Marigold Memoirs

Earlier in the year, I followed the instructions on Gardener's World for taking green seed from primroses. With all the slugs and snails in my back garden, it was hard to find one seed head barely hanging on the plant below:


You can barely see it but it's there! And from that, I got 7 new plants by pressing the green seed gently into some compost - after taking it off the seed head, of course. I then sprinkled a little compost on top and sat the small pot in some water. Once it was soaked, the idea was that while it drained, it would act as a vacuum, causing the seed to go down further in the soil. I just left it outside by a mostly shady wall and finally planted them out when they were bursting out of the pot. I've planted them in groups of 2 and 5 to try to mimic some of the most naturally occurring numbers in nature. Ever heard of the Fibonacci Numbers? Here's a link to the wiki article:




And while I was in that area of the garden I found this strange specimen. I think it's a bay tree, germinated from the bay tree that's sitting in a pot down the sidewalk. I'm going to try to pot it up and grow it on to one day have a set of two in two posh pots.



I'll have to train them though so they look the part.



I have similar hopes for these (almost free -one pound something for 6 ) buxus plants I got earlier in the year.

I've put the cold frame over the area that had the Butter beans and sweet peas, leaving the roots which break down into usable Nitrogen for the plants. To the left, there is cultivated rocket on the bottom, a borage plant that was growing there anyways. Up top there is a row of land cress (or is that lambs lettuce?) and a row of perpetual spinach. Everything on the left was already growing in the garden, so I just transplanted the spinach and rocket. In the pots are a few herbs still hanging on after a Summer of neglect. You really do have to water frequently with small pots!


On the left I have some plug plants that just came in. I totally cannot grow sweet lettuces in the back garden, so am hoping that the best start in life will give them the extra boost. The lollo biondi did well earlier in the year... Let's keep our fingers crossed! From left to right we have a row of rainbow chard, and the two other rows are either Winter Density or Arctic King. One's a Romaine type, the other a butterhead, so it should not be hard to distinquish the two. I think Arctic King is the one on the far right. In the bottom right corner are five Wild Rockets.

I feel better about this Winter's cold frame than I did about last year's. Last year, I had a tomato plant that continued to fruit for a while with cherry tomatoes, but by the time they were ripe, I was unenthusiastic about picking it, so it just rotted there. I also sowed some seed that didn't produce much of interest. I did enjoy the rocket that was already growing several times. That inspired my choice this Winter. I might also pot up some of the more tender herbs I have growing in pots.

Well, these had well and truly gone over to the starchy side by the time I picked them all. I did get a few that were nice and sweet though. Anyways, this is the Dolce Sweetcorn - a heritage variety that gets a pinkish hue on the kernels and the green plant material.

This one is the Galeaux de Eysines. It's the biggest and just starting to show its characteristic "lace" on its skin. It was on its side until today.


This is the Crown Prince. It's the only one I can see on the vine. Maybe the others are hiding !

Anyway, there they are - just in case something happens to them before my planned time to harvest them right before the first frosts. Apparently, the longer you wait, the better they taste.

Post under construction - please come back later to see the finished product. (I have accidentally hit "publish post")

At this time of year, one can really start to see the difference in the way plants grow. Many are dying back or dead, some are quickly putting on weight in their roots or fruit to insure a chance next year or in the subsequent generation. Me, I'm just glad the nettles and other weeds seem to have stopped growing as fast as they were. Now, it's up to me to stop the seed some of them have set from getting back into the soil! It also seems to be a good time for setting pen to paper (so to speak) while the memories are still fresh to reflect on the main growing season. Best not to wait until a cold day in December or January, when frost-bitten hands look over seed catalogues with a sun-deprived nostalgia that could make the worst performing vegetable of the year seem like a good idea for next year!


On the allotment

Leeks - the ones I grew from seed were beginning to look hopeful but then what I thought was rust turned into some type of grubby worm that shredded them to pieces. The leeks that I got from Delfland nursuries did well overwinter, however.

Onions - More trouble than they are worth? The over-wintered ones were such a small crop and they came at a time when there wasn't too much to harvest that they were welcome, but the main crop in August was such a burden. Just yesterday, I got around to trimming them and getting rid of the ugly skins and leaves. I did string them, rather unsuccessfully. You really have to have a place to hang them, which I don't! So they sat in boxes in my breakfast room until yesterday, when most of them went into a hessian sack. The ones that looked like they wouldn't last I put in a container for cooking soon. About five that looked rather suspect got thrown away after I found two that had completely rotted. Ew. If I grow them again, perhaps I will grow them through horticultural fabric and balance the main-crop with the over-wintered so that I don't have so many on my hands at once. They are nice to have fresh, but in the end, they are just onions which can be had very cheaply, even the organic local ones.

