Kitchen Garden Forum

I now own a copy of Growing Unusual Vegetables by Simon Hickmott late of Future Foods.
My expectations are well fulfilled, particularly as I got it from Amazon.co.uk at far less than list price.
There is a very good coverage of nearly 100 cultivars, many of which I either grow, intend to grow or have already tried.
For instance Amaranth, Corn Salad,Good King Henry, Land Cress,Mitsuba,Watercress, Wild Rocket among the leafy ones.Others are Lemon Grass and Tamarillo, both of which I asked about recently.
If anyone has a specific need of information and it is in the book I can look it up for you.Please ask.
Allan

Thanks for that Allan. I may well refer to you in the spring.

Allan wrote:I now own a copy of Growing Unusual Vegetables by Simon Hickmott late of Future Foods.

It's interesting reading isn't it?

It was this book that led me to try growing Chickpeas last year. I sprouted them indoors first, then planted them out. They all grew into reasonable size plants (not as big as UK peas though). Most of them actually bore beans too. However these were not big enough to be worth harvesting.

However in a year like 2006, I think they would have produced a reasonable crop. They certainly did well as a green manure/nitrogen fixer.

Other things worth trying:
- Tamarind
You can buy packs of Sweet Tamarind fruits in Indian shops, eat the fruit, then plant the seeeds. They grow into a really attractive plant, with leaves a similar shape to a Mimosa.

- Ginger
Please see some of my other postings for this,



Colin

Simon used to be a KG forum regular back in 2001 when I first used it.

Future Foods appears to be defunct now as a plant supplier

I have done further reading and am addicted to the book. It is far more than just a list of plants, masses of background information,cultivation methods, history etc. I got my copy at £7.23 which is very reasonable indeed and I have reason to believe that there are more copies available at this price.
Allan

Would be interested how your grow your land cress, and whether you grow it in bulk. I once sowed one packet of seeds and the plants obviously self seeded because I often see little plants popping up all over the garden. However, I've never really grown it seriously, although it's such a useful little plant. Do you sow yours in rows, or just broadcast the seeds over a certain area, and do you find it's generally winter hardy?

My advice is forget about Land Cress, a more fickle plant would be hard to find. It just sits and sulks all winter and the leaves are tough, come the spring and you might get a few pickings then it goes to seed.Watercress is a doddle on the land if you treat it right, sow July or August, once you have some decent plants just root cuttings straight int more pots, you can quickly build up stock but work on the basis of constant renewal.
Alternatively you might like the large leaved polycress from Unwin or T&M, pickings in 3 weeks, I was sowing direct but now find small modules planted a better way of managing it. Very mild taste but nice texture.
The other one that I do is winter purslane, Montia perfoliata. If it ever goes to seed you will always have a supply but be drastic thinning it out.

I only need a few pots of watercress, just enough to flavour winter salads, so I root some of the sprigs of the stuff that you get in bags at the supermarket. They root very quickly in the autumn and grow well in a cold frame through the winter. Running water not required!

John

Allen/John, thanks for that info. I've always been under the impression that running water, or at least constant water of some kind was necessary to grow watercress. We have a very light stoney soil. Do you reckon I'd have any success growing watrcress in these conditions or would I have to use a pot with some very most good quality compost?

Hello Primrose
I pot on the rooted watercress into 5-6in pots of peat-based compost and stand these in trays with filled those water-holding granules (hydroleca? or something I think its called) though I suppose washed sand would do the same job. I keep it in a frame mainly to keep the leaves clean and water occasionally with a soluble high N feed.

John

Thanks John. My husband can devour watercress by the plateful so I'm going to give this a try, although I suspect that some of the pathetic bagged watercress you can buy in supermarkets at this time of year won't stand much chance of rooting. Will have to try and find the bunched stuff, which I imagine will root more quickly. So you don't atually mix the water holding granules with the compost but use it on its own to create a moist environment? This is the first time I've heard of using the granules in this way. You always learn something new on this site!

The plants quite quickly root through the bottom of the pot and into the water and granules - sort of simple hydroponics I suppose.
Yes I agree. You'll probably get far better results from a bunch rather than a bag.

John

My experience of water granules has convinced me that not enough is known about how to use them. They should not be necessary with pots of watercress in a tray as long as you keep the tray topped up at about half an inch of water or less. The most vigorous with mine at the moment is a tray of pots that I have standing outside, I keep feeding them with a pinch of Miracle Gro and taking the tops out for cuttings which are grown on in the cool greenhouse for replanting in the polytunnel.
Almost any bit of watercress will grow if potted up but the best technique seems to be tips about 2 inches/5 cm long with all the lower leaves stripped off, about a fortnight later they are ready to be planted out. In the summer you need to put a propogator cover on to stop them drying out.
Even the bits in a Supermarket bag will grow if potted up as long as you have a bit of main stem in there, next season use your on saved seedlings in summer just to get started.
Allan