Sweet potato slips: previously exotic, now a fixture in my garden
Sometimes you just fancy something a little different. Something you’ve never tried before; something to pique your tastebuds and stretch your gardening horizons, challenging your ideas about what you put in your veg garden each year.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ll never not grow peas, beans, spuds, or any of the usual tried-and-tested favourites. There’s a reason why they’re so popular, after all.
But there are so many tempting new edibles coming here these days, and I can’t resist an intriguing plant, especially if you can eat it. And after all, there’s a long and honourable heritage of ‘new’ fruit and vegetables adopted and assimilated into our veg gardens: even potatoes were once a South American exotic. I don’t think twice about sowing coriander every month or so for a continuous crop; garlic, once just something those funny people on the continent ate, is now as common as onions, and every bit as easy to grow.
You can watch other once-exotic veg edging into the mainstream year on year. Borlotti beans, for example, unheard-of when I started growing my own (hmmmmf) years ago, are now going into my veg beds alongside the runner beans every year. I try to get around to drying a few ‘Canadian Wonder’ beans for haricots as part of my annual routine these days, and Jerusalem artichokes, Tuscan kale, celeriac and kohlrabi are all regulars where a few years ago they would have been novelty items.
So what of the new kids on the block? The allotment regulars of the future?
Taro, or colocasia, just before planting: disquietingly similar to celeriac
Well – it’s always hard to predict what’s going to catch on and what isn’t. So in the interests of experimentation and curiosity, I try to find a few things each year which are a bit out of the usual and have a go at growing them. Sometimes they work; sometimes they don’t. I’m not sure I’ll be giving greenhouse space to tomatilloes again any time soon: last year they looked fabulous but from two large-ish bushes I got maybe half a dozen fruits, barely enough to make a single salsa.
So this year’s specials on the menu are:
Sweet potatoes: actually this is cheating a little, as I tried this with huge success last year so you could argue that they’re becoming a regular. I decided this year to opt for all ‘T65′ as they did best for me last year; ‘Beauregard’ has been rejected as a variety since the roots weren’t fat enough. Once again I’m growing in big containers: the slips are on my windowsill as I write, perking up ready to go into pots of compost for rooting.
Colocasia esculenta (also known as taro root): I popped into my local garden centre, one of the big sheds, to buy a water butt in a hurry. I was stopped dead in my tracks by taro roots at £3.99 each. I am so excited: I adore Colocasias for their ornamental value - they’re possibly the most lush, jungle-like edible out there. But this cheap (they usually sell for around £15) you can also justify actually eating the root. Though at the moment, it looks rather like a large celeriac, which is a bit disconcerting.
Goji berries: I am so proud of myself. I was sent some goji berries as part of a seed swap earlier this year (thanks again, Emma!) and thought, well, I might as well give it a go. So I sowed them on normal seed compost, gave them a windowsill and thought that would probably be it. But they germinated incredibly easily: I now have a dozen seedlings of these Himalayan superfruits growing lustily in my greenhouse. I shall let you know if they live up to their eye-popping health claims: they’re very pretty, anyway.
Perilla: another pretty, this time (more or less) on the herbal front, though you can argue the toss for including them in the salad bed too. I’m growing green perilla, also known as Chinese basil, which I’m told has a spicy taste reminiscent of ginger, and shiso, aka red perilla, used in Japan to flavour fish and pickles and (I like the sound of this) colour preserved plums scarlet. All I can tell you for the moment is that the seedlings are gorgeous: little perfect crinkled plants with just a blush of deepest plum purple.
My yacon tuber, sprouting anew after winter in the greenhouse
Yacon: now here I have a confession to make. I bought a yacon root from the rather wonderful Edulis at the Whitchurch Potato Day last year, potted it up and then forgot I had it. By the time I rediscovered the poor thing in a corner of my greenhouse, the root had swollen enough to pull its pot out of shape. It has forgiven me and is sprouting again, so this year I’ve earmarked a spot in my tropical edibles garden. I’m looking forward to large, leafy plants 2m high with crunchy, sweet tubers. Can’t wait.
Italian capers: I’m forever thinking of more things you can grow yourself instead of buying. I love capers on pizzas, and I’ve been toying with the idea of using nasturtium flowerbud substitutes - but that was before I heard about Italian capers, the real deal. It’s a perennial, with large pinkish-white flowers, and you pickle the flower buds for genuine, authentic capers. I’ve got the seeds sprouting now: again, surprisingly easy to germinate, and I have high hopes of home-grown capers before the year is out.
Achocha: another treasure from the Christmas seed swap, I haven’t yet sown my achocha seeds though I will any day now. This is a South American staple, and rather resembles a small cucumber, although with hard black seeds which you have to remove first. That sounds like it might be a fiddle – after all why not just grow cucumbers and save yourself the effort - until you realise that once you’ve removed the seeds, you can stuff them and bake them. Mmm… now that sounds good.
