This week we finished planting the first of our outdoor potato beds, laying out 18 tubers of second early Wilja. This is, for us, a fairly modern variety, bred in Holland in the 1970s. It crops and stores well and can be treated as an early main crop. Mid way between floury and waxy, Wilja… Continue reading Sowing this week
Tag: sweetcorn
Sowing this week
This week we started sowing more of the tender crops. We started with French bean Beurre de Rocquencourt, a dwarf wax bean bearing pale yellow pods. Whilst the outdoor crop of climbing French and runner beans will provide a heavy crop over a long period, they take some time to develop. A dwarf bean will… Continue reading Sowing this week
Seed list 2014 – part 6 – odds and ends
This final article in the series looking at our sowing plans for 2014 covers those odds and ends that did not fit well in any of the previous parts. Included here are the tubers – potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes. At some point I would like to experiment with other tubers, such as oca, but I… Continue reading Seed list 2014 – part 6 – odds and ends
Seeds at Amsterdam’s Bloemenmarkt
Among the many sights of Amsterdam, there is the floating flower market, although one is not really aware that the row of large stalls is floating alongside one of the many canals, being so securely fixed in place. Its claim to be the world’s only floating flower market is, then, not nearly as impressive as… Continue reading Seeds at Amsterdam’s Bloemenmarkt
Disappointing second crop of sweetcorn
Our first crop of sweetcorn this year, sown on 30 April, was a great success. We grew a variety called Lark, which has given us excellent results three years in a row now. As with almost all readily available varieties, this is an F1 hybrid. Sweetcorn is one of those crops for which it is… Continue reading Disappointing second crop of sweetcorn
Testing sweetcorn for ripeness
I posted recently a brief article on the pollination of sweetcorn. Naturally, the next question is how to tell when the cobs are ready to harvest? The first sign to look for is the silks – the bundle of fine threads at the end of the cob – turning brown and beginning to shrivel. With… Continue reading Testing sweetcorn for ripeness
Pollination of sweetcorn
Sweetcorn or maize (Zea mays), is likely to be the only cereal crop that the general kitchen gardener will grow. It is a grass, and consequently wind pollinated. Generally, it is a low maintenance crop once established, and can be grown successfully outdoors or under cover. Sweetcorn grows a long stem, which, depending upon variety,… Continue reading Pollination of sweetcorn