Winter vegetables

[Potstubsdustbins]

Cauli I do one per morrisons bucket but be careful which variety you choose. Your friends down the road do a very good baby cauli called Igloo which I am growing this year with success. They also do All Year Round which you can sow in Sept/Oct to over winter again I have grown these at one per bucket.

PSB really need a big container just to stop them falling over, mine will be transplanted into my potato bins when they have been harvested.

Hope this helps Colin

[BroadRipple]

Gemmalaveen, which kales did you grow/like?
and anyone else try and be disappointed by claytonia? tastes of...nothing. poor miners.
Agree re: chard, Salilah.
re: PSB/kale there's a great combination of the 2 I bought as a seedling from Delfland - possibly Broccoli 5 star - lots of little heads, and leaves...but then Pentland Brig kale does this too.
and 1066, haven't had much luck with my winter lettuces...curses. which radish do you find works best?

[1066]

Hi BroadRipple, the radishes that have done well for me are the Black Spanish Round - lovely dark skinned, white radish and is my favourite, the Hilds Blauer Herbst Und Winter has also been ok and Mooli (grown in a pot/tub). The tops all look miserable in mid winter, but underneath the radish are fine, sometimes a little munched, but mostly ok. I found that the Hilds Blauer Herbst Und Winter didn't do quite as well as the Black Spanish Round, and the Mooli seems to be able to withstand all that winter can throw at it.

[BroadRipple]

That's very helpful thank you, 1066. What do you do with them, out of interest, other than eat them in salads? And which of those lettuces do you like best? Space is always an issue for me so am cheered by your container success. For what it's worth, my rocket did fantastically well over the winter too.

[1066]

Hi BroadRipple
Well as you say there are the obvious salads,
then there is the way the French eat winter radish - peeled and sliced thinly then put them on a slice of buttered bread, a pich of salt and eat! Yum!
Other than that I put them in winter coleslaws,
or I thinly slice them and stir fry them with other greens,
if you like stir frys with noodles, I like to add a few strips of them, uncooked, on top of the stir fry for a bit of raw food crunch.
Then there are Indian style options, like frying lightly and quickly with mustard seeds (I once had the most divine Radish "curry" in S India).
You can add them to home made parota (paratha) style breads.
You can also pickle them, but I need to find a good recipe yet.

Winter salads - my least fave was Tom Thumb, but others rate it, and it did grow well in containers, Winter Density was a good one, as was Merveille De Quatre Saisons and Sylvesta, Winter Marvel and Brune D'Hiver have done well, plus some of the frisee types. You can also grow Mache in tubs, but I find them a bit of a faff, also pak choi will do well in containers, if you can keep the snails and slugs off, and the leaves are nice picked young and added to salads.

I hope these work for you! You may need some fleece to keep the worst of the frosts off, and watch out for water-logging, I find that is the worst problem for over-wintering veggies

[Ricardo]

Real Seeds have a good article on summer sowing. Their seeds are on the expensive side however, but you can get some tips here:
Summer Sowing Guide

I fancy a bash at Florence Fennel, since my last lot got dug up by foxes. Grrrr....
They do seem to do ok in rb's also.

[1066]

I forgot to add the classic - cut the radish into strips and then dip them into tahini. Odd I know, but tastes a treat

[Florence Fennel]

I fancy a bash at Florence Fennel

Apart from resembling that remark Ricardo, I would think it's a bit late on for fennel, but good luck.

[Ricardo]

Sorry Flo, no physical threat was intended
I did read somewhere that fennel planted in the autumn is less likely to bolt.
Real seeds do some:
Vegetable Seeds : Fennel Seed

[Florence Fennel]

Course you didn't dear. I didn't realise fennel could be sown now, thanks for that.

[TallGirl]

KALE! I know it's been said before (including by me) but it's fantastic - as long as you don't boil it but braise/stirfry/steam/whatever it, avoiding water, adding bit of garlic, rosemary, lemon peel, tomato, bacon, chilli, whatever you have, it's delicious. ... Kale is the future!

You're helping me overcome years of ancient traumas here!