Spoonie veg: Broad Beans

Spoonie veg rating: 3

After garlic, I think Broad Beans are my favourite vegetable. Whilst it's only a short season of cropping broad beans, those (approx) six weeks are just heavenly to me. There is something about freshly picked and cooked broad beans that sends my taste buds wild. Shop bought, whether 'fresh' or frozen, simply do not compare. However, from a Spoonie perspective, broad beans do require more effort to grow than easy growing veg like garlic or sorrel, or fruit like strawberries.

In my post introducing Spoonie Veg, I gave Broad Beans a rating of 3. That being: 1-2 requires few spoons, 3-4 moderate spoons, and 5 hard, lots of spoons needed in order to grow that fruit, veg or herb.

Growing
There are both tall and dwarf broad bean varieties available to grow. Some can be sown in Autumn and 'over-winter', and others should only be sown in Spring. Your seeds packets will tell you what type of broad bean you have and when to sow. I like to sow mine in Autumn, for as with garlic, I like knowing that I have food growing, even if slowly, over winter. Some people suggest Autumn-sown broad beans have a better chance to beat blackfly (more on this below), but in my experience the blackfly don't know this, and affect Autumn and Spring-sown beans the same.

Spacing out broad beans, the string dividing different varieties.

Some time ago I wrote a post on sowing broad beans via micro-tasking and I recommend you read this for detail on preparing the soil and sowing your broad beans. This breaks down all the different tasks and will be helpful in particular, for those with a chronic illness, and those new to growing may also find this useful.

Depending on the weather, you may have your first shoots from autumn-sown broad beans come up in November (if you sowed in October). But if the cold hits, then it might not be until early Spring.

Once your beans get to several good sized true leaves (see right), make sure you pinch out the tips (which you could add to a salad). This encourages the beans to develop at least two, if not more stalks, which means more beans. Note, though, that you should only pinch out tips for tall varieties, such as Aquadulce Claudia, Masterpiece Green Longpod and Bunyards Exhibition. I've tried it on the dwarf variety The Sutton in the last couple of years, and found that I got more stalks, but hardly any beans on any of them.

If you are growing tall varieties you may need to stake them, particularly if you have a problem with high winds. Try to remember to stake them before they get too tall. Trust me, I've learnt the hard way! It's SO much more work trying to stake fully grown plants. In high winds. In the rain.

From a spoonie perspective, growing dwarf varieties means no staking, so less work. Other than this, the key other tasks until harvest time is keep the plants weed free (so all the nutrients go to the beans developing, and not on the weeds) and to water them, particularly when they start flowering, and during any dry periods.

Growing broad beans in containers
You can grow broad beans in containers, but my experience has shown that the tall varieties don't seem to do that well. So go for a dwarf variety like The Sutton. As usual with container grown plants, you have to water them more frequently as their roots cannot dig down into the soil. So check your containers regularly and water when needed. It might be useful to give container grown plants a liquid feed, like comfrey, mid-Spring, to ensure the plants have enough nutrients.

Pests and diseases
One big pest is mice, who love to eat your newly planted seeds so that they don't even get started. Whilst mice are not currently a problem in my Sheffield garden, I found I had a problem with mice back at my allotment in Oxford, and the only answer was to sow seeds in modules and plant them out once the seedlings had developed a few good sized true leaves. Don't know what true leaves are? The first leaves a seed sends up are 'seed leaves'. The next leaves that follow on from this are the true leaves. The seed leaves die back once the true leaves get going.

Then there are slugs that like to have a good chomp on newly sprouted beans. A good chomp down to the base so there is nothing left. Again, the answer to this is sowing in modules and planting out the young plants. Slugs tend to not bother once the plants are a few centimetres tall. It's the newly germinated leaves they love.

(c) RHS https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/Profile?pid=797

If you get past the mice and slugs, then the next, and biggest pest, is blackfly (aphids). As mentioned above, my experience with blackfly, at both my Oxford allotment and in my Sheffield garden, is that they don't know the 'rule' about autumn-sown broad beans being less affected. They laugh in the face of that so-called rule. I've not found any tip yet that can deter blackfly from the outset. But I do have one tip that works once you notice you have infected plants.

It seems to be generally well-known that squirting soapy water onto affected plants can help. But none of the information that I've come across on this goes into any detail, other than say 'squirt with soapy water'. So here it is. When you come across the infected plants, use a plastic squirt bottle with your soapy water, and shoot the bastards. Give them a tsunami of soapy water. But, and this is important, if you only do this once, they'll soon be back. What you have to do is give them a good squirt every morning and evening religiously, generally for about three to four days. Yes, this requires the energy to be able to squirt, but luckily it is a very low form of energy use, and I think the satisfaction of shooting at them twice a day for three days outweighs the energy expended. And, importantly, it works. Every time. Usually I don't get anymore blackfly for the season once I've destroyed the first lot that turn up.

