So Here's My Best Bean Joke To Finsh Off Friday With A Smile ...

"What did the bean plant say to the farmer?"

"Stop picking on me."

Unbeatable bean joke ... I believe ...

My Question Of The Day Is ... What do you call a group of gardeners?

I’ve been inspired to ask this question after reading Head Burro's comments which talked about his family all being gardeners ... and it’s the same for me ... everyone a dedicated gardener!

There are lots of terms we use everyday to describe different groups of animals ...
a herd of cows
a gaggle of geese
a pride of lions
a team of horses ...

And there are some more unusual descriptions as well ...

a tower of giraffes (love it ... very descriptive)
a cackle of hyenas
a prickle of porcupines (LOL)
a murmuration of starlings ...

So, I’m wondering, is there an existing word which is used to describe a group of gardeners ... or can you think of a suitably descriptive one?

To get you started here are a few of my suggestions ...
a show of gardeners
a greenery of gardeners
a gossip of gardeners (gosh ... when gardeners get together can’t we gossip!)
a knowledge of gardeners (we all like to think we know everything ...)
an endeavour of gardeners (‘cause we’re all really trying ...)

What do you think??

It’s So Easy ... So Go On, Give It A Try ...

Yes, it’s official, I truly believe that growing courgettes rank amongst some of easiest vegetables to grow at the allotment!
In fact, if asked to rank them for ease of growing I’d put the second after the humble tomato ...

So, as I wait to harvest my first fresh courgettes this week, what’s to say about this vegetable to convince you that it’s worth growing if you’ve not done so before ...

Courgette, Marrow, Squash, Zucchini ... Cucurbita pepo
Just by looking at a courgette I’d guess you’d know it’s a member of the marrow family. In fact, originally people simply harvested the young marrows … However, the varieties that we now grow have been specifically bred as courgettes … but if you don’t get round to harvesting them they will continue to grow until they reach marrow proportions.

We’ve now got a wide variety of courgettes to choose from ... they can be yellow or green, long and straight like a cucumber or round like a melon or even bottle shaped! This year we’re growing quite a large range in the allotment ...

Black Beauty – with a really dark green skin when fully grown.
Golden Dawn III – as the name suggest, a very bright yellow skin distinguishes this variety.
Lebanese – a bit more unusual, this courgette has a very pale green skin and is shaped more like a ‘club’ than a typical courgette.
De Nice a Rond Fruit – some variety here, with a round courgette which is ready to eat when it’s about the size of a tennis ball.

These, of course, are just the varieties we’ve chosen to grow ... you’ll find loads more available from seed suppliers such as Mr Fothergills.

Depending on where you live depends what this vegetable is called …
In the UK and New Zealand it’s called a courgette – this comes from the French word ‘courgette’ used to describe this vegetable.
In America and Australia it’s called a zucchini - from the Italian word ‘zucchino’.
Or simply use the Latin name ‘cucurbita pepo’.

A Bit Of History ...
The origins of the courgette are not clear. We know that it wasn’t widely eaten in Europe until around the twentieth century … in fact in the UK it seems we only became aware of courgettes in the middle of the twentieth century. Native to America it’s thought that the first courgette plants were brought into Europe about the time of Christopher Columbus.

Growing Courgettes Is Simple ...
We grew our courgettes earlier this year in our polytunnel. We started them off in pots and when they were large enough ... and after we’d gone passed the chance of frost ... we planted them out in the allotment.

As I’ve mentioned, courgettes are really easy to grow. Their seeds are large so they’re easy to plant without overcrowding. You can start planting from around mid March in the UK. Just make a hole in the compost with your finger or a dibber and plant about 1" deep. Cover over with compost, water and for extra protection cover the pots with fleece.

We started our plants undercover as it does give them the best start, but you don’t have to. You can plant the seeds directly into the ground where they’re going to grow. In the UK you can plant this way from about mid May onwards ... although if there’s still danger of frost cover the planted area with a cloche or fleece to provide some weather protection.

You should space courgettes about 3’ apart ... so if you’re planting the seeds directly into the ground put two seeds close together every 3’ and this lets you pick the strongest to leave in place when they’re growing.

We planted our courgettes out into the allotment around the beginning of June and were now seeing the fruits almost ready to harvest. Before planting out we improved the condition of the soil by digging in some well rooted manure and we’re keeping the plants well watered. Courgettes really benefit from lots of water ... in hot, dry weather plants can need as much as 10 litres each per week to stay healthy.

Pests to look out for which can affect your courgette plants are slugs and snails ... but we’ve been fairly lucky this year and we’ve not been badly affected. In our allotment the worst pest for the courgettes has been our four legged friend who’s taken to lying on top of the plants! Luckily we’ve only lost two plants this way ... once the courgettes started to appear on the plants she stopped ... probably no longer as comfortable a bed!

Get Your Recipes Ready ... Courgettes Grow Really Quickly!
I’ve actually found it reported that if the weather conditions are correct (it’s warm and sunny) a courgette can grow from a small flower to a full sized courgette ready to pick in hours! Although, I’ve got to admit I’ve not seen that happening at the allotment this year ... even with the glorious weather we’ve been having.

Depending on the weather, in the UK we can expect to be able to harvest courgettes from June until September. Try to pick the courgettes when they’re still quite small (the smaller the courgette the stronger the flavour) ... most varieties you should aim to pick when they’re 4-8” in length.

