Product Description
Sow Gherkins NOW - Child friendly mini cukes, just eat them fresh not pickled. Fast growing and easy.
I remember Monty Don featuring these on BBC Gardeners World in July 2020 and correctly saying that gherkins are essentially small cucumbers. Spot on and it also means you can sow them late! Lets clear something up straight away - You DON'T have to pickle them though they pickle really well in brine with some dill and peppercorns and then you can store them for the winter months making sure the fruits are fully covered by the vinegar solution.
The funny thing is that most people don't even think about growing them to eat fresh yet we go to the supermarket and buy ‘mini cucumbers’ for the kids and they are not cheap! The best thing is that they are easy to grow. We eat them raw at home and at the end of the season if there are any left, we pickle a few jars of those. The kids sit on the grass and eat one after the other - dirt and all - what doesn't kill you makes you stronger after all!
Sow Brassicas Now - June and July are the 2 biggest months for sowing Brassicas as they are slow growing varieties which improve with cold or subzero (When do you eat Brussels sprouts? Christmas of course after a good frost). We are talking cabbage, cauli’s, pac choy, Chinese cabbage, kale including Cavolo nero, kohl rabi, broccoli, cima di rapa broccoli raab, turnips and anything else I have missed!
Our bestselling brassica has to be ‘Cima di Rapa’ or Broccoli Raab from Puglia. It’s a variety that takes 120 days from seed to plate and is sown from June to August and is harvested up to almost Christmas and laughs at frost! Its mainly used with Orecchiette Pasta with chilli and anchovies to make one of Puglia’s most famous pasta dishes.
Alpine Fennel Montblanc (Montebianco) Sow Now – There are 2 types of fennel – Mediterranean (we don’t have a Med climate in the UK!) and Alpine. Mediterranean fennel is sown Mar- May but the Alpine fennel season has just started (Jun to Aug) and is much better suited to a UK climate and in fact is the one I have more success with at home. They make good sized flattish bulbs and can be harvested till the first heavy frosts. The Montblanc is the tallest mountain in Italy and separates Italy from Switzerland and this variety is used to cooler temperatures than its Mediterranean cousins.
Best to sow in cells or single small pots then transfer them to the garden when they are bigger. Remember to water them so they swell and I would urge anyone who finds they have not succeeded with their (med) fennel in the past to try these. They can be cooked or eaten raw of course with those crunchy aniseed cheeks, they are wonderful in a range of dishes.
Buy all 3 packets for just £6.99 delivered, that’s a saving of £3.50
