Wandering Between Two Worlds

Fr. Theo Mathias, S.J., 1919-2005

2012-01-26T21:24:00.000Z

Obituary for

Fr. Theo Mathias, S.J., 1919-2005

Here is Fr. Theo's obituary from JIVAN: News and Views of Jesuits in India. I have cut into 3 columns for readability. The full page is scanned at the bottom.

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Nigel Slater's baked pumpkin and roasted plums

2011-09-17T16:35:00.002+01:00

Nigel Slater's baked pumpkin and roasted plums

Soft-skinned and full flavoured, the season's early pumpkins and ripening plums open the door to autumn

- Nigel Slater
- The Observer, Sunday 4 September 2011
- Article history

Smashing pumpkins: roasted squash with chilli. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer

I had my first sniff of autumn last week. That first hint that the season is changing usually involves some form of decay, in this case a couple of courgettes that had rotted to golden mush under their rain-sodden leaves in the veg patch. But the scent of early autumn is often one of extreme ripeness, too. Late-fruiting raspberries, plums of every sort and cherry-sized tomatoes are heady now, and their presence marks the change as clearly as turning a page of the calendar.

The smell of autumn hangs over the kitchen with a plate of plums so ripe as to be on the verge of collapse. This year I used early Victorias in a sorbet. It was good enough, though unexceptional until my second attempt when I roasted the fruits first, their flesh caramelising in the oven. The difference was amazing, the richness making it a clear winner. I put a carton of the pale pink and gold water-ice on the table with extra fruit, roasted with gin and juniper.

The plum season begins in July, starting with the diminutive golden Mirabelle, and continues until the dark red Marjorie's Seedling in early October. During the last few autumns I have tucked various varieties into classic sticky gingerbread; chutneyed them with raisins and malt vinegar; churned them into ice cream and served them as a compote with anise- seasoned pork ribs. Roasting them with gin has its roots in my jars of crimson damson gin, the nearest I am likely to get to home wine-making.

The pumpkins in the shops now are generally young ones with soft skins. While some of the larger ones are still sitting in the sun "curing", there are plenty about for roasting. Cut into wedges like melon or hacked into lumps and roasted, pumpkin needs something either spicy or very savoury to stop its slide into sugariness. This week I roasted one in small pieces with butter and then tossed it with a hot and sticky syrup of chillies and coriander – something I intend to try with sweet potatoes, too.

Sweet fruits, sweet vegetables and a distinct whiff of woodsmoke in the air. For the home cook, this is surely as good as it gets.

HOT SWEET BAKED PUMPKIN

This is an excellent side dish for baked ham, pork chops or cold beef, or as a main with steamed rice. It is essential to ensure the pumpkin is tender before adding the spices.

Serves 6 as a side dish

pumpkin or butternut squash 1.5kg, unpeeled weight
butter 50g

For the dressing:
caster sugar 4 tbsp
water 200ml
ginger a thumb-sized lump
red chilli 1 large, medium hot
limes 2
fish sauce 1 tbsp, or to taste
coriander a small bunch, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Peel the pumpkin, discard the seeds and fibres, and cut the flesh into small pieces, about 3cm in thickness. Put them in a roasting tin with the butter and bake for 50-60 minutes, turning occasionally, till soft enough to take the point of a knife.

Put the sugar and water in a shallow pan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer till the liquid has reduced by half. Meanwhile, peel and roughly chop the ginger and put in the bowl of a food processor. Halve the chilli lengthways and chop roughly, removing the seeds if you wish for a less spicy seasoning. Add the chilli to the bowl, then grate in the zest of the limes. Squeeze in the juice from the limes, then process to a coarse paste.

Stir the spice mixture into the syrup and simmer for a minute before adding the fish sauce and coriander. Remove from the heat.

When the pumpkin is fully tender, spoon most of the chilli sauce over, toss gently to coat each piece, then return to the oven for a further 5-10 minutes. Toss with the remaining chilli sauce and serve.

A SORBET OF ROASTED PLUMS

A well-flavoured plum ice that is easy to make with or without an ice-cream maker.

Serves 6

For the syrup:
water 150ml
caster sugar 150g

For the plums:
dark, ripe plums 500g
caster sugar 1 tbsp
lemon juice of 1

DIRECTIONS

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Bring the sugar and water to the boil in a small saucepan, switch off the heat and leave to cool, then chill thoroughly.

