Last Updated on January 11, 2024 by the Dobies Horticultural Team
At Dobies we look for appealing qualities in all our new veg plant varieties, whether it’s a plant that is less susceptible to disease, one that yields more, is specially developed for compact spaces or simply tastes delicious. We also like to champion out of the ordinary vegetables to spice up your choice.
We understand that nothing will ever beat the taste and satisfaction of home-grown vegetables. That’s why Dobies is dedicated to innovation and we are proud to bring you improved and new vegetable plants for you to grow on the allotment for 2021.
If you don’t have the time or space to grow your vegetables from seeds, buying a ready-to-plant veg plug plant is the best way to help you start producing your own homegrown vegetables. We know that growing something new on the plot every year is a rewarding process, so we are going to run through some of the options which could be introduced in your veg patch any time soon!
Let’s Start With Tomatoes!
There are so many varieties of tomatoes and it can be hard to know which to choose! To make the choice a little harder or perhaps a little easier, here are our new tomato plants for you to try this year!
Grafted Tomato Plant – Crimson Plum
New addition to the tomato crimson family. The first fully blight-resistant plum tomato which produces a good crop of tasty tomatoes both indoors and outside. A ‘Roma’ style plum with a rich, deep flavour. It has solid, meaty flesh with few seeds and is good for cooking and using in sauces.
- The first fully blight-resistant plum tomato
- Fully blight resistant ‘Roma’ style plum
- Rich, deep flavour
- Solid, meaty flesh with few seeds, good for cooking and sauces
Grafted Tomato Plant – F1 Buffalosteak
Earlier ripening than the majority of other beefsteak tomatoes means you’ll be harvesting Mediterranean style, big, rich flavoured fruit for months!
With a rich, old-fashioned tomato flavour and few seeds, these meaty fleshed tomatoes are ideal for salads or sauces and ideal to serve sliced with mozzarella and basil.
Fruit weight 350-700g. Resistant to tomato mosaic virus. Cordon variety.
Tomato Plants – Candyland Red
Hundreds of fruit per plant and stays compact and tidy so it won’t take over like other sprawling currants; easy to grow and earlier, too.
Branched trusses make for accessible harvest and fruits detach without damage for more usable fruit.
Very high yields of tiny, red fruit deliver very sweet flavour with a great ‘pop’ in the mouth, kids and grown-ups will love them, perfect to eat by the handful!
Best in-ground. All-America Selections National Winner.
Tomato Grafted Plants – Noir De Crimee
A heritage variety originating on the Isle of Krim in the Black Sea, therefore, it’s used to growing in a climate more like our own rather than many varieties which prefer warmer temperatures.
These tomatoes have a gorgeous dark red/purple to brown colour with green/brown shoulders which make for a beautiful looking tomato. Renowned for its flavour, the fruit has a softer feel when ready to harvest. Chop the fruit, add basil and olive oil and serve with crusty bread, delicious!
If you prefer a different kind of tomato, or an old favourite, we have many more traditional varieties too!
Classic Cucumber
Our cucumber plants are simple to grow, but can sometimes need the warmth of a greenhouse to thrive. They are the key to delicious summer salads, but they are a satisfying and refreshing choice for beginners.
Cucumber Grafted Plants – Socrates
The vigorous, strong plants produce numerous mini, bitter-free cues around 15-18cm long. An ‘all-female’ variety best grown in a greenhouse or tunnel. Socrates is regarded as one of the best tasting cucumbers on the market today. Parthenocarpic (meaning it will fruit without pollination), extremely disease resistant and resistant to powdery mildew. One of the best to crop if it’s a cloudy or dull summer with low light levels.
Cucumber Plants – Merlin
Easy to grow, all-female “midi-type”, heavy yielding, one or 2 delicious fruit are produced at every node, every few days. Doesn’t have seeds, therefore, doesn’t go bitter, fruits size 12-15cm can be grown in a tunnel or greenhouse. Good disease resistance to powdery mildew, downy mildew and cucumber mosaic virus mean it shows some true magic in our eyes.
