[Growster...]

Like a lot of us, Mrs Growster and I have received a great catalogue from Marshalls. We usually buy plants etc from them, but also try and support local business wherever possible.

Looking through some of the pages, I get the slightly uncomfortable feeling that there is an even bigger emphasis on strange, exotic, odd-coloured veg and fruit, than on dealing with the real issues faced by normal, enthusiastic gardeners.

Couldn't money put by for research on orange cabbages or cucabeetroot, be better deployed on trying to eliminate late-blight? Can we grow carrots in normal ground, instead of searching evey root for the dreaded fly? Can we grow spuds that don't mind the odd bit of lime?

I don't want to buy purple parsnips, some odd sort of seaweed, dangleberries (er - Mods), etc, we just want to grow the stuff we like to produce as normal gardeners. If the specialists want to make themselves a market for green strawberries, then fine, but I'd like to think that somewhere out there, is an old-fashioned seedsman, intent on producing a quarter of an ounce of onion seed, which provides bulbs which don't rot, and produces the finest crops ever!

[Hobovore]

Well I practice seed saving and landrace flax and lentils, but I do not sell it so probably not that guy you are looking for 

[AnneB]

Like a lot of us, Mrs Growster and I have received a great catalogue from Marshalls. We usually buy plants etc from them, but also try and support local business wherever possible.

Looking through some of the pages, I get the slightly uncomfortable feeling that there is an even bigger emphasis on strange, exotic, odd-coloured veg and fruit, than on dealing with the real issues faced by normal, enthusiastic gardeners.

Couldn't money put by for research on orange cabbages or cucabeetroot, be better deployed on trying to eliminate late-blight? Can we grow carrots in normal ground, instead of searching evey root for the dreaded fly? Can we grow spuds that don't mind the odd bit of lime?

I don't want to buy purple parsnips, some odd sort of seaweed, dangleberries (er - Mods), etc, we just want to grow the stuff we like to produce as normal gardeners. If the specialists want to make themselves a market for green strawberries, then fine, but I'd like to think that somewhere out there, is an old-fashioned seedsman, intent on producing a quarter of an ounce of onion seed, which provides bulbs which don't rot, and produces the finest crops ever!

Strangely Growster, we have been looking at some 30 year old Gardening Which? magazines that have been lining the bookshelves for the last 30 years to see if they can be disposed of - they have sat there unread for decades after all.  The November 1987 edition had an article on unusual vegetables of the time - including aubergines, fennel, endive and chinese cabbage.  None of these would be out of the ordinary now, so maybe dangleberries will be a staple in 30 years time!

[DHM]

I suppose they're just trying to give growers something new and interesting to try for a bit of variation. We're growing a few 'rainbow' varieties alongside more trad ones, to provide a bit of interest for our young children, and grow things you cant buy in the shops but certain things like parsnips and tomatoes, in my opinion, should look and taste like parsnips and tomatoes.

They do offer some blight/disease resistent varieties but I agree they could try and provide more choice of these.

[rowlandwells]

I have to admit I'm to old to change my growing habits and although we do tend to try something new each year but as said we mainly keep to traditional veg

and although we keep to our veg seed suppliers that we have been with for many years one of the best traditional seed suppliers I found was Edward tuckers [tuckers seeds] its not a glossy catalogue but its more I think to supplying traditional seeds

anyway you can always look on there site and see for yourself  hope this helps good luck

[Dev]

I think that certain of the big seed companies are striving to produce something different or novel every year to stimulate sales, and there will always be some gardeners who think "I'll have a go at that". However, I also think that there are loads of us who just want to grow traditional veg successfully. I have found the Real Seed company provide many heritage seeds, but they also mix it up with seeds from other countries which can be successful in Britain.

[mrs bouquet]

Interestingly enough, I have just got the local garden club schedules for both spring and summer shows.
Would you believe none of the aforementioned  "new varieties" appear to classes on the show benches.     How strange !!!!!  Mrs Bouquet

[Goosegirl]

It's just a marketing push to make us believe "Oh wow! I MUST try these" and hope sales will rocket. Nothing beats the good old standbys that you know always works for you. I just ignore the continual annual hype and grow veg that I know will do in my site and soil that has the best taste. If kids don't like orange carrots, tough!

[JayG]

I would have probably tried growing dangleberries just for the enjoyment I would have got from telling my friends about them...

...then I gurgled dangleberries and changed my mind!   

I suspect there is an element of marketing hype going on with some of the weirder new varieties - doesn't change the fact that you still need to know how to grow them properly. 

[andreadon]

I'm afraid I do succumb to the new and unusual vegs.
I saw courgette trombetta at Charles Darwin's house and knew I had to grow them!
And then I found cucamelons in my catalogue and thought they sounded fun. It appears everyone is growing cucamelons, but apparently it's an "acquired taste".
According to my daughter, so are gooseberries

[Growster...]

Nice to get a good chat going - thank you all!

When we got our first PC back in the early nineties, we bought the latest we could afford - Widows 3.1 - remember that?