So, as you try to keep on top of harvesting, find time to dig into your recipe books and you’ll be surprised at how many different choices you’ll find. Courgettes can be baked, grilled, steamed, stewed, roasted, stir fried, or even eaten raw.

Fancy Eating the Flowers?
You can not only eat the courgette, you can also eat the flower. Select flowers which look firm, fresh and that are only slightly open. Although you can keep them in the fridge you’re best to eat them on the day you pick them as they don’t keep well.
Unlike the courgette itself, you MUST cook the flowers before you eat them. You’ll need to remove the pistils from the flower, cut the stem close to the flower and wash and dry it before cooking.
If you’re tempted to give them a try there’s a wide variety of options for you ... try frying them in batter, bake, sauté, use in soup or the larger flowers can be stuffed.

Fruit Or Vegetable ...
Although we all think of courgettes as being a vegetable ... in fact they’re not they’re a fruit. This is because the courgette we eat is the ripened ovary of the flower. Other fruits disguised as vegetables include the tomato (we all knew that one ...), the aubergine, peppers and being closely related to the courgette (so we should have guessed these)the cucumber, pumpkin and squash.

What’s In It For You?
Courgettes provide you with a wide range of vitamins including A and C, together with folic acid and potassium. They’ve got a high water content and are low in calories – about 18 calories per 100g.

I've Survived Till 11.30 ... Now I Need A Laugh ...

"How do you fix a broken tomato?"

"Tomato paste!"

Laughed ... I could have cried ...

Is This Fruit For Real? ...

Ok then, I know you won’t believe me, but I bought a dragon in Tesco’s last week ... or should I say a Dragon Fruit. A bit on the expensive side (£1.79) this astonishing looking fruit measured about 5” and as I’ve never seen or tasted one before I was tempted ... but before I risked a taste I did a bit of research to see what I’d got myself into. Here’s what I found out ...

What’s In A Name ...
For such an unusual looking fruit being called a ‘Dragon fruit’ seems fairly acceptable.
Also known as the ‘strawberry pear’, ‘pitaya’ or ‘pitahaya’ it’s the fruit of a several species of cactus ... and once you know this it’s easy to imagine ... if you think about it lots of cactus have bright coloured flowers so why not such bright coloured fruit ...

It’s Hard To Describe ...
The dragon fruit I bought is fairly round in shape, very bright pink in colour and with very prominent ‘scales’ around it. However, you’ll find other varieties which have yellow skin ... it just depends on the variety.

When you cut through the flesh – it feels a little like cutting into the skin of a melon – you find the stark contrast of the flesh inside. In my case I was faced with an opaque white inner with dark seeds throughout ... similar to the seeds found inside a kiwi fruit. Or you could encounter a red flesh inside with the same black seeds depending on the variety.

A Few Varieties ...
There are three different varieties of dragon fruit:

Hylocereus undatus – this has a pink skin and a white flesh … so that’s what I bought. A climbing cactus, it has a red skin, triangular shaped stem and minimal number of spines.

Hylocereus polyrhizus – again a pink skin but this time when you cut into it you’d reveal a red flesh. Similar in nature to the hylocereus undatus, this variety of cactus has more spines.

Selenicereus megalanthus – in contrast this variety has a yellow skin and white flesh. The fruit are smaller than the other two varieties (which can weigh up to 1kg) and contains higher levels of sugar.

How To Eat A Dragon ...
Or should I say Dragon Fruit.
Faced with such a strange looking fruit it was a bit intimidating to think how to eat it ... did you bite into it like a apple ... eat the centre like a pomegranate ... was it best raw or cooked?

In fact you don’t eat the skin of the fruit, just the flesh from inside. I scooped out the flesh with a spoon (it scoops straight out just like scooping out sorbet) and it tasted a bit like melon or kiwi ... actually the taste is very bland considering how exciting it looks!

If you’re thinking of eating dragon fruit it’s best eaten chilled and if you don’t want to eat it on its own have it as a desert with a sorbet.

Other recommended ways of eating dragon fruit are within ice cream, or turn it into a drink by putting the flesh through a juicer or it can be fermented into a wine.

The Benefits Of Eating Dragon Fruit ...
Rich in fibre, vitamin C and minerals the dragon fruit is also low in calories ... so an all round good fruit to eat! This fruit is also rich in phytoalbumins which have antioxidant properties.

Growing Dragon Fruit ...
The cactus which dragon fruit comes from can grow anywhere between a few inches up to 20’ long (that’s for the more mature plants ...). Growing best in tropical, sub tropical or dry climates where there’s about 20-25” rain per year theses plants can cope with extremes of temperatures – from temperatures as high as 104ºF to short periods of frost. Although they don’t like being too wet (this will affect cropping) or long periods of cold weather (which can kill the plants).
These plants survive by growing on trees – they grow out of the soil and over it until they find a tree they can grow on using their aerial roots. They’re not particularly fussy about the type of soil they grow in although grow best when the soil is kept high in nutrients by adding in organic matter.
What’s quite unusual is that the ornate flowers that the plants produce only appear during the night and last only one night ... so pollination has to take place at that point to get a crop of dragon fruit. However, to counter this plants can product 4-6 crops of fruit each year.

