Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Monday, 14 November 2016
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.
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.
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!
About Spoonie Veg About Gardening with ME
Twitter hashtags: #GardeningWithME #SpoonieVeg
Recent Gardening with ME and Spoonie Veg posts...
Spoonie Veg: garlic
Gardening with ME: harvest time
Spoonie Veg: strawberries
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Adding some curves to the Shady Border
When I've been photographing my garden in recent months, I've shied off capturing the conservatory end of the Shady Border, because I was quite unhappy with it. I realised the border needed more height and a better shape than the straight lines it had. It felt flat, and the Ligularia and self-seeded Astrantia seedlings were taking over the space.
I had been unable to do anything about it as I had limited energy to spend in the garden as it was, and most of what I did have focused on the veg growing. I did manage to work on a simple redesign and I even bought a tree, Amelanchier laevis 'R.J. Hilton' to help add the height. Last week, after finally being able to find a gardener, the skillful Andrea, to help me, the work was done.
Finally, a couple of stepping stones were added. This is to make it easier to access the back of the border, and so I can access the hook from which my retractable clothes line attaches too. These will 'disappear' into the border once the new growth starts next Spring.
On the whole, I think the new curves in this area of the garden gives it a much better look and feel. I'm very happy with it, and with my new gardener, Andrea*, who has been a real find.
*Heartfelt thanks to Joanna Dobson, who saw my plea on Twitter and recommended Andrea.
This part of the Shady Border before the work was done. The tree towards the left was sitting
in the pot temporarily.
in the pot temporarily.
I had been unable to do anything about it as I had limited energy to spend in the garden as it was, and most of what I did have focused on the veg growing. I did manage to work on a simple redesign and I even bought a tree, Amelanchier laevis 'R.J. Hilton' to help add the height. Last week, after finally being able to find a gardener, the skillful Andrea, to help me, the work was done.
The new curvy border.
The border as been widened a bit, and the straight lines have gone. Although it looks a bit bare as I await the replanted plants to get growing again, I still think it looks better than how it looked before.
The Amlanchier is almost bare now, so you don't immediately see the height, but it will be more obvious next Spring. By getting rid of some of the crowding Astrantias, I'm hoping the Akebia quinata will feel more like growing next Spring. This is an evergreen, and one of the jobs for next time Andrea is here, is to put up more wire to train it along the fence more. I think the Amlanchier and the Akebia, along with the Potato tree, Solanum crispum 'Glasnevin' on the left side, should help fill up the fence more and add the height and structure the border needed.
Pulmonaria 'New Ensign' was quite a clump, so Andrea split it up and planted it throughout the border. The same with Omphalodes cappadocica 'Cherry Ingram', and several primulas including Primula 'Guinevere'. Taller primulas were moved to the middle of the border. Also planted was some bulbs of the autumn crocus, Crocus Speciosus Cassiope, which should come up in the next few weeks (they were trying to grow in the bag!). Plus I have a bunch of other bulbs to plant for Spring and early Summer flowering, such as Snowdrop Woronowii, Fritillaria Meleagris, Allium Oreophilum and Narcissus Pappy George.
Finally, a couple of stepping stones were added. This is to make it easier to access the back of the border, and so I can access the hook from which my retractable clothes line attaches too. These will 'disappear' into the border once the new growth starts next Spring.
On the whole, I think the new curves in this area of the garden gives it a much better look and feel. I'm very happy with it, and with my new gardener, Andrea*, who has been a real find.
*Heartfelt thanks to Joanna Dobson, who saw my plea on Twitter and recommended Andrea.
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Friday, 21 October 2016
Waiting with ME
We have all been there. We've booked in a tradesperson to come around and fix something in our home (whether rented or owned). You plan for it, often taking a day off work. They don't turn up at the agreed time. 30 minutes, an hour later, still not here. You call to find out what's happening. You might be lucky and the person/company answers and says, yes, there in 1 hour. Which is 2 hours after the agreed time. But at least they are coming. Or you will be unlucky and they say that they cannot come today, can we rearrange. Note the lack of the word sorry. Or even worse, they don't answer at all. They never call back.
If you are a healthy person, this experience is frustrating. It wastes your time, it means you have often used up a day's holiday for nothing, and have to use up another for when you rearrange. You might have to chase and chase, or start all over and try to find someone else. It can be stressful and pretty much muck up your day. When you have a chronic illness like ME, the frustration & stress of the same experience is quadrupled.
