Crop Histories

The crops we grow on our allotments have fascinating histories. Even familiar crops we regard as our own have come from plants first domesticated thousands of years ago in faraway places. In many cases wild plants were carefully modified over thousands of years to give us the crops we now enjoy and take for granted.

Here is a list of some of our most popular food crops.

• Apples
  (Malus domestica) The most “English” fruit has an exotic past.
• Beets
  (Beta vulgaris): chard, beetroot, sugar beet.
• Brassicas
  (Brassica spp.) Cabbage, cauliflower, kale, turnips, swedes, black mustard…
• Broad Beans
  (Vicia faba) “fava beans”
• Capsicums
  (Capsicum spp) Sweet peppers and chillies
• Carrots
  (Daucus carota)
• Celery
  (Apium graveolans)
• Cucumbers
  (Cucumis sativus)
• Fennel
  (Foeniculum vulgare)
• French Beans
  (Phaseolus vulgare) “Common” beans
• Garlic
  (Allium sativa)
• Globe Artichokes
  (Cynara cardunculus variety scolymus)
• Jerusalem Artichokes
  (Helianthus tuberosus) the root crop
• Leeks
  (Allium ampeloprasum)
• Lettuce
  (Lactuca sativa)
• Maize
  (Zea mays) Sweet corn, pop corn, “Indian corn”
• Onions and Shallots
  (Allium cepa)
• Parsnips
  (Pastinaca sativa)
• Pears
  (Pyrus communis) The common European pear.
• Peas
  (Pisum sativum)
• Plums
  (Prunus domestica) One of the first fruits domesticated in Europe.
• Potatoes
  (Solanum tuberosa)
• Pumpkins and Squash
  (Cucurbita pepo) and related species
• Rhubarb
  Popular Yorkshire “fruit”, once a medicine
• Runner Beans
  (Phaseolus coccineus)
• Spinach
  (Spinacia oleracea)
• Sweet Potato
  (Ipomea batatas) a tropical vine
• Tomato
  (Lycopersicon esculentum)