Planning my crops for 2012

Over these past weeks, I have been browsing seed catalogues, and deciding what I shall be growing in my veggie beds this coming year.

I currently have 3 raised beds, but plan on building a 4th bed as well as a smaller bed for herbs.

The whole reason I started growing my own veg is because I enjoy cooking. It stands to reason that the better the quality of ingredients, the better your dish is going to be right?  This is why I only grow veg that I actually cook with on a fairly regular basis.

Bed 1

• Sweetcorn I grew this last year for the first time. It was a medium success. My plants grew nice and tall but the cobs only half formed. Some of the kernels were nice and plump while others were small and stunted. I had enough for a tasty chowder though.
• Pumpkin I grew this for the first time last year also. Although I got a lot of flowers, not many were female. Only a couple of the female plants successfully started to produce fruit, and only one of those actually made it to maturity. It was tasty though.
• Butternut Squash Not grown these before, but it should be similar to do as the pumpkin. 

 Bed 2

• Potatoes This will be the third year I have grown potatoes. I am learning new things each time. I got a much better yield this year than last time. I am going to go with Desiree again, as I really like them and they are a great all rounder for cooking with. 

Bed 3

• Carrots I have mixed feelings about growing carrots. This will be my third year, and possibly my last if things don't go better than previous. I managed to get a good crop of carrots the previous 2 years, but each time they were not the long straight root I expected, but strange, distorted and grotesque. The first year I made a rookie mistake of feeding them regularly, causing them to fork. Still tasty though. The second year my beds weren't built in time, so they were started in a seed tray and transplanted out.  Carrots apparently don't like having their fragile roots disturbed. The bed is already for them to go in this time, so I will putting the seeds directly into the ground this year. If they still come up looking like Cthulu again, then I give up.
• Onions My third year growing onions, and this is probably one of my favourite vegetables. Certainly the most used as I rarely cook a meal that doesn't include onions. I tend to grow them from sets which works best for me as I am limited for space to grow things from seed. Sets can have a tendency to bolt, but so far, I have been very lucky in that department. 
• Garlic This is probably my other most commonly used ingredient, so I am hoping to have success with this.

 Bed 4

• Peas I grew peas for the first time last year. I confess most of them got eaten stood in the garden, straight out of the pod, but enough made it indoors to make a yummy Pea and Ham soup. Last year I grew them with the sweetcorn and pumpkins, but to give the squash a bit more space, and the peas too, they are going in the new bed this year. 
• Spinach Not grown this before, so looking forward to giving it a try. I do like spinach, and really enjoy it in a pasta dish. I don't cook with it a lot, but if I get a good crop, then hopefully that will change.
• Savoy Cabbage Out of all the cabbages, the Savoy is my favourite. I love its dark green crinkly leaves. They are great in soups, stirfrys, as well as on their own as a side dish. I like to fry them quickly with some small pan fried cubes of potato and bacon lardons. Its a tasty way to get this wonderful veg into the diet of those that claim to dislike it.
• Parsnips I love parsnips. They are perhaps one of my favourite veggies to roast. This will be my second year growing these. I cant tell you how successful it was first time round as the little darlings are still in the ground!I am trying to leave them in there for a few more weeks, then pull them to form part of my Christmas dinner. 

 Herb Bed

I love using fresh herbs in cooking and have been growing a few in a large tub in the garden for several years now. However, I think that the tub is getting a bit crowded, and the more I cook, the more herbs I need so I need to grow them on a slightly larger scale. I have decided to put in a Herb bed to give them a wee bit more space. Here is a list of my go-to-guys that I use regularly:- Parsley, Basil, Tarragon, Oregano, Sage, Rosemary, Chives, Thyme.

Mr Madnad and I decided that we are going to treat ourselves to a small greenhouse in the new year. I tried to grow some tomatoes this year, which seemed to be going well as I had vines bulging with green fruit - but none of them were turning red. With the fact that my garden is unfortunately North facing, and the great british weather, I was struggling to get the tomatoes to ripen. I bought a small plastic hot house that seemed to be doing the trick. Within 2 days, I was picking bright red fruit. However, we were once again the victims of the great british weather when gale force winds picked up the lightweight plastic hothouse while we were at work one day, and dragged it around the garden ... along with my tomato plants. The whole lot were ruined. I unfortunately found out later that I could have ripened the fruit indoors. Oh well. As I said, I am still learning here.

For the time being, in the next few weeks, I need to harvest my parsnips (fingers crossed) and plant out my garlic.