Common spinach, or more correctly Swiss chard, is one of the most rewarding home grown vegetables in terms of yield. But to make it a worthwhile crop, you need to find delicious ways to serve it at the table.

While you can certainly use very young spinach and/or Swiss chard in salads, when the plants get  a bit older, it is better to either blanch them briefly in boiling water, or braise with onions and/or other vegetables. This mix can then be combined with additional ingredients and used to fill pies or quiches.

Ingredients that Work Well with Spinach

While both onion and garlic are ingredients that combine beautifully in the pot with spinach and/or Swiss chard, it is probably Feta cheese that tops the list of “best with spinach”. Not only will Feta add flavour and a little saltiness, but it all creates a creaminess that makes some spinach dishes winners.

Eggs, bacon and mushroom also work incredibly well with spinach, whether you’re preparing creamed spinach topped with poached eggs, or a quiche cooked with the traditional custard topping.

Once you have experimented with these ingredients, you can decide which to include and which to leave out.

Winning Spinach Quiche Recipe

This recipe is based on personal taste and a need to prepare quality food quickly. Feel free to add and subtract whatever you wish … and enjoy. If you consider yourself to be a pastry fundi, make your own; otherwise buy ready-made frozen puff pastry. These ingredients will produce two good sized quiches using one pack of ready-made pastry.

You will need:

500 g frozen puff pasty

500 g (or more) home grown Swiss chard, washed (not dried), trimmed and chopped

2 medium sized white onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic (more or less depending on taste), crushed

250 g white button mushrooms, sliced

250 g lean bacon, cut into pieces

100 g (or more) Feta cheese

1 cup cream

6 eggs

salt and pepper to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoons butter

What to do:

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and throw in the onion and garlic. Cook over medium heat until it is soft but not brown, then throw in the spinach. Any water on the spinach leaves can go into the pan, but don’t add any extra. Allow to steam over low heat, tossing every five minutes or so.

Heat the rest of the olive oil in a separate pan and cook the bacon. Add the mushrooms along with the butter and coarsely ground black pepper to taste. Allow to cook briefly until the mushrooms are coated with butter, but before the mushrooms begin to shrink and lose their moisture content.

Roll out the defrosted pastry and line two 260 mm (10 inch) quiche pans.

Combine the spinach and bacon mixes together and add the Feta, crumbling it into little bits. Split the mix between the two pans.

Break the eggs into the c ream and whisk thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper before pouring over the quiches.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C or 350 °F and cook for about 40 minutes.

Serve the quiche on its own or with a simple tomato and lettuce salad. Enjoy!

Homegrown spinach casserole

Spinach is an incredibly easy vegetable to grow, particularly Swiss chard or silver beet. But what do you do when you are faced with kilo after kilo of fresh spinach?

Different types of Spinach

True spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is not grown as widely as high yielding Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris) which is, to many non-horticultural people all over the world, the only spinach there is. The most likely reason for this is that true spinach has a much shorter picking season, it doesn’t like too much heat, and it simply doesn’t produce the same sort of ongoing yields that Swiss chard and sugar beet produce.

The other type of spinach you will find is New Zealand spinach (Tetragonia expansa), which grows particularly well in the southern hemisphere, and makes an ideal substitute for other types of spinach.

The cooking methods and recipes discussed here are perfect for all types of spinach.

Ways to Eat Spinach

While raw baby spinach is a great addition to salads, and can be added to sandwiches instead of lettuce, Swiss chard is more commonly cooked, particularly once the leaves have grown and the stalk has widened through the leaf to form a distinctive white rib – or red in the case of ruby chard.

Probably the best known way to eat cooked spinach is the way it is prepared and frozen commercially all over the world – in the form of creamed spinach, often with the addition of Feta cheese.

But there are many more recipes, including quiches and tarts, and more complex and profoundly interesting recipes that combine spinach with eggs and/or cheese, and sometimes other vegetables as well. There are also a number of ways that you can cook chard ribs which are removed from the leaves before they are cooked, or in some instances after the whole leaf (stalk and all) has been blanched for a minute or two in boiling water.

So if you are producing a mountain of spinach from your garden patch (and that really isn’t difficult to do), before you get bored with boiled and creamed spinach, try cooking this healthy vegetable other ways.

