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T H E M AG A Z I N E F O R T H E H O M E G R O W E R

M AY 2 014 | ISSU E 75

Fantastic New 10 0 Look Magazine

PACK ED YOU PAGES R GR F OWIN OR NEED G S!

EXPERT GROWING ADVICE TO HELPEEEE GET THE MOST FROM YOUR CROPEEEE

Tasty Toms

Bee Buzz

ADVICE TOE HELP YOUR CROPE

START KEEPING BEES THIS YEAR

Get Digging!

START THAT VEG PLOT NOWE

Master Chef Food Special MAY 2014 ISSUE 75 £3.75

PLUS

STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO GREG’S FAVOURITES

BAKING BREAD; KEEPING CHICKENS; SAVING MONEY; SOWING SEEDS

E

CON T EN TS

WHAT’S INSIDE? iss ue contents

“RIGHT NOW THE ELDERFLOWER REIGNS SUPREME AS QUEEN OF THE HEDGEROW AS SHE DECORATES THE LAND IN CLOUDS OF WHITE BLOOMS”

May

03 THE EDITOR’S BIT

Paul ponders…

06 NEWS AND EVENTS

Four pages of Home Farmer related news and events.

10 ON THE PLOT

John Harrison’s seasonal tips for sowing and planting in May. 14 TUNNELLING

Andy and Mark protect the tunnel and its contents from extreme weather.

17 BRILLIANT BRASSICAS

Mike Clark’s guide to brassicas.

22 SUCCESSFUL SEEDLINGS

Dave Hamilton looks at COVER STORY increasing your success with veg seedlings.

27 CONDITIONING YOUR SOIL

Mike Hedges looks at organic ways of getting the best from your soil.

36 SEASONAL FORAGING

David Winnard finds two COVER STORY things to enjoy and one to steer well clear of.

32 GINGER

Elizabeth McCorquodale grows and cooks with this exotic spice.

40 THE WOODSIDE PROJECT

Benjamin Crosby looks to nature to guide his low-maintenance plot.

45 10 ESSENTIAL POULTRY TIPS

Terry Beebe’s crash course for new and experienced chicken keepers.

50 A SEASONAL CHICKEN CALENDAR

Paul Melnyczuk works his way through the chicken keeping seasons, with advice so you are ready for whatever the season!

r e f f O Reader 9

salad ganic ! r o f o 5 ts packe r only £5.9 o f e! ic s seed an half pr etails h t r less the d That’s e 30 for fur g See pa

58 PROFITABLE PIGS

Henry Burwood’s experiences of making pig keeping pay.

62 LIMOUSIN CATTLE

Heidi M. Sands looks at a beef legend that began on a small scale.

66 LOOKING AFTER YOUR BEES

Claire Waring describes a typical colony inspection.

70 MAKING THE MONEY GO ROUND

This month Rob Jeffery COVER STORY concentrates on making a smallholding profitable.

74 SOCIAL MEDIA

No one can afford to ignore COVER STORY the value of social media so this month Sam Keenan of www.socialmediagency.co.uk covers the dos and don’ts for anyone looking to use it as a business tool.

78 MAKING SAUSAGES

Fiona Dillon continues her COVER STORY theme of smallholder activities with a foray into sausage making.

82 LIZZIEB’S KITCHEN

May sees new produce as the harvest begins, and, like all good cooks, LizzieB sets out to use the freshest new produce, from asparagus to spring lamb.

85 REAL STREET CRED FOOD Ruth Tott creates pulled pork and chipotle sauce – two absolutely indispensable items for the menu of any fashionable bistro.

86 COUNTRY MARKETS

Reader Lucy Hill writes COVER STORY about the Country Markets organisation.

90 LIVING WITH A SEPTIC TANK

Heidi M. Sands discusses septic tanks for the uninitiated.

94 LOW-ENERGY LIGHT BULBS

We’ve all been bamboozled at one time or another by so-called low-energy light bulbs. Are they better? John Butterworth investigates and considers the options.

98 LISTINGS

Smallholder society listings.