By the way, some people use their hoses on the blackfly. I've tried this in the past but I've found the blackfly always come back. Others swear by ladybirds who feed on all aphids, which is certainly true if you get enough ladybirds in your garden. Sadly I don't, so soapy water it is. The soap basically suffocates the blackfly, but not any ladybirds you do have, they will be ok.

Finally, disease. A disease that can often affect young seedlings is damping off. This is when they are attacked by some fungi-like spores that lead the young plant to collapse and die. Damping off is caused by high humidity, poor air circulation, growing seedlings too close together, and often because of over-watering. There is some useful information about damping off on the RHS website.

As this section shows, the pest and diseases affecting broad beans will mean more work. So it's really important to consider this when you think about growing broad beans. In all honesty, if you are unable to keep on top of these, especially the blackfly, you will have used up quite a number of spoons for what could end up being a small crop.

Harvesting
If all has gone well, harvest time generally starts in June and may go for up to six weeks, depending on how many plants you have grown. Try to harvest when the beans are smaller, as they taste better. I find in approximately 1m square I can grow enough for two people to harvest for 10-12 meals over about a month.

You can extend harvests, if you have spoons and space, by sowing a second batch of seeds in May to harvest in August-September.

Ideally you want to harvest the beans as close to when you are going to cook them. However, 'just picked' is for people who are well and don't need to have a rest after picking the beans. For spoonies, once you harvest your beans, put them in the fridge to keep them fresh. De-pod them later, then back into the fridge again. And then in the evening use them in your recipes. They may not be the trendy 'just picked' beans, but they will still taste amazing.

De-podded broad beans

If you pick broad beans when they are really young, then you can eat the whole bean, no podding necessary. Something I must try next year.

Eating
The best bit! There are countless recipes for broad beans. One of my favourites is Broad Bean, Mint and Feta Salad. The taste of the just steamed broad beans with the cool tangy feta is divine.

Broad Bean, Mint and Feta salad

Then there is Broad Bean, Bacon and Mint Penne. And I've adapted Emma Coopers Cheesy Peasy Pasta Bake, swapping the peas with broad beans, which work just as well. Another recipe, one I use towards the end of the harvest cycle when my first peas are ready, is Broad Bean and Pea Risotto. And don't forget you can always go for the classic, steamed with a dob of butter. Mmmmm, broad beans.

Broad Bean and Pea Risotto

As shown, broad beans are more work to grow compared to garlic or sorrel, and the spoonie Veg rating of three reflects this. If you have a chronic illness or mobility limitations, then you would need to decide if the amount and period of cropping (approximately six weeks) is worth the work/spoons needed to grow broad beans. For me, my love of eating broad beans makes it worth using the extra spoons needed to grow them. In fact, in 2017, I'm limiting my veg growing to pretty much to the essentials, just garlic and broad beans. That's how much broad beans mean to me.

How do you find growing broad beans? If you are healthy person, would you say they are easier to grow than a three rating, or would you say that this rating reflects the effort needed to grow regardless of health? And if you have a ill-health, have you tried growing broad beans and how did you find it? Would you rate broad beans at a higher spoonie rating than three? Please let us know your experiences in the comments below.

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I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on your experience, so don't be shy!

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Recent Gardening with ME and Spoonie Veg posts...
  Spoonie Veg: garlic
  Gardening with ME: harvest time
  Spoonie Veg: strawberries

Spoonie Veg: garlic

Spoonie veg rating: 1

Garlic, my number one vegetable. I adore garlic and have been growing and saving my own for years. It's wonderful in the kitchen, complementing so many dishes, and it is also very easy to grow. It's up there with Sorrel as being one of the easiest Spoonie Veg to grow.

This post goes into a bit more detail than my usual Spoonie Veg posts. This is because garlic is one of my 'specialities' (the other being potatoes) and I save cloves from each season to grow the following year. But it's also because garlic is so easy to grow and save your own cloves, that I thought it was worth including the extra detail. Just remember I am an amateur, and all information is based on my c. 10 or so years of growing garlic, but isn't expert.

In my post introducing Spoonie Veg, I gave Garlic a rating of 1. That being: 1-2 requires few spoons, 3-4 moderate spoons, and 5 hard, lots of spoons needed in order to grow that fruit, veg or herb.