Shallots - Completely worth it! The ones that I put in with the main crop onions grew faster than the ones that over wintered.

Garlic - I had better luck with the over-wintered store bought variety. Last year, I used sets from the gardening center that did well even in my back yard, planted in late February.

All in all, for the alliums, I am a convert to buying sets of garlic, shallots, onions, and plug plants of leeks from reputable garden centres and nurseries. Spring onions are another story!

Brassicas

Turnips - I don't seem to be able to eat them as fast as they grow. The second sowing is sitting rotting in place. The first sowing with the parsnips were a welcome addition to the plate for the most part.

Swede - two rows on the go at the moment. Looking forward to it, I think.

cabbages, cauliflowers, and broccoli - The ones I put in over-winter were all great with some minor problems like birds and snails on the cauliflowers and the cabbages that never resulted in a full grown head, but the brassicas I planted in early Spring were over-whelming, especially the cauliflowers and calabrese and just didn't sit right as Summer vegetables. I did in the end find a cauliflower and kidney bean curry recipe that I liked, but you know what they say about having too much of a good thing. The cabbages were great though. I'll just grow less of them.

I have about 35 or 40 Winter brassicas on the go. Instead of buying 10 of each type this year, I got plug plants in packs of 5 of 6 or 7 different varieties of sprouting brocolli, cauliflowers, and brussel sprouts. I did get 10 of the same type of cabbage that promised to sit in the ground until I wanted to eat them. I'll make a post about the Winter brassicas later on in the year.

Root veg

Carrots - Must learn to cover them with fleece. The yellow ones seem to have an unusual earthy flavour, but I never get many of them. The ones here were all dug up a few days ago as I was tired of looking at the row. Hasty perhaps, but the ones that don't have damage are nice to roast or saute whole. Large carrots, like main-crop onions can be had cheaply.



Potatoes - Even with the fears of blight, burrowing insects, and strange green spots on some of them, they have been a delight to have around.

Legumes - Must grow more of them for eating small, fresh, and green. Although, I have enjoyed the new experience of eating the mature beans fresh.

Peas - I'm not at all impressed with the amount of shelling that goes on in trying to get enough fresh peas for just two people in one meal. And I hate the fact that the pods are green and blend in with the foliage. The mangetout goes over faster than you can pick them and are in the end just another green pea to pod. I really enjoy the purple podded ones, though. The Dutch ones that I saved from last year are lovely fresh, they pod so easily, they are easy to spot and they grow to about as tall as me, so I don't have to strain my back or my eyes to pick them. I've been using them as "decoration" in stews and other recipes like risotto over the last few weeks. I think I'll leave pea side dishes like mushy peas to the experts in my frozen vegetables section in the grocery store!



Broadbeans - overwintered ones were goners before I wizened up with the organic chrysanthemum spray and they got moved more than once, so I might suspend judgment for another year. The last sowing in the Spring was a great success.



Borlottis and greenbeans - Great, just need to grow more of them. And, as with the peas, the taller ones are more of a delight to grow.

Runner beans - Love these organic Enormas. The butter beans in the back yard are just getting going so I haven't tried them yet, and the Limas at the allotment are just getting their flowers. I am doubtful that they will ever amount to anything



Squash - This yellow crookneck is the first one I've had off of the only surviving plant. There are a few more setting now. This one looks like it might have crossed with a something like a courgette.. or is that green colouring normal?



The courgettes and marrows have been amazing. The marrow plant gave up the ghost a while back and lost all its leaves. There is now one small, lone marrow growing from it. The organic Dundoo F1 has been the best producer. And the yellow courgette plant is just getting started because I had to move it as I didn't anticipate how large the other plants would get. The pattypan squash didn't survive the move.

Pumpkins - No complaints yet. There is what I believe to be a full grown Crown Prince on one of the vines, and about 10 Galeaux de Eysines that have started growing in the past week or so. They are all growing away happily amongst the nettles that I never got around to digging up, by the way. If they all successfully ripen on the vine or elsewhere, I will stick with sowing them direct. The ones I sowed at home all died.

Cucumbers - I've gotten a couple of good sized cucumbers from the lone vine at the allotment. There are a few growing slowly in the back garden. I'm watching with excitement the golf-ball sized crystal lemon cucumber at the moment!

Miscellaneous

Artichoke - one brave plant growing away. We'll see next year.

