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+--- Thread: Small is beautiful/Size matters (/showthread.php?tid=2171)
Small is beautiful/Size matters - Veggie - 06-06-2024
I'm not talking about me personally although my Mother thought I was beautiful (she had to say that!). I'm talking about vegetables and my preference to choose smaller varieties of veg/fruit in the belief that they'll mature faster and, perhaps, taste fresher than bigger, more mature veg.
For example, I don't attempt to grow beefsteak tomatoes - preferring small/medium sized ones.
Courgettes definitely win over marrows. I'm struggling to even sow those Giant pumpkins (sorry SC/JJB).
Baby leeks - not the huge ones they wave about at shows.
Small cucumbers, not the bigguns.
Small sweet lettuce - not big floppy things.
etc etc.
How about you?
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - JJB - 06-06-2024
I hadn't really thought about it but you're right, courgettes rather than marrows, although the odd courgette does become a marrow doesn't it. I've grown compact broccoli this year so I can net it easily. Beans don't really follow as I like both DFB and CFB. My favourite tomatoes are cherry ones although I grow the odd beefsteak one for roasting as a veg. I think it's the competitive growers that go for size over flavour.
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - Garrett - 06-06-2024
Thinking about it, I do prefer smaller veg. I don't have a greenhouse so smaller veg grows so much better for me. I've tried beefsteak tomatoes but I don't get a good harvest. In contrast, I'm swimming in cherry tomatoes.
Same goes for sweet peppers where I've switched to smaller ones like Jimmy Nardello and Mini Bell. Miniature White cucumber is tiny at under 5cm so it can be eaten in one go rather than stored in the fridge.
My favourite lettuce is Little Gem, a small cos type. I also prefer the single portion winter squash and pumpkins. Much easier to grow and cook.
I even prefer shallots to onions. Less fussy, store well and I can use the whole thing in cooking. I'd never get through a whole onion in one go.
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - Small chilli - 06-06-2024
Yes I mostly agree…………but. I like them all what ever the size. If I’ve grown it, I’m proud of it and will enjoy it. Having said that. I don’t like tiny veg. Things like the tiny tomatoes like currant sized and tiny chillies for example. They’re to much like hard work to harvest or use.
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - JJB - 07-06-2024
(06-06-2024, 09:19 PM)Small chilli Wrote: Yes I mostly agree…………but. I like them all what ever the size. If I’ve grown it, I’m proud of it and will enjoy it. Having said that. I don’t like tiny veg. Things like the tiny tomatoes like currant sized and tiny chillies for example. They’re to much like hard work to harvest or use.
Totally agree, currant toms are a waste of space.
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - Vinny - 07-06-2024
I stopped growing large show onions a long time ago because of the space required to grow them.Living alone,smaller varieties of all veg suit me better when I do partake of them!
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - toomanytommytoes - 07-06-2024
I like big garlic, onions, tomatoes, peppers and berries. Beefsteak tomatoes are less sweet and more balanced than cherries, better for cooking, less seedy and have more texture. Big garlic and onions are easier to peel, big peppers are easier to deseed and chop and big berries because are easier to pick.
RE: Small is beautiful/Size matters - Mark_Riga - 10-06-2024
I'm in favour of big veg too. Last year (or may be the year before) my first ripe tomato was a beafsteak. Large onions, garlic carrots.... are easier for me in the kitchen and always taste home grown.