99 NEXT MONTH

What’s in the June issue?

SUBSCRIBE NOW! SAVE AND GET A FREE COPY OF THE FORAGER’S KITCHEN WORTH £16.99 WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE TO HOME FARMER BY DIRECT DEBIT. SEE PAGE 93 FOR DETAILS

54 LETTING OUT THE LIVESTOCK

Dot Tyne considers best COVER STORY practice for ending the winter confinement.

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HOME FARMER NEWS

WORLD’S MARMALADE AWARDS THE 9TH ANNUAL World’s Original Marmalade Awards and Festival was held at Dalemain Mansion in Cumbria on the 1st and 2nd of March. Best homemade marmalade was awarded to Sarah Byrne from Chiddingstone, Kent, who used beer from her small family brewery in her ‘Seville Orange Marmalade with Beer’ concoction. Sarah added two pints of Larkins Half and Half (half porter, half traditional ale) to her grandmother’s traditional marmalade recipe.

Her marmalade will now be stocked on the shelves of Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly.

Other interesting marmalade

flavours to win Gold awards included Lemon and Vodka; Sweet Orange and 70% Chocolate; Blood Orange and Black Pepper; Tangelo, Fennel and Smoked Paprika; Ginger Chilli and Indian Spice; Clementine and Lavender; Seville Orange with Ginger, Sage and Yellow Mustard Seed; Star-anise, Cinnamon and Clove; and Lemon, Tomato and Thyme.

The most unusual ingredient was ‘seaweed’ from a marmalade maker on the island of South Uist in Scotland.

The Awards take place each year

ARE WE FIT TO FRACK?

Above: Sarah Byrne with awards organiser Jane Hasell-McCosh.

at Dalemain Mansion, a Georgian stately home lived in by the same family for over 300 years. Dalemain holds a very rich archive of marmalade recipes, and to date the event has raised over £120,000 for Hospice at Home. This year the money raised from amateur entry fees will go to Hospice at Home, Action Medical Research and Marie Curie Scotland.

‘SPRING GATHERING’ THE ‘SPRING GATHERING’ organised by the team behind the popular Scottish Smallholder and Grower Festival will take place at Thainstone Agricultural Centre in North East Scotland on Saturday 31st May. The event will feature fourteen cattle classes across two sections – British rare breeds and other native breeds. There will also be poultry classes, including best rescue hen; sheep classes in the

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reliable hands of Raymond Aitken, including a category for pet lambs raised by young shepherds; and pig classes to be judged by Scottish BPA representative, Caron Stewart.

Seminars and demonstrations will feature ponies (with the Eriskay pony on display), Clydesdale horses and fleece and fibre, to mention just a few. Visitors will be able to pick up new business ideas and skills, find out how to get the most

out of their land, and will see a wide range of traditional breeds, but most importantly they will enjoy a great day out for all the family. Visit www.scottishsmallholdershow.co.uk for class schedules, entry forms and further information. Thainstone Agricultural Centre is on the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road, has excellent facilities and is easily accessible, so put a note in your diary.

A NEW REPORT, ‘Are we fit to frack?’, commissioned by leading wildlife and countryside groups, claims fracking could devastate wildlife habitats. The research has been reviewed by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and is supported by a cross party group of MPs. Risks highlighted include contamination of water and damage to infrastructure, with the number of proposed pads also posing a threat to wildlife. The RSPB would like to see ‘no-frack’ zones created for special sites, and The Wildlife Trust expressed concern at possible pollution at the end of a well’s productive life, as has apparently happened in the USA. The Trust also raised concerns about noise and light pollution, and the damage this could do to bats and certain migratory birds. Large amounts of land in the UK have already been opened up for exploration, with Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Sussex already having exploratory pads, and current proposals aim to expand activities to over half the country. Of course I am concerned about the impact on wildlife, but I am equally concerned for people who will have to live with the risks, some of which may not even become apparent until many current politicians and frackers are dead or in nursing homes.

