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. 

When should I plant my Primulas?

I think the painted concrete urn sums up Primula Lollipops. It is a classic of the 50's & 60's but sadly not as popular as it was. There are good reasons for the demise of the concrete urn, but not so for the Primula other than it is a plant that takes its time to achieve its potential. 'Aint that the way of things? So it is my contention that Primula malacoides is the flower for the "slow food movement". Treat them right, give them time and the reward is worth every minute. Pansies may be prettier up close but I believe nothing matches Primulas en masse.

Primula Lollipops is the mix of a series including Gillham's White, Ruby Queen, Carmine Glow and Lavender Lady. Classics of the seedling industry. Primulas like sunny positions and well drained soil, no different to all the other flowers we grow. They are also exceptionally resistant to pests and diseases...EASY to grow. But! They are quite particular about when they get planted. In Melbourne, I believe the ideal window is beginning of March to the end of April. Nothing stopping you planting before or after, but these two months are the pick. In fact I'll go as far as suggesting we institute a new tradition: plant your "Primulas on the Easter weekend".

Planted earlier, the plants will often struggle in hot February weather so they're unlikely to flower any sooner than plantings completed up to a month later. Planting after the end of April is a bit like not cooking the Osso Bucco long enough, all the ingredients are there but you miss the magic. The Primula plant will flower according to season, it waits for the days to lengthen and the nights to start warming so choosing a planting time is mostly about allowing just the right time for a strong rosette of leaves to form that will support the multiple umbels of 'candelabra' flowers. Once the weather cools in May and into June the plants just don't develop fully before the flowers start to develop.

Gerbera Garvinea

We are getting closer and closer to releasing our first Gerbera Garvinea. This pic is a trial planter we are preparing for retail nursery displays. No tricks, Lisa has put 9, 200mm pots in the box and taken a photo.

Garvinea is a very new Gerbera bred for outdoor growing. The emphasis is on overwintering. These plants will happily survive consistent night temperatures below zero. That's not to say they will continue to flower through winter although Kaye has grown on plants we trialled last year in her garden and she reports some flowers right through the year.

Gerberas are very drought tolerant plants, we grow our regular pot varieties under clear glass through the summer and they love it. Having grown our Garvineas outdoors through the spring and a very wet summer we have learnt that they really do need good drainage. We had a large block growing on a low bed which prevented them draining freely. Just as we thought we had them ready we started losing plants to a very ugly wilt. At first I just thought they were hungry and didn't check properly. Having had our fingers burnt we moved them to a better drained, still outdoor position and they have re-grown roots they lost very promptly. Tough as nails, just need to be kept clear of wet feet.

A nasty stain

Hi Peter

I have some more problems in my vegie garden my beetroot is all leaves there is nothing growing or developing below the ground.

I have sooty mould on my bean leaves & little white insects as well, it is also starting to effect our basil.

I hope you can help

Regards

Maureen

 

My mum has a passion for Beetroot.  She actively tried to pass it on but only partially successfully.  I like Beetroot but I don't get that excited.  As usual though, home grown or at least home prepared is extra special.  Tinned beetroot is perfectly flavoursome but Beetroot is such a fantastic raw material for pickling, flavouring and cooking it is really worth having a go. Besides that, Beetroot is generally pest free and easy to grow.

These are beetroot we harvested this week from the Magic Square Display Garden we prepared for the flower and garden show. No additional fertilizer added, that's the value of a large volume of potting media for containerized vegies.

So what could prevent Maureen's Beetroot from developing a nice fat root? Generally the explanation is too much nitrogen encourages leaf development at the expense of root growth.  Of course this is one of my favourite topics, ensure your plants get abalanced diet.  Many commercial preparations over emphasize nitrogen because it makes plants look shiny and healthy easily but really it is junk food.  Chicken manure and chook pellets are also heavily weighted towards a quick shot of nitrogen.

My other mantra is "prepare soil thoroughly and if you are growing in containers use a premium potting mix".  The structure of the growing medium (soil or potting mix) is really important when growing root  crops such as beetroot because the root needs to expand and grow into the medium.  Poorly drained, soggy soil and hard compacted old dirt just don't cut it with root vegies.

At Scotsburn we have traditionally sold Beetroot seedlings year round in Melbourne although the text books generally recommend against sowing through the winter.  Experience says they will plant out quite happily, they just grow more slowly adding a few weeks to the standard 10-11.  There is an argument for direct seeding all root vegies as it prevents root damage during transplanting, of course from my perspective starting with seedlings takes away the problems of germinating seed.  Careful transplanting of seedlings also removes the need to thin out direct seeded plantings that have been over sown.  We sow Beetroot 'seed pods' directly into punnets and pots so each of these clusters can be thinned as you plant them.