Preparing Swiss Chard

Open just about any older recipe book and you will find a multitude of recipes that tell you to cook spinach in lots of boiling, salted water. The instructions will change from there, telling you to drain and press through a sieve; drain and refresh with cold water; drain and liquidise…

The thing is that cooking any vegetable in too much water results in much of the goodness being thrown down the sink; unless of course you use the water as a kind of insipid stock. It is much better to sweat the veg in a pot, using only the water that is left on the leaves after you have rinsed them. Do this at a relatively low temperature on top of the stove, until the spinach has wilted and is super-soft. Then you can revert to the original recipe. Usually there is hardly any moisture to drain, ensuring you are left with ALL the goodness. It also tastes better in the long run.

Recipes for Spinach

Books and books have been written about cooking vegetables, and most contain at least a handful that feature spinach. You will also find hundreds if not thousands of inspiring recipes on good cooking sites on the Internet.

Here is an original recipe born from the need to cook mountains of this year’s Swiss chard harvest (picture above).

Peel and halve one large white onion and two large red onions. Slice (not too fine) and cook in good quality virgin olive oil until transparent. While the onion is cooking, slice (about 10 mm thick) about a dozen young leeks (less if they are large) and add to the onion; stir. Now slice one red pepper, one yellow pepper and a green pepper (these add colour and distinctive flavour) and add to the onions.

While this is gently simmering away, trim the chard and remove the rib; don’t forget you can braise these (after removing the thin membrane that covers the outer part of the stalk) and serve with a sauce, or cook as a gratin.

Rinse a hefty handful of leaves and chop coarsely. Add progressively on top of the onions and leeks after stirring. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper; allow to cook until everything is nice and soft but not slushy.

Lightly butter a suitable dish and spoon a layer of the veg mix to cover the bottom. Place a layer of small black mushrooms over this layer. Don’t use chunky mushrooms and don’t try and squeeze in too many (you’ll need about 150 g mushrooms in total). Add sliced (preferably garlicky) salami between the mushrooms (you could use lightly fried bacon instead, and will need only about 100 g). Top this with another layer of veg and add some more mushrooms and salami. Top with a final layer of veg.

Now whisk together a cup of cream and four eggs. Season with a pinch of salt and white pepper to taste.  Grate about a cup-full of cheddar cheese (mature cheddar would be even better) and scatter over the top.

Bake for about half an hour in an oven preheated to 180 °C.

This dish is great on its own, but you could serve with a light tomato and lettuce salad and fresh brown bread or crispy rolls.

This lovely story comes from our customers, Richard and Jennifer Shawver.

“Thanks for the book on potatoes which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve read everything except for the diseases. I also bought your book on tomatoes and enjoyed all the tips for growing.

We spend part of our time here in east Malaysia where my wife has her house. I’m from Seattle where we go to my home. She is an avid gardener while I just grow one or two things each year. In Malaysia gardening is year round while in Seattle there is only one crop per year. This year I want to try growing potatoes using your tyre method.
Attached is a couple pictures of Asparagus Beans or long beans. In Seattle we planted them and the bushes grew to about five feet tall and the beans were about five inches long and 3/16″ in diameter. The same seeds we brought to Malaysia and they grew to about 40″ long and 3/8″ or more in diameter. It just shows you that what you can grow in one climate can’t be grown as well in the other climate.

Asparagus Beans grown in Seattle	Same Asparagus beans grown in Malaysia

Again, thanks for your book.
Richard and Jennifer”

My thanks to Richard and Jennifer for providing this interesting story and images. It’s amazing what a difference climate can make to the growth habits of plants.

We welcome contributions from all our readers, so if you have a story to tell about your veggie growing experiences, please send an email to info at growingveggies.com.

Cheers, Annette Welsford

While not everyone rates beetroot as their most popular veggie, it is a really easy root crop to grow in a home garden. Better still, there are now different-coloured varieties, including both white and golden fleshed beet, adding a new dimension to this soft, super-sweet root vegetable.

The Best Soil for Growing Beetroot

While you can grow beet in various types of soil, like most root vegetables, this plant prefers deep, rich soil that is nice and crumbly. It doesn’t do well in poor, sandy soil, or in soil that is hard and compact. Beetroots don’t like clay either, or soil that is acid.

