Weeding the Web

Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs - Emma Cooper hunts out unusual edibles in her new book

You can't have missed the explosion of interest in new and unusual veg and fruit. Well, how about Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs (mmm, hand me a fork!).

Not only are these unusual edibles, but they make the title of a new book by writer and gardener, Emma Cooper. It's published next month and, as part of her virtual book tour, I'm delighted to welcome Emma to Weeding the Web.

Unusual title, Emma! What exactly are Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs and are we likely to see them growing in your garden?

It's explained in the book, of course, but Jade Pearls are Chinese artichokes and Alien Eyeballs are paracress (which has a number of common names, including electric daisies).

I have Jade Pearls growing on my allotment as we speak, and the Alien Eyeballs have just hatched (sorry, germinated) on my office windowsill.

The book went through several titles before I settled on this one. When I began it was going to be something about Plant Hunters, and then I wanted to call it IncrEdulis (which was deemed too geeky) and IncrEdibles. But I like Jade Peals and Alien Eyeballs better!

What made you want to write it?

It was a long time ago now (2010) when I came up with the idea for the book, and I would be lying if I said I could remember that far back with any clarity. But I have developed an obsession with growing unusual edible plants, and discovered that there are plenty of other people who share the same obsession, and I really wanted to know what drove them.

The subtitle of the book is Unusual Edible Plants and the People Who Grow Them. Chapter 4 comprises 35 pages of unusual edibles that the reader might like to consider growing, from heritage and heirloom varieties such as Vitelotte potatoes (blue, and remaining blue on cooking), through forgotten veg such as strawberry spinach and tiger nuts, taking in lost crops of the Incas, oriental veg, and perennials like Hablitzia, and a wide range of fruit, herbs and "weeds" such as garlic mustard.

It's a rich seam to mine. But also included in the book are other unknowns - or at least, people that very few of us have heard of, quietly pioneering the use of unusual plants. One of these is Sally Cunningham.

Emma, how did you first encounter her?

I read Sally's book, Asian Vegetables, in 2008 and was fascinated by a woman who essentially planted anything unusual she found in the ethnic markets in the Midlands. When she got involved with Garden Organic's Sowing New Seeds Project I went to Ryton and she showed me round the greenhouses and we've stayed in touch since then. I keep spotting her in the gardens when I go to Ryton.

What have you found inspirational about Sally?

Sally has a real can-do attitude when it comes to plants. She's not afraid of failure; she just plants them and does her best to work out what they need to keep them alive.  It's an experiment for her, and once she's worked it out she shares that information with the rest of the world.

And clearly she has thrown off the shackles of traditional horticulture, which is always nice to see. I think gardening in the UK does feel the weight of its history on occasions, and that can stop us moving forward.

Has she introduced you to any edibles that you’ve tried growing or intend to try?

Turmeric. And water chestnuts. Two things that conventional wisdom says will be tricky to grow in the UK. But Sally has managed it, so one day I will too!

The book features interviews with over 20 different plant enthusiasts. Some of them will be familiar to the reader, such as Alys Fowler and Mark Diacono. But the majority are surely only known to the real cognoscenti: people like Sally, Stephen Barstow (who manages to grow an incredible collection of edibles, despite living in the darkness of a Norwegian winter for much of the year) and Soren Holt, seed saver and plant breeder from Denmark.

Are there too many unsung heroes in the plant world?

Oh, definitely. If you have a book on your shelf, it has the author's name on it, and often acknowledgements, and all the publisher's information. A film doesn't go out without everyone who has played a role being credited.

But a plant in your garden? If you're lucky, then it has a label on it, so you know what variety it is - if you didn't plant it yourself, then it may not. But no one knows the history of that plant, who created that variety. And the history of who brought which plants to the UK for the first time is a little murky, to say the least.

We know about some of the famous plant hunters, but there are far too many unsung heroes and plant breeders who go unrecognised.

Do you think we put too much emphasis on celebrity in horticulture?

Big names sell, of course, so it's not surprising that there is an emphasis on the famous faces of horticulture. It's hard for unknowns to break into garden writing; garden design might be easier.

Of course, anyone can become a plant breeder or a gardener, but as you say - they are all unsung! I would like to see the emphasis on the plants, rather than the people, but I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Emma seems to have her finger on the pulse, bringing this book out at a time when unusual edibles like oca are rousing interest around the Internet, perennial vegetable planting is on the rise, and James Wong's seed collection with Sutton's encourages experimenting with edible dahlias and fuchsias. One wonders if it will last.

Unusual edibles are getting to be all the rage – how far do you think that this fashion is a flash in the pan?