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RIVER N! I W COTTAGE FOOD FAIR THE RIVER COTTAGE Food Fair is being held at River Cottage HQ in Axminster, Devon over the long weekend of the Spring Bank Holiday in May, and we have five tickets up for grabs for Monday 26th May. The event will include a wide range of masterclasses and is guaranteed to be a fun day out for all the family. Kids under twelve get free entry, and as the weekend falls during English National Wine Week, the event will also be celebrating local winemakers, Furleigh Estate and Oatley Vineyard.

To win tickets, visit www.rivercottage.net and name three of the events that will be taking place on the day. Please email your answers to ruth@ homefarmer.co.uk, marking the email ‘River Cottage Tickets’.

Please include your name, address and a phone number.

Your details will be shared with River Cottage so you can be updated on news and events.

If you do not wish to receive information, make a note of this on your entry and your details will not be passed on.

PORRIDGE POWER I START THE day with porridge in the knowledge that oats are a superfood. Youngsters who eat it are fifty per cent less likely to be overweight, and it has long been the breakfast of choice for athletes – a true breakfast of champions. The combination of fibre, vitamins and minerals in wholegrains have already been linked to reduced risk of major disease, and one particular fibre – beta-glucan – has been found to lower cholesterol by as much as twenty-three per cent, but scientists at the annual conference of the American Chemical Society in Dallas, Texas, announced

BUGLIFE EBAY TOXINS CAMPAIGN THE CHARITY BUGLIFE has launched a petition via the website of campaigning organisation 38 Degrees to persuade eBay to remove products containing a banned toxic chemical.

According to Buglife Campaigns Officer Vanessa Amaral-Rogers the neonicotinoid insecticide, Imidacloprid, is available via eBay through traders from the USA, where it has not been banned, together with a range of other products that have never received UK approval.

The use of neonicotinoids was restricted last year after it was found that even small doses rendered honeybees incapable of foraging for food, and caused bumblebees to lay fewer eggs.

The sale of these products apparently contradicts eBay rules, but there are no safeguards to prevent such listings. Visit https:/you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/get-ebay-to-remove-toxicillegal-chemicals- from-their-website to air your views.

M AY 2014

recently that they now believe that a bioactive unique to oats – avenanthramide – may possess antioxidant properties which help protect against cancer and heart disease. It apparently stops fat forming in arteries, preventing atherosclerosis. Oats can also reduce blood pressure, and are a source of folic acid (essential for healthy foetal development), and contain vitamin B1 (thiamin), crucial for the nervous system.

Proper porridge (not the instant stuff!) is ready in minutes, costs next to nothing and sets you up for the day – a no-brainer, in other words.

HARVEST CUTS

BY UP TO 2% RESEARCHERS PREDICT THAT crop harvests will decline by up to two per cent each decade as a result of global warming, and the situation is likely to worsen in the second half of the century, with tropical regions likely to be particularly badly hit. They suggest that we should adapt to the climate we might expect rather than working with the current climate, and predict that this approach could see increases in production, although an increase of fourteen per cent is required simply to cope with increasing demand and population growth.

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T HE K ITCHEN G ARDEN

10 Facts

GINGER g n i s U & g n i w o Gr

1 Haven’t been feeling hungry?

Eat fresh ginger just before lunch to stoke a dull appetite and fire up the digestive juices.

Elizabeth McCorquodale looks at growing ginger, then follows up with some delicious ways of putting it to use in the kitchen

2 Ginger improves the absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients in the body.

3 Ginger clears the ‘microcirculatory channels’ of the body, including the pesky sinuses that tend to flare up from time to time.

G

inger, Zingiber officinale, is a tropical plant originally native to India and China, but it’s now grown commercially in the warmth and damp of tropical and subtropical rainforest regions around the world. Perhaps surprisingly, it can also be grown outdoors in the UK, and will grow successfully enough for you to be able to harvest and store enough ginger for your annual culinary requirements.

Ginger will settle quite happily in the garden once the weather warms in spring, and it then grows on through the summer until, in autumn, the reed-like leaves are nipped back by the cold. Once it has died down it can be harvested for use in the kitchen or can be stored in its dormant state through the winter to grow on into a larger plant the following year.

