Why are my carrots all twisted?

Now Peter, I have a problem, Attached is a photo of the carrots I managed to grow, my first ever attempt. I know carrots like a sandy soil and not to be over fed. I thought growing mine in my magic square would be easy. I used very good potting mix and everything grew fantastically and still is apart from my 'deformed carrots'.  What went wrong? or am I starting a new trend? these might look really good on Master Chef.

Cheers,

Christine

I Have a confession. This problem is 90% my fault. Christine's carrots were transplanted as seedlings, not sown directly into the soil. In the nursery industry we tend to use the term 'seedling' rather carelessly, of course it means a plant grown from seed. So what is the distinction?

Well in this case carrot seed sown directly into well prepared soil will germinate and fire a 'tap' root straight down into the soft and loving earth, and a shoot takes off in search of sun. Christine's carrots on the other hand were sown into a small pot or a punnet and then transplanted into her Magic Square Garden. And you can see what has happened... the roots were bent, twisted, folded back on themselves during the transplanting process and continued to grow in this rather sad, contorted and well Tortured position. They still taste great... carrot is a flavour that really does stand out when picked fresh from your own garden, but they are never going to win prizes at the garden show.

I did the guest spot with Jane Edmanson on the radio one Satuday morning and she took me to task over growing carrots in punnets. My rather lame defence is we resisted the temptation for a number of years but once carrots became a regular seedling line in nurseries we just had to supply what our customers were asking for. There is no doubt they are popular, whenever we do potting days for kids carrots are the most popular vegetable by far.

Anyway, there are good reasons to plant seedlings in preference to sowing seed.  Most obvious is the process of germinating seed is possibly the most challenging skill in horticulture. Those involved in striking cuttings or budding and grafting will probably beg to differ but raising seed is my favourite part of being a nurseryman. Challenging and satisfying. Now if you are a novice gardener wouldn't you rather have someone simplify the tricky bits? Another benefit of buying a seedling is that at least 4-6 weeks of growing time is saved and don't forget there's the issue of having to thin plants out because you have sown them too close together.

So you have decided you want to grow vegies from seedlings, not directly from seed. What do you need to do to avoid being labelled a carrot torturer for the rest of your life? Take a little extra time, especially with root vegetables. With carrots I like to dig a little trench, deep enough for the roots of your carrots to stretch out nice and straight (say 5-10cm).  Dig the trench with the soil you remove collected on one side, I tend to pull the soil towrds me. Keep in mind that is just hand digging our using a trowel. You will find the roots of young carrots surprisingly fibrous so just separate them carefully and lay them along the opposite edge of the trench to the collected soil. In well worked soil you will find that shaping a relatively smooth, sloping surface on one side of the trench where you can lay the plants is pretty easy. Once the plants have been placed backfill the trench gently covering the roots, it's a bit like tucking them into bed. This is one situation I don't recommend firming the plants into place vigourously, that's likely to bend the roots further. Just smooth the soil over and water them in. It's unlikely they will all grow straight and true but they'll be straighter for the bit of extra care given when planting.

Carrots are a great vegie to plant at any time of year, they easy to grow and very rewarding even if they are not all show quality.

By the way did you catch Italian Food Safari last night?  Fantastic recipe for Ravioli with a Cavolo Nero sauce. Yum!

Winter Vegetables - Kale!

I'll start this week with a big thank you.  I have been so overwhelmed with responses to last week's musings on Values that I have not been able to respond to everyone personally. So Thank you. The response has been extremely positive, helpful and gratifying. To be honest I nearly didn't send that newsletter because I worried that it was off topic. To those who replied that they would like a job at Scotsburn please keep in mind that Values are something we strive to achieve, consistency of execution is another challenge altogether. Of course quality people who share our values are welcome to send CV's....

Anyway, It has been genuinely miserable in Melbourne. Real winter weather had set in by Mother's day and I've had a filthy cold that refuses treatment. Think of something positive!  Broad beans! I wrote about Broad beans this time last year. Kale.  Now there's a terrific vegie. We have been harvesting fresh vegies from the Magic Square Gardens that returned from The Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. Beautiful Broccoli, lots of Chard & Silverbeet, Parsley & other herbs, Cabbages just heading but I noticed that the Kale has been worked around. We have both Cavelo Nero (Black Italian Kale) and Red Russian Kale in the gardens but no-one was picking these so I cut some young fresh Cavelo Nero leaves on Friday. Kaye's first question was "what do you do with it"? and this was repeated when I took them home. So now I know why the Kale is being avoided.


