Spring onions, also known as salad onions or scallions, are delicious when young, becoming more pungent as the stems enlarge and start to bulb. Eat them freshly pulled, uncooked, in salads. Both the white bulb and the green leaves are eaten. Sometimes they are chopped & added to a hot dish just before serving.
Spring-Onion
Successional sowings throughout the season give a constant supply.
spring-onion-row
Sow seeds March to August, every 3 weeks for continuous crops. Sow seeds thinly 1-2cm (½ to ¾in) deep, ideally in broad drills. Allow 30cm (12in) between drills.
Soil should be fertile, dug & broken down to a fine seedbed.
No thinning is necessary.
Water well, do not allow to dry out
Weeds should be hoed out between the rows when they are small. Pull out any weeds appearing in the drills.
SpringOnionBunch
Harvest: May to October, later sowings may remain through to December if weather remains mild. Harvesting can usually start 6-8 weeks after sowing
Farming Friends & TopVeg have collaborated to create some FREE How To Grow Vegetables Cards, including this How to Grow Tomatoes card.
HowToGrowTomatoCard
If you would like a pdf of this tomato or any of the How to Grow cards, please complete the contact form asking for the grow card you would like and we will email it to you.
When are radish ready to harvest? It really depends on:
- how you like your radish
- what variety you are growing
We prefer to eat the variety ‘french breakfast’ when it is small. If it grows as big as the one in the picture it becomes fibrous and bits often go hard. This variety tends to become mis-shapen as it gets too big.
large-french-breakfast-radish
Vienna , however, is a larger variety. The radish in the photo are really the size of golf balls! They are a perfect shape and colour and have no blenishes. They are delicious to eat, quite mild in flavour but crisp and crunchy.
large-vienna-radish
Radishes are at their best when grown quickly.
If you are unsure about when radishes are ready, pull one and try it – if it suits you, it is ready!
Radish can be harvest right through the summer, if the radish seed is sown every 2 or 3 weeks.
bunch-vienna-radish
This year we have grown:
1. Vienna F1 hybrids
- large, golf ball sized roots if left – we harvest a bit smaller
- pure white flesh
- firm, crisp texture
- juicy
- spicy flavour
vienna-F1-radish
2. French Breakfast
- long,tapering radish
- bright red skin with a white tip
- crisp, crunchy flesh
- delicate, mild taste
- quick growing
french-breakfast-radish
Children love to grow and harvest radish as thye are such quick growers.
The oriental salad mix is growing well and providing a continuous crop of winter salad.
oriental-mix-Dec12th
The oriental salad seeds were sown directly into the soil in the greenhouse in September.
The leaves are big enough to be harvested with scissors after about 8-10 weeks. After cutting, more leaves grow, providing a constant supply of winter salad leaves.
oriental-salad-mix
The mix includes leaf Mustards, Golden Streaked and Red, Komatsuna, Mizuna and Sky Rocket. The different shapes, colours and textures of the leaves makes an interesting salad. Some of the leaves have a peppery taste adding a sharp tang.
Click this link to buy a packet of oriental salad mix. It is surprising how much winter salad this oriental mix has produced and it is still growing well in mid December.
There is still time to sow some seeds now for winter salad leaves.
niche salad leaves
Sow the seeds in a sheltered part of the garden, or in a container:
- away from cold winds
- in dry soil that drains well
- in shallow rows
Sow a few seeds of winter salad every few days until mid-November, to give a continuous supply.
Click this link to see which salad leaves are good to grow for winter.
This book shows how to grow vegetables in a small space
Winter salad leaves are excellent value, especially oriental varieties
and they should be sown, now, in the autumn. These cut-and-come-again
salad leaves can be grown outside in the vegetable garden, in tubs or in
window boxes. They grow well in the cooler temperatures and lower light
levels of autumn.
Salad leaves to sow in autumn are:
Rocket
small, mild tender leaves
rocket
Land Cress – Variegated Winter
crisp & tangy
land cress variegated
Mizuna – good taste & crunchy stem
Mustard---Mizuna
This patch of Mustard – variety Mizuna – is doing well in Yorkshire. The
center leaves are cut out with scissors, & provide fresh winter salad
leaves with a bite!
This is the first cucumber that Gill has ever grown!
cucumber-cut
The cucumber was grown in a glass house and tasted delicious.
The vegetable wall is a hit at the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show.
Biotecture Ltd are showing a vegetable wall, planted with an array of salad leaves, for Pat Fox of Aralia Garden Design. The whole design is that of an outdoor kitchen, with fresh leaves ready to eat.
Supporting Tomatoes
Bush types require no supports.
The main stem of cordon types needs supporting to stop it falling over. Canes or strings can be used.
- string-tomato-to-cane
tie tomato stem each 30 cm
- tie-tomato-stem-each-30cm
If canes are used to support the tomato plants, the main stem should be tied loosely to the cane as it grows. So there will be a string holding the stem to the cane every 30cm or so. Soft string should be used, so that it does not cut into the stem.