I wish I had a crystal ball, because that's the only way to answer that question. Yes, unusual edibles are in vogue within a certain section of the gardening community, and certainly the plants and seeds are easier to get hold of for some things at the moment.

The Victorians were very good at incorporating new plants into their gardens, and in some cases would work for years to find out what conditions they needed, or to breed a new variety that would thrive here.

Most gardeners these days try something once, or twice, and then if it doesn't work they give up and move on to the next thing. So I think we need to redevelop our tenacity a little bit if unusual edibles are going to get less unusual.

What do you hope Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs will inspire in your readers?

Curiosity! So many gardening books present themselves as the one true gardening manual you need to have on your shelf, and it's absolute piffle. There are thousands of edible species across the globe, and you'd be hard pressed to even print a list of them in one book, let alone where they come from and how they grow.

When people read Jade Pearls and Alien Eyeballs I want them to think, "Ooh, that's interesting, I want to find out more about that," and then go and do some of their own research.

We've come to rely too much on 'experts' and not enough on ourselves. Unless you're just starting out, or you've just started a new garden, then the person who knows the most about your patch and what will grow well there is you, and people tend to underestimate that knowledge and experience.

I couldn't agree more. Here's wishing Emma all success with her book and thank you, Emma, for dropping by.

Catch up with previous visits on her book tour at Garden Deli: Excellent modern plants for the British kitchen garden and The City Planter: Spice up your pots with some unusual edibles and keep up with the tour through the month via Emma's Facebook page.

The book can be ordered from Amazon.

Greetings cards for gardeners

From time to time, I forage the web for cards for gardeners. Not so long ago Helene Taylor left a comment saying "I have a special relationship with most of my plants, but roses are really close to my heart." 

Well, I had to visit her blog after that, and it was a lovely surprise to find that she not only writes about gardening, but creates super artwork and produces greetings cards from her photos, some of which she generously lets you download  for free.  

Roses feature, of course, and I particularly liked her Gerbera series, but Helene has also just added a Gallery this year, where you can buy prints, canvases and cards, such as the Bleeding Heart pictured.

She's been blogging for a couple of years now, has a small but delightful garden, and her recent post Gardening with Difficulties makes one appreciate how much she achieves. If you think you take a lot of pictures of the garden, Helene manages 4000-5000 a year!

A month of blog loving : Head Gardeners' Blogs

For Emma Cooper, April has been #bloglove month, in which she set herself (and anyone else brave enough) the challenge of visiting and commenting on five blogs a day, and then reporting back. I, you will notice, failed miserably to rise to it. Vegplotting managed her own, less intense, approach, and both are well worth visiting to discover parts of the garden blogosphere that you might not yet have encountered.

For some time, I've been rounding up blogs by Those in Charge - head gardeners and their ilk. They vary considerably. Some, you feel, may possibly be written under duress, dashed off at the end of the day to satisfy the marketing executive, and quite a few have lapsed (no doubt when the marketing attention moved elsewhere). Others, like those below, build a fascinating glimpse of life at the hard end of the hoe.  Photographs feature strongly and the satisfaction gained from their daily work is palpable.

The Tattooed Gardener is by the Head Gardener of Trinity College, that particularly well-endowed Cambridge institution. Delightfully idiosyncratic, the blog not only carries lots of information on plants (with plenty of pictures), but imparts information on flowery tattoos and - a particular love of the writer - will brush up your knowledge of heavy metal and rock in almost every post (how long did I waste following the YouTube links?)

Buried within the website of Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Garden ("Ireland's most romantic castle") is Head Gardener, Anja Gohlke's monthly round-up of what's been happening, a temptation to visit Connemara.

Gary Webb, Head of Grounds at Compton Verney, Warks, the house and garden with an emphasis on art, tends 120 acres designed by Capability Brown. He's worked in the heritage environment for a long time and his blogging talents have just landed him on the blogging team of Heritage Open Days. Gary also tweets: @garywebb1.

Fulham Palace's informative monthly garden blog (recently been taken over by Acting Head Gardener Lindsay Schuman while her boss, Lucy Hart, is on maternity leave) has plenty of photos and interesting detail of the daily tasks of running a large estate of many parts.

Head Gardener Harriet Rycroft runs the Whichford Pottery gardens and writes Potting Up. This is a outsize clue to the blog's angle, as everything is grown in the pottery's pots. It's an easy-going look at what works and what doesn't and Harriet says: "Most of all [I want] to encourage people to experiment and not to be intimidated by prescriptive books and programmes." Harriet also tweets at @harrietrycroft.