I've been struggling to keep up with all the tasks in my garden and I have been trying to find a gardener to help me out. The idea is to get someone a few hours each month to do some of the tasks I'm unable to do anymore, like turning the compost, mowing, implementing the redesign of a border (lots of digging). This would then leave me with the 'easier' tasks of sowing seeds and bulbs.
I thought I'd finally found someone. Someone who gardens organically, no pesticides, and who has an interest and knowledge of plants and soil. I explained to them I have a chronic illness and need help as I've said above. We agreed a date and time via email, 10am 20th October. A phone call a couple of days before. He couldn't do as quite as many hours, could he do just 4 hours, and maybe start at 2pm. 4 hours was ok by me, but I'm often very weary in the afternoons, so could we stick to 10am. He agreed to this and we said 'see you Thursday'.
Now, when you have an illness like ME, you need to plan your life carefully. You only have so many spoons (energy) a day, a week. If you are going to have a gardener (or any tradesperson) come around, this will still use up spoons. You have to be there, to explain the problem or give directions to what needs to be done. Though it might not seem like much to healthy people, when you have ME, having people around can be quite tiring. Even when it's about doing something you want, that makes you happy, it can use up a lot of spoons. You often need a few days to recover before you can get on with anything else.
On top of this, you have probably planned your week around this event, as I had. I knew it would use up a lot of energy having the gardener around, so I held off doing other tasks and rested up even more than usual, so that I might be well enough to cope when the gardener arrived. I also made sure that the few days following the event were quiet, as I knew I might get hit with PEM, post-extertional malaise, and wouldn't be well enough to do anything at all for several days, even a week after the gardener had been here.
I planned, we agreed the time, 10am 20th October, everything was set. Only he didn't turn up, did he. After 30 minutes past the time, I called him to see where he was. I only had a landline number, so, you guessed it, I got an answering machine. I left my message and asked him to call me back. I still hoped it was a case of him running late, traffic etc. By 11am I was feeling anxious. I realised that only having a landline number meant he probably wasn't going to get the message until the end of the day. I had no other way of contacting him. I tried searching the web, but he doesn't seem to have a web presence, not even on Yell.
At this point, I was tired and feeling stressed. I tried to lie down to relax, but just couldn't. He could still, in theory, turn up. So I felt I had to try and stay alert. With ME, staying alert can use up a lot of spoons. It sends my body into a kind of spin, into a nervous energy state that leaves me shaking and then builds up to exhaustion. And this is what happened. By 12pm I kind of gave up, though worried that maybe he might turn up at 2pm after all, despite my request that we stick to 10am. But I thought, I could at least get an hour or so of rest. I went to bed. 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door. Feeling light headed and weak, I thought it might still be the gardener so I got up and answered. It was the postie.
I was shattered. But there was still a chance that he might turn up at 2pm. Now, my partner had been working in town so that having the gardener around didn't disrupt him working. We now had a chat and decided he would come home so that I could just go to bed and rest and he would answer the door if the gardener did turn up at 2pm, and turn him away. Because at this point I was in a bad state and wasn't up to anything. In addition, the gardener not sticking to the agreed time also impacted on my partner who had to change his working arrangement again.
Of course, he didn't turn up at 2pm. And I was unable to rest properly anyway. My body had gone into a hyper state and I was neither able to concentrate or relax. By not sticking to the agreed time, by not turning up, the impact was to increase my ME symptons.
The phone rang sometime after 7:30pm. I let it go to the answering machine as I wasn't up to speaking to anyone. It was the gardener. Apparently 'we' got our wires crossed, could I call him back? Exactly what part of an email & telephone exchange that clearly stated our agreed date and time was getting our wires crossed? There was no 'we' about it.
Earlier today, the gardener had left a second message for me (I was too exhausted to deal with phone calls at this point). He said this time that he got me confused with another client, and turned up at her house instead. Which not only makes me question his organisational skills, but also makes me question why he didn't call me once he realised that he turned up at the wrong place? And maybe, you know, come to my place, even if late?
Today I feel weak, and just writing this has left me shaking. I need to go back to bed. But I desperately wanted to write this, in the vague hope that some tradespeople might read this and realise the impact their delays or not sticking to agreed times can on healthy and chronically ill people.
So I could email it to the gardener, in the hope that he might read it and understand the impact of his actions, leaving me waiting with ME.