Things moved on, and bells and whistles beckoned, and so here we are with Ipads, Iphones and more. But we still have the same sort of problems with the new gadgets, viruses, failures, cheats etc. Nobody is actually taking these issues on board, they're becoming a grey area of disinterest...

Too much 'new stuff' takes over before the less recent arrivals of  investment/innovation have had a chance to grow and replicate! As soon as Apple bring out a new phone, there is an instant market, but with true gardening, there is always couch grass, blight, and disappointment. We need Marshalls and the rest to concentrate something towards letting us grow carrots easily, enjoy beans a bit earlier, help tomato growers develop new strains - Crimson Crush is a great example; and altogether make our hobby/pastime/passion a better achievement than just knocking out a few things because it saves going to the supermarket.

I love reading about the ways 'old gardeners' did their stuff. I always learned from their advice, and modified it to suit our needs, but if I'd told dear old Bert (85 years old) about orange beetroot back in the '80s, he'd have laughed his head off, and told me to get back to work, while he bent down and weeded his onions with a peculiarly shaped hand-hoe...

[sunshineband]

Yes those gardeners of yore knew a thing or two, in between trying to kill everything in sight with nicotine mix and DDT of course 

I often do try these newly available crops, and tbh  not many of them become annual staples. Cucamelon, Yacon, Oca, weirdly shaped squashes, Achocha to name but few recent ones have all be consigned to history round here. However, blight resistant potatoes and tomatoes are a helpful addition to the "regulars" as are Orange beetroot and huge Winter Radsihes like Chinese Dragon.

I think there is an increasing number of growers who enjoy the oddities and why not give them a go? Here I grow to eat, and crops have to earn their place on the plots by their ultimate performance on the plate. May not be a fashionable view, but I guess I may not be considred a fashion icon per se anyway …...

[New shoot]

I like trying new things, but you have to accept that some will fall by the wayside as Sunshine says. 

Oca never really performed for me, while Cucamelon and Anchocha were just crazy and didn't stop coming.  Tomatillos were the same.  I ate them, but they are just overwhelming in their productivity.  Too much of a good thing    Malabar spinach sulked along outside on my plot.  A friend of mine with a poly tunnel took my seeds and grows great crops.  I know Sunshine has had success growing undercover as well.

I had the bonsai squash oddness reported by quite a few of us on here with Sharks Fin Melon last year.  My seedlings just sat and never grew.  It was real madness, as if you have ever tried them, you will know they are barely tamed triffids.  I sulked along with them before binning them, but they are back on the list this year, because I need Angel Hair Jam made from them in my life

On the 'grow every year list' are some things introduced by friends on here or tried on a whim.  Kalibos cabbage was a DD one that is one of my favourites now as well.   Various oriental/leafy greens, new types of beans and peas, plus cucumbers and squashes always tempt me.  Dangleberries - not so much 

[Growster...]

Mrs Growster and I really consider whether we want to see a 'salad' with purple celery, or green carrots...

Yes, of course, we're all for new veg and fruit (don't cucamelon have loads of seeds per mouthful, but we don't want them)? but any development firm's budget must include a little bit of dosh to give us some experience of our gardening passion, by selling us some items that actually work for everyone - especially newcomers, which starts the ball rolling everywhere!

I think Marshalls did a great job of selling bags for potatoes, (ours were lousy, but many people liked them), and so I'll use the bags for something else, but, that was my call. A few quid here and there is what we do as gardeners, we pick and choose, but someone, somewhere may just have the right research on carrot fly, or onion rot...

I'll never give up though! Gardening/growing is almost a necessity - I dream of ways to make things grow, love the results, ponder the failures and wish I was better - which is life I suppose...

[snowdrops]

I like trying new things, but you have to accept that some will fall by the wayside as Sunshine says. 

Oca never really performed for me, while Cucamelon and Anchocha were just crazy and didn't stop coming.  Tomatillos were the same.  I ate them, but they are just overwhelming in their productivity.  Too much of a good thing    Malabar spinach sulked along outside on my plot.  A friend of mine with a poly tunnel took my seeds and grows great crops.  I know Sunshine has had success growing undercover as well.

I had the bonsai squash oddness reported by quite a few of us on here with Sharks Fin Melon last year.  My seedlings just sat and never grew.  It was real madness, as if you have ever tried them, you will know they are barely tamed triffids.  I sulked along with them before binning them, but they are back on the list this year, because I need Angel Hair Jam made from them in my life

On the 'grow every year list' are some things introduced by friends on here or tried on a whim.  Kalibos cabbage was a DD one that is one of my favourites now as well.   Various oriental/leafy greens, new types of beans and peas, plus cucumbers and squashes always tempt me.  Dangleberries - not so much 

New Shoot, funny you should mention the sharks Finn melon, I’ve still got 3 on the spare room window ledge from 2017, yes really. I was going to ask you how you found the angel hair jam & if it was worth a bash? I think I need to get on & use them in the next month or so