PLANTING GINGER IN THE GARDEN As with citrus fruits in this country, it is possible to grow the plant for both decorative and culinary purposes, and the ideal place is a warm conservatory or a heated greenhouse. In the warmth and the shelter of a moist bed or a large pot, the plant will grow on to produce an excellent crop of stem ginger. However, if you don’t have a suitable indoor spot, the next best place is a warm, bright corner of the garden with moist soil and dappled shade – southfacing with a little afternoon cover is ideal.

Making sure the ground has warmed up in spring, cover the roots with a good black mulch to raise the soil temperature, and ensure the soil stays moist, though not wet.

The flower spike, in shades of pink or white, will grow to about 1m (3ft 3in) in height, just a little taller than the leaves, and is very pretty. Some people grow ginger for the flower alone, and when planted in February and grown on 30

4 Feeling airsick or nauseous?

Chew on ginger, preferably tossed in a little honey.

5 Can’t stop the toot-a-thon?

Gas—oops—guess what?!

Ginger helps reduce flatulence!

6 Tummy moaning and groaning under cramps?

Munch on ginger.

indoors, a strong, established plant will produce a beautiful flower by July.

Growing ginger is easy, though it can be a little slow to begin with. It is grown from rhizomes, and the shoots develop on the uppermost surface. You don’t need to source it from a specialist supplier: simply choose a nice, fresh hand of ginger from your supermarket or greengrocer and plant it up. If you are fortunate enough to find some roots that are already shooting, then all the better, though it’s easy enough to coax them into growth. First, give the rhizome a careful wash in tepid water to remove any growth retardant that may have been applied to stop sprouts forming on the supermarket shelves.

Now, cut the hand of ginger into fingers, each with its own growing tip. Carefully slice a piece of ginger off the hand and plant up each piece 3cm (11/4in) deep in good compost, enclosing the pot in a plastic bag to preserve moisture. A heated, covered propagator will do a fine job of encouraging quick growth,

7 Reeling under joint pain?

Ginger, with its antiinflammatory properties—can bring relief. Float some ginger essential oil in your bath to help aching muscles and joints.

8 Just had surgery? Chewing ginger post-operation can help overcome nausea.

9 Stir up some ginger tea to get rid of throat and nose congestion. And when there’s a nip in the air, the warming benefits of this tasty tea are even greater!

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10 Bedroom blues? Try adding a gingery punch to a bowl of soup. (Psst...the Ayurvedic texts credit ginger with aphrodisiac properties)

beer inger only g , le ra re Ginge ger wine a ith in w and g flavoured ly vague r ginge

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of ducers a and o r p r ajo hin The m today are C laces in p r Ginge subtropical , Nigeria l/ a tropica azil, Jamaic r Asia, B The flower spike will grow to about 1m in height.

or you can simply pop the pot in an airing cupboard or another warm spot and check it daily for signs of sprouting. Ginger hates to dry out, so choose a soil-based compost, which will retain moisture better, and water it regularly.

As soon as the growing tips sprout, move the pot into a very bright spot away from direct sunlight. A lovely warm conservatory or sunroom is ideal to encourage good strong growth, but remember to keep the leaves out of direct sun, as they will scorch easily. If you are going to grow your ginger in pots rather than in a bed or border, continue to pot on two or three times until the plants finish the year in 30cm (12in) pots.

Terracotta looks lovely, of course, but with the moisture requirements of these plants it is far better to stick to glazed or plastic pots. Feed your plants every two weeks with a good, balanced feed, and continue to make sure that the plants are kept moist and warm.

Nine fingers of ginger under heat.

“AS SOON AS THE GROWING TIPS SPROUT, MOVE THE POT INTO A VERY BRIGHT SPOT AWAY FROM DIRECT SUNLIGHT”

HARVESTING GINGER You can harvest ginger at two different stages: either early in the autumn when the base of the stem has grown into a mild and delicious ‘golf ball sized’ swelling, or when the root has grown and developed into the familiar strongly flavoured spice from which you originally started off your plant.

