Comfrey

According to my latest gardening book acquisition - River Cottage Handbook No. 4: Veg Patch - comfrey is a gardener's best friend for feeding, mulching and composting.

Its roots drive deep into the soil and pull up (otherwise inaccessible) minerals to the surface - I'm hoping this might obviate the need to use so many chemical-laden feeds.  It's also referred to as a "natural fertiliser factory" which can be used in a number of ways.  It's excellent used as a mulch, or for preparing and fertilising the ground you're putting your potatoes into, and even for breaking down compost more effectively.  In fact, the only drawback I've uncovered is its ability to spread and grow rapidly, but if you choose your variety carefully, you can limit any potential problems with regard to its spreading.  The Bocking 14 (Russian variety) is available from Thompson Morgan, whose write-up (as follows) is very informative:

"Grow your own soil conditioner! Comfrey ‘Bocking 14’ contains high levels of basic NPK nutrients and because it is a sterile hybrid, it won’t self seed all over your garden.

The nutrient rich foliage of comfrey can be used as a compost activator, mulch, or soaked in barrels of water for 3 to 5 weeks to make a useful liquid feed for tomatoes and beans. Scatter the wilted leaves throughout potato trenches just before planting, to fertilise the crop and improve their flavour! Once established, this quick growing plant can be cut 3 or 4 times throughout the growing season, for a constant supply of nutrient rich, organic, comfrey fertiliser. Height: 100cm (40”). Spread: 75cm (30”).

Special Features: sun or semi shade"

 

Tomatoes, courgettes, and beans in particular, benefit from regular feeds of comfrey tea - comfrey leaves left to infuse in a bucket of water for a few days - and according to various reports on the internet, you'll have a "heftier harvest".  Fruiting plants are lifted when their leaves are sprayed with it, and roots are healthier when fed with its nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus that their growth depends on. 

It's also used medicinally, and it's actually quite pretty:

All this AND it attracts bees into the garden too.  

Here's a link to a very interesting website that can tell you pretty much everything there is to know about comfrey:

http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/comfrey/index.php 

 

 

Decision made!

I had a dilemma yesterday evening; a sudden dose of cold feet about growing 'different' varieties of tomatoes.  By the time Martin got home from work, I was holed up in my home office drowning in a sea of conflicting information about what grows best where, and how!

The problem was the Black Russians - despite a few fairly local people reporting average to good success, I had read many stories on the internet of "masses of foliage and not many fruits"; "large, mutant fruits taking everything from the plant"; and "taste was nothing special when considering how much of a headache they were to grow".  So, as you can imagine, I felt quite glum about the BR's, and did the usual thing: cursed the internet!! Martin to the rescue....He's much better at Googling things and finding the best information.  

After half an hour of contemplation I decided to stick to my original plan, if I could satisfy myself that they could be grown (with some success) outside.  There are so many websites dedicated to tomato growing, but they all seem to speak to the experienced grower, whereas my principal concern was whether or not they would grow outside.  Loads and loads of faffage about what to feed them, when to feed them, but nothing basic; nothing for the amateur.  It took my stumbling across an article in the Daily Telegraph to find the information I needed: greenhouse or outdoor growing? Both.  Hurrah!  At this point I was on information overload, and could probably recite every troubleshooting point known to the most serious of tomato growers!  I didn't care.  As long as a heated greenhouse wasn't essential, that was good enough for me. I grew three separate lots of cordon-type tomatoes outside (in gro-bags) last year, with excellent success.

All that said, I spent much of last night silently seething at how much time I'd spent searching for the answer to that most basic of questions.  Perusing some gardeners' forums yesterday, (Grow Your Own etc), I read many questions beginning: "This is probably a stupid question, but......".  It's like we're all afraid to ask an experienced gardener what must seem like an obvious question, for fear of looking stupid.  At least I can ask my parents-in-law....I think I'll have to set up an "Ask Allen" forum!

Anyway, on to the fun stuff.  The tomato choices have been made, the order has been submitted to Mr Fothergill, and there's no going back now.  Here are my choices for this year:

Black Russian - there isn't much more I can say about these, it's all been done.

Green Zebra - I talked about these in my post of 6th January.

Tigerella - I'm quite excited about these.  Large crops that grow well outside, and can cope with a slightly cooler climate. I like the stripes too. 

Sub-Arctic Plenty - the name says it all really, but here's Mr Fothergill's write-up:

"(Small Standard) As its name suggests, this will set fruit even in an unfavourable season when the weather stays cool after planting out. Masses of early, large, cherry-size fruits ripen quickly on the plant. Upset your neighbours and have the first outdoor tomatoes ready to pick! Determinate."

Sungold - I had excellent success with these last year, and they were by far the tastiest tomatoes!  We couldn't get enough of them.  They need staking up and are indeterminate, but the fruits are cherry-sized.  The colour is the most beautiful golden orangey-yellow - hence the name.  I hope they turn out as well as they did last year.  Definitely one to pass on to Allen to see how he likes them.

 Red Pear - I liked the look of these as soon as I saw them:

Don't they look beautiful?  I thought they'd make a nice change from the tumbling toms and garden pearls -  I grew loads of those last year and I think I'm ready for a new 'cherry' choice.  I will probably still do a few tumbling toms and garden pearls as back-up, but I'm trying not to buy any yellow tumbling tom seeds - Martin will have kittens if he has to eat cherry tomatoes every day for three months, as he did last year!  I haven't told him that I came across two packets of Minibel seeds from last year; they were ok - nothing much to write home about flavour-wise, but a result nonetheless.

And that's it for tomato choices for this year...wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!!

ps All pictures have been taken from Mr Fothergill's site.

