Halloon Germination Update

Yesterday, I wrote about some Halloon seeds that I had managed to get hold of from a "Growing Exotics" training session by Garden Organics Sowing New Seeds Project.

This morning I was really shocked to see that the seeds have germinated already.  The funny thing is, I hadn't actually got round to watering them and I was thinking - I must really give them a water to start them off.  To be fair the compost I used was ever so slightly damp and that must have been enough to start them off.  I will take note that the slightest bit of water works wonders!!

I wonder how they will grow... I know they are an edible, suspect that they are a salad type leaf with a bit of spice but at this stage it is still all a complete adventure!

Do you know anything about Halloon?

Growing Exotics

Bengali Chilli

Last month, my Master Gardener training was on growing exotics and I was completely seduced to trying to grow all sort of new and unusual vegetables.  The training consisted of a morning training session followed by an afternoon walking around Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses and seeing the sheer variety of exotic crops being grown there.  It really lifted the lid on a whole new world of growing possibilities.

Hungarian Hot Wax

Following the training, I was bursting with enthusiasm to grow all sorts of things but I'm rather limited in space and don't have access to a green house.  No matter, there are still a lot of things you can grow outside and on windowsills.  The main new additions are my ever increasing collection of chillies.  I was already growing Real Seeds Nigel's Outdoor Chilli, Cherry Bomb, Hungarian Hot Wax and a Bulgarian Carrot.  After the training I added a Bengali Chilli and a Cashmere Chilli to my collection kindly given to me from the Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses.  If you have experience of growing these, please tell me how they grow and taste as this is a new project for me.

Bulgarian Carrot

I have now got to the stage where I need at least one chilli plant growing at any one time.  As and when I lose one, I will germinate another.

Apart from increasing a passion for growing chillies, I also got hold of some Halloon seeds and some Fenugreek.  I sowed these seeds this morning and am intending to grow them on sunny windowsills throughout the winter to brighten up meals with their flavoursome leaves.  Watch this space to see how I get on!

Tomatillos

Garden Organic's inspiration for the exotic flavour of my latest training was inspired by their sowing new seeds project which is currently running in the Midlands.  The project has uncovered many varieties of exotic crops that are adapted to the British climate through allotmenteers and home growers cultivating and saving seeds over several generations. Here's some information on the project http://www.sowingnewseeds.org.uk/

The Chelsea Physic Garden is also growing exotic crops with their spice garden.  Some of the plants they are growing are turmeric, ginger, black pepper, mustard and chillies to name but a few of the variety of plants currently growing in the exhibition bed Chelsea Physic Garden Spice Garden

Are you growing any exotic or unusual edibles? 

Zapallito de Toscana

I'm growing a fabulous squash in my garden.  It's called Zapallito de Toscana and I got hold of the seeds from Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library.

They were easy to germinate.  Well, easier than the courgette seeds.

They were strong seedlings.  I could tell that they would be feisty growers!

I planted these two seedlings out into their final planters with a courgette plant.

They are the perfect squash for a small garden as they grow in a bush style rather than the squash that like to crawl all over your garden.  They just need a decent depth of soil (like the planter in the picture).  They also would grow very well in potato planters.  Anything which allows them a good depth for their root run.

They are hungry feeders with a good appetite for water too.  Give them water whenever its not raining and feed them once a week with the richest feed you have (I feed mine with worm tea from my wormery) and in return they will reward you with many squashes.

One of the major benefits of this squash is even if you have a glut, you don't need to eat them or cook them all up at once as you would courgettes.  As they grow bigger they form a hard skin which means they can be stored and eaten into Autumn.

Another benefit is, when harvested they will have grown their seeds to a large enough size to be able to save them.  Just be sure to pollinate the fruit yourself to ensure the seeds are actually a Zapallito de Toscana.  In order to do this, I check the flowers at breakfast time and have a look for any open female flowers.  Once I've found one I hunt for an open male flower from the same plant or exactly the same variety, in this case another Zapallito de Toscana.  I pick the male flower and remove all the petals.  I brush the stamen (the male sex part of the flower) over the stigma (the female sex part of the flower) and then leave the stamen inside the female flower.  I then use an elastic band to shut the female flower to ensure no pollinating insects can get into the flower.  Once the flower starts to die away I move the elastic band on to the base of the fruit so that I can identify a fruit that I have pollinated.

The benefit of pollinating a squash plant is that it will ensure that the seeds you save will produce the squash you want.  Squashes cross pollinate very easily and you will probably get a mix of all the squashes with open flowers on a given morning being grown in your street or allotment.  You can never be sure what you will get.  Although, the experimenter in me would like to grow one of these insect pollinated ones just to see what I would get!  





So there you have it... Zapallito de Toscana...

1.  Great for a small patio garden due to its bush growing habit
2.  Grows fruits that can be eaten straight away or stored for later use
3.  Easy to save seed from (once pollinated by a gardener)
 
Squash recipes:
Courgette Humus
Good Summer Roast

More squash inspired garden blogs:
Gem Squash, the intrepid explorer
Passion for growning cucurbits