Varieties of fruit/vegetables PROVEN as performing in AP

jessy

Love the cauliflowers.....can you steam and eat all the green leaves too ???

welshdragon

Yes! in fact there was enough for three meals for the two of us - and the pigs ate the stalks! :wave:

welshdragon

We have kept a note of the plants that have done very well in our growbeds inside the aquadrome.
All brassicas do well, obviously cauliflowers and brussel sprouts and calabrese.
Parsley plain and curled
Mint particularly applemint and wild water mints.
Celery we have been picking stalks from our plants for 12 months and it is still going strong.
Mustard- red and mustard in the snow
Chervil
Chard
Lettuce and pak choi in the cooler months.
Rocket
Nasturtium
Sorrel
Chives
Oregano
Mizuna greens
We are currently trying to grow Samphire(Sea fennel) as it is the in thing to eat with fish, or so we are told.

WD and OH

faye

Just wondering how long the cauliflowers took from planting to maturity? They look very healthy and pest free!
Is that because they are grown in the aquadrome, love that name by the way!

welshdragon

Hi Faye

Those are winter caulies and they take about 4/5 months to grow like that even if they are outside in the soil.The trouble is they all come at the same time so we will eat what we can and freeze the rest, although they never taste quite the same when they have been frozen.

We seem to have a bit of a problem with slugs in some of the beds, have you ever used nematodes to counter act them and do they damage the worms.?

WD and OH.

RupertofOZ

Blanch the caulis before freezing them... :wink:

welshdragon

Hi Rupe

Yes- we always blanch veggies before freezing but they still don't measure up to the taste of freshly cut and cooked.

Have you ever tried using nematodes against slugs in your growbeds?

WD

RupertofOZ

welshdragon wrote:

Have you ever tried using nematodes against slugs in your growbeds?

Nope, only had a slug problem once... and found that once I removed the "infected" plant... everything returned to normal...

The buggers played havoc with about two batches of seedlings before I got them under control.

dbird

Slugs make good food for my redfin ,just go out with a torch and it dose two jobs at once.

countryboy

welshdragon wrote:

Hi Faye

The trouble is they all come at the same time so we will eat what we can

That is something I am trying to plan for by stagger planting... Start new seeds/plants about 7-10 days apart over 3-6 weeks to spread out the harvest... Also trying to get better at using the big plants as a cover crop while growing lettuce underneath. Hoping it will keep the top of the bed cool and extend the lettuce season into mid-Summer...

CB

welshdragon

Hi Countryboy
In our hydro unit we have five sections of grow gullies for lettuce. As our lettuce takes thirty five days from planting to harvest we just harvest one section that is ready for sale each week and then replant it with young plants. We can keep this rotation going throughout the year. It seems to work OK. We have found that things take a bit longer in the AP

WD and OH

andrew-l

Those are fantastic WD - and cauliflowers are supposed to be hard to grow!

Our plants are coming along now, but nothing like that - well done!

welshdragon

Re slugs - we tried the old fashioned remedy of a saucer full of beer - and the photo shows the first nights turnout!
The beer that we used was Stella Artois that was six years past its sell by date which we found hiding in the out house.
We are still researching the best beer to attract and drown the slugs and will keep you posted on progress.

Attachment:

File comment: slug bath!

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RupertofOZ

welshdragon wrote:

We are still researching the best beer to attract and drown the slugs and will keep you posted on progress.

Yeah sure.... and I bet they're not stale... :laughing3:

earthbound

This sounds like something I'll have to start researching at the shop as well...

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