Product Description
Inspired by memories of my vegetable chats with Antonio Carluccio.
March and April are the biggest sowing months of the year, everything from Med Veg like tomatoes, peppers, aubergines and melons, to staples like carrots, beans, spinach and more.
But for the last 2 seasons we have gone from cold and wet straight into extreme heat which plants hate, so basically no spring and LOTS of snails. Possibly worse, we’ve had 2 cool August/Septembers which are ripening months for our Med Veg. We need normal Aug/Sep temperatures but were getting 19, 20, 21c last year and I always do the Abergavenny Food Festival in heat but it was pretty chilly last year! Third time lucky I hope!!
With my friend Antonio Carluccio in mind, I’ve picked some varieties we used to talk about together. Antonio was passionate about vegetables, their provenance, seasonality, pairing them with other ingredients to come up with sublime traditional or innovative dishes in his superb book called ‘Vegetables’ which I was honoured to have collaborated in a small way on some of the varieties.
Perpetual Spinach – I’ve said this before, whilst actually a green chard technically, it doesn’t have the thick white stalks but instead thin green ones and massive leaves, AND they won’t bolt like spinach does as soon as the sun looks at it! Easy to grow, it has a long season and can be planted from spring to September! Use it as you would any spinach – see my recipe below.
Garlic (2 heads of Spanish) – Garlic is not only good for the heart, but will enhance any dish and keeps the vampires away of course. Sow garlic with the cold, so now is perfect. You should never plant supermarket garden as you have no idea of its provenance, though about 75% of garlic in the UK does come from the Far East whereas seed garlic, so it is resistant to disease. Separate the cloves without undressing them, and plant them a fist apart, their own depth down in the soil with the point facing upward. Harvest early summer. This variety is Spanish and ideal for a spring sowing.
Sunflowers – What, has Paolo gone mad? Well no actually because it is so important to have insects in the garden for the birds and pollen for the bees so Sunflowers are a great, beautiful to look at and child friendly. Plus you can roast any sunflower seeds you get, or leave them for the birds and squirrels of course. Without our little friends, we would not be able to grow veg so always have some flowers
Dwarf yellow French Beans Rocquencourt – These beans are stringless and being waxy, they hold on to a vinaigrette really well, so make fantastic bean salads. Simply pick them and boil till tender, then dress them whilst warm to make a lovely picnic side. Never ever make a vinaigrette over the beans directly. Always do it in a cup or you will have it too vinegary or too oily or too salty! And then bottle it and pop it in the fridge for several days. Tender and buttery, these beans are also great boiled until just tender and served as a side for any meal.
Red Onion Tropea Tonda – The round Tropea onion is sweet sweet sweet, a very high sugar content comes from the perfect Calabrian growing conditions, the soil, the sun, that you can almost eat them like an apple (Almost!). They caramelize beautifully and they are sweet when raw. Sow spring for autumn and autumn protected for spring….. one onion per small pot or grow them and when you get the chive like shoots, pop them in the ground outside.
FREE Sowing guide with every order - ideal for the newbie or experienced gardener alike.
FREE Recipe for ‘Torta di Spinaci’ by Paolo Arrigo ‘From seed to plate’ (Simon and Schuster) which includes the garlic above, the chard above and the onion above!
These 5 varieties would cost £18.95 but can by yours for £14.49 delivered, a saving of £4.46
Enjoy tutti
Paolo
MD of Franchi Seeds 1783 UK
