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Re: Idea?

> TO get more some threads going on the mailing list, I would like to
> propose a new plan.  How about if we discuss a vegetable a day or when
> we are tired of talking about it we can move on to another.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> You can still post what ever you want. 

Hi Duncan,

Yes, I'll buy that. Sure is quiet round here. ;)

I guess the reason is due to the season. Most of us aren't doing much
*active* growing at the moment.
Though at the moment I have Leeks, Parsnips, Carrots, Perpetual Spinach,
Brussels Sprouts and Cabbage ready for picking; plus Broccoli and
Cauliflower
growing for picking later on in the winter. There is Winter Spinach just
coming up. This is the first year I've tried this. I got it free with a new
magazine on vegetable growing. The seed merchant was giving away samples to
the readers. Nice man :)
There are winter onions and garlic coming up and four rows of Broad Beans
(I think they are called fava beans in the US). They will be ready in late
spring. They have the advantage of a) being earlier than the spring sown
beans and b) they are big enough and tough enough to resist the dreaded
black bean aphid, scourge of all beans growers.
So although we may not be doing much, there is still things going on. 

On the active growing front there is Chicory (Cichorium intybus "Witloof").
I have some sprouting in the
dark in a cool room upstairs. A great way to get fresh salad leaves even in
the depth of winter. You need to plan it in the late spring by sowing
chicory seed and thinning out to a final spacing of about nine to twelve
inches apart. The roots grow like parsnips but the young tops look
uncannily like dandelions so you need to be careful when weeding the rows
or blocks. You let the plants grow, keeping them watered in very dry
weather, until November then dig them up cut off the tops except for about
1 inch. Trim the top to a cone shape with a sharp knife, then store the
roots on their sides in dry sand or peat or something similar in a
frost free but cold place, like a cellar or an outhouse. When you want some
chicory,
take two or three roots, place them upright in a pot of damp sand or earth
with just the crowns showing.
Cover the pot with another inverted pot and leave in a coolish part of the
house, like under the stairs. You don't want them to get too warm, but on
the other hand they do want some warmth to get going. A temperature of
about
10 - 12 degrees Celsius is about right. They grow in about three
weeks. They form tight, white, cone-shaped "chicons"  with pale
greenish-yellow tips to the leaves, approximately six inches
high. They are really delicious, not bitter like some you buy. The reason
the shop bought stuff can be bitter is due to the fact that exposure to
light allows bitter tasting substances to form. If you grow and store them
in the dark, always, the bitterness does not occur. The leaves are very
succulent.
I recommend this to all winter salad freaks.

Regards
Stephen

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Stephen Griffiths
Barfield Allotment Association
Whetstone, London. England.
stephen.griffiths@dial.pipex.com.
 http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/close/xpz05/
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