Finally, The Sproutling Writes is a particular favourite of mine - a lively blog written by Libby, Head Gardener of Layer Marney Tower, Essex. She frankly describes herself as "a struggling amateur gardener in her home garden" but it's hard to believe as she imparts loads of useful information on what she does and how she does it, with a good dose of humour.

There are surely many other blogs by Head Gardeners out there. If you know of any (or write one) do add to the list in the comments below.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day : does this count?

Perhaps joining in the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day in autumn wasn't my brightest decision. I've been round the garden and there is nothing - not a thing - that has the merest hint of a bloom. Heavy frost followed by heavy rain has rendered just about everything black and sodden.  So, is this cheating? Here's something from a little earlier this month, when the frost iced everything with a sparkle and shapes came into their own.

Visit May Dream Gardens, which hosts GBBD, to see how other bloggers are finding their December gardens.

Brave gardener experiments in the interest of her viewers

Where did the time go? Can't believe I haven't posted yet this month. To come back with a bang, I thought you'd enjoy this film. It's priceless. And all power to Claire, who produces the lovely Claire's Allotment videos.

There's more about electric buttons below, but first, let's see how Claire braved the unknown, all in the name of blogging. As far as the rest of us are concerned - there's a lot to be said for vicarious experience!

So, rather Claire than me! Apparently, they can also make you produce a lot of saliva, which must be quite fetching with all that anaesthesia going on.

Electric Daisies are enjoying a bit of publicity at the moment, and are also known as Electric Buttons and, in the States, as Szechuan or Sansho Buttons. This is what James Wong says on his website about what them:

This fizzy 'space dust'-like effect - which my mates liken to licking a 9 volt battery - is produced by the pain-relieving agent spilanthol, which has meant that the plant has been traditionally used to treat toothache, mouth ulcers & sore throats for centuries. Spilanthol's muscle relaxing effects have even meant that an extract of the plant has found it's way into high-end face creams that claim to have a natural 'botox' effect.

In fact, the plant Acmella oleracea (syn. Spilanthes oleracea) is indeed known as the Toothache Plant.

I can't help feeling that the main application is medicinal, and herb expert Isabell Shipard gives instructions for use on toothache, mouth ulcers, cuts and acne. (No one mentions whether they'd be useful for anyone with Sjorgen's Syndrome, but it sounds possible.) But that hasn't stopped bright sparks thinking of ways to inflict them on the public.

In an NPR broadcast from 2009 Keith Dusko, director of operations for Haru, a chain of restaurants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia, described how he'd added them to cocktails, and a Washington DC chef was about to add them to a curry dish. A gimmick, if ever I heard one. But if he hasn't already, I'm willing to bet that our own Heston Blumenthal will experiment with possibilities.

Here's a chance to listen to what happened when programme presenter Robert Smith decided to have a whole one, and the explanation of spilanthol's effect on the trigeminal nerve.

Incidentally, if you actually do want to grow these little electric zingers, you can get them from Suttons.

Raising a song in the vegetable garden

Have your courgettes got away from you?  There's usually one, isn't there? You'd swear it wasn't there at all, then you wander around the garden with an idle coffee in hand and come across this enormous Zeppelin that has apparently landed overnight.

Last spring I gathered together some songs that you might be tempted to hum in the veg garden. Since then, I've been in touch with Lisa who runs the lovely Turning Earth blog from her Yorkshire garden. It's really worth a visit, especially if you're looking for help on a particular type of planting, such as on walls, in shade, for foliage, for scent, all advice drawn from her experience in her Yorkshire garden.

Lisa remembered a super little song from her parents' record collection,which she enjoyed as a child, "aware that he was probably being a bit rude, in that rather innocent "Carry On" films way". Well, we all know what courgettes grow up to be, if we don't catch them in time. Enjoy.

 

 

Bloggers' tips on growing potatoes in containers to produce a high yield

The post I wrote on growing potatoes in containers last September is currently attracting quite a bit of traffic, reminding me that I promised to round up the advice of bloggers who'd had a go at growing 100 lbs of potatoes in a 4 foot square container.

Just to recap, the idea is to earth up potatoes as they grow, with the idea that the plant will continue to produce stolons (and therefore potatoes) along the length of the stem, filling the container with potatoes at all levels. Results have been, almost without exception, disappointing, with potatoes at the bottom of the container, where the seed potato was placed, and a lot of empty soil above.

But... Let's revisit Phillip Cairns at Mudsongs. He had a go three years running, honing his methods but without great success. Last September he wrote to me: "If we don't get good results this year, we're done trying. We'll update the page on our website if the mini potato tower is successful (though we have our doubts)."

