September top & flop CROPS

Lynda’s regular round-up of the best & worst performers in her Hunua garden TOP & FLOP CROPS

PURPLE ASPARAGUS: Thinking about digging up an established asparagus bed? Think twice, unless you have a very good spade and some serious muscle power. Five years after I planted my ’Pacific Purple’ asparagus crowns in the wrong place – a bed increasingly shaded by peach trees – I finally dug them up in July to move them. Or at least, I tried to dig them up. The crowns were firmly rooted about 20cm deep by masses of fleshy, finger-thick tentacles not dissimilar to agapanthus roots. I managed to get a dozen plants out before I declared defeat and called on Rémy Chies, a strapping French rugby prop who was staying with us (he’s playing for Thames Valley), to finish the job. I can tell you one thing for sure: they won’t ever be dug up again!

GLOBE ARTICHOKES: I’ve always enjoyed growing these towering perennials (the variety pictured above is ’Purple de Jesi’) even if most of their architectural buds end up in vases rather than on my plate.

That’s about to change this spring because, in June, I tagged along when my husband went to the US on a work trip. At almost every restaurant we dined in, there was a creamy artichoke dip on the menu and I soon developed a taste for it.

A week later, when we returned home, I received a birthday card from a friend and – in a happy coincidence – it had a recipe for artichoke dip on the front. I’ve been making versions of it ever since, using tinned artichoke hearts while I wait eagerly for my spring crop.

Harvest globe artichokes, trim off the tough outer leaves, cut into quarters and steam until tender, then drizzle with olive oil and grill for extra flavour. Chop finely and combine with ¼ cup each of: grated parmesan, grated Gruyère, crème fraîche and cream cheese. Crumble in a handful of fried sage leaves, 1 small minced garlic clove, the zest of ½ lemon (or lime), sea salt and a good grind of black pepper.

Spoon into a small ovenproof dish and bake at 180°C for 15 minutes. Serve with garlic ciabatta or homemade crostini.

‘RAINBOW LIGHTS’ CHARD: It’s Murphy’s Law of Gardening that the more you like to eat something, the less likely it is to self-sow – and vice versa. I’m overrun with silverbeet seedlings this spring.

‘PUSA ASITA’ CARROTS: Even though carrots are cheap to buy, they’re even cheaper to grow. It takes just two sowings, in early October and late February, to keep my family fed year-round. So when our sheep escaped and ate their way around my vege garden in early winter, I was most peeved to lose my carrot crop. They ate the lot, except for a single tender, tasty, inky-skinned specimen of ’Pusa Asita’ (Kings Seeds). Unlike most purple carrots, which have orange cores, this Bollywood beauty from India is supposed to be purple-black all the way through. It does best if sown in late spring so I’m looking forward to having another crack in a few weeks.

LEEKS: My attempt to sow leeks direct this year has proved to be a disaster. Not only was the germination rate lousy, with less than half the row coming up, but at the miserable rate they’re fattening up, they won’t be ready to harvest until the winter of 2017! (In better news, the packet of coriander seed I scattered beside my leeks had a near-perfect strike rate. This aromatic herb prefers cooler weather – which is convenient, because winter is when I prefer to eat hot Thai curries!)

PARSLEY, SAGE & PROSTRATE ROSEMARY: Waterlogged soil claimed all three of these must-have perennial herbs (they despise wet feet and rot off at the crown), but at least my thymes – English, pizza, creeping and woolly – made it through the worst of winter. ✤