Just what is it with me and home grown tomatoes?
Every year I choose small, crisp, sweet varieties. To edge
my bets I go for different types, sizes and even seed companies to get just the
right types. This is the third year that the tomatoes haven’t lived up to their
labels and descriptions.
I’m taking full
responsibility as I’m sure it’s something I’m dong, but they turn out to be
‘little balls of flour’, which is fine if you are buying a bag of local spuds
down the Letterkenny road. But when the tomatoes are all foamy it just doesn’t
have the same appeal.
My plants have always been free of blight, leaf curl, insect
infestation and anything else that tomato plants can suffer from apart from the
foam. I’ve tried Google to get answers but as yet I can’t find anyone else that
complains of such a thing. Don’t get me wrong, I can still use them sliced
thinly in sandwiches and they do go well in a spaghetti bolognaise, but bit
into one straight off the vine and you would think you had just tried to take a
bite out of a bath sponge full of soap suds.
Perennial fruit and
Veg
Maybe it’s situations such as this that highlight how
beneficial perennial fruit and vegetables can be. Just think, you could go out
into the garden and just know that you have a reoccurring addition to your
dinner that’s fresh, doesn’t taste like soap and keeps coming back year after
year.
If you get yourself a healthy looking sea kale for example,
you can pick away at it all summer. Part of the Brassicaceae family, sea kale
(Crambe maritima) is so named because it’s commonly found along tide lines so there
are opportunities for it to grow well in most gardens around Inishowen. The young
leaves can be eaten like collards or spinach, and the leaf stalks can be
blanched until semi-soft and taste a bit like asparagus.
Edible perennial plants don’t even need to grow in your own
garden. We can consider wild plants growing in the hedgerows. There are loads
of wild perennial plants that could be classed as edible vegetables.
Comfrey for example doesn’t just make a great addition to
the compost bin and as a liquid feed, it’s edible too. The young leaves can be
eaten like spinach and the young tender shoot cooked up is similar to
asparagus. The young tender leaves of
dandelions can be added to salads and you could make soup from broad leaf
sorrel. Fat hen, yarrow and stinging nettles can all be eaten. Apart from the
green leafy plants in the wild, we can also find useful seeds and berries.
Rose hips (Rosa
canina) and Hawthorn.
You can make soup; jam and puree with rose hips but the
seeds should never be eaten. Their small hairs can dangerously irritate the
stomach, so train well or remove. We used to use them as itching powder at
school, putting the seeds down victims basks.
Haws from Hawthorn bushes are edible but will also need a
bit of work to make palatable. When
cooked they can be made into a sauce or jelly. Young leaves and unopened buds
in spring can be used in salads, sandwiches, and casseroles or in mint sauce.
Don’t forget the
trees too.
Ash and elder can be harvested and if you are lucky enough
to have a walnut tree nearby then you have a great resource. Ash can be used
like capers, and elder berries can be made into wine and the flowers deep
fried.
If you would feel happier growing plants in the garden then
there are loads of perennial edibles to choose from.
Fruit.
You have a wide range or long lasting fruit bearers, from
apples, pears plums to strawberries, currants, raspberries and gooseberries
which can be harvested year after year.
Leaf Vegetables
Canna lily.
Certain types are edible and the tubers, leaves and flowers can be cooked up. It’s
said the seeds are edible but are really tough. They can stay viable for 600
years and have been used for buckshot!
Good King Henry.
Called the Lincolnshire asparagus, you might be disappointed.
Ground Elder. Yes
you can boil up ground elder, one way of ridding the pest from the garden
Lovage, rhubarb, globe artichokes are all good.
Perennial spinach.
(Basella alba) is a staple food throughout tropical Asia and Africa, and with
good cause: it’s high in protein, calcium, and iron, and grows like crazy.
Marsh Mallow,artichokes, Pink Purslane,Salad Burnet,Sea
Beet,Sweet Cecily and Wild Rocket are all worth a mention too.
Root Vegetables
Consider: American
Groundnut, Chinese Artichokes, Chicory, Earth-nut Pea, Hardy yam, Jerusalem
Artichokes, Lovage, Mashua (only if you have room, I have been trying to rid my
garden of this invasive climber for two years) , Oca and Pig Nuts and of course
asparagus.
As with all plants that will be in the ground a while,
preparation is key for a long and productive relationship. I’m hoping I’ll be
getting asparagus spears for many years to come with the minimum of effort,
hopefully other perennial vegetables will be the same.