Growing
There are two key types of garlic, Hardneck and Softneck garlic. The main differences between them are:
  Hardneck garlic, Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon: always produces a flower stalk (called a scape), is considered to have a stronger flavour, and has shorter storage qualities (more on that later).
  Softneck garlic, Allium sativum: doesn't produce a flower stalk unless stressed, has better storage qualities.

Otherwise they share the same growing conditions. Like most vegetables, they don't like acid soil, but do like well-draining soil. A lot of people have problems growing garlic in clay soils. At my old allotment in Oxford I was growing on heavy Oxford clay and interestingly found some of hardnecks did ok despite this, for instance, Georgia Fire and Persian Star. Here in Sheffield my soil is the wonderful combination of acid and clay, which is why I have 45cm deep raised beds. These have been filled with compost and well-rotted manure with a top up each autumn. This has worked well with growing garlic and I always get a good harvest.

Depending on the variety you can sow either in Autumn or Spring. I always grow autumn-sowing garlic, sowing October/November. This preference is mainly due to liking to know something is growing in the kitchen garden over winter! But there is also a practical reason, in that garlic generally needs a period of cold (0 degrees and below) to break it's dormancy. A warmer winter can mean you end up with small bulbs, or even just one big clove.

I space the garlic out first in a zig-zag pattern, then push it in so it is covered by about 3-4 inches of soil. If you have heavy clay, just put it a couple of inches. See my 2012 post on Getting the garlic in for more detail about planting including spacing.

Once in the ground, there is very little to do until about mid-Spring. The key maintenance task with garlic is watering. This is key during the peak growing period (approximately April-June) or during a dry Spring. I also give them a feed of comfrey liquid a couple of times during April-June. Also keep on top of the weeds so they don't take nutrients away from the developing bulbs.

If you are growing Hardneck Garlic (most of mine are), then you also need to watch out for the garlic scapes coming up around May/June, as in the photos below. They come up straight then turn into a hook. These need to be cut off as soon as you see them, as otherwise all the energy is put into the scape and you end up with small bulbs. On the plus side, the scapes means you can make garlic scape pesto. I've also use them instead of garlic cloves in a recipe, one scape equals one clove. Softneck garlic does not produce a scape (unless stressed) so you don't need to look out for them.

   

  

Garlic scapes. On the left is the young scape just showing, on the right when it's turned into a hook.

The main disease garlic is susceptible to is garlic rust (the same thing leeks get), but this doesn't actually affect the bulb so is only a cosmetic problem. One I never bother worrying about.

You might notice the tips of the leaves starting to yellow a bit from April onwards. Don't worry about that unless the whole plant is dying off. If the latter is the case, it most likely means they need a lot more watering.

Garlic harvest drying in the sun

Harvesting usually starts from July. Basically, once the full plant starts dying back (and not just the tips going yellow), you don't need to do any more watering and you can start to dig up your garlic. Having a chronic illness means I fit digging garlic up around my health. It can mean I might have left them in the ground for too long, in which case they might start splitting. However, I don't worry about splitting as I haven't found it affects the taste or storage qualities of the bulb.

The bulb on the right started splitting

Growing garlic in containers
Garlic can also be grown in containers. I've recently blogged about my experiment of growing garlic in containers, so visit that post if you would like to know more about it. You won't get as big bulbs growing in containers, but I did find that 3 cloves sown in a 10 litre pot will give you the equivalent of 2 bulbs grown in the ground or raised beds.

Harvesting and sorting
Once I've harvested the garlic, I cut off a bulk of the foliage just leaving a short stem. I sort through to make sure I pull out any that are going mouldy. This isn't many, just those that weren't as strong or where water got into clove. I then dry them out for a few weeks.

Garlic drying out after harvesting in my garage.

I then do a second sort through the bulbs and clean them. This consists of cutting off the roots and taking of any dirty layers of the outer bulb skin. At this point you can better assess the bulbs for saving and storage. I separate them out and then allow them all to dry out for another couple of weeks.

Saving cloves to plant the next season
If you have a chronic illness then you might want to skip saving your own cloves, and instead buy new ones for sowing in Autumn. That's what I do with most veg now as I don't have the energy to save all my own seed as well. However, because garlic is my 'thing' and I'm growing hard-to-get varieties, I'm willing to use extra spoons saving these and growing them on the following season.

The following picture shows the garlic cleaned up, with the best ones in a separate bag which I'll use for planting in October/November. And yes, that is pharmacy prescription bags being repurposed as bags for storing garlic.