Even if the soil seems to be reasonably good, you should always prepare it well before planting, using good quality manure and/or compost. It is, after all, the roots that you are propagating as your crop. Since they will develop in the ground, you want the best soil possible.

If your soil is on the poor side, it is usually best to give it a good dose of a good quality nutrient containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as adding superphosphate.

It goes without saying (or it should), that all perennial weeds must be cleared from the bed you plan to plant.

Planting Beetroot Seeds

Beetroot is normally grown from seed that is sown directly where the plants will grow. These should be scattered in shallow drills about 50-60 mm apart, 20-25 mm below the final surface of the soil.

If you live in a hot area, once you have planted the seeds, it’s not a bad idea to mulch your plantings to prevent the earth from crusting and drying out. But as soon as the seedlings stick their little heads out of the ground, remove the mulch and let them grow upwards.

The Growing Period

Even if every seed you plant sprouts, you aren’t going to keep them all. This is where the concept of survival of the fittest kicks in – only you will have to give it a bit of help. As seedlings establish themselves, thin out the growth, leaving only the healthiest seedlings to continue growing. If most are healthy and there really isn’t enough space, you can transplant to an area within the bed where seedlings may be a bit sparse … or replant somewhere else entirely (just be sure that the soil has been properly prepared for the second bed).

Your Beetroot Harvest

About eight to nine weeks after planting, your beet roots should be about 50 mm or 2 inches in diameter. You can start pulling from now, though some cultivars should be left for another two to three weeks. Be guided by the instructions on the packet.

Pests and Diseases

The most common pests to feed on seedlings and on the roots are cutworms.

In wet weather fungal diseases like leaf spot can be a problem.

Onions are a hugely useful vegetable that is good for making sauces, is delicious in stews and soups, and beautifully tangy in salads, and is guaranteed to a zing to the plainest sandwiches.

But not all onions are created equal. They come in different colours (primarily red, white, yellow and brown) and sizes, and the flavour of different types really is different.

Different coloured onions: Caledon Globe, White Pearl and Red Creole.

Different Types of Onions

Most of the onions on our supermarket and veggie store shelves are round bulbing onions. There are various cultivars including:

• Texas Grano, an early to mid-season type that is known to be a heavy yielder.
• Australian Brown, an excellent late cultivar that has a distinctive reddish-brown skin (or scales as it is more correctly termed).
• Caledon Globe, which is round in shape with a straw-coloured skin and pale yellow flesh.
• Hojem, a mid-season cultivar that is round and has a darkish skin.
• Various red onions.

One of the major differences between the various types of onions is that they have different needs in terms of the day length required for bulbing. For this reason you will see that some, like Texas Grando, are described as a short day onion, while others, including both the Australian Brown and Caledon Globe cultivars, are described as long day cultivars.

In all cultivars, bulbing will be accelerated if the temperature increases. Temperatures extremes also affect the shape of the bulb.

Spring onions, which are also called green onions, Japanese bunching onions and nebuka, have small white swollen bulbs (although they are technically not bulbing onions), long slender white stems and distinctive green tops (which are in fact hollow leaves). In fact spring onions are not a separate cultivar, but rather the seedling stage of a variety of cultivars, including White Lisbon, White Welsh and White Pearl onions. Even if these are packaged as “spring onions”, they may be grown to maturity, as bulb onions.

Used fresh or cooked, spring onions are essential to Japanese, Chinese and Thai cooking. They are also commonly used raw and finely chopped as a garnish for many other dishes including stews, soups and stir fries.

Compare the Taste of Different Onions

Not only do they look different, but different types of onions also have different tastes.

Compare the light burn of a newly picked spring onion to a large yellow onion for starters. Then slice open a pretty red onion and you’ll notice a sweetness the other two lack. That is why red onions are so often preferred for salad dishes.

You will also find that if you lightly blanch onions, by popping them into boiling water for a minute or two, you will lessen the bite.

Grow Onions at Home

Bulbing onions grow well in most soil types, except for heavy clay. Most cultivars need lots of moisture and they grow best in cool conditions, especially during the first few months.