Of course, the longer you leave the plant to grow, the larger the rhizome will be, and the more strongly flavoured it will become.

Stem ginger, the type that is sold in supermarkets preserved in syrup, is simply the basal swelling of the stem, and you can get a good crop, enough for a few jars of preserves, from one or two hands of planted ginger. This is probably the most efficient and effective way to grow your own ginger, but it will not keep in the same way as root ginger.

Root ginger for use in the kitchen is grown (in its first season) in exactly the same way as stem ginger, but the plant is 32

A sprouting bud.

then left in the pot over winter and is started off again in spring to harvest at the end of the second year – or later – by which time the flavour will have developed and strengthened, the crop will be larger, and the resultant harvest can be brushed clean of soil and stored in a plastic bag in the fridge, or dried off and stored in a cool, dark cupboard for later use.

OTHER GARDEN PLANTS WITH THE GINGER ‘ZING’ The scent and flavour of ginger can also be found in several other plants, some with a long history of culinary and medicinal uses. Canada Ginger, Asarum canadense, and its relative, A. caudatum, were both used to add zing to foods and as a remedy

for afflictions such as snakebites, but upto-date analysis has shown that both of these very hardy plants contain quantities of aristolochic acid, a substance which, in quantity, can have some rather unpleasant effects. However, there are some alternatives for ginger lovers out there… both the mint and rosemary families have among their cohorts varieties with strong ginger scents and flavours. Ginger mint goes under the name of Mentha x gracilis ‘Variegata’, and it makes a wonderfully warming tisane in the winter and a lovely and refreshing drink served over ice in the summer. Ginger rosemary can be found listed as Rosmarinus officinalis ‘Green Ginger’ and is lovely chopped finely and added to stir-fries, and it’s delicious over glazed carrots too. You can find both of these online at Jekka McVicar’s specialist herb nursery.

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CRYSTALLISED GINGER INGREDIENTS 250g (9oz) fresh ginger, peeled and sliced very thinly 2 cups sugar 2 cups water METHOD 1 Place the ginger in a saucepan with enough water to cover it, then simmer for 10 minutes.

2 Drain and repeat, and drain once again, then put the ginger, sugar, and water in the saucepan and stir until the sugar has dissolved.

3 Bring to the boil, cook until the syrup has reached the consistency of runny honey, then remove from the heat and leave to stand for at least 1 hour.

4 Store the candied ginger in a sterilised jar in its syrup, or drain it thoroughly (reserving the syrup for use in other dishes), then toss the drained ginger in sugar and allow it to dry out before storing in an airtight container.

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GINGER BISCUITS For an extra-special biscuit treat, try dipping these biscuits halfway into dark, milk or white chocolate. It takes only a minute or two longer and turns these quick, everyday biscuits into a delicious gift.

INGREDIENTS 125g (41/2oz) butter 125g (41/2oz) sugar 125g (41/2oz) golden syrup 250g (9oz) self-raising flour 2 tsp ground ginger 1 heaped tbsp minced stem ginger 30 (approx.) small pieces crystallised ginger METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F, Gas 4) and line a baking tray with baking paper.

2 Melt the butter, sugar and syrup in a saucepan, then set aside to cool.

3 Mix in the remaining ingredients to form a dough.

4 Roll the dough into small balls, then place them on the tray and flatten them slightly with the back of a fork.

5 Bake for 10–12 minutes until only just changing colour, then remove from the oven.

6 While still soft and warm, push a piece of crystallised ginger into the top of each biscuit.

GINGERBREAD CAKE WITH BUTTERCREAM ICING INGREDIENTS FOR THE CAKE 250g (9oz) butter, softened 250g (9oz) dark brown sugar 125g (41/2oz) black treacle 250g (9oz) self-raising flour 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 6 tsp ginger 3 tsp cinnamon 2 eggs, beaten 3 tbsp stem ginger, very finely chopped and lightly tossed in flour to ensure it doesn’t all sink to the bottom of the batter 125ml (4 fl oz) milk

Extra!

