Kale, and erm … a rat

19 February 2008 at 4:23 pm (Allotment, Vegetables)

OH said he liked the kale we had on Sunday. In a previous year, we grew one of the curly leaved kales (Nero di Toscana?) but although the plants grew, they attracted cabbage aphids which hid in the bumps in the leaves. Consequently he didn’t fancy eating it.

Today, went down to the plot for an hour (well, it was sort of on the way back from the supermarket). I did some more stone picking. The south side of the plot was still frosted solid. The south side of some of the beds were also solid – lightly using the cultivator thing from Wolf Garten by hand didn’t break it. There were ice crystals on a bit I managed to break off by hand.

Just as I was about to leave to pick son up from school (its on the way home from the plot), I noticed a dead rat. A short while ago, one of the other plotholders had contacted the pest control person at the council who came to put rat poison down, so the rat is either a victim of that or a cat (there’s at least one that has been able to catch birdies and rodents). 

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Strange tubers

18 February 2008 at 1:34 pm (Vegetables)

Following on from a thread on one of the messageboards about Yacon, OH decided to order some strange tubers from RealSeeds (Yacon wasn’t available): Oca (scarlet, with white eyes) and Ulluco (Cusco market & mixed, Ullucus tuberosum). The information on  both packets say to basically grow and use as you would potatoes. Both develop tubers late in the season – October or even November, so basically, don’t dig up too early. For Oca (Oxalis tuberosum), it says that they can be quite tart but with exposure to light on a sunny windowsill, this can make them sweeter. Oca – delicious roasted, or even mix with potatoes for mash. Storage improves the flavour though the tubers may shrivel.

The Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs & Fruits (Biggs, McVicar & Flowerdew) has a page devoted to Oca. “Tubers form in autumn when day lengths are less than 9 hours.” The plant is bushy, the leaves remind me of clover. They could  be grown under runner beans… There is a warning regarding calcium oxalate (it says that in South America, they are dried in the sun until floury and less acid). “Oca can be eaten raw, roasted, boiled, candied like sweet potato [I wonder what that is like] and added to soups and stews. Use leaves and young shoots in salads or cook them like sorrel.” They have a recipe for Oca with (smoked) bacon. Ulluco is not listed in the book.

Roger Philips & Martyn Rix’s Vegetables mentions both. They have a fantastic picture of Oca for sale in a market in Peru (though I have just noticed the caption says its okra but another picture in the book of the same market has the correct spelling in the caption). Ulluco tubers can be dried and made into lingli (like chuno, a freeze-dried potato thing).  

Should be interesting anyway.

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Stones, flower & small harvest

17 February 2008 at 7:37 pm (Allotment, Pests)

Yesterday was such a beautiful day, we all went to the plot. OH did some digging while I was preparing a section to sow carrots. Although the allotment site has been cultivated for ages (at least 20), there are so many stones on our plot. So, I ended up picking the stones out of a bed.
larva

I uncovered this larva. I think it is a leatherjacket. I wanted it to be put on the bird table, but my son didn’t want it to die. He hid it under the shed!

kalesnip

Dug up a couple of parsnips. One had a bit of orange-brown canker – I can’t remember when we last limed the bed (though had given brassicas a topdressing of dolomite lime), so that could be why. I limed yesterday a couple of the beds I am earmarking for brassicas. The Kale is probably Hungry Gap (I don’t remember if I sowed Ragged Jack though), one of the lucky dip packets received from HSL. Will be eating the parsnips & kale shortly (late Sunday dinner!).

flower08

While I was across at my mum’s, I went to check on the cacti in the greenhouse. I was amazed to see one actually in flower. Others had flowerbuds on which is earlier than normal anyway (don’t usually notice the flowerbuds until March).

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A few more sowings

16 February 2008 at 8:42 pm (Seeds)

This week, the sun has shone and it felt relatively warm during daytime. However, during the night, it became bitterly cold. With the changing temperatures, I only sowed another 6×4 module tray thing. I had potted on 3 of the 4 All the Year Round cauliflowers (one didn’t look very strong). In the vacated, I sowed 4 Tabasco chillis. In a new tray, I sowed tomatoes, 4 of each: Riesentomate; Italian Sugar Plum; Salt Spring Sunrise; Auntie Madge’s; Sub Arctic Plenty; Broad Ripple Yellow Currant.

 With going away last weekend, some of the Bedfordshire Champion onion seedlings suffered. Still have quite a few.

Some more chillis have germinated. Another 2 Friar’s Hat have, bringing that to 100% germination. Other chillis germinating are Cascabella(2), Albertos Locoto(3), Trifetti(1).

Cape gooseberries have also appeared, but I have accidentally sown a couple of additional seeds in each module at the time, so I have now 6 seedlings.  Also making an appearance is Basil Lemon with 2 seedlings. Just noticed the “hook/loop” of one aubergine emerging.

The trays are currently on the front room windowsill with a cover. I have briefly looked at heated propagators and have even bought one of the fancy non-heated ones with the vent in the cover before (present for my late-father), my current module things just have a plain cover. I don’t have convenient access to electricity out in the greenhouse either. I do have a paraffin heater but that has so far been hardly used.

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Spring?

13 February 2008 at 12:55 pm (Garden)

Just finished planting the cherry tree and the blackcurrant. I had a look at the other currant bushes and can see a bit of leaf emerging from a bud.

OH decided to make some homebrew for the slugs. For Christmas, I had bought fresh yeast, but for some reason or other, it wasn’t used. It had gone past its “use-date” so I suggested to him to use that. Water, sugar and yeast has fermented (OH tasted it!). Anyway, some was put out in a slug trap last month (perhaps a bit early) and I checked it today – have only caught mosquitoes/midges.

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