If you want a good yield of firm onions, you will find that sowing time is more critical with bulbing onions than with most other vegetables, including tomatoes and potatoes. You also need to be aware of the fact that onions have a fairly long growing season, and they need constant attention during this time to ensure that they remain well nourished and watered, and are not threatened by pests or disease.

During the growth period, it is also important to weed regularly. Once the bulbs are well formed, you can reduce the amount of water given, so that the bulbs have a chance to firm up and dry out.

Bulb Fennel

Fennel is a much maligned vegetable that grows wild in some parts of the world. It is an outcast in the average vegetable garden because it is not a good companion for any other vegetables. Furthermore, many people find its distinct aniseed flavour abhorrent.

However fennel does have its uses, both medicinal and culinary, and it is incredibly easy to grow.

The Benefits of Fennel

Fennel has amazing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and some say anti-cancer properties. It is packed with fibre and it is particularly high in essential Vitamins A and C.

Traditionally fennel has been used to relieve a variety of gastric ailments, including constipation, but it is also very useful for treating cramps, fever, rheumatism, diabetes and obesity.

You can:

• Mix 45g of chopped leaves with one litre of water; boil, cool and use to bath sore or itchy eyes.
• Drink 350-400ml of this same brew every day as a tonic for memory and digestion.
• Grate the root and heart of the plant; mix with a tablespoon of bran, and take before meals as a natural laxative.
• Finely crush two teaspoons of the highly antiseptic seed and steep briefly in boiling water; use to expel poisons after a dog, snake or severe insect bite.
• Use chopped leaves as a poultice to help disinfect and treat a suppurating wound.
• Make fennel tea by steeping about 10ml of chopped leaves in a cup of boiling water for a few minutes; drink  three times a day to aid slimming.

What is Fennel?

The short answer is that it is a vegetable, a herb, a spice, and an invaluable ingredient in herbal remedies.

Referred to a bulb fennel as well as Florence fennel (finocchio), it is one of the most versatile plants you grow in your garden. Not only does it have a multitude of uses, but you can use every part of it. Often referred to as a type of herb, the leaves and seeds of fennel plants may be used as seasoning, the root makes and excellent laxative, and the bulb at the base of the stem may be added to salads, cooked or used as part of medicinal remedies. So in addition to being a vegetable and a herb, it is also categorised as a type of spice.

Growing Fennel

Fennel is a perennial plant, and can be sown from seed (although once it has been planted, it will continue to self sow itself for years, spreading without invitation). It is not particular about the soil it grows in and with minimal care and attention will quickly reach a height of 1.5 m or more. It does however benefit from the addition of compost and some good mulching during winter. This is essential if you plan to eat the bulb as a vegetable or salad ingredient.

You can trim the thin feathery leaves of fennel at any time during growth. To harvest the bulb at the base of the stem, cut about the ground, leaving the roots in the soil.

Don’t grow it anywhere near dill because they will cross pollinate. Don’t grow it near any of the brassicas because it often makes them bolt. In fact if you can, grow it away from any other herbs of vegetables.

Eating Fennel

There are many recipes for cooking the fennel bulb (or heart). To prepare, cut off the upper stems and leaves and remove the stringy exterior. This is the same procedure you would follow to prepare celery for cooking (incidentally it may be cooked in the same way as celery hearts).

Some quick and easy recipes include cooking quartered fennel bulbs in a little olive oil to which a clove or more of garlic plus salt and pepper has been added. After about 10 minutes add about 100ml or more of chicken stock and simmer slowly for about 20 minutes until tender.

You can also sauté fennel. Slice it thickly and then sauté in butter (covered) for about six minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so it doesn’t stick. Remove the pan lid and continue cooking for several more minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated. Place the cooked fennel in a serving dish. Rinse and dry the pan and cook a cook tablespoon of fresh parsley and other herbs in butter. Add a little lemon rind and juice; mix and pour over the fennel.

Another delicious way of serving fennel is to quarter and cook the bulbs, simmer in salted boiling water until tender, drain and then add to a pan with melted butter. Make a classic béchamel sauce with butter, flour, milk and cream; pour over the fennel, sprinkle with finely grated Gruyere cheese, and brown in a medium oven for about six minutes.

