This episode saw us showing CUCUMBERS. They ranged from big green whoppers, to fat yellow specimens.

What you probably didn’t know, is that cucumbers were our BACK UP crop. What we should have presented on the show bench, was STRAWBERRIES.

There are 2 main types of cucumber, indoor and outdoor. These are sometimes called greenhouse and outside varieties. As we were asked to grow RIDGE varieties, that’s what I’ll concentrate on.

We had to grow at least 2 varieties of RIDGE CUCUMBER.
I took a gamble with cucumbers as I grew 3 varieties. However, as the plants produce so many fruit, I wasn’t too worried about having nothing to show.

HINT
Once you see the tiny cucumbers on the plant, water with tomato food every week. The cucumber won’t know its not tomoto and this will give you bigger fruit.

WHY ARE THEY CALLED RIDGE CUCUMBERS?

Basically, this refers to how the cucumbers used to be grown. It’s also the way in which I grow my cucumbers. You create a ‘ridge’ or ‘mound’ out of soil. I make mine about 2m x 50cm , and 30cm high. It’s just a case of digging the hole, filling it with manure or compost, and then putting the dug out soil back on top. This creates the ‘ridge’, and also means the new plants have a great source of food when they hit the manure.
You then plant the cucumbers on the top of the ridge, so that they are above soil level. The roots of the plant are then less likely to be stood in water if we have bad weather.
When I’ve done this, I like to cover the ‘ridge’ with black weed suppressant material. This means that you have to weed less, as not many weeds can get through the material. It also stops water evaporating from the soil as quickly, therefore not as much watering is needed either.

Varieties of RIDGE CUCUMBER I grew for the show –

• MARKETMORE 76 – This is an heirloom variety of cucumber, producing long dark green fruit. When you hear the work ‘cucumber’, this is the one you’ll think of. It produces well outside in the ground, or in grow bags.
• VEGA – This variety produces smaller than average cucumbers. They are normally around 5 inch long, mid/dark green and very crunchy. Ideal for kids lunch boxes, or to snack on during the day.
• BOOTHBY’S BLONDE – This is a heritage variety. I got the seeds from the Heritage Seed Library , they produce 6-8 inch long, fat, yellow fruits. Another characteristic of the fruit is, it has small soft black spikes on the stalk of the cucumber.

BACKUPS, OR SHOULD THAT BE, MAIN CROP?

This was the only week that the majority or gardeners couldn’t show their main crop. STRAWBERRIES performed fantastically last year. All over the country we had big juicy fruit, far earlier that usual. This was due to the great weather we experienced. However, for the show bench this was a nightmare, the majority of strawberries had come and gone (into the freezer for Thane’s ‘EAT’ challenges). So, the week before show day, the decision was made to show CUCUMBERS.

Varieties of STRAWBERRIES I grew –

• RHAPSODY – Late season variety, heavy yield, with a great flavour. Large dark red fruits.
• SYMPHANY – Late season variety. A vigorous grower, with excellent flavour.

Both my STRAWBERRY varieties were late season ones. This meant that they should have produced fruit in mid-late July, giving me fruit for the show bench. However mother nature had different ideas!

This episode saw us showing PEAS.

I grew varieties ranging from just over hip height, to ones that towered over my head. Some the colour of fresh limes, and others purple and velvety.
PEAS can be tricky to start off. Everything likes to eat a pea, as you saw on the show. We had mice, pigeons, pheasants and slugs after ours!
The easiest way to start them off is in root trainers. These special trays had lots of deep spaces for the pea to put it’s roots down. They also take up less space than normal pots in trays. This is presuming you have a greenhouse to start them off. If you don’t (I didn’t until this year), I just put them in the ground, then put an old fizzy drink bottle over the top of them. Make sure to take the lid off and chop the bottom of the bottle off. This means the bottle covers the pea and protects it from hungry mice, while still letting air circulate.

