Kitchen Garden Forum

Just looking what I've ordered from Real Seeds and surprised myself with the new ones I'd ordered and forgotten. Impulse buys!

Huacatay black mint, a pungent herb from Peru, a cross between coriander and mint,
Pipiche, Mexican coriander, citrusy- cilantro flavour
Sokol, breadseed poppy with white seeds that stay in the seed pod when ripe
North Round, Zha cai Chinese stem vegetable

The Chinese vegetables usually do very well here, I grew some different brassica and pak choi type vegetables from seeds my son brought back from a cycling trip round Southern China a few years ago, and I think they have started selling one as Kailaan here. It has a tender sweet stem, and the flowers and buds are good too.

Hi, has anyone tried Agretti (saltwort) seeds - I could be tempted to try these?

Thanks

Pawty wrote:Hi, has anyone tried Agretti (saltwort) seeds - I could be tempted to try these?

Thanks

Yes. I have and commented a couple of weeks ago on this thread.

viewtopic.php?p=128541#p128541

Looking at Alan's comment, I grew it as Salsola and although it germinated alright it wasn't very productive and as he says went woody.

New varieties I've tried this year are Huacatay or black mint which looks like a giant french marigold and tastes of mint but not as nice as real mint, Pipiche a dainty fine leaved plant with blue flowers which is said to taste like coriander, but I think it is nicer. I made a fairly late sowing of Rainbow Quinoa which are about 4 ft high so far and forming flower heads at the moment. It might be a bit late for them to produce anything but I'll keep my fingers crossed. The new black raspberry, Glen Coe, has grown well and produced some lovely rich flavoured berries. And the last new one is Special Swiss Sweetcorn also from Real Seeds, which isn't a hybrid. It has produced well filled good sized nice sweet cobs.

My chickpeas were grand - none made it home, they are just so nice when raw & green, I just went around with them in my pocket while doing the lottie chores & popped the peas out & munched them. I'll successionally sow them next year as when they aged & went brown they were a bit small to bother about taking home. I had 2 beds full - I (& the dog) ate about 50% before they went over. I'll also think about growing them higher, they don't get very tall! I've no idea of the variety by having them from the health food shop but got trusses (wrong word but get my drift) of about 10 or more on each wee plants so not a bad result per plant that only takes up a 6 inch space fully grown. And I've got 3/4 of the bag left!

I grew nothing really different this year which is very unlike me, but ordered most via the shop or bargain seeds so most all popular varieties.

Must try harder next year! Westi

I've thought about growing chicken peas Westi, but not got round to it. Must try next year they sound very good. How many did you plant and did you soak the seeds first?

Hi PP,
What I want to know is do Chicken Peas lay eggs?
Sincerely,
JB.

Hi Johnboy, predictive text strikes again

I think only peahens lay eggs!

John

Hi PP.

No I didn't soak them, just usual prep of watering the row first.

Westi

Thanks Westi, how many would you sow to get a reasonable crop? I know they don't have many per pod but how many pods on average does each plant have?

Hi PP

This lot had about 10 sets of double seed pods per plant, the last lot I grew didn't have this many, only about 5 or 6. (Got this bag of dried peas from Holland & Barrett, the previous lot from a local small health food shop). My beds for them were about 6 ft long but only about 2 foot max wide & got a double row into this with spacing about 4 - 6 inches between each. Do the calculations, but yes I do like them as does the dog!

I don't know much about their ideal growing conditions, you would be better checking feed & stuff by doing a bit of research. Mine was a suck it & see experiment, with every intention to grow them to dry, but had to have a taste of them raw & will be buying the dry or tins & will continue to just nibble these as I do the chores! Will probably do some more research myself, as these went over quickly but as I said peas too small to bother about taking them home - I'm sure the birds enjoyed them!

Westi

That's really useful thanks. They're on my shopping list for Holland and Barrat now and I've put a note on my to do list for next year.

Chickpeas sound interesting... I might need to try them as a 'treat' rather than bulk.

I'm a complete sucker for growing new things. This years trials -

Lemon grass - have grown really well in large pots. And you can cut as you need, although I don't know how long they'll survive (especially as the cats can't get enough of them).

Cucumelons - a few plants in a pot. They climb everywhere and produced so much fruit! Good in salsa. I took a bag in to work for everyone to try as they really confuse your taste buds. I'll probably grow them again as they're fun, tasty and easy to grow. Fantastic little plant for kids to grow!

Frilly sprouts - wow are the plants large! Yet to taste.

Pawty