Sweetcorn - They are starting to bulk up. I had one on Friday at the allotment, it was skinny but sweet!

Beetroot - I have done three different sowings about a month apart. Each sowing has been successful. Now, we have to start eating them, which shouldn't be a problem, as we love beetroot boiled, either hot as a side dish or cold in a salad. The beetroot featured in the runner bean photo was from the second sowing, I believe. I am thinking of cutting off some of the older leaves and using the new leaves as lettuce this Autumn.

Black Salsify - I haven't harvested any yet because I thought it was something I dug up in the second year, but on Friday, I saw flower buds on one of them.

Chufa nuts - still waiting... I dug one up last week. There were small nodules on the roots, but nothing to write home about. I replanted it to see what happens.

Spinach and salads - The spinach has bolted in short order on various sowings. Sometimes it was down to the weather. Other times, I just plain forgot it was there. The perpetual spinach is looking magnificent, but I haven't tried it yet. I really should stop growing things like spinach in gaps in the rows. I cannot walk through them most times and the weeds confound the problem. I might have a dedicated salad area next year. Once again I am left with that continental salad mix (and three cos plants I "found" as I was weeding Friday) as the only viable salad crop on the allotment. It isn't bad, even with some of the bitter types of leaves as a green salad, if you make up a really nice vinaigrette with chopped up shallots, of which I have plenty!

Bronze Fennel - It seems to have bolted - more on this later.

Strawberries - I haven't had many. Most of my plants are first year plants. I am thinking of putting them in one bed with horticultural fabric underneath soon.

Gooseberries - None yet, but I have a nice bush forming.

Apples - I should get some next year because the stems will be two years old on the two trees I espaliered. I want to put in some more this Winter.

Cherries and Pears - Those two trees I am sure are dead...

Currants - Ditto. I planted these too late.

Horseradish - Now, if only I could find where I planted it! There are some strange huge-leaved things growing along a row from where I put the root on the edge of the new potato bed - must investigate.

Jerusalem artichokes - They are starting to fall down under the weight their monstrous 10 foot high stems. I'll have to find some recipes for them. I know I don't like them boiled.

Tomatoes - believe it or not, but the last tomato plant standing still at the allotment is the organic Falco Rosso (sp?). It does have a bit of blight but it doesn't seem to be spreading. I harvested three ripe tomatoes from the vine last week.

I have however been diagnosed with an acid reflux problem lately, so I haven't tried them. I can see oven dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil in my near future...

I have to give up what seems to me all the fun-stuff in life this month - Coffee, tea, anything with caffeine basically, citrus, tomatoes, spicy foods, alcohol..... Thank goodness for Dandelion Coffee!

Here we have a perfectly ripe Noir Trifele (or Japanese Black Trifele) tomato. It's really Russian. I thought an entire post about it was in order. So what if it wasn't vine ripened? You cannot buy it in the stores - not the ones I shop in anyway. I grew it because some TV chef said it has the most awesome, tomatoey flavour of all his favourite tomatoes.


I must say that I was not disappointed. Here it is all cut up with sticks of Mozzarella, olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt, pepper, and an assortment of basil growing in my garden. I found it useful to cleanse my palate with red wine between samples of basil. Yum.

That dark purple basil is by far my favourite. It has such a true basil taste, perfect for fresh tomatoes. The green one with its liquorish-like taste belongs on a pizza. The variegated one was grown inside. It was originally one of the purple ones, but the lack of light inside weakened it considerably in both colour and taste.

These are the beans I sowed early on in the season, direct. I'm sure I put their name on the blog back then. You can see the pods and the beans at different levels of ripeness. As the pod grows in colour so do the beans - unless they've cross pollinated or something. I did sow another type on the same canes that are yellowish with little white beans, not pictured here as there weren't very many. I have a whole bag of these in the fridge.


Encouraging results on a couple of the parsnips I thinned from the rows.


The monster beetroot. I pulled it because I was advised that they get woody if they get too big. The banana is there for scale.

from left to right, we have Dutch purple podded peas, an organic Enorma runner bean, three Lilia spring onions (the one on the left is what they all look like on the inside. the skin is just a facade!), one cucumber, a garlic scape gone to seed, and a leek I pulled to see what it looks like. The Winter sown garlic were all a flop. I found about 4 heads that had all started to split for the next year. I wonder if I can plant the seeds from the scape. The leeks also all have rust, so I'll have to research what to do. If I have to pull them all, it'll be roasted baby leeks for us - not a bad situation to be in!

Lastly, three of the tomatoes are almost fully ripe. Er, there were three, until the salt and basil talked me into eating one...