Cucumber Plants – Green Fingers
An early outdoor, predominately female flowering variety which can also be grown in a greenhouse. Producing high yields of smooth dark green spineless 10cm long fruits.
Fruits have a good crisp texture and sweet flavour, perfect as a snack or for lunch boxes. Excellent resistance to powdery and downy mildew and good tolerance of cucumber mosaic virus and cucumber vein yellowing virus.
A Different Chilli & Pepper
Chilli pepper plants are a popular, good looking and lively addition for every kitchen garden. You grow them in your greenhouse or in pots on a south-facing patio or on your allotment. If you cultivate a bumper crop you can dry and use them throughout the year in all your favourite recipes. One thing is for sure – they’re guaranteed to spice up your cooking.
Pepper (Sweet) Plants – Curry
Donated to the Heritage Seed Library by George Twigg, who acquired this sweet, red pepper in a package of mixed seed from his daughter and son-in-law in Gostova, Macedonian Republic (then part of the former Yugoslavia) in 1968. He has grown it ever since. George says that it is a “vigorous, reliable cropper” and named it ‘Curry’ based on the smell and colour of the seed. The fruit has a characteristic upward-pointing growth, only beginning to hang downwards when mature, sweet and ready to pick.
Pepper Grafted Plant – Beluga Lilac
A truly beautiful sweet, blocky pepper that has to be seen to be believed! Each robust plant has a neat habit and will produce fruit around 150-170g. Can be harvested when crisp and Lilac to add colour to your plate or left to ripen to bright red if you wish. Ideal to grow in a greenhouse or sunny patio. Supplied in a 10cm pot.
A Few More Must-Haves
If your feeling adventurous and would really like to try something different on the veg patch this year, then how about your own homegrown melons or delicious sweetcorn. These super sweet varieties will see bumper crops and incredible plot to plate homecooked meals!
Melon Grafted Plant – Anasta
Their origin can be traced back to the pontifical fruit gardens of Avignon. The mid-sized round fruits boast delicious, juicy and sugar-sweet flesh which is sunset yellow/orange in colour. Charentais-melons indicate by their fragrance when they are ripe and can be harvested.
They emit a beautifully fruity perfume letting you know they are ripe and ready to harvest. Grafted ‘Anasta’ plants grow very fast and do not only grow in greenhouses and tunnels but will even grow in sunny and sheltered places in the garden or on a patio. Good resistance to powdery mildew.
Watermelon Grafted Plant – Ingrid
Striped ‘Icebox’ watermelon (small enough to keep in your fridge or ‘icebox’) with early maturity, good plant vigour and cropping. Each dark green-striped fruit is a round/oval shape and weighs 2-3 kg.
The bright red flesh has a high sugar content and is deliciously sweet in flavour(12-13 Brix) with few internal seeds. As its grafted, you can expect the plants to grow and crop really well (up to 75% bigger harvest) and the plants will have a better tolerance to soil-borne pests and disease.
Sweet Corn Plants – Moonshine
The best tasting sweet corn on trials last year – super-sweet variety (SH2). Extra sweet and juicy, can even be eaten raw (where the juice runs down your chin). Excellent cob coverage. 3-5 cobs per plant. 15-20cm cobs. Harvest August-September. Height 150-200cm (59-79″); spread 30-40cm (12-16″).
Want More?
This guide just shows a snippet of the new range of vegetable plants you could get your hands on this year! Browse them all and see if there’s any more which catch your eye!
New Rob Smith Range
A fair few of these new veg plants are exclusive to our Rob Smith Range. But Rob doesn’t just select a personally curated range of vegetables, but flowers, fruit and much more too.
We recently put together a blog of his latest products new to his range, click here to check out our handy guide!
We hope you find yourself a new veg plant to grow and we would love to see your progress! Make sure to share your gardening activities on our social media pages!
Check out our latest blog posts below!