The very best bulbs that have the most number of outer cloves and clearly have no disease etc, are then separated out for saving. I've been compiling a Garlic Record (see end of post) to compare each variety to past results. For saving garlic, like with seeds, having a larger number of plants in the first place from which to choose those for saving, is best. As I only have a small garden I cannot do this. However, I've been growing these varieties since 2009 and I am not having any problems with a decrease in vigour.

Storing
Hardneck garlic isn't meant to store as well as Softneck garlic. The RHS says only until mid-winter. However, I've found that in optimal conditions, my Hardnecks all store just as well as the Softnecks I've grown in the past.

By the end of September latest, I bring inside those bulbs that I have put aside for eating. As for the place I store them, well this might seem a little odd, but I store them in a cupboard in my lounge room (right)! I've tried storing them in other rooms and spaces, but of them all, my lounge has the most consistent temperature throughout the year and the bulbs store there better than anywhere else I've tried.

Where ever you store them, don't leave them in the garage or shed over winter as they will probably start getting mouldy and will rot from the cold and the freezing air quite quickly.

Eating
Garlic complements so many dishes. It can take centre stage and be the key ingredient in a dish, or take a step back and work with herbs and spices to bring about delicious and sometimes complex flavours. Garlic is also my replacement for onions, of which I'm allergic (yes, I know, same family). People often say to me:
   Random person: But you cannot cook anything without onions.
   Me: Yes you can, use garlic.
   Random person: But the recipe includes both onion and garlic.
   Me: Use more garlic. 

Garlic is versatile in the kitchen and is one of the easiest Spoonie Veg to grow. Give it a try and let me know how you get on.

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Unusual varieties and giveaway
Update 18th October 2016: I've now sent out all garlic for the giveaway this year. 

This section is for those of you who are garlic lovers and are interested in growing unusual varieties. As mentioned, I grow 8 different varieties of garlic, given to me back in 2009 by Patrick over at Bifurcated Carrots. I used to grow 16 varieties, but weeded out the ones that were either too strong (almost burn your throat strong) or which didn't grow to good sized bulbs.

The eight varieties I grow are: Georgia Fire, Martin's Heirloom, Metechi, Music, Persian Star, Rosewood, Silver Rose, Susan Delafield. Of these, Silver Rose is the only softneck variety, the rest are hardnecks.

I've been compiling a bit of an imperfect(!) record of the different garlic I have grown since 2010. Below are links to my garlic records. The first is those I am currently growing. The second is those I used to grow but do not any longer, but which may be of interest to some people.

Garlic varieties 2016 (current varieties grown as listed above)
Garlic varieties prior to 2013 (no longer grown: Arno, Burgundy, Estonian Red, Georgia Crystal, Gypsy Red, Irkutsk, Purple Glazer, Solent Wight, Vekak Czech)

I know I have enough garlic to sow and eat for the next year and am able to do a limited giveaway of some cloves the following varieties: Georgia Fire, Music, Persian Star, Rosewood, Susan Delafield.

If you are interested in growing them, I'll be happy to send some to you (UK only). My only ask is that you let me know how you got on with them when you harvest the garlic next summer. Email me which ones you are interested in at: jgp@cooptel.net by Friday 7th October.

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I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments on your experience, so don't be shy!

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Twitter hashtags: #GardeningWithME #SpoonieVeg

Recent Gardening with ME and Spoonie Veg posts...
  Gardening with ME: harvest time
  Spoonie Veg: strawberries
  Spoonie Veg: Sorrel

Blogging with ME

Last Monday I was in tears feeling like ME has taken away so much from me and made my life so small. Then two things happened during the week that turned this around and gave me much joy.

On Tuesday I received an email from Waltons Garden Buildings, letting me know they had reviewed my blog and had included it in their 18 Fabulous flower blogs blogpost. This was a wonderful surprise, particularly as I was included alongside garden bloggers I love such as Helen Johnstone, The Patient Gardener, Helen Gazeley Weeding the Web, and Jane Perrone, gardener, garden writer and author of The Allotment Keeper's Handbook.

Then on Friday I got a copy of the October issue of Grow Your Own magazine and found Jane Perrone had included my blog in her 'October's Growing Help' column.

I also particularly liked that both pieces spoke about gardening within the context of having a chronic illness, showing a wider audience that it is possible to garden, if somewhat slowly, when you are long-term ill.

After feeling like I had so little connection to the world on Monday, by Friday I realised that in a small but very important way, this blog helps me reach and interact with people I might not ever meet, but whom I can share the ups and downs of the wonderful world of gardening and horticulture.

Hello world, it's me, gardening and blogging with ME :)

Container grown Garlic experiment

Pot of Garlic with three cloves, back in May

Back in May I mentioned that I was doing a small experiment with growing garlic in containers. This is a write up of the results of the experiment. A post for the garlic aficionado's I suspect!