Propagate Your Own Cactus ... And Maybe A Dragon
Ok ... so I’ve been less distressed over the cost of the fruit since I read how easy it is to grow your own cactus from the seeds found within the fruit. By simply scooping out some of the flesh and separating out the seeds you’re ready to start planting.
Simply sow in pots containing gritty potting compost, water and then enclose the whole within a polythene bag. It’s as easy as that!
You’ve then just got to be patient for about two weeks before you’ll see the seedlings starting to appear. As I’ve never grown cactus, I don’t know if this is common or not, but the seedlings have two leaves on them ... in fact these are the only leaves this plants will every produce. From this point onwards a spiny stem will begin to grow between the centre of these leaves ... with the leaves being discarded after a few months.
In theory, you should then be able to grow your own dragon fruit ... although let’s hope that they don’t grow to 20’ high!!

Where You’ll Find Dragon Fruit ...
Although grown in tropical climates, it’s unclear where these plants originated although they are native to Mexico, Central and Southern America. Now being cultivated in Southeast Asia the dragon fruit is now the leading fruit export of Vietnam.

And Finally A Legend ...
Well it had to have really ... this exotic looking fruit is crying out to having a legend so here goes ...

Thousands of years ago fire breathing dragons created the dragon fruit. During battle, when the dragons breathed fire the last thing to come out would be the fruit. If the dragon was slain the fruit would be collected and presented to the Emperor as an indication of victory and as such was a prized treasure.
Whilst the slain dragon would have been eaten by the victorious soldiers ... it being believed that if you ate the flesh of the dragon you became empowered with the dragon’s strength and ferocity.
In fact, it is said that the meat from the base of the dragon’s tail from where it was believed the dragons fire originated, was the sweetest and best tasting. It is said that the thirst for these meat is what brought about the destruction of all dragons ... or so legend goes ...

The Currant Bun’s Hot Today ...

Now imagine me saying that with the same poor, cockney twang of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins ... sorry, I’m meandered away from the point of this post which is based around growing red currants, how easy it is and why eating redcurrants are good for you. Here goes ...

A Bit Of Red Currant History
Red currants (ribes rubrum) are just one species of currant available – you can also grow black, white or pink currants.
The word ‘currant’ is relatively new – we only have records showing this word being used from around 1550. Before this time the word ‘ribes’ would have been used.

Red Currant Bushes
You shouldn’t need a lot of space in your garden if you fancy growing red currants. With each bush growing to between 5-6 ft high and wide, a healthy currant bush will produce between 3-10lbs of fruit. So you could quite happily add just a couple into your garden and still enjoy a glut of fruit during the summer.

The bushes themselves are fairly ornamental. Fast growing, these deciduous shrubs have three to five-lobed leaves in a deep blue-green colour. You can grow the bushes as standards or try growing them as cordons or fans.

Planting and Propagation

Find The Best Position
Although the leaves of the bushes are attractive, they are damaged by very strong sunlight. So when choosing where to grow your currant bushes try to find a spot where they’ll get to enjoy the morning sunshine, a little shade in the afternoon and are not restricted for air flow.

There’s not too much to worry about in regards to the type of soil you’ve got, although they do prefer heavier soils – so they’ll cope with clayey soils whereas you’d be advised to bulk up fine or sandy soils.

The reason for this is that currants like to be kept moist – so clay soil with well rotted manure incorporated (as they still need good drainage) is good whilst sandy soils dry out too quickly. One thing to watch out for is that they do NOT like alkaline or salty soil – so you’re best to check your soil for these (if you’re unsure of your soil type use a simply soil test kit to check before planting).

Planting
The roots of the currant are fairly fine, so take care when planting as they are easily damaged.
When planting you’ll need to dig a hole large enough to allow the roots of the bush to spread out – to give them the best start carefully spread out the roots in the hole you dig. Hold the bush in place whilst you fill in the hole with a mix of soil and organic matter (well rooted manure – or if that’s not available compost will do as you’re basically added nutrients into the ground). Once you’ve filled in the hole, water thoroughly and use your feet to firm down the soil (removing any trapped pockets of air and making sure the bush stays in position).

Propagation
Currants are a very simple fruit to propagate and you’ve got two ways of increasing your plant stocks:

Taking Cuttings
Just take hardwood cuttings about 12” long from the mature wood and plant into pots, leaving about 4” out of the soil. Roots will take from different places along the cutting. If you’re feeling a little cautious, dip the end of the cuttings in a hormone rooting powder or gel before planting. Keep these new cuttings protected until the following year.

Try Layering
An even simpler way of propagating currants is to simply take a low growing cane and bend onto the ground, cover over with soil and weigh down to hold in place. Once the roots start to grow strongly, simply remove from the main bush and replant. You can propagate in this way in autumn or spring.

Growing A Good Crop
Fast growing, currant bushes have a sudden flush of growth in the spring. Here are just a few tips to help you enjoy healthy crops year after year.

Keep Them Well Watered
Currant bushes need to be kept well watered. The number and size of the leaves will be reduced when water is scarce and the plants could become affected by mildew. However, although you need to water currant bushes often, because they have fine, fibrous, shallow roots you’ll be able to set up a simple drip watering system to keep them moist.

Using weeping garden hose for this type of watering is good idea, or where mains water is not available why not use a drip watering system running from your water butt – quick and easy to install either of these systems will save you time watering and will ensure your currants remain well watered.

It’s also advisable to provide your currant bushes with an annual mulch of well rotted manure or good quality compost which will both help your plants to retain moisture and suppress weeds. You should also ensure there are sufficient nutrients in the soil by applying some balanced compound fertiliser and high potash fertiliser to the surrounding ground.

