Quinoa Quest

I have recently started volunteering at the wonderful site that is Urban Veg, a whole acre within the gorgeous Winterbourne Botanical Gardens.

With so much space and a patch of ground that needs a crop, I was inspired to suggest quinoa, rainbow quinoa to be exact.  I know Real Seeds can provide the seeds, I've never grown it before (so there's the adventure of growing something a bit different) and the idea of this multi coloured super food crop is both beautiful, nutritious and something I'm really eager to try.

So far I've been asking a few friends who've grown it before what they're experiences are.  Fiona (Viveka Gardens) said that it was OK to germinate but went really leggy before planting out despite putting tin foil underneath their pots (to try and counteract the leaning towards the light effect).  Fiona blogged about Quinoa earlier in the year.

At the Urban Veg garden on Sunday, we pondered over the instructions - puzzled as to why Realseeds suggest sowing seeds as late as May on the seed packet.

We wondered whether the reason was due to daylight sensitivity, after all they originate from the Andes.  Cool in temperature but quite close to the equator.

From my many recent twitter discussions (thank you to all who shared their experiences) I think it may be to avoid planting out very leggy, pale seedlings.

However, the scientist in me wants to run an experiment of planting a few seeds weekly from March (to test which is the best time to sow in the UK) and then plant out the best seedlings in final growing position in late May/early June depending on how favourable the weather is next summer.

In any case, when I start growing quinoa I'm sure my vast experience of growing chard will come into play as it is a fellow chenopod favouring similar growing conditions and an alkaline soil.

Any quinoa tips would be massively appreciated  before we venture into our very own quinoa experiment next Spring.

October Gardening

I haven't been blogging much of late.  Its not that I've stopped gardening... I've just not been gardening much in my own garden.  Maybe because I have a container garden and there's so much more to do in the community gardens I help maintain.

At the school garden we've been doing lots of weeding, harvesting beetroots, chard, beans and grapes.  Some of the pupils were even inspired to make juice out of the grapes!  We've also been planting green manures on the patches of ground that will remain vacant until next spring.  We chose Phacelia as it is not in any of the crop groups we are using in our crop rotation plans.

At the Community Garden we're planting a winter wheat section.  So far we've been turning the soil (with forks I might add as we didn't have a rotavator!)  As we have quite a large area to sow this has been very much fat burning work with towels to mop brows and water bottles on hand!  Next we will be raking the soil and then planting the seed.

At home, I do still have jobs to do... Planting the garlic!  This is a job my boyfriend sees as very high on my todo list as he would be devastated if there wasn't any fresh garlic to go with the fresh tomatoes next summer!!  I'm also going to plant some broad beans.  I've never grown them before but have an eye on a broad bean hummus recipe I'd love to try and I'm sure it just wouldn't be the same unless they are fresh from the garden and young beans.  I'm also thinking about moving the salad boxes into the plastic greenhouse when the final chillies have moved out.  I have some Hatif d'Annonay Peas http://www.realseeds.co.uk/peas.html which is a fast growing dwarf pea which can be sown now in October/November so that's another of my intentions.  I will have to bring my Zapallito de Toscana winter squash in soon but as we haven't had any frosts in South West London yet I'm letting it stay on the plant as long as I can.  The plant is still very much alive so have been letting it stay on the mother plant for as long as possible.  Please let me know if this is the right thing to do or would I be better just bringing them in now as this is the first year I have grown winter squash with a hard outer shell.

I've also been busy in the kitchen baking muffins with an oversized 600g patty pan, making nasturtium pesto, cooking roast squash and chilli, rosehip and apple jelly to name but a few concoctions.

Recipes coming soon to clairesculinaryadventures.blogspot.com

I'm still trying to find something exciting to do with a bumper crop of beetroot from the school garden.  Any delicious beetroot ideas?

Passion for growing cucurbits

Every year I fall in love with my cucurbits all over again.  I've been growing 

them every year for the past 7 years.

I was living in Brixton in a shared house when my next door neighbour gave me 

some spare courgette seedlings.  She had noticed that I was out in the garden at 

every opportunity and that I was starting to grow vegetables.  She told me she 

knew they were going to a good home!

At first I tried growing them in a large pot but their leaves started to look a 

little sad so I planted it in the flower border.  It grew these big luscious 

leaves and lots of courgettes and contributed to my very first home grown hangover 

recipe!

In my second year as a courgette grower I grew one fruit that was over half a metre 

long - I know, I know, that's not really a courgette anymore!  It looked very impressive 

but didn't really taste great!!
 

Last year I started experimenting with other cucurbits.  I tried a crook neck squash 

which I sourced from Real Seeds.  They had bigger leaves than the courgette and the 

bright yellow fruit looked amazing.  They also cooked very nicely too.  I fried them 

and roasted them with very tasty results.  I grew them in grow bags and neighbours 

did ask how they were growing in such a small amount of soil but they did.  I think 

I'm quite attentive with lots of watering and feeding which makes them look all the 

more lush!

This year I'm growing 7 cucurbits in the 2 containers in the picture above. I am often

asked how they can grow healthily in such small containers and so close to each other.

But they wouldn't show off their big velvety leaves if they weren't happy.  I keep them

well watered and well fed.  I have a wormery so they have been top dressed with 

vermicompost and get a regular feed of worm tea.  They seem quite happy on this diet! 

I've also heard of them being grown right on top of a compost heap as they are well 

known to be heavy feeders. 