Growing Garlic*
In my opinion, Garlic is the second easiest crop to grow, Sorrel being the first. I've always grown garlic in raised beds built up from the ground. I plant autumn-sowing garlic in Octover/November and generally harvest July/August. I also add some well-rotted manure on top of them, either straight away if the temperatures haven't yet gone below 10 degrees, or in Spring once the soil has warmed up a bit. Once the garlic has dried, I select the best bulbs to save for growing for the following season. The rest get eaten over the coming year.

Garlic growing in my raised beds

I know from past experience that garlic does need lots of light to grow. The stems/leaves need to get full sun throughout the period of growing in order to get the best from the crop. Two years ago I tried catch-cropping the garlic with Broad Beans. The garlic was ahead of the Broad beans to start with, but the beans soon caught up and eventually totally overwhelmed the garlic. The result was I ended up with very small bulbs.

So I think catch cropping** would only work if you grow smaller crops with the garlic, such as corn salad or peas for pea shoots. These are low growing and shallow rooting, so they won't overwhelm the garlic stems and will allow them to get plenty of sun.

The main maintenance task with garlic is watering. This is key during the peak growing period (approximately April-June) or during a dry Spring. Garlic grown in pots will dry out more than those in the ground, so therefore need more watering again. I also give them a feed of comfrey liquid a couple of times during April-June.

If you are growing Hardneck Garlic (these are), then you also need to watch out for the garlic scapes (right photo, the hook-like part of the garlic) coming up around May/June. These need to be cut off as soon as you see them, as otherwise all the energy is put into the scape and you end up with tiny bulbs. On the plus side, the scapes means you can make garlic scape pesto. I've also use them as instead of garlic in a recipe, one scape equaling one clove. If you are growing Softneck garlic, this isn't an issue.

The experiment
Although I tried growing garlic in pots in the past, I didn't look after the pots and they weren't always in full sun, so I ended up with small bulbs. So this year I undertook an experiment to see how well you can grow garlic in pots. Using the variety 'Martin's Heirloom', I've planted: one clove in one pot, two cloves in the second pot, and three cloves in the third pot. In each case the pot size is the same, a 10 litre pot (283mm/11").

Spacing out the garlic to be grown in pots

These were all sown on 10th January, about six weeks after I had sown the rest of the garlic direct to the ground. The reason for the delay is that I only decided in January to do the experiment! I wasn't sure whether sowing later would have that much of an impact on the growth of the garlic in the pots; I suspected the pot sown garlic would soon catch up to that which was sown direct.

Do note though, Autumn-sown garlic, whether container grown or direct to soil, all need a very coldperiod (0 degrees and below) to break their dormancy. A warmer winter can mean you end up with small bulbs, or even just one big clove. (Thanks to Michelle at Veg Plotting for reminding me of this.)

Garlic ready to be harvested

The results
I harvested the garlic in pots on 4th September. I intentionally left them in slightly longer because they were sown later, though to be honest the garlic was looking ready to harvest a few weeks before. The photo above shows they were well and truly ready to be harvested.

Drying out the harvested garlic

In the following photographs, the garlic on the right is one of the same variety grown in the ground (raised beds), and is for comparison with the pot-grown garlic on the left. Because I wanted to photograph them without soil so you could see the sizes better, the ones on the left have had their skins peeled back more, showing the internal colour of the garlic skin.

Results from the pot with one clove. Pretty much the same size.

Results from the pot with two cloves. One is similar to ground-grown garlic, the other smaller.

Results from the pot with three cloves. One is a bit smaller than ground-grown garlic,

the other 2 are smaller again.

Of the three, I conclude that three cloves in a 10 litre pot will give you the equivalent of two-ish cloves grown in the ground. You get slightly more garlic, even if bulbs are smaller, from growing three in a pot compared to growing two in a pot.

As I mentioned above, I sowed these six weeks later than the raised bed grown garlic. Although they were slower to get going (the first shoots were a nearly two months later than the first shoots of those in the ground) I don't think this had much of an impact on the overall result. I would just add that I think early-mid January is the latest you should sow Autumn-sown garlic. After that, I suspect it would be better to grow Spring sown garlic.***

One final thought: this experiment has been undertaken using hardneck garlic. It is possible that growing softneck garlic in pots might give you different results.

My plan is to widen the experiment slightly by growing two variety of garlic in pots next year. One of these will be Martin's Heirloom again, only this time I'll also add the catch-cropping of pea shoots or corn salad to the pot to see for myself if this has any negative impact.

