like the colour. It’s a tall growing pea which I have climbing up a wigwam at the allotment. It produces very pretty pinky-purpley flowers and the pods are a gorgeous colour which they retain once cooked. I’ve found it’s best to pick the pods when they are quite small, about 5cm long, smaller than I would pick my green mangetout, otherwise they are quite tough. If they do get too big you can let the peas inside swell, and pod and eat the peas instead. As plants go, it so far hasn’t been the most prolific of croppers so I’ll probably seek out another purple variety next year.
Despite the weather, in the last few days I’ve started to pick my first French beans. They’re a dwarf variety called ‘Roquencourt’ which produce slender yellow beans. I’ve grown these before and they’re great for an exposed site like my own plot, as they don’t grow much taller than a foot. I’ve also grown them in containers and had great yields. Then tend to crop more quickly and over a shorter period of time than taller French beans, so it’s worth sowing some every 6 weeks to have a successional crop.
I’ve also got a tall wigwam of climbing French bean ‘Blauhilde’, which produces dark purple, almost black, pods. I noticed some flowers on it yesterday which I find quite incredible considering the wind, lack of warmth and incessant rain, not ideal French bean growing weather.
Beetroot this year has been the usual, ‘Boltardy’ and the stripey, ‘Chioggia’. I’ve found the beetroot has struggled this year. Chioggia is now bolting which is no great surprise. I may be tempted to try beetroot in containers next year, like the carrots and see if I have more success.
And finally, I’m eagerly awaiting the appearance of pods on my ‘Yugoslavian Black Bean’, dwarf French beans. A purchase from the Seedy Sunday event at Holt Farm last autumn, I’ve put them in a containers as I’ve run out of space at the allotment. I bought them because they sounded quite exotic and I spent some time in Yugoslavia as a child and have a soft spot for the place. I’m fascinated to see what will appear. I just need to keep the slugs off them.
I’d love to hear about any other colourful veg varieties you would recommend.
I bought my seeds from the excellent More Veg and Sarah Raven.
wellywoman 
Thanks for the More Veg link. It’s new to me and full of interesting seeds and tips. I am about to sow carrots in a huge container at home since I did so by accident last year and had a darling little and totally surprising crop.( I thought I was sowing spilled parsley seeds).
I can highly recommend them, Sue. I love the idea of your parsley turning into carrots. A much preferable crop, in my opinion. I want to love parsley and I’ve tried but I just don’t like the taste. I real shame, since it’s so easy to grow. 🙂
Most of my vegetable seeds failed to even germinate this year so I’m a touch envious at how you’ve done.
Nice to see MoreVeg given a linked mention as that’s where I get most of my vegetable seeds from. xx
I have taken to starting everything off indoors or in my cold frames. I’ve just got so fed up with crops not germinating in the ground or being eaten. It’s hard work getting that amount of plants growing without a greenhouse and every windowsill is in use between April and May.
I’ve been really pleased with the seeds from More Veg. Prompt service and good germination too. Will definitely be using them again.
Your veg looks very prettyI have tried EKB too and also found it a bit tough at what I considered a normal size ( I chose it for the name too!)
Nice to see your French Beans are flowering – mine are not enjoying this weather. Having climbed above the slugs and snails they are now sulking in the rain and refusing to flower.
EZB has been a little disappointing. I love the colour but I was disappointed when I picked them at a size I thought was appropriate and found they a little tough. I’m so surprised the French beans are doing anything. It’s been blowing a gale through the allotment for most of Spring and Summer and they really prefer somewhere sheltered. Hopefully the sunnier and slightly warmer weather predicted will make a difference.
When I first glanced at your first image I thought they were coloured chillis. They look very tempting as carrots. You probably saw my early post about growing carrots in containers in the greenhouse over winter. I think it’s a great method, the best success I’ve ever had with carrots. All your crops look very inviting. Christina
They make me think of sweets. I’ve never had any luck with growing carrots in the ground so I was so chuffed this year when I pulled my first proper looking carrot. I’m not sure I’d get away with carrots in the cold frame over winter but I should at least have some into autumn.
For the most part, I’ve gone with the more common varieties, but as my confidence grows (ahem) I want to try some more of the unusual coloured varieties. Thanks for the links, bookmarked for future use!
I’ve always struggled to grow carrots, this is my first real year of success. I’d certainly recommend trying them in containers, if you have the space. 🙂
You’re a woman after my own heart, Welly. I’ve chosen many of my veg with the same logic – courgettes (yellow dipped in pale green), LabLab hyacinth climbing beans (pretty flowers apparently, although who knows because they’ve stuck at 6 inches off the ground!) and I hope also for a spaghetti squash called “Striped Pyjamas”. For colour we have red kidney beans, purple podded peas, orange and purple bell peppers and, yes, cosmic purple peas! I love your idea of using the carrots for dips; I’ve had my tasty bite sized treats as part of a salad. Luckily I’ve used containers too this year due to lack of space – if the carrots were in the ground they’d probably have been eaten by slugs!
Loving the sound of the ‘striped pyjamas’ squash, sounds like one I’d go for. Although this doesn’t look like the summer for squashes. My own uchiki kuri are sulking. I’ve had slugs in the pots knobbling the carrots. Is no where safe? Fortunately I spotted them before too much damage was done. Do you grow your bell peppers under cover?
It sounds like you are having some wonderfully colorful foods. I did the same thing with carrots and have been enjoying the many colors as I thin them. I also did the same thing with bush beans and have 3 colors there too…
They might not taste any different but it sure makes the plate look more interesting!
I sowed some carrot seed in the old bath on my plot, they grew really well there last year and weren’t touched by the carrot root fly, but the slugs have had them, munched their way through all the tops. I grew rainbow carrots last year but won’t do so again as the kids turned their noses up at them. They didn’t taste any different to orange carrots but the colour obviously put them off.
Sorry to hear about the slugs eating your carrots. I’ve managed to rescue my carrots from several slugs but only because the pots are outside my front door.
I thought the coloured carrots would be more appealing to kids because they look so much like sweets.
Now that looks like a veritable plate of rainbow inspired goodness WW. My French beans are a disaster this summer but have recently sown the yellow podding ‘Polka’ to see if a later crop comes good. I have forsaken the purple mange tout (sadly name forgotten) that I normally grow in favour of a new T &M introduction ‘Shiraz’. Picked the first of them this week and not at all impressed – tough and not much taste even though they were picked when they were small. Maybe it can be put down to the growing conditions but I remain to be convinced and will probably revert back to tried and tasted next year.