Wipe the plums, remove their stalks and put in a baking dish with the sugar. Bake for 30 minutes until they are soft and the skins have burst. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and remove the stones.

Mash the plums and their skins with a fork. I prefer a lumpy mash to add texture, but remove the skins if you prefer. Stir 200ml of the sugar syrup into the plums, then add the lemon juice. Pour into an ice-cream maker and churn until almost frozen or freeze by hand by pouring the mixture into a plastic freezer box, then leave to freeze for 4 hours stirring it every hour to introduce a little air. Serve with the hot plums below.

ROAST PLUMS, GIN AND JUNIPER

Even slightly under-ripe plums will respond to this treatment. Serve as a hot pudding with cream or spoon it over the sorbet above.

Serves 6

plums 1kg
butter 40g
caster sugar 4 tbsp
gin 2 tbsp
juniper berries 6 large, squashed

To serve:
double cream

DIRECTIONS

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Melt the butter and sugar in a nonstick pan, then add the gin and juniper berries. Wipe the plums and put them in a baking dish, then pour over the butter and sugar mixture.

Bake for 50-60 minutes till the plums have burst their skins and are soft and slightly caramelised. Serve with a jug of double cream or the plum sorbet above.

Thoughts on Britain's 2011 London Riots

2011-08-09T21:09:00.002+01:00

Roy and I stayed up till 2.45 a.m. yesterday following the coverage of the London riots on the Guardian's live blog and other media and social media.
It was grimly fascinating watching the protests, rioting and looting spread from London to Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, Bristol, Nottingham and Kent.

There were however some peculiarly British features which separated the riots from those in Mogadishu to which the German magazine Spiegel compared it

A burning capital city. Marauding bands stealing whatever they please. A police force that appears to be impotent. And a fire brigade that can't put out blazes because its rescue forces are attacked by a mob. The television images dominating screens this week could be right out of Mogadishu. As difficult to imagine as it might be, the pictures aren't from Somalia, but from London, right in the centre of Europe. And they will never be forgotten.

One of these which greatly amused us was that the looters queuedoutside the jewellery, sporting goods, electronics and mobile phone shops they had come to loot . First come, first served!

I read much commentary on the effective disenfranchisement and disengagement of the young (90% black according to eyewitness accounts) looters from society. In a milieu in which people are defined by what they possess, and wear, and in which the money to buy and own these coveted things is not easily come by, walking into a store cushioned by the safety of numbers of a mob and just picking up an iPod, iPad, sneakers, smartphone, gold chains, diamonds and bling must be an irresistible temptation. Big wants, small or no earnings--that probably played a role in the riots.

Sociologists will be dissecting these riots for a long time. I guess it was a toxic mix of underemployment, an unsatisfying education, poor career prospects, boredom, disaffection, racism, low stakes in one's community and society. Perhaps the handouts of a welfare state reduces the incentive to be entrepreneurial, and invent the rags to riches, Horatio Alger autobiography so beloved in America--and which continues to be written there.

Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to pray. I have long stopped praying about things I do not feel passionately about--because I sense such prayers do not reach the heart of God. And so, instead of praying that the riots stop (which, of course, I should have done) I found myself praying for the individual looters. Young, frightened, confused, insecure and very, very angry people. Praying for a transforming spiritual encounter for them. That they would know the peace and comfort and fellowship of friendship with the Living God.

I would rate my own experiences of the living God somewhere near 1 on a scale of 100 compared to, let's say, John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman the Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery to reach the Haitian slaves. But how life-transforming and peace and joy-giving this friendship has been!

I used to think the biggest field for evangelism in Britain was the Asian community--Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and ethnic Chinese, with their various religions. The Afro-Caribbean community are nominally Christian, and indeed church--very lengthy, joyful services with much singing, smart suits and dresses and fancy hats--is integral to their community life (as I observe on Oxford Sundays).

I heard the Ugandan bishop Zac Nyiringe say at St. Aldate's that he wished his Ugandan people would love church less and religion less, so that it could spill out of a Sunday morning celebration into weekday life to a far greater degree.

And that is a challenge for all of us!

From Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Cooking With Basil

2011-07-17T10:32:00.002+01:00

Nigel Slater's basil recipes

Fragrant, spicy and fragile… inhale deeply and basil will transport you straight to the Med in a herby haze

- Nigel Slater
- The Observer, Sunday 17 July 2011
- Article history

A brush with basil: Nigel Slater's mussel soup with tomato and basil. Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin for the Observer

The leaves of the basil plant are possibly the most tender of all herbs, even more so than the fine lacework of chervil or the fragile stems of coriander. Yes, a basil leaf bruises easily. But once it's crushed, the scent wafts up in little clouds of clove and grass. Unlike thyme or oregano, this is the herb that will turn black at anything lower than 3C, which is, as good fortune has it, the ideal fridge temperature.

Ideally basil should come warm from the sun (a plant in a pot is easy to nurture) but more is sold as cut leaves than on the plant. The leaves will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for a good few days without coming to much grief.The trick with shop-bought leaves is to remove the bunch from its thin cellophane bag and slide it into a roomy plastic bag, the heavy sort that seals when you press the edges together. A quick spray of water before you close the bag will help your bunch stay perky till you need it.

I sometimes rescue growing supermarket basil plants, repotting them in garden soil at home and putting them out on the step to take their chances in real soil in real daylight. Some collapse into a dead faint at exposure to the real world, but most relish the good earth and the scorching sunshine and soon become tough little plants of heady, peppery leaves. A world away from their old pampered selves.

I don't have a great deal of interest in basil unless the sun is shining. It is, possibly more than any other, the herb most associated with high summer, feeling strangely out of sorts in the winter. Basil is the tomato herb, the mozzarella herb, the one that takes you to the Med in a haze of pepper, clove and cinnamon. It is the herb whose smell is most spice-like.

Basil loves warmth but hates to be cooked for more than a few minutes. You can sneak it into roasting peppers or tomatoes, but it needs to be covered in oil if it is to keep any flavour. Even then it might lose its top notes. In other words, there is no point in putting it on a pizza. But warmth makes it come to life – a heaven-sent experience that can be tested by simply pressing hard on a large leaf between your hands then inhaling. It is the warmth from a bowl of freshly cooked fettuccine that makes the pesto so fragrant and brings us to the table. The leaves can also work trapped in a tiny cookie.

This week I picked up a few huge bunches of basil, tucked them into the fridge in a plastic bag and have pecked away at them all week. There was the juicy tomato salad with soft ricotta instead of mozzarella; a handful went into a potato salad with chopped shallot and a very light mayonnaise; and then there was the moment I stirred a handful of crushed leaves into the pan juices for a shallow-fried sea trout. (Good, but even better once I had introduced a squeeze of lemon into the mix.) There was also the mussel soup and the little basil shortcakes below. Had they not run out, I might have been tempted to knock up a basil sandwich. Anything, in fact, to get the warmly aromatic leaves into my cooking.

Mussel soup with tomato and basil

This soup can be made more substantial by placing a slice of toasted bread – sourdough, perhaps, or a slice of ciabbatta – into the bowl before you ladle in the soup.

Serves 3
onion 1, medium
olive oil
garlic 2 cloves
tomatoes 400g
mussels 450g

For the basil sauce:
basil leaves and their stems 20g
olive oil 75ml
lemon juice a little (optional)

Peel and finely chop the onion. Let it soften in a little olive oil in a deep, heavy-based pan over a moderate heat. Try not to let it colour, so stir it regularly – you want it to be pale and soft enough to crush easily between your fingers and thumb. Peel and crush the garlic and add. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add. Cook for 10-15 minutes, crushing the tomatoes with a spoon as they cook to a bright red slush.

While this is cooking, scrub the mussels and check them over thoroughly for broken shells or any that are obviously dead. Tip them into a deep, heavy-based pan and cover tightly with a lid, letting them cook over a high heat for a couple of minutes until their shells open and there is much steam in the pan. Tip into a colander over a bowl to catch the juices that have appeared in the pan.

Sieve the juices to remove any grit. This isn't a detail to skip – even the tiniest amount will ruin a soup. Add 400ml of the reserved cooking juices to the tomato and onion. In the event of there not being that much liquid, make up the amount with water. Simmer for a further 5 minutes or so. Season lightly with black pepper and possibly a little salt. Meanwhile pull the mussels from their shells and drop them into the soup.

