Last Updated on March 16, 2023 by Suttons Horticultural Team
Veg varieties from our 1914 catalogue still on sale in 2014!
So much has changed over the last 100 years at Suttons with flower and veg varieties coming and going but some have remained constant. It must be because their quality has remained so strong that they just haven’t yet been replaced with a more modern version. Here we share with you some of the vegetable seed varieties that were in our 1914 catalogue and are still going strong today. If you haven’t given them a try yet then maybe now’s the time?
Pea ‘Little Marvel’ – Introduced in 1900
1914 Catalogue Description – An extraordinary cropper; pods dark, of medium size, freely produced in pairs and closely filled. Flavour extra fine. Highly recommended.
1914 catalogue showing hand-picking of peas and beans
1914 Customer Review – “Your ‘Little Marvel Pea’ is such a wonderfully free cropper that I should not like to be without it for a single season. The flavour of the peas is also first-rate” – Mr S W Philpott, Gardener to C E Heath, Esq
Broad Bean Exhibition Longpod
1914 Catalogue Description – Pods of extraordinary length, containing from 7 to 9 beans of delicious flavour. Unlike some other Longpods, this variety is exceedingly robust, enduring drought and resisting blight to a remarkable degree.
1914 Customer Review – “Your Exhibition Longpod Broad Bean has been a great success, several of the pods measuring from 12 to 14 inches in length. The flavour of the beans is perfect.” Mr H G Gibson, Gardener to Arthur Ponsonby Esq, MP
Dwarf French Bean Masterpiece – introduced by Suttons in 1910
1914 Catalogue Description – “The comparative trials in our Experimental Grounds leave no room for doubt as to this bean’s superiority. The plant is robust in constitution, unusually prolific and the longpods are straight, handsome and tender.
1914 Customer Review -”I consider your Masterpiece the very best Dwarf Bean, both for forcing and for outside cultivation.” Mr A W Blake, Gardener to the Right Hon. The Earl of Carnarvon
Runner Bean Prizewinner
1914 Catalogue Description – An indispensable exhibition variety of superb table quality. Probably no Runner Bean has ever won so many prizes as Suttons Prizewinner.
1914 Customer Review – “Your Prizewinner Runner Bean grown in my garden was a grand sight. I won four First Prizes with this Bean on one day and two Firsts on another. I picked at one time ten dozen first-class pods fit for show and I had a plentiful supply of beans for the table from the second week of July until cut down by frost.” Mr H Ballard
Lettuce Little Gem
1914 Catalogue Description – An entirely distinct and most valuable Cos lettuce. Dwarf and compact in growth and a beautiful colour. The solid hearts, which stand for a considerable time before running to seed, are highly esteemed by those who prefer a small, crisp Lettuce. May be sown both in spring and autumn.
1914 Customer Review – “I cannot speak too highly of your Little Gem Cos Lettuce; it is so compact, of such delicious flavour and is admired by all who see it.” Mr F Harris, Gardener to Major Guy St. Aubyn
Leek Prizetaker
1914 Catalogue Description – Prizetaker still maintains its superiority as a prizewinner. The long, thick, pure white stems have a most attractive appearance and to the merit of immense size may be added the advantage of a mild agreeable flavour.
1914 Customer Review – “There are no Leeks to come up to your Prizetaker for beauty and size.” Mr W Robertson, Gardener to M Stocks Esq
Marrow Table Dainty
1914 Catalogue Description – This type of vegetable marrow is rapidly increasing in popularity. The distinct form of the fruits and the attractive manner in which they are striped with pale green on a darker background. The plant has the additional merit of yielding a most prolific crop early in the season.
1914 Customer Review – “I had 30 marrows on one vine of Suttons Marrow ‘Table Dainty’ and they have been greatly admired. This variety is a free and sure setter, combined with such delicate flavour that it ought to find a place in all gardens.” Mr O Hill, Gardener to Miss Swaine
Cabbage April
1914 Catalogue Description – This popular little Cabbage is a model in form and will continue to be grown in gardens large and small, especially as it is one of the most reliable for its freedom from tendency to run to seed. For August sowing.
1914 Customer Review – “Suttons ‘April Cabbage’ was very fine and much admired; not one bolted.” Mr W A Cook, Gardener to Sir E G Loder, Bart.
Onion Ailsa Craig
1914 Catalogue Description – Our pedigree strain of this Onion is unrivalled for perfection of form combined with size and weight.
1914 Customer Review – “I have won First prize for the last seven years at Talybont for onions grown from your Ailsa Craig seed and for three years in succession at Borth and last year at Machynlleth.” Captain W Richards, Bow Street
