Archive for category Vegetable growing

In love with garlic!

Jul 10

Posted by Gardening Diva in Homegrown Food, In Your Garden Now, In the Veg Patch, Vegetable growing

The ancient Egyptians credited it with magical medicinal powers, and Roman legionnaires attributed their strength and stamina to the “stinking rose.” Garlic is one of my favourite garden crops.. quick to plant and very easy to grow, it stays buried  in the ground just waiting to be pulled, dried and cooked with!

I grew garlic for the first time last year and it is one of the easiest crops I know of! I have several troughs about 3 ft long and put 7 or 8 cloves of garlic in each in around October and basically just ignore them for the next 8 or 9 months! They sit in their little homes all green and lush looking and are seemingly indestructible! It was a horrible winter last year and I lost several plants in my garden, but the garlic just kept going.

We all know how great it tastes either as a flavouring or roasted whole as an accompaniment but it is also very good for us providing allyl sulfur compounds which some scientists believe have an ability to slow or prevent the growth of some cancerous cells.

It’s worth mentioning that the smaller you chop your garlic, the stronger the flavour and the more pungent it becomes. Garlic cloves which are cooked whole are generally quite mild so can be eaten whole, whereas garlic which has been pushed through a garlic press is 10 times stronger than garlic which has been chopped with a knife! Crushing also bruises the garlic so if you want a purer flavour, chopping is by far the best option. Therefore, if you want a milder tasting dish, either add whole cloves or lightly crush with the flat of a knife. I am adding some great garlic recipes shortly as I am in the process of drying my first crop of garlic, harvested about a week ago so ready to cook with next month.

I have to say I also love the whole process of pulling the garlic and drying it.. There is something really special about garlic bulbs hung up with the long leaves just draped and drying.. the faint garlicky smell permeating the room/shed. I have learnt this year how to make a garlic plait and it’s not as hard as it sounds if you take it step by step, and is really satisfying!

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Disaster has struck..

May 28

Posted by fkearn in Potatoes, Vegetable growing

..In the name of Blight!

Below are some piccies of the disease:

                  

It is May, and already the English weather has been causing problems! Blight doesn’t usually occur until mid summer when the temperatures are much warmer; however in Devon the weather has been really great for the last week (unless you are a tomato).

The hot days and cooler nights have tipped the humidity at the trial grounds glasshouse the wrong way. This has caused some of the tomato trials for this season to be infected by the disease Blight.

A possibly devastating disease that affects tomatoes and potatoes when the air is moist and warm. It is highly infectious. The disease reproduces with spores that float through the air very rapidly causing all susceptible plants to be at risk.

However there are now answers to this disease…

Fruit and vegetable disease control is a new product that will significantly improve your plants chance of survival. Spray when the first signs of blight appear and you may well save the plants.

How do you tell the first signs of blight?…

Blight is difficult to detect in the earlier stages however there is a test that you can use:

This brand new technology for home gardeners that is based on a pregnancy test is the answer to gardeners all over the UK and their battle with blight!

The kit contains several tests that can be used weekly when the weather becomes warmer and the special detectors in the kit will pick up blight before it can be seen with the eye.

Unfortunately here at Suttons we where not expecting blight quite this early and have been caught out. So this is to warn you guys to be vigilant when it comes to blight!

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Hello Gardening World

May 17

Posted by CYeoh in Novice Veg Growing

I’m back!  *waves*  The completely rubbish gardener – less green-fingered / more butter-fingered gardener has returned. 

I have read my last gardening blog which I wrote on the 20th October, over 6 months ago!  Lazy!  To be fair we have been very busy at Suttons and it has been really flipping cold so I didn’t get into the garden much.  I am very much a fair weather gardener – I did really miss pottering about outside though and have thrown self into this gardening malarkey with gusto over the past couple of weeks.  I will look forward to sharing my gardening adventures and mishaps in 2010 with you this summer. 

On first blog of the year – I will share the following ridiculous story with you to highlight the butter-fingered-ness.

  Do you remember the frog that I had in my garden last year? We had a near fatal incident in Autumn.  I picked up a pot and felt something slimy crawl across my hand and immediately screamed like a little girl.  The Fella came running out of the house thinking that I’d chopped my own hand off or something.  He looked on horrified as I dropped the pot right next to the little froggie that I had just disturbed and had made a run for it.  “You nearly decapitated Fred!” (for that is the frog’s name) he yelled as he tried to manoeuvre Fred into a safe position i.e. away from the panicking female.  Poor Fred – hope he comes back this year… but will completely understand if he doesn’t.

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A brief guide to growing plants in Containers

Apr 21

Posted by bodonnell in Flowers, Vegetable growing

Container gardeningSay ‘container gardening’ and many of us think of flowers in pots, but in reality almost anything from vegetables to fruit trees can be grown in a container providing it is big enough! The choice is endless: baskets, window boxes, tubs and troughs, grow bags and flexible planters for vegetables. But whatever container you decide to use there are always a few things to remember.