OK so a little bigger than my recommendation, but they grew faster than we expected.  These were planted from advanced Funky Fresh Kitchen pots a couple of weeks prior to the Flower Show so that's about 9 weeks in the beds. Where did these beetroot go you ask?  So did I.  I believe Debra schanffled them.

Don't be afraid to pick small sweet leaves for salad mixes this should encourage more growth and ensure that the shoulder of the bulbous root is covered with soil as it matures to protect it from cracking when exposed to the weather.  And please pick your Beetroot before the bulbs reach cricket ball size.... taste sweet!

By the way.  Basil season is ending, getting too cold for Basil now.  Little white insects?  White fly.  White fly love beans and tomatoes.  They are sucking insects so treat them the same way as Aphids.  White fly doesn't generally create a lot of damage itself but it can carry viral diseases.

I’m going to leave fertilizing for a week or two, although I have had a very good enquiry about composting so I’ll get back to that soon.
I was giving a garden club talk this week and the question of “damping off” raised its ugly head. The poor lady asking the question didn’t even know what the problem was but she had spent good money on punnets of seedlings only to watch (some of) them slowly die, before they even got started. We have had a similar problem with large landscape plantings too, ouch!
Have you ever planted seedlings and had them just sit and not grow? Have you ever checked the roots of these plants? Always start with the roots. Often Pansies particularly will just sit and go nowhere, if you pull on the top of the young plant it will just come away from the soil with no roots attached. A root rotting disease has eaten the roots away. See the image above of young Soy Bean seedlings.
The most common form of the problem with flower and vegetable seedlings is a fungus called Pythium. Often it will cause no obvious problem, but if your plants are stressed say having just been pulled out of a punnet and squashed into the ground or planted during very hot or very wet weather the fungal spores have the opportunity to attack.
What are the solutions? Minimize plant stress! Start with strong plants with a healthy root system. Yes you should check the roots of any plants you buy. If possible, water your new seedlings in with a fungicide called Fongarid. Fongarid comes as a powder from your garden centre. Add some to a watering can and water your plants in with it. One application should do the trick. Treat Fongarid with the care you would any gardening chemical, but I am confident it is safe to use, it doesn’t actually kill the fungi, it provides the plant roots some protection.
What else can you do? Fungi like Pythium live in the soil. I don’t recommend fumigating soil (nasty poisonous stuff), so you will need to apply the Fongarid every time you plant out once you have found your soil is carrying disease. If you are growing in containers, throw out the old potting mix and wash your pots with chlorine solution, household disinfectant will do fine.
If you are really interested in Pythium, follow this link. I haven’t used the product ‘Re-bound’, but it is a chemical related to Fongarid and they give some really good background on Pythium.
Oh and if you are really keen follow this link to Wikipedia there is a list of the Pythium species as long as my arm.

Melbourne Flower Show

The photos I have used today are the first snaps taken of our MIFGS display supporting the Great Victorian Hanging Basket Competition. Congratulations to Deb who designed and Karen who put together this display. All this was achieved while keeping normal operations going. Just look at the detail!
We were judged in the ‘Outdoor Display’ category and I am proud to say received a Bronze award. Keep in mind, credit goes to all the 130 odd home gardeners who contributed hanging baskets to the display. Thank you to every one of them.
I have had one report from a show visitor. Robyn’s highlight was the Imagine garden which won the Gold award in the Outdoor Display. It is a stunning display put together by Swinburne University, a group of production nurseries (led I think by Humphris) and some of their suppliers. It is a monster project that took a couple of weeks and truck loads of plants to complete (ours took 4 days and 4 loads in our little truck and we still ran short of plants). Robyn also liked the Oasis garden (Silver Outdoor Display). Designed by Carolyn Blackman again, I am always thrilled to see bedding plants being used imaginatively and as an artistic palette. Plus the avenue of achievable gardens. My son Ben loves the Achievable gardens the scale is less threatening and they are genuinely inspiring.

Sadly Robyn’s disappointment was the Hanging Basket Competition. I will work on the principle that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. My thanks Robyn, genuine feedback is what I am really looking for, not just back slapping.
By the way a pdf of all the flower show award winners can be found on this page look for Downloads, 2009 Award Winners.