Prune Every Year
The flowers – and therefore the all important fruit - on currant bushes is produced at the base of one year old wood and on the spurs of two and three year old wood. So this should help you when pruning – every autumn you should prune back the canes which are four years old. This way you’ll only have canes that are going to crop. This means, by pruning every year you’ll be increasing the crops and keep the bushes in good order.

Flowering
Currant bushes are attractive when in flower as each of there flower buds opens up to reveal up to twenty delicate flowers, all on the same 5-6” stem – technically called the ‘sprig’. Insects will pollinate the bushes, with most varieties having self-fertile flowers. Depending on the variety, the currants will ripen from 70-100 days after pollination. If you want to increase the number and size of currants you’ll get you’ll need to cut off the ends of the sprigs whilst they’re in flower.

Cropping
Red currants are ready start to ripen from mid summer (so about now). You’ll know the currants are ripe as the berries are a distinctive clear red and should be anywhere between 8-12mm in diameter.
If you’ve not collected red currants before you don’t need to pick off every berry individually – simply remove the entire cluster.

Make Sure You Get To Enjoy The Fruit

When the currants start to ripen they will be attractive to the birds as well as you. If you can make the initial investment, protect your crops with a fruit cage. 6ft high cages will completely enclose the bushes whilst leaving you space to water and harvest.

If you don’t want to make the initial investment – even though a well made cage will provide years of service – then try some forms of bird scarer – from the traditional scarecrow to the more modern methods of plastic bottle, tinfoil dishes or old CD’s strung up amongst the plants.

Nutrients

Like most fresh fruit, red currants are good for you. They contain a high amount of vitamin C, together with vitamin B, iron, phosphorus and fibre. They also have a relatively low calorie count at just 25 calories per 4oz (100g). Unfortunately, most people find the taste of red currants to tart so they tend to get used for garnishes, in preserves (jams or jellies) or cooked dishes rather than the berries being eaten raw.

It’s Tuesday And I’m Desperate For A Laugh ...

"What did the macaroni say to the tomato?"

"Don’t get saucy with me!"

Well, I'm laughing even if you're not ...

Progress Is Looking A Little Green ...

Thought I’d keep you up to date with the development of the tomato mountain we’re hoping to create at the allotment ... although at the moment everything is looking a bit green.

We’ve just about got fruit on all the different varieties of tomatoes we planted – whether they’re in the greenhouse or polytunnel.

Our Plum Roma plants are showing some cute little tear drop shaped fruit, with the largest being about 2" long.

The Tumbling Toms aren’t tumbling far at the moment ‘cause their fruit is only just starting to arrive – the plants which are fruiting have tomatoes the size of peas ... and I mean petit pois!

The beefsteak tomatoes we planted are also being a little slow to show any fruit.

The good old reliable varieties – Gardeners Delight, Alicante and Ailsa Craig – are all proving why they are so popular ... with trusses of green tomatoes starting to appear on most plants.

Whilst our Tigerella tomatoes are looking a bit more interesting with their stripy fruit showing on some plants.

Our Tomato Mountain
So, although I’ve no tomatoes to pick as yet, things are looking good for the next few weeks.

To give you a vague impression of the tomato mountain we anticipate we’ve got a 6’ x 8’ greenhouse full of plants growing in grow bags.
Whilst our 10’ x 30’ tunnel has virtually one side dedicated to tomato plants growing their way to the top.
And, of course, we’ve got some hanging baskets (still in the polytunnel) full of tumbling toms.

Grow Pots Growing Strong
You might also be pleased to know that the tomato plants we’re growing in the grow pots rather than directly into grow bags are still racing ahead of the other plants potted up around the same time ... so I’m hoping they’ll prove to have bumper crops as well ... only the scales will tell ...

A Few Words Of Inspiration
And now a few words from Mr John Denver, in anticipation of all the culinary delights heading towards me in the form of home grown tomatoes ...

"Put 'em in a salad, put 'em in a stew
You can make your own tomatoe juice
You can eat 'em with eggs, eat 'em with gravy
You can eat 'em with beans, pinto or navy
Put 'em on the side, put 'em in the middle
Home grown tomatoes on a hot cake griddle

Home grown tomatoes, home grown tomatoes
What would life be like without home grown tomatoes ..."

It’s The Perfect Time For Eating Raspberries ...

Like many berries, raspberries are best eaten within a few days of being picked ... so now is the best time to get you’re fill of these gorgeous, red berries.

Although methods of modern cultivation, transport and preserving techniques let you buy ‘fresh’ raspberries virtually all year round, it always seems nicer – and it’s also much cheaper - if you eat raspberries when they are naturally in season. In the UK that’s just about now ... so if you haven’t got raspberry canes in your garden or allotment this is the best time to find you local ‘pick your own’ and get picking ...

What Makes A Raspberry A Raspberry?

The Shape
We think of raspberries as ‘berries’, but in botanical terms, raspberries are an ‘aggregate fruit’, each raspberry being made up of lots of little ‘drupelets’ formed around a central core.

Unlike when you pick a blackberry and the core remains within the fruit, when you pick a ripe raspberry, the core is left behind and all you get are the juicy ‘druplets’ forming the distinctive raspberry shape around a hollow core. This means that every part of the raspberry you pay for is edible! Natural value for money!

The Taste
With a distinctive, melt in mouth texture, raspberries aren’t as sweet as a strawberry but rather have a slight ‘tartness’ whilst still being sweet enough to eat without sugar.