To make the basil sauce put the basil leaves into a blender and slowly pour in the olive oil. Taste and add a little lemon juice and ground pepper. You are unlikely to need salt. Stir the basil sauce into the soup, but not too thoroughly. The point is to have a thick thread of fragrant green sauce running through each bowl of soup.

2011-07-14T10:31:00.000+01:00

The Road to Milford Sound (New Zealand)

(Guest post by Roy Mathias)

The Milford track is perhaps the most famous walk in the world, and can only be trekked with a reservation--that is hard to get. I have walked the Routeburn track, enjoying fantastic views and enduring the pouring rain, over 300 inches per year, that Fiordland National park is known for. Here is a view:

This time we went by campervan on a leisurely family trip. First we drove up to the Homer tunnel, seeing delicate alpine vegetation and of course keas along the way. Here is a kea in the evening -- in the day it looks greener

We navigated numerous hairpin bends to the Holyford River running next to the Milford Highway. Driving through beech forests, one sees the a wide rocky river bed with lupines. In many places you can walk though the lupines, and there are a couple of river side campgrounds. A view from far

and up close,

At the end of the road, you get to the justly famous Milford Sound, described as the Eight Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling after his trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1891. The classic photo is of Mitre peak perfectly reflected in the sound:

We took a cruise along the sound, seeing dolphins chasing fish, basking seals, crested penguins, and numerous waterfalls. One of these always had a rainbow in the spray! The captain provided us with a constant stream of lore and information. For example, why does the water in Milford Sound look so dark? The top layer is essentially fresh water from all the waterfalls, and contains a high concentration of tannins leached from the surrounding forests.

The camper van was an excellent way to explore New Zealand’s scenic beauty. One place campers are not allowed is Ninety Mile Beach at the top of the North Island. Here a Honda ATV would be ideal. This post is sponsored by Honda, as part of their "Documentaries on 4, sponsored by Honda” campaign. These short documentaries, for example,

show the versatility of the Honda ATV. To see more on this story, or to upload a short video of your own use of a Honda vehicle for consideration for this series, visit the hub.

Honda

W+K

Channel 4

documentaries

Sponsored Post

The Road to Milford Sound (New Zealand)

2011-07-14T10:19:00.001+01:00

The Road to Milford Sound (New Zealand)

(Guest post by Roy Mathias)
The Milford track is perhaps the most famous walk in the world, and can only be trekked with a reservation--that is hard to get. I have walked the Routeburn track, enjoying fantastic views and enduring the pouring rain, over 300 inches per year, that Fiordland National park is known for. Here is a view:

This time we went by campervan on a leisurely family trip. First we drove up to the Homer tunnel, seeing delicate alpine vegetation and of course keas along the way. Here is a kea in the evening -- in the day it looks greener

We navigated numerous hairpin bends to the Holyford River running next to the Milford Highway. Driving through beech forests, one sees the a wide rocky river bed with lupines. In many places you can walk though the lupines, and there are a couple of river side campgrounds. A view from far

and up close,

At the end of the road, you get to the justly famous Milford Sound, described as the Eight Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling after his trip to Australia and New Zealand in 1891. The classic photo is of Mitre peak perfectly reflected in the sound:

We took a cruise along the sound, seeing dolphins chasing fish, basking seals, crested penguins, and numerous waterfalls. One of these always had a rainbow in the spray! The captain provided us with a constant stream of lore and information. For example, why does the water in Milford Sound look so dark? The top layer is essentially fresh water from all the waterfalls, and contains a high concentration of tannins leached from the surrounding forests.

The camper van was an excellent way to explore New Zealand’s scenic beauty. One place campers are not allowed is Ninety Mile Beach at the top of the North Island. Here a Honda ATV would be ideal. This post is sponsored by Honda, as part of their "Documentaries on 4, sponsored by Honda” campaign. These short documentaries, for example,

show the versatility of the Honda ATV. To see more on this story, or to upload a short video of your own use of a Honda vehicle for consideration for this series, visit the hub.

