Posh Veg

Asparagus, Mangetout, Globe Artichoke, Swiss Chard, Kohl Rabi. It sounds like the expensive section of the Waitrose vegetable aisle, but these vegetables are easy to grow and we have as much as we want.

I grow globe artichokes mainly for their structural appeal, but last week we actually tried eating some of the heads. They were a bit fiddly, but very nice for a change. Some will be left on the plant to flower. They are basically massive thistles and the flower heads are most attractive to insects.

All these wonderful vegetables make for some very colourful and tasty meals.







At this time of year some crops are already coming in. Mostly the perennial crops, but some annuals too with a little help from the polytunnel. Other crops are still tiny plants, just being planted out into the warm summer soil. In fact, the second sowing of sweetcorn (after the first failed spectacularly at germination stage) has been waiting for space in the polytunnel which was made by the ejection of the fading mangetout plants.

Lablab bean seedlings

While I was about ordering the replacement sweetcorn, I came across a bean known as lablab bean and decided it would be worth a try. It has germinated well and is ready to be planted out to climb up amidst the climbing peas.

A replacement sweetcorn crop

should catch up quickly

grown in the polytunnel

ed - I wrote this a couple of weeks ago but forgot to press the Publish button - doh! The lablab beans are planted outside now and the sweetcorn is planted in the polytunnel beds. You wouldn't believe how much they have grown.