TIP
Make the frame for your PEAS before you plant them, otherwise you may damage the roots. Bamboo canes, hazel branches and special pea netting are all available to use. It depends on what look you’re going for.

SEED GUARDIANS
These are trusted members of the Heritage Seed Library who grow the very rare vegetable varieties. They then harvest the seed, clean it and send it back to the library to increase their stock. This means the regular members can then have a go at growing the variety in future years, thus stopping the plant from going extinct.

Find out more about the Heritage Seed Library below.

Varieties of PEAS that I grew for the show –

• BLAUWSCHOKKER – The pod on this variety is a dark purple, almost velvety to the touch. The peas inside are a bright, lime green. As you can see from the above photo, they have beautiful flowers as well.
• PEAWEE 65 – This is a petit pois variety of pea, giving really sweet peas.
• PANTHERS – This variety isn’t for commercial sale. Its a very rare variety from the Heritage Seed Library, it gives a heavy crop of big, fat peas. These peas taste like you remember peas tasting, before everyone had them in the freezer! This is a ‘Seed Guardian’ variety.

TIP
Hang old CD’s, DVD’s or any other shiny things around your peas. This will stop the pigeons eating the young plant. I also use the small windmills you can buy in and shop. They make a noise and move in the wind, frightening the birds away from your crop.

BACKUPS
The back ups this week were, FRENCH BEANS.
These can be tricky plants to start off as they like the weather a bit warmer than PEAS. FRENCH BEANS come in two main types, climbing and dwarf. The climbers can be anything up to about 2m high, while the dwarf ones may only be 25-30cm from the ground.
I grew a mix of the two types, with yellow, green and purple pods, all giving something to different to look at on the allotment.

TIP
Try growing the purple or yellow bean varieties instead of green, it makes spotting and picking them a doddle.

Varieties of FRENCH BEAN I grew for the show –

• BLAUCHILDE – This is a really tall variety, producing pencil thin, dark purple pods.
• SONESTA – A dwarf variety, so beware of beans touching the ground a rotting. Excellent flavour, bright yellow bean.
• NAVY BEAN EDMUND – Another Heritage Seed Library, Seed Guardian variety. Knee to hip high plants, producing small thin beans. Best dried and shelled. Used to make baked beans by the Australians during the war.

This episode we had to grow TOMATOES. As you’ll know, they can range from tiny sweet pearls of joy, to huge dark red monsters the size of a babies head!

Most TOMATOES need some sort of protection, be it a cold frame or a greenhouse. I did grow one on the allotment that could go outside, Marmande. Its a beef tomato that produces fist sized fruits. Although I only had 3 fruits off the two plants, due to the terrible winds we had and the fact they got blown over and the fruit was ruined.
TOMATOES can be started from seed in Jan-Feb time, if you have a propagator or space on your windowsill’s. If not, its easy enough to buy the main varieties in the garden centre, ready to grow on.

Bush varieties need little attention, apart from watering and picking the fruit.

Cordon varieties, however, need to be staked or grown up a sturdy wire. They also need their side shoots removed. The idea is to get the plant to grow tall, without wasting energy producing side branches. You’ll see that they form between the main stem and the leaf joint, just pull them off gently.

FACT
When you remove the side shoots from cordon varieties, don’t put them on the compost. Put them in a jar of water, they will produce roots and can be planted to give you free plants.

Varieties of TOMATO I grew for the show –

• GARDENERS DELIGHT – This is a reliable cropper, producing sweet, red, cherry tomatoes. It needs to be grown the cordon method (see opposite).
• ROMA – A red plum variety. Medium size, with good flavour. Excellent to make sauce with. Cordon method (see below).
• MARMANDE – Beef tomato variety, produces really knobbly, warped fruits (see above). Can be grown outside in the UK in a sheltered spot. Cordon method.

TIP
-Sow basil below tomatoes to keep insects away, they don’t like the smell!
-If your tomatoes won’t turn red, put a ripe banana in with them. The gas it gives off will ripen them.

