Gardeners Tips

Kale or borecole has returned to popularity as a vegetable. Kale is a form of cabbage Brassica oleracea Acephala and has green or purple leaves.

Growing Curly Kale

• The leaves do not form a cabbage head but remain open.
• Some varieties have flat leaves but the flavour and texture is not as refined. These leaves are often used as animal feed.
• Baby leaves can be used in a salad and have a peppery taste.
• Black Tuscany Kale has attractive dark green, deeply savoyed, strap-like leaves.
• The traditional winter hardiness makes this a useful winter to spring vegetable at a time when fresh garden produce is scarce.
• F1 Kale Reflex has more intensely curled, succulent and nutritious, dark green leaves which stand well without yellowing.
• Grow Kale from seeds planted in February or March. Some varieties supplied by Thompson Morgan can be grown inside for salads.

Eat the Seasons says ‘Kale is a very handy ingredient for seasonal eaters as it is one of the few green vegetables that is more abundant and flavourful during the coldest months of the year.’

Harvesting Kale

• Choose a good variety and pick the greenstuff when it is young and tender .
• Pick from the crown of the plant from November onwards.
• Remove a few young leaves each time you pick.
• Use a sharp knife or a sharp downwards tug.
• Do not gather mature or yellowing leaves for kitchen use as they will be bitter.
• Stripping of the crown will stimulate the development of succulent side shoots.

For more information on Ornamental Kale read

The summer Raspberries are now finished and I am eagerly awaiting a crop from my Autumn Raspberries planted 2 season ago.
In the meantime the old Raspberries are getting a bit of friendly treatment.

Cultivation of Early Raspberries.

• The plants throw up canes 3-5 feet high from a stool at ground level.
• In Summer and Autumn new canes are produced that will carry the flowers and fruit next spring.
• Canes will only fruit once so old canes should be cut down at ground level after you have harvested the fruit
• I shred the old canes on to my compost heap.
• New canes need support. I string wire across the row from stout posts at each end.
• Raspberries are a hungry and thirsty fruit.
• Feed with general purpose granular fertiliser like Growmore in spring and mulch with well-rotted farmyard manure.

Varieties and Species

• Grow Raspberries from bare-root plants in the autumn. You can buy several red raspberry varieties mail order from Thompson & Morgan
• Glen Moy – spine free canes, heavy crops in early summer
• Glen Prosen – firm fruit in mid-summer
• Autumn fruiting types include All Gold and Autumn Bliss

Tips for Growing Raspberries for Big Crops

Plant raspberries in rows and trained along a post and wire system to make a hedge of canes.
Avoid a very windy site unless you can put up windbreaks to protect side branches and pollinating insects.
Canes get replaced each year, roots go on for a long time if maintained with water and feed.
Main-crop raspberries fruit on 1-year-old canes that are then cut down to ground level. Then tie in new growth to the support wires and mulch well.

See also
Coloured and species Raspberries
Growing and maintaining raspberries
Raspberries Spring Summer and Autumn

Common Golden Thistle or Spanish Salsify has golden yellow flowers that look like other members of the Compositeas.

Growing Spanish Salsify

• The plants prefer light well-drained soil. Occasionally it will be found growing wild but as its name suggests it grows well in Spain where it is also known as Spanish Oyster.
• Spanish Salsify is a biennial or perennial plant, which grows 2-3′ tall and is very spiny. The stems are branched at the top, with discontinuous spiny branchlets.
• Cultivation has reduced since Victorian times when it was more popular

Growing for Eating and Cooking

• All parts of the plant are edible but the roots were originally thought  to have a slight diuretic effect.
• Root eaten raw or cooked have a sweet flavour that makes an excellent vegetable though it is rather low yielding.
• The roasted root has been used as a coffee substitute
• Young leaves and leafstalks can be blanched and used in salads
• The flowers are used to adulterate saffron as a food colouring
• In Spain the main uses are in salads or with scrambled eggs .

Read more on the UN Agricultural web site

Ordinary Salsify

• Grown from seed the roots can be stored for winter use.
• Salsify Scorzobianca produces slender, parsnip-like white skinned roots. They can be left in the ground and lifted as required. In the spring the tender shoots of Salsify Scorzobianca make an appetising green vegetable.
• Seeds available from Thompson Morgan
• The roots have a delicious, delicate flavour likened to Oysters or Asparagus.
• Salsify is a good source of Vitamin C and potassium.

Chillies are a hot plant to grow and a little goes a long way so they are an economic crop for the space.

Growing From Seed

• Chilli seeds need to be sown early in the year for a long growing and ripening season.
• Germination can be variable and speed & percentage success is improved with a propagator warmth.
• Use a gritty soil based compost like Arthur Bowers as Chillies like good drainage.

Chilli Growing Tips

• Pot on your seedlings into 3″ pots when the leaves are large enough to hold
• Pot on as they grow into 9 inch pots or larger depending on the variety.
• Chillies are best grown in a greenhouse or poly-tunnel though they can be grown outside in a sunny spot.
• Smaller pots can be used for compact ornamental varieties.
• Shade your greenhouse or conservatory to avoid scorching.

The Complete Chilli Pepper Book: A Gardener’s Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking

Chilli Varieties and Heat

• Cayenne pepper plants will flower and fruit much earlier than varieties such as Habanero, Scotch Bonnet or Naga.
• The slower varieties require much more heat and light and are best kept in a conservatory or greenhouse to ensure they fruit as soon as possible.
• Habaneros take over 3 months from potting on to reach maturity.
• Heat is measured in ‘Scovilles’ .  Sweet Peppers score nil, Jalapenos & Hot Wax 2-8k, Tabasco & Cayenne 30-50k, Habenero & Scotch Bonnet 100-325k and Naga Jolokia upto 855k. Police use a Pepper spray that is rated at 5.3m Scovilles and pure Capsicum is 16m Scovilles. Hot or what?

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