Field beans are usually sown by farmers as a winter green manure crop to provide stability for the soil and be a source of nitrogen and organic matter for the year ahead. They aren’t normally thought of for their culinary ability but this little beans might surprise you. If left to mature, field bean Wizard…
Tag: organic
Grow Your Own Tea – Camellia Sinensis
What do you picture if someone asked you where tea grows? Is if the warm, humid hillsides of India where bushes are picked by women in brightly coloured Sari’s? Is it the misty hillsides of China where tea was probably first drunk. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Is it Cornwall or Scotland or in your…
Strawberry Manille
A strawberry that has Mara Des Bois and Gariguette, both highly reputed for flavour, in its heritage has a lot to live up to. Unfortunately for Manille, despite what the catalogues will tell you it is simply not in the same league. It lacks the intense flavour of both and on the sharp side if picked…
Asparagus
For most vegetable varieties grown by amateurs, choosing the wrong variety or growing them incorrectly causes only short term annoyance, easily remedied and a lesson learned for next year.
Not so with asparagus. If I were to say to you that building an asparagus bed takes as much effort as a planning a wedding I wouldn’t be far wrong.
Gigantes
My memories of Greek and Turkish holidays often revolve around foods that we ate. Especially wonderful were the meze, small plates of tasty bites to share.
Tomato – Dancing with Smurfs
The tomato and potato breeder Tom Wagner is responsible for some of our more unusual tomato plants including Green Zebra. Dancing with Smurfs is another that got tongues wagging at my local allotment.
Pea – Alderman
Many years ago the cutting of pea sticks to provide support for tall growing peas was common place. The world wars, where labour was short and modern farming techniques has pretty much put paid to the growing of large pea varieties except for the home gardener.
Kale – Peacock Tail Mix F1
Kale is one of the those vegetables that we all know is healthy but quite often don’t like it very much so it is often relegated to smoothies, crispy seaweed or crisps.
Pea Carouby De Maussane
Carouby de maussane is a heritage mangetout type pea. It’s has pretty purple tinted flowers and the pods themselves have an unusual translucent quality and unusually still remains tender even when the peas have started to form.
Broad Bean – De Monica
De Monica is advertised as one of the earliest spring down broad beans to harvest and should from a Feb planting it is claimed be ready to harvest in May.
Pepper – Poblano Ancho
Poblano Ancho are a mild Mexican Chilli which is often smoked and dried. Because of its large size and mildness I grow it to use as you would a bell pepper. They are easy to grow and have a beautiful taste, much more interesting than supermarket pepper with a slight hint of bitter.
Tabula Rasa 