If you are a healthy person, this experience is frustrating. It wastes your time, it means you have often used up a day's holiday for nothing, and have to use up another for when you rearrange. You might have to chase and chase, or start all over and try to find someone else. It can be stressful and pretty much muck up your day. When you have a chronic illness like ME, the frustration & stress of the same experience is quadrupled.
I've been struggling to keep up with all the tasks in my garden and I have been trying to find a gardener to help me out. The idea is to get someone a few hours each month to do some of the tasks I'm unable to do anymore, like turning the compost, mowing, implementing the redesign of a border (lots of digging). This would then leave me with the 'easier' tasks of sowing seeds and bulbs.
I thought I'd finally found someone. Someone who gardens organically, no pesticides, and who has an interest and knowledge of plants and soil. I explained to them I have a chronic illness and need help as I've said above. We agreed a date and time via email, 10am 20th October. A phone call a couple of days before. He couldn't do as quite as many hours, could he do just 4 hours, and maybe start at 2pm. 4 hours was ok by me, but I'm often very weary in the afternoons, so could we stick to 10am. He agreed to this and we said 'see you Thursday'.
Now, when you have an illness like ME, you need to plan your life carefully. You only have so many spoons (energy) a day, a week. If you are going to have a gardener (or any tradesperson) come around, this will still use up spoons. You have to be there, to explain the problem or give directions to what needs to be done. Though it might not seem like much to healthy people, when you have ME, having people around can be quite tiring. Even when it's about doing something you want, that makes you happy, it can use up a lot of spoons. You often need a few days to recover before you can get on with anything else.
On top of this, you have probably planned your week around this event, as I had. I knew it would use up a lot of energy having the gardener around, so I held off doing other tasks and rested up even more than usual, so that I might be well enough to cope when the gardener arrived. I also made sure that the few days following the event were quiet, as I knew I might get hit with PEM, post-extertional malaise, and wouldn't be well enough to do anything at all for several days, even a week after the gardener had been here.
I planned, we agreed the time, 10am 20th October, everything was set. Only he didn't turn up, did he. After 30 minutes past the time, I called him to see where he was. I only had a landline number, so, you guessed it, I got an answering machine. I left my message and asked him to call me back. I still hoped it was a case of him running late, traffic etc. By 11am I was feeling anxious. I realised that only having a landline number meant he probably wasn't going to get the message until the end of the day. I had no other way of contacting him. I tried searching the web, but he doesn't seem to have a web presence, not even on Yell.
At this point, I was tired and feeling stressed. I tried to lie down to relax, but just couldn't. He could still, in theory, turn up. So I felt I had to try and stay alert. With ME, staying alert can use up a lot of spoons. It sends my body into a kind of spin, into a nervous energy state that leaves me shaking and then builds up to exhaustion. And this is what happened. By 12pm I kind of gave up, though worried that maybe he might turn up at 2pm after all, despite my request that we stick to 10am. But I thought, I could at least get an hour or so of rest. I went to bed. 10 minutes later there was a knock on the door. Feeling light headed and weak, I thought it might still be the gardener so I got up and answered. It was the postie.
I was shattered. But there was still a chance that he might turn up at 2pm. Now, my partner had been working in town so that having the gardener around didn't disrupt him working. We now had a chat and decided he would come home so that I could just go to bed and rest and he would answer the door if the gardener did turn up at 2pm, and turn him away. Because at this point I was in a bad state and wasn't up to anything. In addition, the gardener not sticking to the agreed time also impacted on my partner who had to change his working arrangement again.
Of course, he didn't turn up at 2pm. And I was unable to rest properly anyway. My body had gone into a hyper state and I was neither able to concentrate or relax. By not sticking to the agreed time, by not turning up, the impact was to increase my ME symptons.
The phone rang sometime after 7:30pm. I let it go to the answering machine as I wasn't up to speaking to anyone. It was the gardener. Apparently 'we' got our wires crossed, could I call him back? Exactly what part of an email & telephone exchange that clearly stated our agreed date and time was getting our wires crossed? There was no 'we' about it.
Earlier today, the gardener had left a second message for me (I was too exhausted to deal with phone calls at this point). He said this time that he got me confused with another client, and turned up at her house instead. Which not only makes me question his organisational skills, but also makes me question why he didn't call me once he realised that he turned up at the wrong place? And maybe, you know, come to my place, even if late?
So I could email it to the gardener, in the hope that he might read it and understand the impact of his actions, leaving me waiting with ME.
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