The hea lth ginger in benefits of hone y tr problem eating respirato and ry s are un ma any othe r concoc tched by tion.

METHOD 1 Combine the cream, syrup and custard in a bowl until well mixed, then pour into an ice cream maker and follow the machine’s instructions.

2 Alternatively, pour the mix into a chilled shallow tray and freeze in the coldest part of your freezer. Check after about 1 hour, stir vigorously to break up the ice crystals, then return to the freezer. Do this several times until it is completely frozen.

3 When the ice cream is almost frozen and set, add the chopped ginger and the chocolate, stir once more and return to the freezer until 15 minutes before you are ready to serve.

FOR THE ICING 155g (51/2oz) butter, softened 315g (11oz) icing sugar 1–2 tbsp milk 1 tsp vanilla Crystallised ginger METHOD 1 Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas 3) and grease a 23cm (9in) square cake tin and line it with non-stick parchment.

2 Melt the butter, sugar and treacle together in a saucepan and leave to cool.

3 Put the flour, ground ginger and cinnamon in a bowl, then add the treacle mixture, the eggs and the stem ginger and mix well.

4 Warm the milk slightly, stir in the bicarbonate of soda, then add to the rest of the mixture and combine.

5 Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the oven for about 1 hour until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

6 Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

7 Meanwhile, to make the icing, beat the butter and vanilla in a large bowl and add the icing sugar (a tablespoon at a time) and beat until smooth. Thin the icing using a little milk, if necessary.

8 When the cake has cooled, spread the icing over the top and finish off with the crystallised ginger.

GINGER CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

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PICKLED GINGER This delicious sweet-and-sour pickle goes well with rice and noodle dishes and sandwiches. You can use root or stem ginger for the recipe, but the milder stem ginger makes a particularly moreish pickle.

INGREDIENTS 250g (9oz) fresh ginger 1 tbsp salt 3 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar Sugar METHOD 1 Wash and peel the ginger and slice it very thinly using a vegetable peeler.

Some ginger is very stringy at its core, so sometimes it is easier to use the outside of the root and use the stringy inside for crystallising.

2 Dissolve the salt in boiling water and pour it over the ginger. Let the mixture sit for 3–5 minutes until it has softened slightly but is still crisp.

3 Drain the ginger and reserve the brine for later.

4 Place the ginger in a fresh bowl, cover with the vinegar and stir in the sugar gradually (half a teaspoon at a time) until you are happy with the balance of sweet and sour.

5 Serve immediately, or if storing for later use, place the ginger/vinegar/ sugar mixture in the reserved brine in a sterilised jar in the fridge.

This lovely, super-simple ice cream is a wonderful accompaniment to poached pears or roasted rhubarb.

FURTHER INFORMATION

INGREDIENTS 1 × 300g tub ready-made custard, chilled 200ml (61/2 fl oz) extra-thick double cream, chilled 2 tbsp finely chopped stem ginger 4 tbsp syrup from the stem ginger 1 large bar of milk or dark chocolate, chopped into small chunks

For further information visit www.elizabethmccorquodale.com to find more examples of her photography and writing, and the books she has written.

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SE ASONAL FE AT URE

Pests

BRASSICAS ! y t s a t d n a Fresh

Brassicas, or cruciferous vegetables, are one of the few veg families we can rely on all year round. Mike Clark looks at the varieties, growing them and dealing with pests

T

he cabbage family is very versatile and there is a brassica for every season. Some are intended for summer cropping, while others are specifically for a winter crop. Let me begin by describing a few, then we will move on to sowing and planting.

Cauliflower can be available throughout almost the whole year, with protection in the harsher months.

Summer and autumn varieties can be sown from March to May, for cropping from June to the onset of frosts. Winter varieties are slightly misnamed, as they tend to crop in April or May, and can be sown in May and June. Some varieties can be sown and cropped over a much longer season if you have a polytunnel, and for me, a sowing indoors in late autumn produces ‘curds’ in the tunnel in February or March.