  • Try to use the biggest size container that you can. This will prevent the pot drying out and give the plants plenty of room to put down roots. 
  • For floral containers plant too many rather than too few. A packed container will present a lush, full effect. Just make sure you fertilise and water thoroughly to compensate for the extra plants. 
  • However warm it is during the day, pots and hanging baskets containing annual plants must not be left outside until the danger of frost has passed. 
  • Pots in an exposed position will lose more water than those in a sheltered spot and clay pots are porous and will lose more moisture than ones made of other material. 
  • Deadhead regularly to prolong flowering, this will also keep containers looking tidy and prevent fungal diseases. Because plants are close together, the opportunity for disease is greater than in a normal garden plot. • Feeding and watering are the key to successful container gardening. Never allow the compost to completely dry out and feed weekly during the growing season. 
  • Water either early in the morning or in the evening, so that the plants can take up the moisture before they are in direct sunlight. But if they are drooping around midday check how wet the compost it about ½ inch down. If it feels damp then the plants will pick up when the sun goes down. If you are interested in growing vegetables on your patio, visit our website where you can download our ‘Guide to Patio Fruit and Veg’ factsheet which includes suggestions of what to grow, how to plant and what kind of container to choose.

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Fatalii Paella recipe

Mar 3

Posted by Suttons in Homegrown Food, Peppers, Recipes

The next ingredient from our Pepper and Chilli Around The World Collection to get its own recipe is Chilli Fatalii, a pepper with a vibrant orange colour. This spicy Paella recipe is a favourite of Fiona’s who receommends it highly!

Ingredients:
50ml/2fl oz olive oil
150g/5oz chorizo, cut into small chunks
1 onion, finely chopped
1 Worldbeater pepper (from your collection), roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 Fatalii chillies (from your collection), finely chopped
½ tsp smoked hot paprika
½ tsp smoked sweet paprika
2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only
500g/1lb 2oz paella rice, such as Calasparra
175ml/6fl oz dry white wine
1.5 litres/2½ pints hot fish stock
1 tsp saffron threads
4 large tomatoes, seeds removed, chopped
12 raw king prawns, shells on
300g/11oz raw tiger prawns, peeled and cleaned
150g/5oz baby squid, cleaned, trimmed and cut in half
400g/14oz mussels, cleaned and debearded (discard any that don’t close when gently tapped)
300g/11oz clams (discard any that don’t close when gently tapped)
110g/4oz frozen peas, defrosted
1 lemon, juice only
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large paella pan or frying pan until hot and add the chorizo. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the chorizo starts to release its oils.
2. Add the onion and pepper and cook for 1-2 minutes until just beginning to soften. Add the garlic, chilli flakes, hot and sweet paprika and thyme and fry for one minute.
3. Add the paella rice and fry for two minutes until coated in oil.
4. Add the white wine and simmer until reduced by half.
5. Add the fish stock, saffron and tomatoes and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the liquid nearly absorbed.
6. Add all the seafood and cook for 3-4 minutes until cooked through.
7. Add the peas and lemon juice and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
8. To serve, stir in the flatleaf parsley and drizzle with the extra virgin olive oil.

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Red Demon Chicken recipe

Feb 26

Posted by Suttons in Peppers, Recipes

Chilli Red Demon

We’ve launched a new Pepper and Chilli Around The World Collection so thought we’d celebrate by adding some recipes for the varieties included. We’re starting with a recipe for Red Demon Chicken which uses Red Demon Chilli which is part of the collection.

Red Demon Chicken
Ingredients

For the jerk chicken
2 tbsp mild jerk seasoning
1 tbsp soy sauce
2-3 tbsp tomato ketchup (or barbecue sauce)
1 tbsp runny honey
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
2 tbsn vegetable oil

For the plantain
30g/1½ oz butter
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large ripe plantain, skin removed, cut on the diagonal into slices 2cm/¾ in thick

For the salsa
2 red demon chillies,(from your collection) finely chopped
½ small ripe pineapple, peeled and finely chopped
½ lime, juice only
2.5cm/1in piece fresh ginger, grated (optional)
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint

For the rice and peas
25g/1oz butter
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
100ml/3½ fl oz light coconut milk
100g/3½ oz basmati rice
½ x 410g/14oz can kidney beans (do not drain)
1 sprig fresh thyme
½ tsp salt
310ml/11 fl oz boiling water
1 green bird’s-eye chilli (or ½ Scotch bonnet pepper)

Step -by-step

1. For the rice and peas, heat the butter in a saucepan and gently fry the spring onions and garlic. Don’t allow them to brown.

2. Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil.