If you like the raw aniseed flavour of fennel, use the chopped leaves and finely sliced bulb in potato or green salads. The seeds may be heated in a little oil before you make stews and casseroles to add flavour.

Recently a grower from the UK sent us a photo of damage to a pumpkin plant and wanted to know what it was and whether it could be controlled.  This pest had apparently been a problem for a long time, to the extent that it was questionable whether it was worthwhile planting pumpkins or squashes again.

Photo of Squash Vine Borer sent to us by Amy Roberts, UK

Like all vegetables, pumpkins and squashes are no strangers to diseases and bugs. Squash Vine Borer (Melittia cucurbitae), which is what was affecting our grower’s pumpkins, is only one of the range of pests that affects members of the cucurbit family (members of which include pumpkins, squashes, zucchinis, cucumbers, melons etc). Besides the UK Squash vine borer lives in most temperate areas of North America, although not on the Pacific Coast. This pest is renowned for the fact that you cannot see it until it is too late (when the plant is wilted and does not recover when watered).  Close examination will reveal that the stem has been severed just above ground level.

Symptoms

When you examine the base of affected plants, such as the one above, you will notice a small hole and some frass (sawdust-like droppings).  The hole is a sign of the presence of the Squash Vine Borer.  If there are multiple numbers of borers, these pests can actually cause the stem to break – especially if it is windy – or to rot, depending on the weather.  The injury will also prevent the plant from taking up water and nutrients, which will ultimately cause it to die.

The Squash Vine Borer is the larvae of a species of black moth that attacks both wild and cultivated varieties of squash. The moth looks like a bee or wasp because of its movements, and the bright orange scales on its hind legs. It has a wing span or around 25 to 37mm (1 – 1^1/2 in).  The females usually lay reddish-brown eggs on the leaves, and when they hatch the larvae bore their way into the base of the stem; the larvae develop and feed inside the stalk, eventually killing the leaf. From the leaf, the caterpillars migrate to the main stem, and with enough feeding damage to the stem, the entire plant may die.

Squash Vine Borers can affect hubbard squash, pumpkins, zucchinis, gourds and other squashes.  It is not common to find them on melons or cucumbers.

Control

Gardeners find Squash Vine Borer a difficult pest to combat. Some try to avoid it by timing the production season to harvest before the pests can build up, or after they have peaked.  However, there are cultural control measures that can be implemented.

As Squash Vine Borers overwinter in the soil as larvae in cocoons, removing and destroying old vines after harvesting will help.  Tilling the soil will also help to destroy any cocoons that may be there.  Birds will also assist you with this job once the soil is tilled.

Once your crop is planted, if you are vigilant, you may be able to remove eggs when they appear.  As the larvae usually bore into the stem close to ground level, a paper or other wrapping at the base of the stem may assist as a barrier.  If you notice the plant wilting or a hole at the base of the stem, it is possible (if you are very careful) to slit open the stem and remove the larvae, and then cover the stem with moist soil so that it can grow more roots. In fact if you notice a hole, you can even just pile some moist soil over the affected area to try and promote new root growth so that the plant will not die.

An old trick for growing pumpkins and squash  is to cover the vine with earth at various points along its length, inducing rooting at several points, thereby continuing to feed the developing fruit despite the loss of the original stem. After the vine has taken root at multiple points, the infected portion of the plant can be cut off, along with another inch where the larvae is eating into healthy tissue, without significant damage to the plant. Row covers are another option that can be used up until bloom.

Some gardeners use pesticides, but these are ineffective after the larvae are inside the plant. It is also not recommended as these pesticides used to kill the adult moth may contaminate the flowers and thus kill pollinators through poisoned nectar or pollen.

Whether you call them eggplants, aubergines or brinjals, these delicious vegetables are generally under-rated in the Western world. This may be because the best known recipes involve stewing the fruit, often along with onions, tomatoes and courgettes or baby marrows. Cooked for too long, even the best French ratatouille or Greek moussaka will lose its appeal and become slushy and mushy. There are many ways of cooking these veggies, from stuffing and baking them, to preparing them according to a multitude of lesser-known cordon bleu recipes. Flash-fried Indian style, or added to stir-fried Thai curry, they generally retain a fairly firm texture, adding a mildly sweet flavour to the dish.