Cabbages are equally versatile, with the white, hearting varieties cropping through summer and autumn, and the savoy types cropping in autumn and well into the winter. Both can be sown from March to June. The spring greens varieties are best sown later, around July, for cropping about April, but can also be sown now for greens in autumn.

The spring varieties

are also best for the polytunnel, and latesummer sowings give me spring greens in the tunnel throughout the winter months.

Sprouts are more seasonal, but different varieties will still allow you a harvest from October right through winter and well into spring. Again, sow from March to May, but a later sowing of a fully winterhardy variety is worth trying, to extend the harvest even more.

Kale, both the traditional curled varieties and the increasingly popular Tuscan types, are both among the hardiest of winter veg, and from an earlysummer sowing they will stand through the winter and crop from late autumn to late

spring. Pick only as much as you need at a time, taking the lower leaves, and allow the growing top to continue production.

Sprouting broccoli is really useful for filling the hungry gap around March, when many late crops have finished and the early ones are still in the seed packet!

Sow in early summer. Spears are produced from late February – pick them regularly to encourage more to emerge. This is another vegetable which I find some room for in the tunnel over winter – even just a couple of plants will give you a few decent pickings long before the outdoor ones are ready.

“SPROUTING BROCCOLI IS REALLY USEFUL FOR FILLING THE HUNGRY GAP”

❋ Collars can also help to deter the dreaded root fly, and you can make your own using cardboard, old carpet or roofing felt. ❋ Another major threat is the cabbage white butterfly.

Keep an eye open for the first of these flying around, and from then a regular egg patrol is essential. Look for small clusters of orange eggs, which are usually on the undersides of the leaves, and just rub them out between your forefinger and thumb. The more you remove at the egg stage, the better, as once the caterpillars develop they spread rapidly, and are much messier to squash!

! r e b m e Rem

ur hat yo ect t k c e s ch f dir Alway s are out o ey will a th brassic , otherwise er the t v h sunlig discolour o d n a … on wilt g seas growin

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❋ When planting out your cell- or pot-grown plants, draw out a drill like you would when planting potatoes. Plant the brassicas in the bottom of this drill.

Keep them well watered, and hopefully they will be fine, but if, after a few weeks, you see any that are wilting, or showing a yellowing on the lower leaves, then this is a sign of the dreaded cabbage root fly. Soak them well, then draw the soil up against the stems, just like earthing up potatoes. Fly damage to the roots will have set them back a week or two, but earthing them up will encourage new roots from the stems.

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ts of plan s u n e g a is a ily. The Brassic ustard fam us n m in the rs of the ge as e n b mem rmally know s le o are inf us vegetab o r e if cruc

Timeline ❋ MAY Now is the time to get your seedlings out of the warmth and into the garden – try to cover them for the first few days until they harden up. If it looks like there is a late frost then plastic over the top will keep them from frost burn. Water well if needed and check they have enough room as they start to grow.

SOWING My first tip is simply this: don’t be tempted to start too early – leggy and drawn seedlings on windowsills is a situation we have probably all encountered. If you have already done the deed, all is not lost. All the brassica family will produce roots from their stems, so if you have leggy seedlings, transplant them into pots and set them right down to where the seed-leaves are on the surface of the compost. That’s right, bury them to the neck. They will produce new roots from that long, white stem and make a sturdy plant.

Traditionally, brassicas would be sown direct in the soil, then lifted, thinned and transplanted.

I’m old enough to remember when the local hardware store had a pail of cabbage plants outside the door.

That’s before garden centres, plugs and cells had been invented. Just a pail of freshly dug, field-grown cabbage plants at a penny each. Aye, and that’s an old penny. For younger readers, an old penny was worth… well, beggar all, actually. The risk that came with buying these plants was what they brought with them from the soil in which they were grown, and that old practice was responsible for introducing clubroot to many gardens and allotments. These days, virtually all plants available to buy are in plugs or cells, and are grown in a sterile compost.

And that’s how most of us raise our brassicas today – in pots or cell trays.

You can do it the old way, because brassica seed is cheap – you will get far more seeds in a packet than you could ever possibly need. You can sow them directly in the ground, then thin them, and transplant the thinnings for even more.

