Attention to detail brings Lord Rothschild’s head gardener, Susan Dickinson, to the top of her profession.
An interesting article by Robin Lane Fox of the Financial Times quotes her advice on fruiting aubergines:
” “Pollination by hand is essential,” she advised. “But the older books say it should be done by using a rabbit’s tail. They are wrong. We only had good results when we changed to a more delicate instrument. We use sable paintbrushes instead.”
The abundance of courgettes in the vegetable garden prompts the search for more innovative recipes! Elaine Borish has written a book called “What will I do with All Those Courgettes?”
We enjoy our own recipe for courgettes on toast:
Add some crushed garlic to hot olive oil in a pan. Stir in 4 or 6 chopped courgettes. When sizzling gently, put the lid on the pan and turn off the heat. After 10 minutes place on buttered toast. Chopped bacon fried before adding the courgettes is a good variation!
Waitrose have a delicious, quick and easy courgette tagliatelle recipe.
The first peas were harvested on Tuesday 22nd June, 2010 but yields were generally low as the effects of the late frosts took it’s toll, with some flowers being aborted.
pea pods
Silver Y Moth has been a slight problem, particularly in Petits Pois varieties, resulting in high levels of caterpillars being found in the pods.
Yields started to pick up once the frosted crops had been picked, and although not as good as last year, the peas were producing above average yields. As temperatures continued to rise, pods developed faster & there were more peas to pick. Petits Pois yields have been very good.
peas in pod
The last peas sown reached full flower on 22nd July, & will probably be harvested around the 11th – 13th August, 2010.
The Edible Garden Show is a brand new and exciting ‘Grow Your Own event’ being held on 18th -20th March 2011 at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire.
There will be seminars and exhibitions – plus practical demonstrations. These include a vegetable hospital, ideas for cooking your produce and examples of how to get the kids involved.
Put the date in your diary for the Edible Garden Show 18th -20th March 2011!
‘How to run an allotment’ by Alec Bristow, was first published in 1941. This guide to basic allotment gardening helped inspire Britons to grow their own in the wartime ‘dig for victory’ campaign. Alec Bristow had taught himself to grow vegetables and provided his family with fresh veg throughout his life.
The book has just been republished, and the author’s daughter, Jane Nelson, was on Woman’s Hour today discussimg how allotment gardening has changed since the original publication. She still sticks to her father’s guiding principles, including resisting watering vegetables. He said watering weakened the plants and having to send roots down to get water did the plants good.
Karen Kenny, from the National Association of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, talked about how people are using their allotments today. Listen to the piece again by clicking this link to BBC Woman’s Hour.
‘How to Run an Allotment’, by Alec Bristow, first published in 1940, is published in 2010 by Beautiful Books Ltd.
Growing parsnips under enviromesh has given us happier plants. The photo below shows how well the parsnips have developed, with very long roots.
parsnips' long roots
The parsnip leaves are in perfect conditiom, but in previous years the parsnips never looked well and grew slowly. We think the enviromesh must have kept the insects off the parsnips & these were the insects which caused unseen damage which resulted in slow growth.
To Prepare Beetroot for cooking:
The Beetroot is now ready for cooking. If you cut the leaves too close to the beet, or if you cut the roots, the beetroot will ‘bleed’ and all the red colour could be lost from the beetroot. So just twist the leaves off, wash the whole beetroot, with roots & stubbs of leaf stalks attached
beetroot-growing
To cook the beetroot:
Click this link for more cooking ideas for beetroot and recipes.
Table top strawberries have proved to be pest free – slugs cannot climb up to the table tops, & fungi do not like to be in such an exposed position!
TableTopStrawberries
Not having to bend to pick the strawberries is an added bonus. Click this link to read about a Pick Your Own Grower who was surprised to discover how popular his table-top strawberries were!
Brussels Sprouts are a traditional winter vegetable and the plants can stay outside all winter.
sprouts in snow
To grow Brussels Sprouts:
The Brussels Sprout plants prefer soil to be:
Planting out seedlings:
Looking after Brussel Sprouts:
enviromesh-over-brassica
caterpillars-on-sprout
staking-sprouts
Harvest Brussels Sprouts:
big-sprouts-below
brussels-sprout-stalk
sprout-top
Seeds for leafy Brassicas are usually sown into a small patch known as a plant bed, and when the seedlings are strong enough, they are transplanted into their final position. So growing leafy brassicas is a two stage process:
Sometimes gardeners miss out the first stage and buy the young plants in.
Leafy brassicas include brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower & brocolli. Root brassicas, such as turnips and swedes, are not transplanted. The seeds of root brassicas are usually sown on the site they will grow for their lifetime.
preparing-to-plant-seeds
making-seed-row 
creating-seed-row Sowing Vegetable Seed
* *only place a few seeds in the hand
* *pinch a few seeds between finger and thumb and work them out
* *try to get them dropping singly, not in a bunch
* *take plenty of time, as it is worth the result
* *make a mark in the row, before taking another pinch of seeds from the hand, as you loose sight of the last seed
* *avoid sowing doubles
seed line *Cover the seed with fine soil. Then put a few small cobbly bits on top & gently firm in. These lumps help to keep the soil open and prevent capping
*Water the vegetable seeds in.
Planting brassica seeds carefully will allow them to develop into good, strong plants.
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