Varieties of Aubergine

There are many different types of aubergine or eggplants, both in terms of shape and colour. Taste also varies, with the most popular modern cultivars boasting a mild flavour with no bitterness.

Probably the most common varieties worldwide are the large, vaguely pear-shaped, dark purple- or black-skinned varieties. While this is the type you are most likely to find in your local supermarket, you can also grow white, green and striped varieties. Some are egg-shaped, some long and finger-thin, while other types are small and rounded.

There are many different types of aubergine or eggplants, both in terms of shape and colour. Taste also varies, with the most popular modern cultivars boasting a mild flavour with no bitterness.

Probably the most common varieties worldwide are the large, vaguely pear-shaped, dark purple- or black-skinned varieties. While this is the type you are most likely to find in your local supermarket, you can also grow white, green and striped varieties. Some are egg-shaped, some long and finger-thin, while other types are small and rounded.

Asian pea aubergines

The tiny pea aubergine is one of the most interesting varieties of egg plant. A common ingredient in Thai cooking, it is usually added just before the dish is complete. Some of the seeds you might consider planting in your vegetable garden include:

Black Beauty A classic variety that’s been around for nearly a century. This is considered the original eggplant.

Florida High Bush Another old favourite that was first bred in Florida in the 1940s. The fruit it produces is black-purple and often grows to 10 inches (more than 250 mm) in length.

Amethyst Hybrid This one is new on the market and is said to be particularly sweet and mild flavoured. The skin of the fruit is deep purple in colour and shaped like a teardrop. It is recommended for small garden spaces.

Antigua An heirloom white eggplant with streaks of violet; also mild-tasting.

Fairy Tale Hybrid A winner in the States in 2005, this plant produces clusters of long, thin eggplants that have a stripy pale purple skin. The flesh is white and not at all bitter.

Green Goddess Hybrid Pale green and cucumber shaped, this variety promises a steady supply of fruit.

Kermit hybrid If you enjoy cooking Thai style, order these seeds right away. The little ball-shaped fruit has a diameter of about two inches (50 mm) and a green marbled-look sin.

Machiaw Hybrid Another Asian-type eggplant, this variety has an extra-elongated slender fruit. The skin is very thin and so you don’t need to peel it.

White Lightening Hybrid Oval-shaped and snow white, this eggplant is as pretty as it is tasty.

It may be a surprise to discover that eggplants are related to tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. It may also be a surprise to learn that you only need about six plants to produce as much aubergine as any average household is likely to eat.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that a wide variety of crawling, burrowing and flying insects eat vegetable plants and the fruit they produce. While the first step in getting rid of these destructive pests is to identify them, the next is to decide how to kill them.

There are some broad spectrum chemical insecticides on the market that you can use to get rid of virtually any type of bug or insect, but sadly these kill good bugs too. And there are many good bugs in our vegetable gardens, some of which play an important role in pollination, and other that actually eat some of the bad bugs.

It is for this reason that a growing number of home gardeners are turning to organic products, and using non-poisonous ingredients to make their own “insecticides”. After all, if you are going to the trouble of growing food for your table, you don’t want to treat it with poison along the way!

Ingredients to Use for Homemade “Insecticides”

Generally the ingredients we use for homemade insecticides are those that have a strong smell or taste. They include:

• strong-smelling garlic,
• strongly-flavoured onions,
• burny chillies,
• sweet basil,
• marigolds,
• pungent Mexican marigolds,
• acidic bicarbonate of soda.

Some Useful Tips and Recipes

Both garlic and chilli sprays are useful for blasting of sap-sucking insects and for use as a deterrent.  Undiluted chilli spray may also be dribbled around ant trails. Other sprays, including bicarbonate of soda or milk spray may be used to treat leaf problems including rust, mildew and types of fungus. These should be used regularly to be effective. Soil fungus may be minimised by simply pouring boiling water on small areas that are affected.

You can sprinkle salt to deter slugs and snails, and make traps for fruit flies by filling plastic juice bottles with sweet liquid to attract them.

Mexican marigold plant

Indigenous to South America, Mexican marigolds (known as khakibos or the khakiweed in Southern Africa) contain amazing insect repellent properties. It works wonders as a pumpkin fly repellent (not only to protect pumpkins, but melons, squashes and tomatoes as well). Like ordinary marigolds, you can grow it as a companion plant, or simply scatter the leaves over and around the growing fruit. A bed of cut leaves is a particularly successful deterrent for insects that commonly attack tomato plants. Added to compost heaps the leaves also discourage cutworms and ants.