❋ JUNE Now is the time to get your seedlings out of the warmth and into the garden – try to cover them for the first few days until they harden up. If it looks like there is a late frost then plastic over the top will keep them from frost burn. Water well if needed and check they have enough room as they start to grow.

But most of us have a limited area, and quality is better than quantity.

I sow in small pots, then transplant into cell trays when the seed-leaves are sturdy, but preferably before the true leaves have developed. If, as I mentioned earlier, they have become leggy on the windowsill, then

“I SOW IN SMALL POTS, THEN TRANSPLANT INTO CELL TRAYS WHEN STURDY” 32

transplant them down to the neck and grow them on in a polytunnel (if you have one), or in a frame, or just a sheltered place outdoors. This is a hardy family – these plants don’t really want to be in the house after they have reached the seed-leaf stage.

Once the roots have filled the cells, I repot some of them into 9cm (3½in) pots, then keep them in the polytunnel to grow on until they are large plants. I will generally wait until late May or even early June to plant these out. Why? Because the biggest pest to our brassica crop is the cabbage root fly. It is most active in May, and it seems to be attracted to younger plants. Either that, or bigger plants are more resistant to attack and/or better able to recover. It’s worth the effort to do this, with a few set aside as backups.

W W W. H O M E FA R M E R .CO.U K

PLANT FAMILY MEMBERS Other vegetables are classified individually and can be slotted in anywhere there is space for them. These include members of the squash family (marrow, courgette, pumpkin) as well as sweetcorn, beetroot, chard and lettuce. Other vegetables are classified individually and can be slotted in anywhere there is space for them. These include members of the squash family (marrow, courgette, pumpkin) as well as sweetcorn, beetroot, chard and lettuce.

M AY 2014

❋ JULY Now is the time to get your seedlings out of the warmth and into the garden – try to cover them for the first few days until they harden up.

If it looks like there is a late frost then plastic over the top will keep them from frost burn. if needed and check they have.

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SE ASONAL FE AT URE

PLANTING OUT All brassicas need a firm bed, so after cultivating the area, tramp it down really solidly. The best spot is after peas and beans in your rotation, as these legumes fix nitrogen in the soil, which brassicas need. Plant each cell with a trowel, and set the plants deeply, up to the first leaves. Water them in well.

VARIETIES There are many to choose from, and if the wealth of choice makes you wonder where to start, here are a few which have worked well for me:

❋ CAULIFLOWERS

‘Candid Charm’ and ‘Igloo’ (a mini variety) for summer, ‘Aalsmeer’ and ‘Walcheren Winter’ for winter, and ‘All The Year Round’ for… I’ll let you guess!

Quotable s

Training is was onc everything. The peach e a bitte ra cauliflow er is not lmond; hin with a co llege edu g but cabbage cation.

Mark Tw ain

1835-19 10

“ALL BRASSICAS NEED A FIRM BED, SO AFTER CULTIVATING THE AREA, TRAMP IT DOWN”

❋ CABBAGES

‘Greensleeves’ for loose-leaf spring greens, and ‘Pixie’ for a compact spring heart.

‘Primo’ for summer, but don’t forget the red ones like ‘Red Rookie’, and ‘January King’ is a reliable and very hardy savoy.

❋ SPROUTS

‘Montgomery’ is a really hardy, latematuring variety, while ‘Cromwell’ is a good bet for autumn cropping.

❋ KALE

‘Dwarf Green Curled’ and ‘Blue Curled’ are good traditional varieties, while ‘Cavolo Nero’ is a popular choice among the Tuscan types.

❋ BROCCOLI

‘Early Purple Sprouting’ is as good as its word, cropping from February onwards, but you may like to try ‘Extra Early Rudolph’, which can be harvested from about November.

MIKE’S BASIC SOWING GUIDE 1 Sow thinly in small pots.

2 Separate the seedlings carefully, handling them by the leaves.

3 Prick out into cell trays.

4 Grow on in a polytunnel or cold frame.

5 A cell-grown plant ready to set out.

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