The Colour
Although the most common variety of raspberries (rubius idaeus) is a pinkish-red colour, there are a wide variety of raspberries available in different colours.
Other popular raspberries are black and yellow. Whilst other, less common, varieties are purple, orange and white in colour.

Why We Should Love Raspberries ...

What did the raspberry say to the blueberry?
"I love you berry, berry much!"

And this is actually what we should be saying to raspberries ... they are really healthy.

Rich In Vitamin C
As you stuff yourself full of fresh raspberries you could be helping your skin. The high levels of vitamin C in raspberries aid collagen to form which is necessary for healthy, young skin. But to get at these high levels of vitamin C you should eat the raspberries as soon as possible after they have been picked.
High In Fibre
500g of raspberries will provide about 20-30g of fibre which is half the recommended daily amount of fibre for adults.
Low In Calories
Wow ... something that tastes good and is low in calories! You get just ten calories from ten raspberries (19g) ... so you can get stuck in without any guilt.
Contain Ellagic Acid
Ok ... I didn’t know what ellagic acid did either ... but it’s very cool. A natural plant compound, ellagic acid is an anti-carcinogenic compound (a cancer-preventing compound). This acid neutralises the carcinogen PAH which is found in cigarette smoke and research it to have anti-cancer effects.
Lutein Included
Raspberries contain lutein which is important for healthy vision – research has shown that by eating three or more portions of fruit a day will help us to retain our eyesight as we get older.
These are just a few of the reasons to eat raspberries – they are also a valuable source of iron, folate, potassium, calcium and vitamin A.

Have Raspberries Always Been Around?

Not forever, but raspberries have been around for a very, very long time ... dating back to prehistoric times.
However these were wild raspberries and it wasn’t until 1548 that we have accounts of raspberries being cultivated – written about in an English herbal ... so another fruit valued for its healthy aspects before its taste.
And it wasn’t until the 19th century that we saw raspberries being grown throughout Europe and North America when new varieties were developed and cultivated.

Picking Strawberries Is A Healthy Way To While Away The Hours ...

I spent a productive few hours on Saturday morning at our local ‘Pick Your Own’ filling punnets full of strawberries ...

I not only felt healthy walking up and down the strawberry field I also know I’m heading towards a healthy dessert ...

Although not SO healthy when I add the freshly picked strawberries to the Hagen-Das vanilla ice cream (could be worse ... I could just be complimenting the ice cream with hot chocolate sauce ... mmm ... maybe it should be strawberries, hot chocolate sauce and ice cream ...).

What Makes A Strawberry A Strawberry?
With over 600 different varieties of strawberries available, each different in taste, texture and size, strawberries are still easy to recognise with their distinctive:
• red flesh – although this is no longer strictly true; there are some more unusual varieties with yellow or white flesh
• yellow seeds covering the surface of the berry – there can be as many as 200 seeds in every strawberry
• small cap of green leaves.

P.S. the photo shows the strawberries I picked ... gorgeous eh?

Why Are Strawberries Healthy?
Strawberries "rank as one of the world’s healthiest foods" according to the dietician Nigel Denby. He says they can "legitimately claim to be heart protective, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory, all rolled into one".
• heart protective – with high levels of fibre, strawberries help to reduce the risk of heart disease.
• anti-cancer - strawberries are a rich source of phenols (especially anthocyanins and ellagitannius) that are powerful cancer-busting antioxidants.
• anti-inflammatory – the phenols in strawberries also help reduce the activity of the enzyme cyclo-oxygenase that can cause inflammation when over active.

Strawberries are also healthy as they contain:

Omega-3 fatty acids – we’ve all been made conscious over the past few years of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, the building blocks of brain tissue.

Vitamin C – traditionally we think of oranges as being a rich source of vitamin C but in fact just eight strawberries contain more vitamin C than one orange!

Vitamins B5, B6 and K – a rich source of all these vitamins.

Manganese, iodine, potassium, folate, riboflavin and copper – I don’t know why these are good for me ... but apparently they are!

And, strawberries are low in calories – you can happily scoff 100g of strawberries knowing that’s only 50 calories.
So ..o .o I don’t feel too bad about overindulging in strawberries this weekend ...

Strawberries Are The Most Popular Berries In The World
Yes, it’s true ... strawberries are the most popular berries in the world.
Strawberries have been in cultivation since BC. Highly prized by the Romans, they fell out of favour after the fall of Rome and only re-emerged as a popular fruit in the Middle Ages when people believed they had medicinal properties.

However, we might not have been as keen on the strawberries in the middle ages – they weren’t as sweet as the varieties we are familiar with. This is when they were cultivated from European varieties whereas we are more familiar with strawberries that are a hybrid of these European strawberries and the larger American strawberries.

These hybrid strawberries appeared in the 18th century in France. They were the result of some strawberry plants native to Chile and Peru being planted in France. These became cross pollinated by some North American strawberry plants, resulting in the larger, sweeter and juicier fruit we are more familiar with.

Do you think we found the king of strawberries? He’s got a fabulous crown ... shame it wasn’t gold ...

A Few Facts About Strawberries
Strawberries and Wimbledon seem to go hand in hand – and why not, when about three tonnes of berries will be eaten throughout the tournament.

A few theories on the name ...Does the name strawberry come from the Old English ‘streawberige’? A combination of ‘streaw’ meaning straw and ‘berige’ meaning berry.
Or
Do we call strawberries ‘strawberries’ because of the Anglo-Saxons? Where ‘streabergen’ was a combination of ‘strew’ meaning spread around and ‘bergen’ meaning berry or fruit.