Cavelo Nero, freshly harvested.

This is a shame because these are fantastic winter vegies that love cold weather and are very easy to grow. Cavolo Nero has a "strong nutty" flavour and can be used in any way regular Cabbage is. The deep crinkles are especially good for catching salad dressings, just Google Cavelo Nero recipes, there are too many for me to start making suggestions. The great thing about Cavelo Nero is it is an open headed variety so leaves can be picked as required rather than picking and storing a large head, it's also easier to ensure slugs and ants have not made cosy homes between the tightly packed leaves.

 
Russian Red Kale.

If possible Russian Red Kale is even tougher and more cold tolerant than Cavelo Nero... "Oh those Russians".  It is also an open headed variety making it easy to pick the youngest freshest leaves as required.  Russian Red does have quite tough, chewy leaves making them a little more challenging than some other Cabbages but they are very tasty sauteed, or cooked in stews and soups as you might imagine. In fact both these kales are from a "Soup Box" we produced for the Flower Show. Carrots, Cavelo Nero, Red Russian Kale, Parsley and Ruby Chard.  How's that for hearty?

Yes Cavelo Nero and Russian Red Kale are both available Now and will be through winter in our Funky Fresh Kitchen 100mm pots. Cavelo Nero is also available in our My Vegie Garden punnet range. 

Musing on Values

I've been thinking about values lately. Let's not delve into why... therapy might take too long. We wrote a values statement for Scotsburn Nurseries a few years back: Dependability, Loyalty and Drive were the three things we decided we valued most. I believe "valued most" is pretty important to the process, it's actaually quite challenging  to cut out all the stuff that everybody values and focus on what defigns this little group of people.

Of course when we first settled on our values I was proud of them... but over time I have questioned just how effectively these three values defign who we want to be.  Do they reflect our character & culture or are they still just a bit safe and well, dull? We promote our values to our suppliers, customers, gardeners and importantly to our staff and I have a nagging sense that we still haven't distilled who we are and what we strive to be.

Some months ago I added a fourth value: Generosity. If you had missed this, that's fine I didn't sing it from any roof top. I like this, it says more about us. A new nursery hand doesn't expect us to tell them that we value generosity and that we expect them to be generous as well. But does it still come across as a little safe and boring? Could we value Fun as much as Loyalty?  Can we have fun without necessarily having to demand it?

Here's my current thinking:

Generous and Driven
Loyal and Independent
Dependable and Surprising

I'd love any feedback.
Not your standard gardening newsletter? But hey, it's mine.

Where can I find Winter Salad? Lamb's Lettuce? Mache?....

Hi Peter
last year a friend gave me a few punnets of seedlings of "Winter Salad" (aka Lamb's lettuce, feldsalat, mache, Rapunzel) from your company. I managed to grow it easily and would love to source some more, but can't find it anywhere. Luckily I kept the tag!
As this is my and my family's  favourite lettuce of all time (previously I could only look forward to eating it on my infrequent visits to Germany) I was wondering where on earth I could buy some more?

The nursery my friend got them from last year has changed hands and I have drawn mystified looks from other retailers. Most have never heard of this wonderful salad.
I'd love to plant it asap for this winter and have left a space in my vegie patch hoping you may be able to help me.
Sincerely
Rebecca

Makes my job easy really doesn't it.  We started growing Winter Salad a few years ago after my mum visited Germany, the Black Forest sticks in my mind for some reason.  It is actually closely related to Valerian (Valerianella locusta), thrives in cold conditions and is apparently extremely popular in Europe. Treat it like other salad vegetables, if you choose to cook it I suggest a short sharp flip in a pan or the microwave. That's all.  Winter Salad is a biennial probably best treated as an annual. Pick leaves from the outside of the rosette towards the middle, this will encourage development of more leaves.

We have sold a batch of Winter Salad already this season and I have directed Rebecca to a couple of the nurseries that have stock.