BACKUPS
The backup this week, was COURGETTE. Now, I know most of you will be thinking this one must be easy. After all, courgettes grow like weeds and you end up with far more than you can use. However, we are growing to show them. Its so easy to scratch the skin on a courgette. In fact, they scar as they grow, due to the small spikes on the leaf stalks and the speed at which they grow.
Growing courgettes at home is pretty easy, just make sure there’s manure or compost in the soil, keep them watered, and KEEP PICKING!

TIP
Try and remove the flower from the end of new fruits ASAP, or they begin to rot from the end.

Varieties of COURGETTE I grew for the show –

• DEFENDER – A reliable cropper, with dark green skin.
• SAFARI – A good cropper, with striped yellow and green skins, slightly sweeter in taste.
• TONDO DI PIACENZA – An Italian variety, producing a round, fist sized crop. Quite spikey, and it’s hard to remove the courgette without getting scratched yourself (see opposite).

This week, we had to show OKRA.
OKRA is a tropical crop, it likes it hot and moist. Sometimes called ‘ladies finger’, OKRA can be tricky to grow.
The seeds are really hard. So, they need soaking in water overnight to soften them, before sowing. Admittedly, I didn’t do this when i put mine in their pot’s. When I realised that I’d forgot to do this, I stood the entire module tray in another tray of water for a day. This saturated the compost, meaning the seeds hard shell would be soft enough to germinate successfully. Once they start to grow, OKRA really do shoot up. Mine produced loads of fruit, but then they seem to have a break before fruiting again. I did think that the plant would produce fruit on the branches, yet they only seem to fruit from between the main stem and the leaf stalks.

Varieties of OKRA I grew for the show –

• CAJUN DELIGHT – Good plants for a cooler climate, but still really needs a greenhouse or polytunnel. Green fruit.
• CLEMSONS SPINELESS – Reported to be the most popular variety of OKRA on the market. Grows about 100-120cm tall. Best grown in the greenhouse. Green fruit

BACKUPS

This week, the backup crop was BEETROOT.
I love beetroot, it makes a great pickle, it’s good roasted with balsamic vinegar, grated on salads, or even added to casserole. What i don’t like about beetroot though, is the fact everything gets turned red. That’s why I grow every other colour, golden, white and candy cane striped!
Its easy to start the large seeds off straight in the ground, and as you thin them out, just move then somewhere else and they’ll carry on growing. I’ve even grown beetroot in old buckets, keep them closer together and they make brilliant ping pong ball sized veg!

TIP
As the beetroot grow, cut off a few small leaves and add them to your salads. They have a slight beetroot taste and add a bit of interest to the plate.

Varieties of BEETROOT I grew for the show –

• CHIOGGIA – This variety forms large roots which are striped like candy canes when you cut them in half. They look great sliced very thinly and added to salads.
• BURPEES GOLDEN – A golden coloured root, so no red hands or stains on clothes. Again, nice in salads, sweet flavour.
• ALBINA VEREDUNA – A white variety, which to me, looks like a turnip or swede as it grows. Again, no danger of staining, but all the flavour of beetroot.

CAULIFLOWERS and CAPE GOOSEBERRIES

Cauliflowers can be tricky to grow, they like to have some ground work done before hand to be successful. Really good soil preparation is key, they like to have manure in the ground, but it has to be well rotted. Cauliflowers also like to be firmed in very well. Don’t be scared to really push the soil down around them. This is because they don’t like to rock in the wind, this can cause the heavy curds to ‘blow’ (this is when the curd opens up and doesn’t look very nice).
Cauliflowers also like to be kept weed free, they don’t like sharing the nutrients in the soil with anything else. This is why I always plant mine through black weed suppressant material. Not only does it keep the weeds down, it also prevents the water evaporating from the soil too quickly. This is another issue with cauliflowers, they like to be watered well in the summer, especially if its hot. If you don’t do this, you risk the leaves growing through the curd.

TIP
Use old carpet as cabbage collars for your cauliflowers, its just as effective as the ones you buy in the garden centre, and its free!