Conclusion
Growing garlic in pots is fairly easy, the main issues being that you need to water them more in dry weather, and accepting that you won't get as much garlic for your clove as you would growing them in the ground.

If you really want to grow garlic and only have a small space, or like to grow in containers, then I think this is a good result. If you add in the catch-cropping of low growing crops like corn salad or pea shoots, then obviously you get even more for your pot.


*I'll be going into a bit more detail about growing garlic and the differences between Hardneck and Softneck garlic, in my upcoming post on 'SpoonieVeg: Garlic'.

**Great suggestion by Alison Tindale and Chris West on Twitter :)

**I've never grown Spring-sown garlic, so cannot say whether the results of this experiment would be similar or not.

Gardening with ME: harvest time

Harvests include flowers for the house

Harvest time. It's that moment we are all working towards all year, after all that sowing, tending staking and watering. When we finally get to pick the fruits of our labour. I decided last October that I had to cut back on how much veg I try to grow, as from an ME perspective, I was struggling to manage everything. As ME has fluctuated throughout the year, so has my ability to garden, particularly in the last 3 months. However, some of the work I did when I was feeling better has paid off and I've been enjoying wonderful fresh food from the garden since June.


Broad Beans
I love Broad Beans. I adore Broad Beans. They are quite possibly my favourite vegetable. They are also one that isn't so easy to get fresh from the shops, so it's a good one to grow if you have the energy. They have a Spoonie Veg rating of 2-3 (I'll do a Spoonie Veg post on Broad Beans in Autumn) as they require a little more looking after. Mainly staking, as my garden is quite windy being two thirds the way up one of Sheffield's rather big hills. And there is also the dreaded black fly. I manage the latter by having a squirt bottle with washing up liquid and water at the ready at all times. As soon as I notice the black fly, I basically drown them. Do it twice a day for a couple of days and it's 1 me, black fly 000.

Because of the cold Spring I had some problems with germination and then they took quite a bit of time to get growing. I also didn't get around to sowing these until mid-March, however I still got a great crop from a 1.5 x .75 bed of beans. This amounted to approximately 18 meals, which I think is pretty good going from such a small space.

I grew a mix of standard and dwarf Broad Beans, but it was the standard ones, Bunyards Exhibition and Super Aquadulce that did best. I think the taller beans over shadowed the dwarf ones, The Sutton, too much, despite planting the dwarf ones in front where they would get the most sun, which is why I think the crop from them was poor. If I have the energy, I'll try growing the dwarf ones in pots next year.

I started harvesting them in late June (usually you would earlier, but the cold Spring held things up by several weeks) and have made a variety of dishes from them. This includes: Broad Bean and Feta Salad, Broad Bean, Bacon and Mint Penne pasta (this works just as well with French Beans), and Broad Bean Risotto.

Broad Bean and Feta Salad

Garlic
When I say Broad Beans are possibly my favourite vegetable, I'm also thinking of Garlic, which I also adore and which is incredibly easy to grow. Garlic has a Spoonie Veg rating of 1; I'll be publishing an individual Spoonie Veg post on Garlic in a couple of weeks. For garlic, sow the cloves in late Autumn, do nothing until around mid Spring (depends on the weather) when you need to just make sure they are watered if it is a dry Spring and Summer. Cut off the garlic scapes when they form (late May-early June). Then harvest. That's it.

Ok, maybe slightly more is involved than that, but you get the drift. I grow Hardneck Garlic, that forms a scape from which you can make Garlic Pesto. Although it's not meant to store as well as Softneck Garlic, I don't find much difference if you store them properly.

I use garlic in everything. This is in part because I'm allergic to onions (I know, same family, don't ask) so garlic is my substitute. And when you compare growing the two... Garlic: plant a clove, end up with a full bulb. Onions: plant a small bulb, end up with just a bigger bulb. So even without being allergic to onions, you can see that you get a much higher yield from garlic.

Most of my crop did really well this year and what you see below is enough for two people for a year, for saving some to grow next year, and to pass some on to others to grow. Not bad for so little work.

After a few hours in the sun (previous picture), I then dry my garlic out in the garage.

Peas
I didn't grow as many peas as I usually do as I wasn't up to the extra work they entailed. So this year I only grew heritage Pea 'Robinson'. The other I regularly grow is heritage Pea 'Latvian', which I'll grow again next year. 'Robinson' (right picture) is a tall pea, close to 1.5 metres, so needs something to grow up. I think Peas are a bit more work compared to Broad Beans, and I don't think you get as much for your efforts. Peas have a Spoonie Veg rating of 3.