Size matters with strawberries – medium sized fruits are fuller of flavour than the larger ones.

So our plan of finding the biggest strawberry in the field wasn’t a good idea ... the photo shows one of the biggest strawberries we could find.

But ... Who's Been Eating My Beetroot?

When Greenhouse Girl went to the allotment today to make the first harvest of beetroot for 2006 she saw that someone had been there before her.

"Somebody has been eating my beetroot" said Greenhouse Girl.

And then she saw a little black rabbit with his face amongst the beetroot munching away ... he’d obviously been reading Greenhouse Girl’s blog and knew that this weekend the beetroot would be ready to harvest ...

Although Greenhouse Girl wanted to meet the rabbit, the rabbit didn’t want to meet Greenhouse Girl ... and with all those juicy vitamins from the beetroot giving him bags of energy he want fast as can be through the allotment and disappeared down his escape route at the edge of the potato rows ...

The End ... although I’m sure he’ll be back for another instalment (or should I say meal?) ...

Or

Bees Catching Some Zzzzzzs In The Garden

"Oh what a glorious thing to be,
A healthy grown up busy busy bee,
Whiling away
The passing hours
Pinching all the pollen
From the cauliflow'rs ..."

I always thought bees were busy little creatures, dashing from flower to flower collecting pollen ... but today I caught one sleeping on the job ...

A Few Lasting Effects ...

My visit to Hampton Court Flower Show yesterday (Tuesday 4th) has had some lasting effects ...

(1) When it’s very hot (over 30º) SIT DOWN – preferably by the side of a river with your feet in the water! Don’t spend 4 hours walking miles and miles through floral displays, show gardens and products stands ... it may be a feast for the eyes but it kills the feet!

(2) Driving in London is like no where else on this planet (luckily I wasn’t driving!) Basically motorcyclists have there own rules – whether that means weaving in between the traffic or whether it means simply going off the road and motoring down the footpath ... they just don’t care!

(3) There is just not enough money on this earth to buy everything you want to at the Flower Shows ... so set yourself a budget and get inspiration if nothing else!

(4) Remember you’ll be mixing with specialist growers – so if you’ve got a question to ask don’t be afraid ... plant growers are passionate about the plants they grow so are happy to spend ages answering your questions. This also means ...

(5) The huge marquees full of plant displays are often the best places to get your hands on new species if plants, hard to find varieties and certainly some really healthy plants for your house or garden. And because most – if not all – the plant growers have a display as well as plants to sell you can see exactly how the plants will look in a garden situated if grown to their best potential.

(6) If you can carry it – take your own food and drink. Flower shows may have loads of food stands but you do pay over the odds and have to queue for ages!

(7) Remember ... men have their uses and especially so at flower shows ... they can drive you there, carry the rucksack with your packed lunch ... and if well trained you can leave them somewhere to look after all the goodies you buy whilst you wonder around the show find even more things to buy!

Pale Pinks to Vibrant Tones ... Every Shade Of Pink Is Available In The Garden

Red To Pink

Do you remember at school learning to make different colours by mixing paints together? I felt so clever mixing red and yellow to make orange, less inventive when mixing loads of colours together to make sludgy brown ... but do you also recall making shades of colour by adding white or black to coloured paint?

Basically, pink is a light shade of red … so in paint terms you can mix red and white together to make a shade of pink. This means there are loads of different shades of pink ... and I think you’ll find a plant or flower in every single shade!

Pink Is A New Colour

It’s odd to think that ‘pink’ wouldn’t have been known by William Shakespeare ... in fact the word ‘pink’ was first used back in the 17th century to describe the light red flowers of Dianthus plants, or ‘pinks’ which have a distinctive ‘pinked’ edge to their petals that look as if they have been cut using pinking shears.

I’ve let you down here, as I haven’t got any Pinks growing in my garden ... although my parents have got some carnations growing in their garden which were grown from some cuttings taken from flowers I received when I was sweet sixteen … so you could call these ‘mine’.

I’ve also seen some show stopping pinks at the Hampton Court Flower Show this year. The British National Carnation Society had a stand in one of the flower marquees displaying a range of pinks including border carnations, malmaisons and perpetual flowering carnations. If you’re a pink enthusiast why not visit carnations.org.uk where you’ll find a wealth of information about all aspects of the flowers.

Pink Psychology

OK ... like most everything these days, colours have their meanings as well ... and pink is no exception. Closely related to red (the colour of love), pink is the most romantic colour.

However, unlike red which is a stimulating colour, pink has a calming or ‘tranquilizing’ effect. So for a relaxing, romantic garden, plants and flowers in pale shades of pink would be perfect.

This means the Tree Mallows (lavatera / malvaceae) in my garden could be the perfect shrub in a romantic garden. Growing very quickly, for new gardens they are a quick way of introducing a lot of colour into the garden year after year.

I added these Tree Mallows into my garden over 7 years ago – with the plants being a single, weak looking stem of about 12” high. They are now ‘giants’ in the garden towering well over 5’ in height and add a burst of colour from around June.

Lets Talk Pink

Are you ‘tickled pink’ by my weblog? Hopefully you are ‘cause then you’re happy ... bit of an old fashioned phrase I think? Another term I’ve come across is ‘in the pink’ meaning healthy ... but I’d never heard of that before.

In regards to words which we use to describe different shades of pink ... here are a few I’m sure you’ll recognise ...