Garlic Spray

Chop about 100 g (3-4 oz) of garlic and soak in 2 tablespoons of liquid paraffin for 48 hours. Add two cups of boiling water and 30 g (1 oz) of finely grated soap. Cool and strain into a bottle; label and store in a cool place. Add 3 teaspoons of the mixture to 4 cups (1 litre or 32 fluid ounces) of water in a bottle with a spray nozzle.

Garlic and Onion Spray for Potato and Tomato Blight

Chop 4 onions and 2 big garlic cloves and boil in 12 cups (3 litres or just more than half a gallon) of water. Allow to cool, strain and use straight away.

Chilli Spray

Blend a hefty handful of fresh, hot, red chillies with 2 cups of very hot water. Add half a cup of soap flakes or finely grated soap. Cool and strain; and use 4 teaspoons in each litre of water.

Bicarbonate of Soda Spray

Mix half a teaspoon of bicarb with 2 teaspoons of soap flakes and four cups of hot water. Allow to cool before spraying on vegetable plant leaves.

Milk Spray

Mix 2 cups of milk with double the quantity of water together and use as a spray.

Herb Spray for Fruit Flies and Aphids

Boil equal quantities of chopped marigold, khakibos (Mexican marigold), tansy and basil and boil in about 5 litres (one gallon) of water. Leave in a pot or bucket until cool and then strain the water into a clean container. Now you will need ash made by burning leaves and twigs – 1 cup for every litre of water, to which a cup of sugar is also added. Spray onto tomatoes and peppers, and fruits like apples and peaches. The aphids and fruit flies will stick to the sugary liquid and die.

Although relatively difficult to source planting material, Chinese artichokes are an incredibly easy vegetable to grow.

Like potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, this is a tuber, but it is not related to either of these plants. Nor is it related to the globe artichoke which is sometimes called an Italian artichoke, and is not a tuber at all.

Mature tubers from this plant are small and spiral shaped, no longer than 4-6 cm (just a fraction of an inch) long. They are a creamy white colour and when clean have a pretty, pearl-like sheen.

Newly harvested tubers

About Chinese Artichokes

The botanical name of this vegetable is Stachys affinis, whereas the Jerusalem artichoke is Helianthus tuberosus, and the globe or Italian artichoke is Cynara scolymus. It is also has a number of alternative names including Japanese artichoke, knotroot, crosne and artichoke betony.

These are tuberous rooted perennial plants that are related to the mint family (Lamiaceae) and grow well in similar fertile, well-drained soils that are partially shaded. They form low-growing bushes that tend to sprawl. The leaves look similar to lemon balm (another member of the Lamiaceae family), but unlike lemon balm, they don’t have any aroma.

Growing Chinese Artichokes

These vegetables may only be propagated from tubers which are planted to a depth of about 75-100 mm (3-4 inches) and 225-300 mm (9-12 inches) apart. Rows should be well spaced – 450 mm (6 inches) – which means they do take up quite a lot of room.

Once established, this is not a demanding crop. While a little liquid fertiliser and mulch will encourage growth, the only other procedures to follow are straight-forward weeding and earthing up as for potatoes. They should also be watered regularly because if the plants dry out they become dormant. Hot, dry ground also produces small, bitter tubers.

Chinese artichokes are harvested once their leaves have died off in autumn. They should not be left in the ground otherwise they will shrivel. They also should not be left in the ground in the hope that they will sprout and regrow the following year. The tubers should be lifted before the soil is “cleaned” for the next crop to be planted.

Preparing and Eating Chinese Artichokes

The spiral shape of these vegetables makes them impossible to peel or scrape. However the skin is thin and so they don’t need to be peeled. A quick scrub under cold running water is all that is required.

The flavour of these unusual artichokes is delicate and nutty. They are sometimes eaten raw, but more often stir fried. They may be cooked in the same way as Jerusalem artichokes and are also popular as a chopped garnish.

In the East (in both China and Japan) this type of tuber is frequently pickled.