Fresh peas taste amazing, and again aren't something so easy to get in the shops. So if you have the energy, the flavour can be worth the extra work. I sowed about 15 seeds and ended up with enough to go in a dish for 6 meals, plus plenty left over from which I can save seed. They do need a bit of watering and I find it doesn't matter what you grow them up, you still need to do some tying in. I would like to try growing some dwarf heritage peas to compare them too. So if you know of any, let me know.

Because I often cook in batches, this year I made a big batch of Pea and Broad Bean Risotto, enough for the two of us for three nights. The risotto is amazing on the first night, though the quality lessons slightly on subsequent nights, but it's still pretty good. When you have ME, you are not always up to cooking. Hence I cook a large batch of something, risotto, curry, that being my only job for that day, so the next two days I can rest and maybe do something else. Like gardening.

Pea and Broad Bean Risotto

Courgettes
Ahhh, courgettes. That versatile vegetable that just keeps giving. And giving. I'm not too fussed about courgette gluts as I'm always happy to make large batches of soup that I can freeze and eat in winter. Courgette have a Spoonie Veg rating of 2, the main efforts going to sowing and potting on, then watering and feeding through Summer and Autumn.

This year I decided to grow round courgettes, Tondo di Piacenza from Real Seeds. The website says they are very productive and I can confirm this. From two plants I've already made enough Courgette and Brie soup for 12 meals and a delicious stir fry for 4 meals. And the plants have only just started to take off. Like the usual long courgettes, they go from tiny fruits to monsters within a blink of an eye. I founds the flavour to be just as good, though I manage to pick the large ones before they turned into the aforesaid monsters. Any monsters will be turned into more soup.

Tondo di Piacenza - not only prolific, cute too!

Other veg
I have also just started picking Dwarf French Beans, and will have some Beetroot (I sowed late), parsnip, carrots and Fennel bulbs to come soon too. And there is also my patch of Sorrel which is getting larger and larger by the week, and the Strawberries I harvested back in June. I'm hoping for some pumpkins, but unless we get some ongoing warm sunny weather in September, I'm not sure they will amount to much.


Reflecting on what I've been harvesting so far this year, I'm pretty happy with the results. I had hoped to sow and grow more things from mid-Summer, but since June my ME has been pretty bad and I've had to spend a lot more days in bed than out of it. I therefore decided not to try and grow any further veg this year (until late autumn when I sow the garlic again) to reduce the workload in the garden. The ornamentals have been doing fine on their own, such as the Crocosmia in the top picture, but even they are starting to look like they could do with some tending. So I've decided to focus my limited energy there for the next couple of months. Because I see enjoying the flowers as a 'harvest' too. A feast for the eyes.

Gardening with ME isn't easy. Sometimes you have to let a crop grow, as I did with my climbing beans last year, and sometimes you aren't well enough to sow anything. But what I can sow and grow, gives me so much joy. I love being in the garden, tending the plants and enjoying the sun and birdsong. And what I do get to harvest, not only feels like a great achievement, but also gives me incredible pleasure. Plus, of course, is the yumminess factor.

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I welcome your thoughts and comments. And if you blog about gardening with ME/a chronic illness, do link to this post in your blog and leave a comment below with a link to your post, so we can all find each other.

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Recent Gardening with ME & Spoonie Veg posts...
  Spoonie Veg: strawberries
  Spoonie Veg: Sorrel
  Garden visiting with ME

Spoonie Veg: strawberries

My strawberry patch

Spoonie Veg rating: 1

Strawberries. Just the word, strawberries, it sounds quintessentially, summer. And they taste so good, whether freshly picked and eaten next to your patch or turned into homemade strawberry ice cream. What's more, strawberries are easy to grow, and this makes them a great Spoonie Veg.

Growing
Although the fruit of strawberries are a soft, they are an extremely hardy plant and can survive prolonged periods of freezing temperatures, such as what we had in 2010-11. They are perennials, and in mild winters will retain much of their foliage. Whilst they like a sunny spot, I have grown them successfully in part shade, underneath pear trees and among ornamental plants.

Even a small patch of strawberries, such as mine in the above photo (under 1 square metre), can supply you with a decent harvest. This year my small patch was only in half-production (more on that shortly) and I still was able to serve strawberries for dessert for 18 people over the space of a few weeks. Given how little effort it takes to grow strawberries, that's a pretty good yield for a small patch.

I've also found that as long as you give your strawberries a feed early spring (spread some well-composted manure under them), that they will even grow in heavy acid clay. So they aren't too picky about soil, just as long as you feed them (manure) and water them as the fruits are developing. In fact, from a spoonie perspective, most of your spoons will be spent on these tasks, and picking them to eat. Much of the year you just leave them to do their thing.

