Edible But Beautiful

Today I went to the Seed Swap organised by the Stroud Valleys Project. The aim of the swap was to allow people to bring any surplus seeds to exchange with others. I have accumulated a load of seed packets (unopened) which had arrived on the front of gardening magazines. This seed swap was ideal for me. I took sixteen packets to the swap and I brought back four (see above).  I don't mind the imbalance, so long as the seeds get grown. I feel guilty about keeping seeds which will never be sown. Whilst sifting through the packets of seed, I got chatting to another swapper,  who turned out to be a teacher looking for seeds for the school garden. I hope she took some of mine. Stroud is a centre for environmental activism. One of the sets of seeds I took was from the Stroud Community Seed Bank. They offer a limited range of seeds, all grown by a team of volunteer seed guardians, many of the seeds are heritage varieties and there are some you are unlikely to find anywhere else,...

I am counting down the days before the weather improves and I can get back into the garden. Sadly I have found the cold weather can trigger my angina, so I must be patient. But in the meantime I am planning and researching. Here is what I am hoping to grow this year: SPRING/SUMMER Borlotti beans French beans (climbing) - blauhilde, goldmarie Lablab bean Runner bean (dwarf) - hestia Crimson-flowered broad beans Carrots in raised containers - nantes, red samurai, purple sun Beetroot (yellow, bolthardy, and cylindra plus bull's blood for leave  Chilli pepper - Trinidad perfume  Hyssop Amaranthus calaloo Lettuce - various Basil Cucumber - jogger Cape gooseberry Tomatoes - rosella, karla, venus, bajaja, vilma, aztek Sweet pepper - ontara Summer savory Peas - kelvedon wonder, shiraz (mangetout), sugar bon (sugarsnap) Salsola Pattypan squash - disco Chard - rainbow swisschard,  perpetual spinach Spinach - New Zealand, red-veined, Orach Sunflower...

What Didn't Work Root vegetables -  either just grow lots of leaves and no root (radishes, turnips, kohlrabi) or grow loads of roots turning them into demented underground spiders (see hamburg parsley photo above). Kalettes and swiss chard  - need staking or supporting in some way in my soil, the kalettes fell over in the strong winds and one chard actually got torn from the ground. Tomatoes grown in the flower beds - too many leaves and not enough fruit. Flea beetles.  My brassica leaves were constantly being turned into lace doilies. Contrary to what some books say I had the horrid little beetles all through the growing season. As my aim is to grow brassicas partly for their appearance, the usual response of covering them with enviromesh isn't really an option. Leek moth - destroyed my leeks last year.. Generally - the garden was pretty crammed What Worked Well Beans - borlotti beans were a revelation, as were freshly picked yellow french bea...

We have been having strange weather here in the UK; heavy snow before Christmas and then another load after Christmas. I have two cloches in the garden protecting winter salad plants with the hope of eating fresh salad leaves at least once a week throughout the winter and getting a head start on lettuce for the hunger gap months in spring, or should I say I had two cloches. I woke a few days ago to find the longer hoop cloche (shown above) had been broken by the sheer weight of snow. Underneath most of the plants were crushed beyond recovery. As the heavy snow had managed to shear off whole branches off trees all around our small town, I suppose I should not have been surprised. The smaller cloche survived the onslaught. so I still have some lettuce to pick from. In addition I had also planted some winter-resistant salad plants without cover. These were two oriental mustards (green in the snow and komatsuna), winter density lettuce and Czech winter spinach. I reckoned that if...

When the weather allows I am out in the garden digging up old shrubs and turning their beds into new vegetable and fruit beds ready for the new year and the start of the season. So far I have created three new beds this season. The first I dug is planted with strawberries grown from this summer's runners. The second is for raspberries and the last will be partly given to french beans. I love digging. There is scientific evidence that chemical compounds released by micro-organisms in the soil is a natural anti-depressant. For more see:  https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/antidepressant-microbes-soil.htm   No wonder I feel so happy in the garden. Another reason for I feel so happy when digging is that I have very good soil. I live in a terraced house in an old Cotswold town. There have been houses and gardens on this site for hundreds of years - back to the middle ages in fact. In the newer parts of town the soil is lias clay. But here it is a...

It's that time of year, when gardeners settle down with their seed catalogues to plan their gardens for next year. As a newbie I am very tempted to buy seeds and frequently succumb to that temptation.  I am always on the lookout for unusual edible plants with brightly coloured fruits, leaves, flowers. One of my favourite hunting grounds is not available to most British gardeners. I spend a lot of time in the Czech Republic and make a point of visiting the garden centres there.  Czech flower gardens cannot compete with ours, not having the mild British climate, but the Czechs are great vegetable and fruit gardeners. Their shops are full of varieties you don't see in the UK. Some are old heritage varieties. I noticed in the DT Brown Catalogue my sister lent me that all the heritage garlic cloves listed were Czech varieties. I bought mine in the Czech Republic for a fifth of the price. Others have been bred to the Czech market. It is a market in which people ...

At this time of flus and colds I turn to my Czech neighbour's cold remedy. Like Lily The Pink's medicinal compound the remedy is most efficacious in every way. It soothes sore throats, acts as a cough medicine, boosts energy and vitamin c levels, and makes you mellow.  There are four main ingredients: elderberries, rum, coffee, and sugar. I don't know the proportions. I just pick a load of elderberries. Make sure you remove the stalks and leaves, as these contain cyanade. Place the berries in a cafetierre, add a small amount of boiling water and then press down the plunger. The extracted juice is added to a saucepan in which are a load of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, and half a bottle of rum (gin or vodka will also do). The mixture is heated until all the sugar is dissolved. The last ingredient is a small cup of black coffee. If necessary sieve and pour into sterilised bottles. Store ready for the cold and flu season, if you can wait that long.