Varieties of CAULIFLOWER I grew for the show –

• ROMANESCO – This is a lime green pointed cauliflower, some seed companies class it as a broccoli, but it’s definitely a cauliflower.
• ALL YEAR ROUND – A traditional white curd cauliflower, just like the ones you see in the shops. Can be grown for most of the year, hence the name.
• GRAFFITI – This variety can be a whopper, it also produced dark purple curds which look fantastic on the allotment, and its certain to get the neighbours talking!

Cabbage root fly can be a nightmare with cauliflowers too. They walk down the stem of the plant, and lay their eggs at ground level. When they hatch, the maggots crawl into the soil and eat the roots of the plant, eventually killing it. You’ll know if you’ve been affected by them, as your plants will wilt, look sickly, and when you tug at them, they will come out of the earth easily, with no roots. The easiest way to stop cabbage root flies, is to use ‘collars’. Collars can be made of old carpet, or specially bought from the garden centre. They are placed around the bottom of the cauliflower when you plant them. They stop the root fly being able to lay its eggs next to the dirt, thus stopping the maggots finding the roots.
Another problem for cauliflowers is the dreaded ‘cabbage white’ butterfly. These critters can sniff out a cauliflower quick as a flash. They lay their eggs on the underside of the leaves, so they’re tricky to spot. When the caterpillars hatch, they can strip the leaves on the plant in a matter of days. A few caterpillars aren’t too bad on a cauliflower leaf, but when they get onto the curd they can ruin it. Basically they leave their droppings on the curd, they look like small green balls, but as soon as you touch them, they smear. Who wants to eat caterpillar pooh!!
To stop the butterflies, you have to net yours cauliflowers, it should be a very fine weave, in fact I use old net curtains on my allotment. You can buy them cheaply from any second hand shop. This will stop the butterflies from actually getting in physical contact with the plant. Just be careful there aren’t any gaps in the net by the ground, as they will find their way in, any way they can.
Flea beetle can be a problem for cauliflowers as well. I find that any strong smelling herb will keep them away. I put mint plants and lavender in pots, then move them around my cauliflowers as needed. When you’ve picked all your cauliflowers, you can put them around your savoy cabbages. Its a great mobile insect deterrent.

FACT
Cauliflowers come in many different colours, not just white. Try an orange one, or theres yellow, green and even dark purple.

CAPE GOOSEBERRIES

To get the most fruit from your cape gooseberries, they need to be in a sunny place. It is possible to grow them outside in a sunny part of your allotment as long as there is no risk of frost, but you won’t get as much fruit as you will if you grow them in a greenhouse. Water them regularly and, when they grow flowers, feed them every two weeks with a tomato feed. As long as you sow your seeds early enough, you will be able to pick the berries from midsummer onwards. Don’t forget, never eat any part of a cape gooseberry that is green. They are poisonous, and the last thing you want to do is make a ‘killer’ jam!
Cape gooseberries are normally sold under ripe in the shops in the UK, they taste sour and aren’t really that pleasant. Plus, they cost a fortune. Its easy to grow them, but they do grow pretty big, I was surprised at the size of them in the greenhouse. However, the taste of a ripe berry off the bush was amazing. Fruity, yet not too sweet, nothing like the ones you can buy.
Cape gooseberries don’t really suffer from anything as far as I found. It was just a question of timing. I chose a variety that produces big berries, however they ripen later than the smaller berry varieties.
You can over winter cape gooseberries in a greenhouse for the following year, this will give you a bigger crop, earlier on in the year.

FACT
Cape gooseberries can be kept in their husks for months, so treat them carefully and you’ll be eating them at christmas and beyond.

Varieties of CAPE GOOSEBERRY I grew –

• GOLDIE – The sweet golden berries are the size of a cherry tomato and have a pineapple flavour.
• INCA BERRY – So called, because the comes from Peru. Its sticky and sweet, and bursting with flavour.