Morley in the snow

It's snowed all morning here; this is the view from our house:

I went out on my usual walk and it looks like we've had about 2" so far!!

My raspberries are looking rather sorry for themselves now; I'm glad I chose to put them in pots and bury the roots over the winter.

The Hottest Chilli in the World?

If you can get past the fact that this is a news item from 'The Sun' (insofar as one can ever describe any piece in the Sun as 'news' or even newsworthy) then it makes for interesting reading:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2916014/Worlds-hottest-chilli-and-comes-from-Grantham.html

Bhut Jolokia has long held the title of World's Hottest Chilli in most chilli fanatics' minds; but every now and then a serious contender comes along, and judging by the number of SHU's it definitely earns the title of 'contender'! 

All that said, what's the point in all that heat if there's no mention of flavour?

The seeds are here!!

An early walk this morning led me to our local Asda; browsing the aisles aimlessly, I saw rows and rows of seeds in all their colourful glory, brightening up an otherwise very dull morning.  I can't wait to get started now. 

Last year I grew some chillies in a pail that came with the seeds; it looked very pretty sitting on the patio and I've thought about getting another one.  What I saw in Asda this morning were tomato seeds, sold with a bright red pail...so I'm wondering if I should get one.  It's a little disappointing that the seeds are boring old cherry tomatoes and I think (after a much too plentiful crop last year!) that I'm quite over cherry tomatoes for now.  I'll no doubt do some cherry tomatoes this year, just not so many of the common or garden tumbling toms.  One intends to be a little more adventurous this year - variety, variety, and more variety!

Some of the varieties I'm interested in are as follows:

Black Russian - Beefsteak; purple to black skin; and reddish black flesh.  They tend to bear irregular sized fruits, but every article I've read about them includes a tribute to how tasty they are!  One of the reasons I'm attracted to Beefsteaks this year is the 'slicing' factor - my larger variety tomatoes of last year didn't slice very well and I wanted something that could stand up to being sliced.  But really, it's the colour that's done it for me - that and the fact that they're different, and it's a challenge!  I'm also assured (by my good friend Chris Rollings) that they are suited to the West Yorkshire climate - his mother has grown them successfully for the last ten years in Hebden Bridge.  I've taken the picture from Mr Fothergill's website. 

Green Zebra - I am reliably informed by Mrs Betty Pitchard, that these are one of the easiest varieties of tomato to grow.  They can get to 2-3 inches and start off green, turning yellow, but maintaining their green stripe - Betty has supplied me with the photograph below.  They have a very sweet and distinctive flavour and look very pretty mixed with red varieties in a salad!  I think I'll definitely be trying these ones, and passing a plant or two to Allen, my father-in-law, to see how he gets on with them.  An important point to note is that they don't go fully yellow, so pick them when they are just turning. 

Last Year's Sungolds were a great success, so I will most likely grow some more of those; although I am tempted to vary the theme if I can - more research on yellow tomatoes at a later date!

Happy New Year!

Last year I grew five varieties of chillies and five varieties of tomatoes.  Keeping my expectations to a minimum, I was very pleasantly surprised by not only the yield, but also the appearance and flavour of the fruits.  The overall result was overwhelming; and we were eating tomatoes until mid-October, and finished our last remaining chillies just before Christmas. 

This year I'm hoping to build on that success, and having gained much knowledge and hands-on experience of how to give chillies and tomatoes the best chance of growing to their full potential, I'm itching to get started. I began with a phone call to my in-laws (whose gardening knowledge far outweighs my own) to see just how early I can get the propagators out, and sow my first seeds.  For the last couple of years I've left the propagating until about mid-March; having no heated greenhouse I've made do with heat from the sunlight coming through my kitchen window; but January and February aren't exactly the best months to rely on such a method!  So, whilst it's convenient for Allen (my father-in-law) to get started with sowing his seeds of choice, it's best that I stick with March to kick things off. 

At present I'm flicking through catalogues and searching online for chilli and tomato seeds, hoping to find more unusual and interesting varieties, suitable for growing in West Yorkshire, and without the aid of a heated greenhouse.  Last year I was surprised at how well my Super-Hot chillies grew on my patio - in fact the ones I grew outside were superior to the ones I grew under-cover in my planthouse!  Obviously, the ones I grew indoors were the best; they ripened beautifully and were blisteringly hot and flavoursome.  But some of the ones I grew outside ripened well, and their flavour was rivalled only by the Paper Lanterns I grew indoors on our bedroom window. 

Whilst trawling the internet for advice about growing chillies, I came across this interesting link:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/PepperswithscovilleCentralMarketHoustonTX.JPG

The Scoville Scale measures the heat and piquancy of chillies.  The scale is named after an American Chemist, Wilber Scoville, who came up with a method of measuring the capsaicinoid content of chilli peppers.  He named his method  the Scoville Organoleptic Test, and below is an extract from Wikipedia which explains the test:

"In Scoville's method, an alcohol extract of the capsaicin oil from a measured amount of dried pepper is added incrementally to a solution of sugar in water until the "heat" is just detectable by a panel of (usually five) tasters; the degree of dilution gives its measure on the Scoville scale. Thus a sweet pepper or a bell pepper, containing no capsaicin at all, has a Scoville rating of zero, meaning no heat detectable. The hottest chilis, such as habaneros and nagas, have a rating of 200,000 or more, indicating that their extract must be diluted over 200,000 times before the capsaicin presence is undetectable. The greatest weakness of the Scoville Organoleptic Test is its imprecision, because it relies on human subjectivity. Tasters taste only one sample per session."

I thought the picture was quite funny!