3. Stir in the rice, the kidney beans (along with the liquid in the tin), the thyme, salt and boiling water. Add the chilli, then stir, cover with a lid and bring back to the boil.

4. Once it’s come to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until all the liquids absorbed and the rice is tender. Fluff lightly with a fork to separate the grains, cover and leave to stand.

5. For the jerk chicken, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place the jerk seasoning, soy sauce, tomato ketchup (or barbecue sauce) and honey into a bowl and mix to a paste.

6. Use a sharp knife to make four or five deep cuts at an angle across the skin-side of the chicken breasts.

7. Brush half the jerk paste over the chicken with a pastry brush.

8. Brush a baking sheet with half the vegetable oil. Place the chicken breasts onto the baking sheet and drizzle with the remaining oil. Transfer to the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Brush with the remaining jerk paste during cooking.

9. For the last five minutes of cooking, place the baking tray at the top of the oven, where the temperature’s hottest, to brown the chicken. Check the chicken’s cooked through – there should be no pink when you cut into it

10. For the plantain, heat the butter and oil in a pan over a medium heat, add the plantain and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden-brown. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper.

11. For the salsa, place the onion, chilli, pineapple, lime juice, sugar and ginger, if using, into a pan and heat gently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, cool, and then stir in the coriander and mint.

12. To serve, place the chicken onto serving plates with some rice and peas, a few slices of plantain and a spoonful of salsa.

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Guarantee a better carrot crop

Feb 19

Posted by Suttons in Seeds, Special offers, Vegetable growing

Primed carrotsIt can be difficult to grow good carrots in heavy clay soil or in soils that are compacted or stony. Our simple-to-use growing pouches will ensure you a bumper crop from your patio – you can start harvesting in as little as 10 weeks! The secret? Our specially prepared “primed” carrot seeds have undergone a pre-germination process used by the best commercial growers ensuring that they start growing more quickly, guaranteeing you a better crop.

The kit contains 3 Growing Pouches and 1 pack of Primed Carrot seed (Norwich variety). Give it a try and let us know how you get on!

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Even more information on Potatoes

Feb 10

Posted by Suttons in Potatoes, Vegetable growing

In my last post I thought that I told you everything you ever wanted to know about potatoes but trusy Fiona, our veg buyer has come up with even more useful information.
Did you know that there is more vitamin C in a portion of new potatoes than in an apple? And there’s more fibre in a jacket potato than in a bowl of bran flakes.
So, potatoes are healthy to eat. But even better are the health benefits that  growing potatoes brings. From digging the ground, adding manure, planting, ridging up and finally…the most satisfying bit, digging the freshest, tastiest potatoes that are the fruits of your labour! Within minutes these can be cooked and served to the whole family with a knob of butter and fresh mint. Fast food couldn’t be easier! And, you know exactly were your food has come from.
How to grow potatoes
The MOST important thing to do is buy the best quality seed potatoes that you can find, at Suttons we have a fantastic assortment of varieties that will suit any sized garden. When they arrive in the post, unpack them immediately and lay them in a garden tray, or even better an old egg box so that each potato has support. Then leave in a cool dark place. Shoots will start to appear on the potatoes within days. This means that you will have chitted your potatoes.
When all the risks of frost have passed, you can plant your chitted potato seed. The soil needs to be well dug with added manure or potato fertiliser. Then you simply have to dig a hole approximately twice the depth of the tuber. Pop the potato in, and cover over, it couldn’t be easier! As soon as you see shoots appearing through the soil, you are going to have to earth your potatoes up. This is quite simple, using a garden hoe you need to pull all the soil around the new shoot up to cover the shoot. Sounds crazy, but this will improve ventilation and drainage and also combat weeds at the same time! Carry on doing this every week until the leaves get too tall to be able to continue.
Now you have to wait…why not plant a few mint plants so that they are ready to pick with your first harvest of potatoes? A little watering will also encourage your potatoes to provide bigger harvests!
The exciting bit… depending on the type of potato you have chosen to grow you could have waited 10 or 20 weeks for this! So get your fork out…time to go digging! Ensuring you dig widely enough around your potatoes to ensure none get damaged, and deep enough to make sure you get every last potato for your supper!

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Seed sowing in Scotland & Northern England

Feb 8

Posted by Suttons in In the Veg Patch, Vegetable growing

We had a question on the forum about vegetable growing in Scotland where it can get a little colder than here in Devon – so we’ve put together a list of varieties that should thrive in these conditions.

Beetroot Boltardy and Beetroot Globe 2

Broccoli Autumn Spear and Purple Sprouting Broccoli

Brussels Sprout Bedford Winter Harvest and Brussels Sprout Wellington

Cabbage April, Cabbage Greyhound, Cabbage January King and Cabbage Wheelers Imperial.