Here's what I am growing this year:

1 courgette (this one's a heavy cropper so I shall surely be saving seed from this one), 

2 French heirloom pattypans, 

2 gem squash (inspired to try by my South African friends) 

and 2 squash Zapallito de Toscana from the Heritage Seed Library. 

All are cropping nicely, although the courgettes are slightly more in the lead.  All 

showing off their huge, luscious velvety big leaves.  And the gem squash have started 

to clamber over my landlords perennial shrubs - ever the opportunists!  How could 

you not love such a gutsy vegetable?

Last weekend, for my Master Gardener in service training, the theme was exotic 

vegetables and they were quite a few new cucurbits to find out about.  That sparked 

some future experimentation like trying shark fin melon, dudi and especialliy the

mouse melon looked very interesting to grow. 

But I fear that it is not a large garden or an allotment I need.... It's a very large field 

with lots of room for all the cucurbits I want to grow!!

Here's some recipe ideas for the squash glut:

Squash Flower Salad

Courgette Humus 

A Good Summer Roast  

Seeds to sow in the summer

Over the last fortnight, I've been asked to produce lists of what can be sown now. 

These questions have originated from the community gardens I support and Twitter.  Its a good question to ask just as we are on the brink of the glut season.  Times will be good for the next 6 weeks or so, but if we don't plan now there won't be much to eat from the garden come early autumn. 

I've also heard it mentioned that we Brits are very good at sowing seeds in spring but don't tend to keep the habit up through out the year!

So here are my suggestions:

Brassicas:
Pak Choi
Kohl Rabi
Komatsuna
Red Russian Kale
Turnips (for autumn crop)
Winter Radish

Salad:
All types of salad can still be sown, especially with the wet weather we've been experiencing
Corn Salad (for winter crop)
Sorrel
Mustard
Pea shoots (for summer salad crop) - in a week or two you will start to get shoots big enough to add to your salad

Solanaceae:
Spuds - quite like the idea of eating some home grown spuds with my Christmas dinner.  Home grown roasties...yumm!

Beets:
Chard
Beetroot

Roots:
Carrots (there are many more colours than the orange variety we find in the shops - I'm trying Pennard Plants rainbow carrots this year)

Real Seeds have also prepared a selection for summer sowing.  Here's their Summer Sowing Ideas

Happy sowing!

Peas Please!

I am impatiently waiting for some pea flowers because the arrival of flowers means the promise of pea pods and I do love fresh peas straight out of the pod.  So does my boyfriend but he won't be able to compete with me to eat the fresh peas this year as he will miss the season - more peas for me!

I have loved eating raw peas out of the pod from childhood when I used to hide in the middle of my father's pea patch feasting on the peas straight out of the pod.  I bet I left a bundle of discarded pods in my wake!

As I am so impatient for peas (and many other crops) I keep a gardening diary.  I've been keeping a gardening diary for 3 years now and I really need them!  They help manage my expectations.  In my diary I record date of sowing, date of germination, date of first flower, date of first fruit and I also record quantity of yields per edible. This year I have started to record the temperature and whether sunny/rainy.  It can all have an impact on the growing season.

In my impatience to see pea flowers yesterday I hit my 2010 diary - pea flowers first sighted on 22nd May... that's just over a week away.  Not long now and I'll be devouring my own pea patch.  I will try and not eat all the pods of the Heritage Seed Library variety or I will be letting them down!

The varieties I am growing this year:  Duchy Originals - Ambassador F1, Heritage Seed Library - Purple Pod http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/, Real Seed Early Dwarf Pea Hatif d'Annonay http://www.realseeds.co.uk/peas.html, Mic's Peas (Mic Linz my neighbour's saved seed). All seeds sown 25.03.11

The wonder of germinating squash

I love this time of year, the spring sunshine, signs of life springing up everywhere and our especially warm spring this year speeding all these activities by leaps and bounds.

Some things are faster and more eager than others... namely squash seeds.  Every year they surprise me at how fast they germinate and they never fail to amaze year after year.  Every child should try germinating squash seeds!  It awakens the child in me every year so it must be extremely exciting through a child's eyes.

This year I've planted 4 varieties and I'm not cautious on the quantities of seeds I am germinating either.  I am a Master Gardener for Garden Organic http://mastergardeners.org.uk/about/master-gardeners/ and as I support and advise 4 community food growing gardens, if I germinate too many for my garden, these community garden groups will be more than happy to take them and give them a home!

Back to the squash seedlings... the seedlings in the picture above germinated in just 3 days, now I think that's really impressive!!!  These guys really have a thirst for life.  If you have kids or want to awake the kid in you, I highly recommend giving the squash chaps a go!

The seedlings in the picture above are "Pattison Blanc" Patty Pan Squash a French heirloom variety available from Real Seeds, here's the link  http://www.realseeds.co.uk/courgettes.html

I am also germinating Heritage Seed Library Zapalliotode Toscana Squash which have dark green to purple fruits with orange pulp  http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/hsl/variety.php?IdNum=688
Real Seeds "Striato d'Napoli" Courgettes which grows courgettes with an attractive green stripe http://www.realseeds.co.uk/courgettes.html
Gem Squash for my South African neighbours from Tozer Seeds and last but certainly not least Real Seeds "Crookneck" Summer Squash http://www.realseeds.co.uk/courgettes.html

I grew the Crookneck variety last year and just had to do it again - the bright yellow fruit look amazing on the plant:

and taste amazing in your cooking.
 


The other varieties I listed above I am trying for the first time this year.  Watch this space - progress reports on these will be sure to follow in the coming months.