The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
New season new challenges
Every gardener has their tried and trusted varieties but sometimes it pays to push the boundaries and grow something different
The great thing about new ventures is that some go on to become commonplace when these trials prove successful
Gardening, just like technology, is moving onwards at a fast pace.
The days when an allotment was simply a place to grow healthy food from a cheap packet of seeds are a distant memory.
Of course, that’s still what it all boils down to but new plants are appearing all the time. Some are improvements on standard varieties, making them less prone to pests and diseases, such as the clubroot-resistant cabbage Kilaton. Others are just bigger versions of normal plants like the Sweet Colossus strawberry, the Big Ben blackcurrant or the Amour potato.
All are fascinating to the keen gardener and so every year we plan our normal plants – but also introduce something different to challenge our gardening skills and give us an interesting topic of conversation when visitors come calling.
And the great thing about new ventures is that some of them go on to become commonplace when these trials prove successful.
I first tried sweetcorn many years ago and was amazed by how easy it was to grow this rare crop up north. Now they are becoming a normal part of many allotment rotations.
Mangetout peas were once a curiosity but as a tasty and healthy crop they have become quite popular.
Not every experiment pays off. Last year the new crop was sweet potatoes, but it was not very happy with our climate.
Cape gooseberry can be successful in greenhouses but they can also be quite vigorous, taking up a lot of space, so try them out on a south facing fence or wall in a sheltered spot. In a good summer they can be brilliant.
Scorzonera and salsify – also known as oyster plant, due to the taste – were two root crops I just had to try out since I was intrigued by their names.
They were easy to grow and tasty on the plate but required a lot of work in preparation and cooking for such a small return.
The same applied to kohlrabi – a member of the cabbage family – which does not have size on its side.
Our site will now have a Kiwi fruit on trial and I hope it has better success than my Goji, which was very rampant for about four years, only to be wiped out as phytophthora fungus spread through the soil before I got a chance to see my first berry.
Grapes growing outdoors are my
latest venture into the exotics and I have had some success, although they need a decent summer and autumn to ripen up the fruit and increase the sugar content.
Both Rondo and Phoenix show a lot of promise and Regent is also a good variety if you don’t mind smaller grapes.
I also want to try Siegerrebe outdoors, though it can be troubled by wasps as they know the grapes are very sweet.
Figs are another triumph and I am very surprised they are not more popular since mine have been successful year after year growing against a south facing wall on my allotment site.
I started them off by planting them in a deep, slab-lined pit with a lot of drainage and only just enough good top soil to get them started.
The roots will soon escape into the soil but the initial restriction curtails excessive vigour and encourages fruiting.
Saskatoons and chokeberries are some of the newer kids on the healthy black berry block and if you can spare the space in the greenhouse, or have a very warm windowsill, you might want to try a Carolina Reaper pepper.
It really needs a warm climate and the resulting fruit is the hottest pepper on the planet. This is not one to add to a summer salad dish – it’s so hot that it needs to be handled with protective gloves – but there is plenty of information around to keep you safe while you enjoy its merits and scientists are finding beneficial effects for sufferers of osteoarthritis.
If nothing else, it will certainly be a great topic for conversation.