The one more spoon-intensive issue you have with strawberries, is that the plants are only really productive for 3 or so years and best in the 2nd and 3rd years. After that the quality and vigour of the fruit declines, so you need to replace the old plants with new ones. The easiest spoonie way to do this is just to buy and plant new strawberries. But if you have some energy in late summer, potting up runners is the free way of getting new plants.

After fruiting, strawberries send out runners, what looks like long stem shoots. These have notches upon them that over time develop into new strawberry plants, and if they are near the soil, they will root and start growing there. Which is good if it's in the right place, but if not, you can pot up these runners too. I do this by putting some compost in a small pot, then pushing the base of the newly developing plant into the compost. I hold down one end of the runners with a stone, to encourage it to stay in the compost and not have a light breeze put it out.

By mid-Autumn you can cut the runner off from the main plant and either plant it out, or wait until Spring. If the latter, just put them in a place where they will get some sun and if it's a dry winter, water them occasionally so they don't die off.

This was the 3rd year my patch was in production. Last autumn I took some runners and then in Spring I planted them. As the new plants wouldn't produce that much in the way of fruit, I dug up half of the patch and after adding manure, I put in the new plants. You can see below my patch in half-production, with those on the left being the older plants and those on the right the young plants taken from runners last year.


You certainly can grow strawberries in containers. You still need to give them a top up of manure in the Spring, but the main spoonie issue, as with any container growing, is that in dry periods you will have to spend more energy watering them (possibly daily) compared to those in the ground.

Some of you may have come across 'strawberry towers', which give you the ability to grow vertically. This is great, in theory, but my experience with growing in strawberry towers rather put me off doing this again. Because, quelle surprise, those at the top dry out quicker than those at the bottom. So in dry periods you have to water them in the morning and the evening, and in wet periods those that the bottom can rot. From a spoonie perspective, I'd avoid growing this way unless you are willing to allocate spoons regularly to this task and don't mind micro-managing the watering.

When it comes to pests, the main problem you will have is the birds wanting to eat the strawberries just as they are ready. Blackbirds, in particular, seem to know the exact moment fruit is ready to eat. Throw some mesh over the patch for the few weeks of fruiting prevent the birds from getting at them, though of course that means slightly more energy is needed for lifting it up then putting it back down when picking. For some reason I don't have that much problem with the birds going for my strawberries, so I've only had to net them twice in the last 10 years. So it might not happen, but it's worth keeping some mesh on standby during fruiting season.

As mentioned earlier, I have also grown strawberries with ornamental plants. My current patch has snowdrops coming up amongst the strawberry plants in February, is intermingled with a small erythronium patch in April, and is bordered by chives. The other benefit of growing ornamentals with your strawberries, is that it extends the season of interest for that patch of the garden. This is particularly useful in your home garden where how the garden looks might be more important, than at an allotment.

Eating
Pick them and eat them. Well that was easy. 1/2 a spoon? Ok, you might like to have them with ice cream. Ok, I like to have them with ice cream. So that means picking them, hulling them (removing green leafy top), throwing them into a bowl and adding the ice cream. Also very easy, say 1 spoon.

In my better ME periods during strawberry fruiting season, I've also made my own strawberry ice cream. This is a nice way of extending your season, and it's always a delight in winter to open up the freezer and come across some homemade strawberry ice cream. I use a simple French Glace aux Fraises recipe that doesn't require an ice cream maker. Making this requires more spoons of course, so the great thing about strawberries is that just strawberries and with shop-bought ice cream is still a wonderful treat for minimum effort.

Mmmm, homemade strawberry ice cream

Strawberries are a spoon-light fruit to grow, and provide a great treat for a few weeks over summer. They earn their place in my small garden. How about yours?

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In my post introducing Spoonie Veg, I gave Strawberries a rating of 1. That being: 1-2 requires few spoons, 3-4 moderate spoons, and 5 hard, lots of spoons needed in order to grow that fruit, veg or herb. Spoonie Veg posts are limited to my experience of what I grow, so it is great to hear from you if your experience is different.

I welcome your thoughts and comments. And if you blog about gardening with ME/a chronic illness, or are just interested in gardening in general, I'd love to hear from you on your growing experiences.

About Spoonie Veg and Gardening with ME.

Twitter hashtags: #SpoonieVeg, #GardeningWithME

Recent Gardening with ME and Spoonie Veg posts...
  Spoonie Veg: Sorrel
  Gardening with ME: May garden update