Hot pink
This certainly applies to some of the petunias (petunia hybrida) we’ve got filling our hanging baskets this year ... you could also call them shocking pink!

Fuschia
Goes without saying we all know about this shade of pink ... and the plants of the same name.

Rose
I don’t know why we associate rose with pink, especially with so many colours of roses available to choose from ... but apparently we do! As you can see I’ve got a red rose which has massive blooms ... I’ve also got a white rose which I bought at the same time but this has smaller blooms and seems to suffer from more disease.

I bought both rose bushes at half price about 5 years ago ... bargain plants can often be real little troopers in the garden if you make sure they are healthy before you buy them!

My reason for buying one red and one white rose ... the story of ‘Rose Red and Rose White’ ... I remember reading my Ladybird book of this story over and over and over again (must be a romantic at heart then!).

Suffering From Lack Of Water ...

You’ll see from the photo opposite that our runner beans look picture perfect ...

Just teasing, this photos from BBC website and is what we’d like our runner beans to look like ... I’m afraid the reality is somewhat different ...

Runner Beans Early June

As you can see, we’ve got a long row of runner beans ... although some gardeners say you should plant in blocks to increase pollination we’ve stuck to a double row as we do every year. Although, this year we have only planted on one side of the allotment where usually we would grow to separate rows of beans, one on either side of the allotment ... I think we must be getting a bit bored with constant boiled beans in early autumn!

Support Through The Years

You can also see we’ve got the type of supports for our beans that Chelsea show gardens dream of ... nice old rustic looking supports which I suppose some company is flogging for an unbelievable price!

Ours, I think have been handed down from Noah ... or at least from Granddad ... they seem so old. But they still supply adequate; strong support as the beans (hopefully) soar towards the sky ... helped on by a bit of trusty old binder twine ...

Beans In Bloom

Here’s a close up of some of the beans after about four weeks in the ground. As you can see, we’re starting to get a few blooms ... Runner beans have very pretty flowers which makes them very suitable for growing in your back garden even if it’s in view of the house.

Many people now will grow a few beans in pots which can be successful as long as you remember to keep they well watered and provide them with as space for their roots to grow as possible – you’d need to use containers at least 18” deep.

Beans Need Lots Of Water

Talking about keeping beans well watered, our crop is taking longer to grow at the moment and we can only put this down to lack of water. Like many vegetable plants, runner beans relay heavily on a good, steady supply of water to produce a strong, healthy crop of beans.

Although they are getting the required amount of sunshine and have been planted in a ... relatively ... sheltered position near to our polytunnel ... they still need plenty of water. Ideally they should be getting 5-9 litres of water per square metre now that we’re seeing the first set of flowers. I can feel the muscles straining at just the thought of carrying all that water from butt to bean row ... oh, why can’t it rain at night and be sunny during the day???

You May Not Laugh, But Humour Me ...

Why did the tomato blush?

Because it saw the salad dressing.

Old joke ... but it doesn’t take a lot to make me laugh on a Monday!

I’m Dreaming Of Fresh Beetroot ...

As you can see from the photo, my dreams of freshly picked beetroot are almost at an end! I spotted this first beetroot plant almost ready to pick on Thursday last week ...

So I’m thinking another 7 days and I’ll risk picking the first few plants to see how big they are ... yummy!!

That's why I’m now plotting to find a new recipe to try ... any suggestions will be great fully received ...

Pumpkin Seed and Beetroot Salad
In my search today for a new recipe I came across this simple salad recipe on the Geest website. It uses fresh beetroot, roasted ... not only does it look good, it sounds gorgeous!

It also means that if the beetroot I pick is still a little on the small side, it won’t matter ... it’s just a shame I haven’t got any tomatoes ready to pick yet ... although if the sunshine holds up this week I might be able to pick a few (although not of the plum variety ... recipes are there to be adapted I always think ...).

Here’s The Recipe ...

Prepare the beetroot:
4 baby beetroot – freshly picked from the allotment is always best
1 tsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Peel the beetroot, cut into quarters then place on a roasting tray. Sprinkle with the olive oil, ensuring the beetroot is coated as well as possible. Season with salt and pepper. Then cover with tin foil and roast in the oven till tender (about 30 minutes).

Prepare the dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar – yummy ... I love any recipe which includes balsamic vinegar
½ tsp clear honey

Put all the ingredients into a boil and whisk together. Then season with salt and pepper.

Prepare the salad:
1 red onion – yes, I can feel the tears already
100g baby plum tomatoes – or any small tomatoes – fingers crossed some will have ripened in time
1 (120g) bag herb salad leaves
2 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Wash and dry the salad leaves n place into a bowl. Add the onion (finely sliced), tomatoes cut into bite size pieces (halves or quarters) and the pumpkin seeds.

When the beetroot is ready add to the salad bowl with the dressing and mix well.

Then you’re ready to arrange onto plates ready to serve straight away ... I think I’ll serve mine with some goats cheese and crusty bread ... mmmmm

The Jolly Green Greenhouse Girl ...

Does anyone remember the adverts for Jolly Green Giant Sweetcorn? And the song ... sing along now ...

"Good things from the garden,
Garden in the valley,
Valley of the jolly – Ho, Ho, Ho – Green Giant."

Actually, I didn’t remember the song either ...… but like most people just remember the “Ho, Ho, Ho – Green Giant” which was the only vocabulary of the Jolly Green Giant first introduced back in 1925! (doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun ...)

