GreenFriends™ UK

Gardening Corner: May 2009

A strange sight awaited us upon arriving at the allotment one day last week: small piles of seed husks lying around the greenhouse, looking suspiciously like remains of sweet corn kernels.

Our suspicions were in fact correct. A nocturnal visitor, probably a mouse, had sneaked into the greenhouse, dug up and eaten the planted sweetcorn, as well as deciding to chew through a couple of germinated seedlings of sweetcorn. So instead of 24 plants we had about five left! Part of growing your own food involves being regularly faced with the unexpected. It was slightly worrying, as it is very late in the season to plant sweetcorn, but we managed to cheat and find a garden centre that had a few for sale! However the most galling of it was it happened last year as well. We had forgotten! Lesson one: make notes of what happens so you don't make the same mistakes.

Moving on from this little episode, this month we will be focusing on vegetable crops that can currently be sown. As was quoted in the May issue, AMMA wants everyone to try and grow some of their own food. This time of year is ideal for sowing perpetual spinach, a crop that will provide food into next year. We sowed ours into pots about a week ago.

Perpetual Spinach the mega producer

We use perpetual spinach (also called leaf beet) as it provides a crop for many months. It is a different plant from normal spinach but tastes the same. We sow it in May in 10 inch (4cm) deep pots in peat free compost, planting about 0.5 inches (1cm) below the surface. It is normally big enough to plant out in June, when it has at least 6 leaves. Plant it into the ground that has had a fair amount of manure or compost added. To try and protect the plants from slugs we use old plastic milk bottles or large drink bottles. We cut the mouth and bottom off and then surround the plant with it embedding the bottle slightly in the soil, it tries to guard the plants from the slugs. Wait till it has grown at least twice the planted size and then you can start to harvest, pick not more then 30% of the leaves on each plant and it will continuously produce new leaves for months to come.

To give you an idea of the harvest this gives we will tell you about the 2008 crop which we are still picking now in mid May 2009! We planted out 20 spinach plants (we are obsessed with spinach, you don't have to do this many) in June 2008. We started harvesting this spinach from July and went on to December; we picked about 24.5 lbs (11kg). Then the weather became too cold and it stopped producing new leaves. During cold spells, for example the heavy snow in February, many of the leaves die and it goes black but the root remains. Wait. Then, when the weather warms in spring new leaves sprout from the roots. Between March 2009 and the present we have harvested about another 11lbs (5kg). There is probably at least another 7lbs or more. So you can see we have had a lot of spinach to eat, to freeze and to give away. One of the nice things about growing your own food is being able to give your friends lots of their favourite vegetable when you have a surplus.

At this time of year the perpetual spinach starts to bolt, in other words it produces stems which grow up and then flower. We cut these stems off, otherwise the plant will put all its energy into flowering and stop producing leaves. However, this year as an experiment we will leave a few and hope it produces seed to collect (don't ask too many questions about seed saving as we don't know much about it). Spinach also freezes well. Simply cut off thick stalks, put it into a bag and put it into the freezer. You can add to the bag whenever you want, and when you want to use it just break off bits and crumble them up into your food. Easy!

What else is happening on the allotment?

As well as perpetual spinach, last years kale and leeks are still yielding prolific amounts. The onions and potatoes we planted earlier in this year are doing well. We have nice runner bean, courgette, pumpkin and squash seedling as well as sweetcorn husks in the greenhouse. These will all be planted out late May or early June. The tomatoes and cucumbers are doing well, but some of the chillis have been slightly eaten by slugs. Our beetroot seeds which we planted directly into the soil are starting to germinate, and we may seed up some more later on. We have also seeded up coriander and rocket. In our flat we have seeded up peas, french beans and leeks.

So what can you do yourselves? Well beetroot, swede and carrots can all be seeded into the soil in June. Lettuce also, though start this in pots as slugs love it. You can seed up the wonderful perpetual spinach (leaf beet) and also leeks. Try some coriander. Good luck.

See you all next month

- Richard and Kaivalya

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