Carrot Chantenay Red Cored, Carrot Eskimo and Carrot Early Nantes

Cauliflower All The Year Round and Cauliflower Galleon

Curled Cress

Cucumber Long Green Ridge and Cucumber  Telegraph

Leek Musselburgh, Leek Autumn Giant 3 Albana

Dwarf Green Curled Kale

Lettuce All The Year Round, Little Gem Lettuce, Lettuce Unrivalled, Lettuce Webbs Wonderful and Cos Lettuce Lobjoits Green

Onion Ailsa Craig and Spring Onion White Lisbon

Marrow (Courgette)  Green Bush and Marrow Tiger Cross

Melon Sweetheart

Parsley Favorit

Parsnip Tender & True

Radish French Breakfast and Radish Scarlet Globe

Perpetual Spinach

Swede Brora, Swede Ruby and Swede Invitation

Sweetcorn Sundance

Tomato Ailsa Craig and Tomato Moneymaker

Pea Kelvedon Wonder and Pea Onward

Turnip Golden Ball, Turnip Purple Top Milan and Turnip Snowball

Beans: French Bean The Prince, Runner Bean Scarlet Emperor and Broad Bean Giant Exhibition Longpod

Of course some of these varieties are also available as plug plants but growing from seed is much more rewarding! Let us know how you get on.

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Everything you ever wanted to know about potatoes…

Feb 5

Posted by Suttons in Potatoes, Vegetable growing

One of our fastest-selling vegetables last year was the potato, as people realised how easy they are to grow and how delicious freshly harvested potatoes are to eat!

Types of potato
You may have heard of the term floury or waxy potato but did you know that this was determined by the amount of water contained within them?
Floury Potatoes are drier and are good for dishes where you want fluffy potatoes or mash – but beware these are the types that can go to mush if cooked too long.  Varieties to look for Estima, Maris Piper, Rooster and King Edward.
Waxy Potatoes are wetter and feel harder than the floury types.  They are firm and hold their shape so are good for eating with salads. Varieties to look out for Charlotte and Maris Peer.

What is the difference between:
First earlies – As the name suggests this is the one to plant for ‘new’ potatoes.  Planted in January to March they take only around 10 weeks to come to maturity and should be ready to harvest June to July. 
Second earlies – Will mature a little later than ‘firsts’, usually ready July to August.  Harvest straight away for small ‘new’potatoes or leave in the soil longer and get bigger Maincrop type spuds.
Maincrop – take the longest to mature (around 15 weeks) and are ready in September to October.  As they are left in the ground longer they produce much bigger potatoes.
2nd cropping or ‘Christmas’ potatoes: These are cool-stored first or second early varieties that are planted in mid summer to produce ‘new’ potatoes in late autumn or near to Christmas.  They are ideal for growing in potato buckets which can be easily moved if there is an early frost.  Look out for Maris Peer, Carlingford or Orla.

What is chitting?
Chitting is just leaving your potatoes to grow little shoots.  Chitting is not essential but it gives them a quicker start once they are planted out.   Put them end up in a light, frost-free place and wait for the sprouts to appear. Many people find egg boxes ideal containers in which to do this. The place where you chit them needs to be light as other wise you will get long weak shoots (so don’t use those forgotten potatoes from the veg rack!)

When to plant potatoes
While First earlies can be planted out as early as January, you should always be aware of the likelihood of frost in your area. Traditionally potatoes are not planted out until you can be sure that the first frosts are over.

How to grow potatoes
In the soil – Potatoes are traditionally grown in beds which are dug over and prepared with manure in the autumn.  Over the winter the frost breaks up the soil, then when the weather get better you plant your seed potatoes.  However if you don’t get round to preparing your bed in the Autumn, all is not lost just dig a trench (or if you have a very light or sandy soil don’t even dig a trench) add some organic matter, cover this over and put the seed potatoes on top.
With both methods it’s important to ‘earth up’ (cover over) the rows so the tubers on the top are not exposed.  Do this until the emerging plants are too big to do so, this helps control the weeds and also gives the plant more room to grow.
In buckets – Ideal for the patio, put a 3 or 4 potatoes in a large container, or specialist potato bucket or barrel and as the shoots appear cover then up with more compost.

When to harvest them
The longer you leave the potatoes in the soil then the bigger they become.  Earlies are harvested quickly so tend to be small, usually just after the plant has begun to flower while maincrops are left longer to become bigger, normally after the flowers have died back. If you are unsure about how big your tubers are then it’s okay to have a gentle rummage about under the soil.

How to store them
Store in a very cool, dark frost free place.  Potatoes exposed to the light turn green and are  bitter and poisonous, protect from the frost as frosted potatoes turn to mush while too warm conditions will cause the potato to sprout.

Thanks to the Potato book and the Potato Council’s  Lovepotatoes website.

Potato Book

Potato Book

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