Have you any tips on storage ?
Do you dig as required, will they tolerate frost if left in the ground ?
Can they be stored like onions ?
I would welcome your advice !

We asked our ‘Fennel Expert’ John Oldham for his advice & he has kindly replied:

Florence Fennel is definitely best dug and eaten fresh. Ours has been sown end-June in modules, planted out one week ago. It will just about tolerate a slight frost. Have never tried freezing it but don’t think it is a good idea, especially as the plants mature over a period and can therefore be harvested in succession.

Thanks John for that advice. You can’t beat the taste of vegetables straight from the ground. Click the link for tips on How to Grow Florence Fennel.

Freezing books give the following instructions for fennel:

* trim & cut into slices
* blanch for 3 minutes
* place in freezer in plastic bags

To cook from frozen:

* boil for 8 minutes
* add to stews whilst still frozen.

The best tips on Fennel storage come from John Oldham, who says there is no need to store as plants mature over a period and can therefore be harvested in succession.

It is harvest time for the Medes Broad Beans.

The broad bean variety Medes was sown on 13 April, and harvested 28 July, giving a sowing to harvest interval of 102 days. This interval could be reduced to 90 days, if, when 4 clusters of flowers are showing, the remaining flower spikes are removed. This will induce earlier crops. But it will bring all the beans together - which may not be desirable for a small family. It is often better for the harvest to be spread out. Pinching the later flowers out will also reduce yield, but will help to reduce blackfly.

Medes is a highly productive variety, producing medium sized pods 15cm (6in) long.

Each Medes Broad Bean pod contains 5-6 white beans.

The Medes beans are particularly sweet and creamy. Medes are recommended for freezing, and were the variety used by Birds Eye.

The time to harvest broad beans is when the pods have swollen and the shape of the bean can be seen through the pod, as is the case for the variety, Medes, now.

New potatoes will not store, unless they are stored in a freezer.

New potatoes have not set their skin, which means that the skin will easily scrape off with a knife.

Potatoes need to have a set skin which will not scrape off, before they will store over the winter.

Click the link for information on storing maincrop potatoes in a clamp.

This marrow flower is a great example of how flowers attract insects.

The flowers are:

• very large - with huge petals

• brightly coloured Read More »

Johnny G has been picking samphire:

Hi, I’ve just picked 500 grams of it. Not tried it before but I’ve been hearing a lot of good reports. I located it on the banks of the River Wyre near skipool, Poulton-Le-Fylde, where there’s absolute loads of it

Then, an hour or so later: Read More »

When the onion foliage bends over and turns yellowy, it is time to harvest onions.

Click this link to find out how to harvest onions.

Bring out the romance, and grow some heart shaped cucumbers!

The Japan Trend Shop sells a heart shaped mould set, which is fixed onto the young growing cucumber to determine its final shape.

The heart shaped mould sets make a great gift for the greenhouse gardener who has everything!

The ultimate dinner ingredient must be a home- grown heart shaped cucumber!

Snap off onion flowers as soon as they appear. If the plants flower, the onions will become woody and unusable.

If the onion flowers in it’s first year it is said to ‘bolt’. Instead of producing the onion bulb desired, the plant ‘bolts’ into maturity, flowers, & produces seed during the summer instead of the normal root.

Mark which onions started to bolt (with a lolly stick, or anything handy) and use these first as they won’t store well.

Ambience is a semi-leafless variety of pea.

Ambience produces petit pois, which are very small, sweet-tasting edible  peas.

Petit pois may be eaten in the pod as mange tout.

Ambience pea flowers are white, with a green tinge.

The Ambience petit pois peas have few leaves but a mass of tendrils.

A common question is ” Why does my Purple Flowering Broccoli not have any Broccoli heads.” The answer is that there are two sorts of broccoli:

• Sprouting - white or purple sprouting broccoli

• Calabrese - a green sprouting broccoli which may have a single, large head.

The sprouting broccoli produces heads just after Christmas, but calabrese produces a crop in early autumn.
Charity has just posted a comment:

plz help my purple flowering broccoli doesnt have any broccoli can you tell me why ???
i have plenty of leaves but no florettes of broccoli
plz e-mail me with a reply

TopVeg replied:

Hi Charity

Good things come to those who wait!
Purple sprouting broccoli will be ready from January to April.

Calabrese, the green sprouting broccoli common in the shops, produces spears before the onset of winter.

I think you may have the purple sprouting, which is so special because it is ready when there is not much else in the garden. On top of that the flavour is divine!

Hope that helps

TopVeg

The answer to the question ” Why Purple Flowering Broccoli does not have Broccoli” is that it will have broccoli after Christmas!