seed help please

[lynda66]

I hope that helps.

brilliant thanks

i did get marketmore cucumbers, but only 3 have grown, planted them a bit late, so doubt i'll get anything off them this year, but i still have some seeds left, will definitely look at the others though ...... the courgettes sound good cos there are some really dodgy areas of the garden so a short root sounds good

[lynda66]

I don't know if you're into spring onions, but I've grown Ishikuro for the past couple of years.
Potatoes - I love Pink fir Apple - .

love spring onions, have a few white lisbon growing, but not many bothered to germinate, so will try them

i really have to try different potatoes .... i'm getting all excited now

thanks xx

[lynda66]

Do grow Romanesco calabrese (I have also seen it identified as broccoli and even cauliflower) as it is a superb vegetable and very easy to grow. It also has been my least beastie affected plant, which I cannot understand as it has such a wonderful flavour

the broccoli cauli calabrese thing confuses me but broccoli type stuff is mine and sons fave veg so that sounds like a definite goer thanks xx

[mcsee]

These look after themselves....

Chantenay Carrots
Hollow Crown Parsnips

Use fresh seed for the parsnips when the time comes.

[Tam]

This article will kind of explain what I meant about coming under the three types (Thompson and Morgan have it listed under the different descriptions, but I always call it calabrese - a cauli it certainly aint.

Romanesco cauliflower

Nikki Duffy
Saturday September 10, 2005
The Guardian

I love this stuff. And if you're a brassica fan, fond of cabbage, broccoli and cauli, you'll love it too. For starters, it has to be one of the most beautiful vegetables around. Its tightly packed, lime-green florets exhibit a complex, bewitching design which is, I'm told, an amazing example of phyllotaxis - the fractal patterning that can appear in nature. If you cook it whole, dunking it in boiling water for a few minutes until tender, it's one of the most impressive greens you can serve.

But, looks aside, romanesco is delicious. Its flavour is somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower, with a sweet, vegetal nuttiness - and it's bereft of the slightly bitter edge cauliflower can have. Apparently, children tend to like it for this very reason. I can't claim to have conducted research on that point, but I hope it's true as, like all brassicas, romanesco is packed with good things: super-rich in antioxidants, vitamin C, fibre - you name it.

This is an old Italian vegetable variety that's been rediscovered and promoted by chefs such as Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray at the River Cafe. Consequently, it's now getting easier to find in supermarkets, farm shops and good greengrocers.

In the kitchen, it's a joy. You can often buy small heads of romanesco which are ideal for serving whole, as above. Alternatively, cut into chunky florets (to preserve that marvellous pattern), blanch, then dunk immediately in icy water to fix the divine colour and serve cold in a salad - it's good with shreds of raw red onion (soaked in salty water to soften their pungency), olives and capers and a dressing of peppery olive oil and lemon.

Romanesco is also a wonderful partner to pasta. Being more tender than standard cauliflower, it easily cooks down with stock or tomatoes to a crushable softness. Mingled with garlic and lots of chilli, and tossed into orecchiette or conchiglie with olive oil and Parmesan, it's one of my all-time favourite quick suppers.

Try it also in a gratin - an updated cauliflower cheese, if you like - dotting the blanched florets with crème fraîche mixed with Parmesan, then sprinkling more Parmesan and some breadcrumbs on top and baking till golden. Irresistible.

Romanesco cauliflower is often called romanesco broccoli or calabrese romanesco - especially in Italian recipes. Don't worry, they're the same thing. Another name, minaret, is also used. Its high season is really October-November, but it will begin to appear in shops in the next week or two. Look for it in Waitrose and Sainsbury's, as well as greengrocers and farmers' markets. It's easy to grow, too, and gardeners can get seeds from most of the major suppliers.

Go for it anyway, Lynda, I'm sure you and your son will both enjoy.

[lynda66]

These look after themselves....

Chantenay Carrots
Hollow Crown Parsnips

Use fresh seed for the parsnips when the time comes.

my type of veg then lol ta xx

[lynda66]

This article will kind of explain what I meant about coming under the three types (Thompson and Morgan have it listed under the different descriptions, but I always call it calabrese - a cauli it certainly aint.


Go for it anyway, Lynda, I'm sure you and your son will both enjoy.

have just realised, i got some mini broccoli ROMANESCO NATALINO
MINI BROCCOLI***SO CUTE AND TASTY***30 SEEDS on eBay, also Vegetables Fruits, Plants Seeds Bulbs, Garden Plants, Home Garden (end time 16-Aug-08 21:40:19 BST)

well yeah, i bought it as mini broccoli, it's very pretty innit ....... so will possibly get to taste it this year ..... presume the mini ones are much the same?

[SarzWix]

Dwarf French bean - Delinel Sown straight into the ground, all germinated, growing away great guns Flavour is, erm, french beany?!
Carrot - Sugarsnax - Sown in pots (flower buckets), all germinated, grew reasonably quickly, great flavour
Potato - Charlotte Grown in big tubs, easy to look after, great flavoured & textured salad potato.
Autumn/Winter Cabbage - Savoy Tarvoy Sown into small pots, easy germination outside, grew well, plant in ground when you've harvested earlier veg. Grows well, eat small, medium or large, stays ready for ages, doesn't mind snow, frost, hail etc. And taste great for bubble & squeak.
Courgette -Tristan A new variety with no spiny bits on the stalks, germination great, haven't been bothered by slugs (yet...), happy in the ground or a big pot, flavour good.
Tomato - Shirley F1 Growing them 1st time this year, and I'm very impressed! They grow really well, they look beautiful, and they taste great!
Tomato - Sungold A lovely orange cherry tomato, sweet, keep on growing whatever you do to them. I've got one still in a tiny 3inch pot, outside, falls over, dries out and I picked 3 ripe tomatoes off it today!
Peas - Waverex A 'Petit Pois' type, take lots of abuse (forget to water, slugs etc) and still produce a crop of little, sweet peas. Nice.