Poles and supports

While it is far too early for planting tomatoes and beans, it is not too early to make sure you have everything ready when time comes to bring out the tomato plants and plant the beans.  These last few days I have been busy setting up supports for them.

Tête-à-tête daffodils

More Early Vegetables

As you might have guessed from previous posts, I have a special liking for perennial vegetables or, at least, vegetables that in one way or another come back in spring. Whether they are really perennial or self seed, I like the idea of a vegetable that you did not have to plant or seed. I have already talked of turnip tops and various onions that survive the winter, here are a few more hardy vegetables.

Cultivar of Tulipa greigii

From Wales to Egypt

This title suggests an interesting travelogue from Northern Europe to North Africa. Actually, the article is about the lowly onion. In fact, it is about two less common onions: the Welsh onion and the Egyptian onion. Both are perennial and particularly useful at this time of the year. One of them is also very decorative in summer.

A Turnip Turns up Unexpectedly

You might wonder what this miserable, half frozen plant is. Well, it is our best winter vegetable as it looks in still frozen soil emerging from a hard winter!

Foliage turnip, also known as turnip tops or turnip green, is a green vegetable associated with the south. I cannot remember anyone growing it in the two areas of Ontario where I have lived. Three years ago, I found seeds for it - at a dollar store of all places. With no best-before date on the package, the seed was likely old. But, at 25 cents a package and having never grown turnip tops before, I was curious to try it, and I got some seeds. The variety I got is called “Seven Tops” and it turns out to be an amazing vegetable for our cold climate.