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Project of the month

Try something different

Project of the Month
Scorzonera         -      New Zealand spinach

As our featured readers on pages 36-39 this month show, it is fun to experiment and to try something new. Sweet potatoes are a good option since they are quite expensive in the shops and easy to grow – but they are usually more reliable under cover in our fickle climate. If you do decide to give them a try, plant ‘Beauregard’, a variety developed to perform well under UK conditions.

There are some unusual vegetables that are easy and well worth a try outdoors including salsify and scorzonera. These will be familiar to many and can be found in most seed catalogues – they are an acquired taste, but salsify in particular has the advantage of also being an attractive plant with lovely purple daisy-like flowers that could be grown in the flower border. Simply sow thinly into soil which has not been manured; it is a good idea to sow either crop between rows of carrots since they like the same conditions and both are said to help discourage carrot fly.

New Zealand spinach is a leafy crop which contains lots of iron and beta carotene as well as folic acid. It is half hardy so is best sown thinly in rows once the frosts are over. The young shoots should be ready to harvest within six to eight weeks and make a great addition to salads or can be steamed gently in the same way as ordinary spinach.

Asparagus peas form attractive creeping plants that can be allowed to trail or trained up stakes to make them more manageable and to keep the unusual winged pods clean.
As well as the velvety lobed leaves, asparagus peas have pretty red flowers and all this makes them a candidate for growing in the flower border as well as on the open plot.

Sow in rows 2cm (3¼4in) deep and 38cm (15in) apart, thinning to 20cm (8in) apart once established. Harvest the pods when young (2.5cm/1in long), top and tail before cooking whole.

For more advice, see this month's issue, available to buy online!