There aren’t many of us who escaped the recent frosts, and
thank goodness. Last year we didn’t
really get temperatures below freezing so had a strange year in the garden,
there seemed to be a bit of an imbalance, mainly too many slugs. I’ll
definitely be getting my cacti plants inside this year; I don’t think I will
get away with them not being killed off this winter.
The polytunnel is looking a bit untidy after the cold snap.
Most of the annual plants have given up and microbes are helping them to decay back
into the soil very quickly. I do have some microgreens growing in a small
cloche. I have peas, kale, broccoli all growing well and all that is needed is
to pop in there with a pair of scissors and snip the young stems off then put
them in a salad stir fry or scatter them in a sandwich like you would cress.
Flower Sprouts
There are some of us out there that will be planting beans,
peas and sweet peas, onions and other plants to give them a good start for next
year, but that’s just not me. I do try every year to be on the ball and
organized but as the garden is so much of a mess now with things dying back I
can’t see that far forward until spring to plant anything. Maybe one day I’ll
forward plan but it won’t be any time soon. Nature can do the tidying for a few
weeks yet.
Flower Sprouts
I have seen a plant that I’m going to try next year. Known
as Flower Sprouts here and Kalettes in the US, this is the result of 15 years
work (using traditional breeding techniques called genetic engineering) from
the British vegetable seed house Tozer Seeds. Flower Sprouts are a non-GMO
vegetable developed through traditional hybridization and not genetic
modification. The vegetable we see is very similar to a brussel sprout that has
lost its firmness and opened up or like a small open cabbage. It doesn’t look
that different to normal kale left until spring when the new soft shoots appear
on the stem, but I’m sure the 15 years of work will have not have been for
nothing apart from a marketing ploy. Well I hope anyway.
The inspiration behind the plant came from a desire to
create a kale type vegetable which was versatile and easy to prepare. Crossing
kale with brussels sprouts was a natural fit since they are both from the
Brassica Oleracea species which also includes cabbage, cauliflower and
broccoli.
It’s worth trying even for a novelty value. These plants are
new but actually on the market now in Lidl. The seeds will be available everywhere
soon I should think.
Grow your own
Clothes, and Furniture
As I am on the subject of new innovations there’s a startup
company called MycoWorks who aim to turn industrial design on its head by using
mycelium, the root-like fibres of mushrooms, for environmentally friendly
building materials, furniture, clothing and packaging.
Mycelium can be grown in almost any kind of agriculture
waste, including sawdust and pistachio shells. MycoWorks inoculates it with the
live culture of the reishi mushroom, which will feed off of anything, unlike
other pickier mushrooms. The mushrooms grow together within the material, which
can be configured into any shape, forming natural polymers that adhere like
glue. The material is then baked to kill the organisms, so that if it ever got
wet, mushrooms wouldn’t start sprouting again. You can grow building grade
strength bricks similar to concrete strenght or a leather substitute in just
two weeks which is stronger than cowhide. Clothing can be grown out of it and
you don’t need to do any sewing as the mycelium can attach itself to zips and
seams, you can literarally grow the material around anything. I thought hemp
was the way to go with the textile, building and furniture industries but I
quite fancy growing my own chairs and tables to fit inside a fungi grown house.