In fact, according to Advertising Age magazine, the Jolly Green Giant is the third most recognizable advertising character of the century’s ton ten ad icons, following behind Ronald McDonald and the Marlboro Man ... at least JGG is advertising something relatively healthy!!!

JGG On A Small Scale
I’m not actually growing sweet corn on such a grand scale as the Green Giant Company, but I have got a small section of the allotment full of new sweetcorn plants ... mmmm I can smell the melted butter over the corn on the cob already!
These plants were started off in seed trays in April and when large enough transplanted into pots and kept in the greenhouse. Another recommended way of growing sweetcorn is to start them off using Rootrainers – this means that their roots aren’t disturbed when you plant them out – and whereas I potted the young plants into pots about a month before planting out, it is possible to sow the sweetcorn in the rootrainers and let them grow there until they are large enough to plant out.

Block Planting Is Best
Growers also advocate growing sweetcorn in blocks – rather than long, single rows. This is because sweetcorn is wind / air pollinated – so planting in blocks increases the chance of successful pollination. I planted the sweetcorn into theallotment in June (so they were safe from frost) and as you can see, in a block of rows fitting between the polytunnel and runner beans. You might also note the dry soil ... this is ‘cause I took the picture last week when we’d had a few days of glorious sunshine, our water butts are empty and we’re struggling to get the water from the well ... so water is in short supply!

What’s Good About Sweetcorn
I don’t know about you, but I think like most home grown vegetables, corn on the cob fresh from the allotment tastes totally different from that from the supermarket ... especially tinned sweetcorn!
Not only tasting good, sweetcorn is a good source of folate, provides more starch and calories than many vegetables and is high in fibre, iron and potassium.
For those of us worried about aging (and aren’t we all ... especially with all the TV advertising for anti wrinkle cream and younger looking skin ...) sweetcorn helps protect against age-related macular degeneration ... so what are you waiting for?

The Best Way Of Eating Sweetcorn
Well ... I like it best when it’s been cooked in the oven in tinfoil, with butter melting over the top. Eating a full corn on the cob is a messy business (only to be done in the safety of one’s own home or in the company of good friends ...) but a wonderful reward of flavour!

It All Comes Back To Mood Foods
Just like beetroot, research indicates fresh corn can be used to enhance your mood when cooked with lime. Lime helps to boost the otherwise low levels of B3 / niacin which is known to be play an important role in maintaining good moods ... I can only assume, therefore, that as harvest time comes around and I’ve got access to fresh beetroot and corn on the cob, I’m going to be a very happy chap!

Do Grow Pots Really Work?

For years I’ve been trying to convince my Dad that using Grow Pots makes growing tomatoes so much easier ... they not only let you provide your tomato plants with more water (they are notoriously greedy ... just like me!) they also mean it’s quicker to give them water in the first place – as we all know watering into a grow bag often means watering the surface below!

Not only do they help with the watering, but because grow pots have an inner and outer ring, you can plant your tomatoes in more compost than just that in the grow bag (not a bad thing) whilst you can also use this inner pot to give your plants some much needed food as they start to produce their fruit.

Convincing Dad Is Hard Work
But, as most daughters find, it’s hard to convince Dad’s to try anything new ... so this year I took the easy way out and gave him three grow pots FREE (like me, my Dad loves the word FREE!!) and asked him to see for himself if they actually improve the growth of his tomato plants.

The Proof Is In The Height
At the moment we’re only part way through our ‘trial’ but hopefully you can see from the picture opposite that at least one of the tomato plants potted in a grow pot is far out growing those around it (I guess by about 6 inches).

Are We Cynical?
The cynical amongst you might say ... this is a different variety than the others ... this was a stronger plant from the start … this tomato plant germinated earlier than the rest ... etc etc etc. As yet we’re still very early in the trial and the proof is more in the amount of tomatoes we get from each plant more than how high they grow ... I’ll keep you posted ...

In The Mean Time
If any of you have used Grow Pots (or are using them this year) let me know whether you think they are useful and worth buying ...

A Quick Up Date On Getting The Water Out Of Our Well ...

As you know from my previous post (Watering The Allotment From A Well) I’ve not the bravest person around the well at our allotment but this week I dared life and limb (or in fact convinced someone else to risk plunging down the well ...) to get you a picture ...

The water at the bottom is about 8 feet down from the top of the well ... just a few weeks it was only 4 feet from the top but the few drier weeks that we’ve had have meant not only have our water butts been emptied of water the well has also started to loose it’s water back into the ground ...

As you’ll see from the photo, the sides of the well are built from stone ... although the picture seems to imply it’s flat on one side that’s just ‘cause we left half the well covered when we took the picture. It’s actually a bottle shape, round at the top going straight down, but ‘belling’ out in the bottom.

We’re still in the process of getting the water out of the well ... although we looked at Draper pumps from Bradshaws; these would have needed lowering into the bottom of the well to work. Whereas, Two Wests have the Professional Pump, that is strong enough to lift the water out of the well and can be kept at the surface (seems a better plan as you wouldn’t want to have to climb down a well to get back a pump if it got stuck!)

Although HB suggested a solar pump, these tend to not be as powerful and we needed a pump which would lift water at least 10 metres. However, we still haven’t succeeded as although we’ve tried the pump connected to a generator, we haven’t got the right size of hose to connect to the pump to lift the water out (it needs to be at least ¾” and we’ve only got ½”) ... so I’m off to get some ¾” hose from Two Wests next week ... so the saga continues ...