Top of the crop

Struggling to decide which crops to choose? Bob looks at your best options, depending on site and time required

- Bob Flowerdew

NOW, depending on skills, efforts, soil and region, you may or may not be able to grow some crops successfully enough to make these tips worthwhile. Trouble is, you really won’t know until you try! Still, here are some suggestions to save you some wasted efforts.

Potatoes: in the west, gofor blight resistance, and in the south east, drought resistance. No crop is harder to fail totally with, and few will respond as well to good treatment, but in the first years on new ground, pests can ruin your crop, so wait a while before planting many. Tomatoes also seldom fail, but only thrive in warm, sunny places, as do most squash and pumpkins.