Well, go and have a look! Against his expectations, he harvested 33 lbs (15kg) of potatoes, double his previous year's yield. He says:

Many of the potatoes we harvested from our mini tower this year grew near the top of the tower just below the surface of the soil (and most of them were large potatoes), which seems to indicate that the potato tower hilling process actually works.

Strange life in the garden - or My Most Unforgettable Characters (with apologies to Readers' Digest)

Do you think the weather's bad enough in your neck of the woods?  Spare a thought for Patrick Vickery who writes the hugely enjoyable Ramblingbloke, and gardens for a living forty miles past Inverness (good grief! So far north and not swimming!). Consequently he's on intimate terms with chilly conditions that would make most of us wake up in sweat.

Here's how Patrick described himself to me:

I am what is known as a ‘jobbing’ gardener, moving from garden to garden throughout the working week. I drive a battered Ford Mondeo and wear a woolly hat. I am one of those scruffy-looking guys whose car is crammed to the gunwales with all manner of garden tools and accessories.

I can average eight gardens a day throughout the summer months, sometimes more. A diary is essential. By late afternoon I have often forgotten where I was in the morning. Two hours in one place is my limit. Anymore than that and the boredom threshold is breached. Variety is the key – a different location, a different cake (I am offered many cakes – perk of the job).

I'm delighted to say that Patrick has taken time out to guest on Weeding the Web. When he moved from the clement climes of Hampshire 25 years ago he found, "The growing season is short and the winters long, making life a little precarious at times for full-time gardeners." But he's not dwelling on the weather.   

The bloggers speak - can you increase yields of potatoes in containers?

Growing potatoes in pots will certainly make your patio more productive, but is it, as suggested by How to Grow 100lbs of Potatoes in Four Square Feet, possible to create a bumper harvest by continually earthing up the plants?  The idea is that by earthing them up all the way to the top of a large container, the plants will send out far more stolons and the container will, by harvest time, be bung full of spuds, all the way to the top.

In Potatoes in Containers we looked at expert opinion, which takes a very dim view of the likelihood of this. However, a number of garden bloggers have given it a go. So, how have they fared?

A Pressing Event for the Garden

When I said I’d be back in the New Year, I didn’t envisage returning as late as February but, after an extended break the season (and I with it) has bounced back into action with the Garden Press Event last week.

Essentially it’s a fair to which journalists and broadcasters are invited, where companies set out their wares (literally) in order to introduce themselves and their products to the media, with the hope of some decent media coverage in the coming year.

Personally I love it, but wonder if anyone actually manages to get round to every stall. I certainly didn’t, though, like last year, I arrived in time for the opening at 10.30, and finally staggered out just before it closed at 4.30, while weary stallholders were closing down and visitors had noticeably thinned out.

Big machinery was in greater evidence this year. Ryobi, there last year and who kindly gave me a mug, hadn’t returned, but Honda was showing for the first time, joined by Bosch, Husqvarna and Flymo.

Vertical gardening is still in its ascendancy, with all sorts of solutions for raising plants from the ground, either by attaching them to your wall, as with Treebox, planting pockets new to Crocus, and Blooming Cones from Best4Garden, or in freestanding equipment such as Vertigro.

The environment is obviously still a major selling point, and just about every item made of plastic has at least some element of recycled plastic within it, while transportation has been reduced in a number of cases. Nether Wallop Trading have brought back their production from Lithuania, while others, such as Flower Tower, have considered manufacturing in China but decided against it on the grounds of shipping costs, as well as concerns over ever-rising prices, reliability and quality.

Strikingly, everyone whom I asked was manufacturing in Britain, and considered it a point of pride. Combine this with numerous recent articles about Chinese inflation - including this one from the Financial Times in which Merryn Somerset Webb observes, “These days, if you don’t take the price you are given on the spot, it goes up in 24 hours,” - and you have to wonder if Chinese dominance over manufacturing will continue.

Those of us in the know now arrive at the Event with something on wheels. I certainly felt foolish, wheeling an obviously empty suitcase over Vauxhall Bridge that morning, but, come evening, heavily loaded with brochures, pamphlets and the occasional sample (not as plentiful as last year) I was extremely relieved to have something to take the strain.

The highlight of the day for me, however, was spotting a free chair at lunch (you have to move fast) and finding myself next to writer and presenter Nigel Colborn, who now writes for the Daily Mail every Saturday, is every bit as charming as his blog, SilverTreeDaze, and who has been smitten by Twitter.