Holiday brings whole new look to vegetables (From Blackpool Citizen)

Holiday brings whole new look to vegetables

11:23am Thursday 16th August 2007

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IT'S amazing what can happen when you leave your garden unattended for a week. When we left on holiday my prize caulies were fine and dandy with firm white tight heads.

But on my return, I was dismayed to discover they had become misshapen with an odd purplish cast to the heads.

The normally tight curls of the head had started to split apart and one part had grown more than the rest, giving it a distinctly odd appearance.

I don't know whether I have left them too long without watering or whether too much rain started the rot, but in the end I snipped them off at the root and they met their maker via a casserole - and very tasty they were too, despite their deformities.

As I said, it's amazing what can happen in just seven days.

I was pleasantly surprised to find three massive swedes plonked on top of the soil in my square foot garden.

No, I don't mean they were lost Scandanavian tourists investigating my crops, but the basic root vegetable which many people ignore but which is actually very tasty.

I grew these with the intention of mixing them with celeriac which I also planted but which seems to have disappeared. Perhaps, like the swedes, it will just appear when my back is turned.

Mashing swede and celeriac is a bit time consuming but worth it, as together they make a tasty and colourful alternative to mashed potaotes.

I cooked swede and celeriac after first tasting it in a gastro pub in London. The only trouble is that celeriac (which looks like a cross between a swede and a turnip) takes twice as long to cook as a swede, but believe me, it is worth the effort.

The corn plants have thrived while we were away and look as though they will be ready to take in two or three weeks.

I also took a bowl of French beans and dwarf French beans which either I missed first time round or which had grown while we were away.

I also took some spring onions and a couple of larger onions and little bits of broccoli before they start to flower.

I think I will soon rip up the broccoli plants and start again. The cabbages look a bit moth-eaten and don't appear to be growing at all - but maybe they'll surprise me later.

The carrots and leeks in their respective £8 plastic dustbins seem to be thriving and I think both will be ready to dip into by the end of this month, or early September at the latest.

Along with the leeks and carrots, the strawberries are my new star crop. There are lots of plump looking green fruit appearing with a couple of them already turning half-red.

This barrel looks to be a better success than its cousin I used for growing potatoes and I am hopeful of getting some great strawberries from it over the next couple of months.

I can't wait to taste the first ripe fruit - watch this space.

If you have a little vegetable patch you are proud of or have any gardening tips you want to pass on, contact me via email on wwright@theboltonnews.co.uk

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