Honda

W+K

Channel 4

documentaries

Sponsored Post

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Salmon and Horseradish sauce in 20 minutes

2011-07-13T19:15:00.000+01:00

Angela Hartnett's warm salmon and pickled cucumber salad recipe

This quick meal combines mild-flavoured salmon with the strong tastes of horseradish and soy

- Angela Hartnett
- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 13 July 2011 16.35 BST
- Article history

Angela Hartnett’s warm salmon and pickled cucumber salad recipe. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

I have grown to love horseradish over the past few years, and not just with roast beef. It works very well with sesame oil, soy sauce and certainfish, and is used a fair amount in Japanese cooking. You can serve it freshly grated with this dish, or use a good-quality horseradish cream such as Tracklements.

I like combining salmon, which can be mild in flavour, with strong tastes such as horseradish, soy and even chilli. You can easily add some chilli heat to this dish, if you like.

This is the ideal quick meal – it is perfectly possible to cook it in 20 minutes from start to finish.

Serves four
1 cucumber
25ml soy sauce
75ml sesame oil
10ml white wine vinegar
2 heads of broccoli cut into florets
2 tbsp olive oil
4 salmon fillets, skin removed, 120g each
½ bunch of dill, chopped
Salt and pepper

Method

Leaving the skin on, cut the cucumber into 8cm long strips, discarding any seeds. Place in a bowl and add the soy sauce, sesame oil and white wine vinegar. Season to taste with salt and pepper and allow to marinate.

Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the broccoli and cook for five minutes until just cooked. Drain and allow to cool.

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and cook the salmon for two minutes on each side, depending on the thickness (up to a maximum of five minutes in total). Remove from the pan and allow to cool until it is cold enough to handle. Then break it into flakes.

In a large bowl, mix the salmon, broccoli and marinated cucumber, tipping in as much of the marinade as you like. Finish with the chopped dill, mix well and check the seasoning.

Serve on a large plate with spoons of horseradish cream or grated fresh horseradish. Serve immediately.

Growing Perennial Horseradish

2011-07-13T19:13:00.002+01:00

Horseradish is a perennial herb (it lasts for several years) originating from southeast Europe. Its tough twisted root is used in cooking to make horseradish sauce, a tangy and peppery sauce used to accompany fish and roast meat.

Horseradish is a voracious grower and has a tendency to take over the garden. It grows well in full sun or partial shade, and should be grown in a permanent spot. It will also grow well in a deep container (this can be advantage as it prevents the herb from spreading).

How to Grow Horseradish

Horseradish is best grown from a single piece of root. Plant the root in early spring or in autumn, in a well-prepared spot that’s free from weeds. Dig a hole 30cm deep and mix in some organic matter such as compost or well-rotted manure. Place the root at a 45-degree angle in the hole and cover with soil, watering well.

How to Care for Horseradish

After a few weeks, shoots and leaves will start to emerge from the soil. Keep the soil moist and free from weeds. Once the plant has developed large leaves it shouldn’t need much attention. The leaves will block light from weeds and suppress their growth; the root should be deep enough to absorb water from deep below the soil’s surface. However if conditions to get very dry, a good drink will promote strong growth.

Harvesting Horseradish

Horseradish is ready to harvest in autumn, but it is said that its taste in more intense if you wait until after the first frost before harvesting the root. Simply dig up the root and remove it from the ground. It should be similar in size and shape to a parsnip. Leave a small section of root in the ground to grow into a new plant the following year.

The root can be stored in a paper bag in the fridge for up to one week. If it is left for longer than one week the root will shrivel and the flavour diminishes.

Preparing Horseradish

To prepare the fresh horseradish root, simply wash the soil off, then peel and grate it. The pungent fumes from horseradish can cause irritation to the eyes so take care to protect them from the fumes whilst preparing the root.

Creamed horseradish is delicious with roast meat, especially beef. It can also accompany fish such as tuna. Add the raw grated pieces to cream and a little vinegar and store in a sterile airtight jar.

Hot horseradish sauce is made from mixing horseradish root with vegetable oil. It has a very strong flavour and is thicker in consistency than creamed horseradish sauce. It goes well with venison and can be added to mashed potato to give it a kick.

Horseradish is a delicious herb and can be grated and made into a delicious cream or hot sauce that can be added to meat or fish dishes. It is easy to grow and is best harvested in autumn after the first frost, and eaten

The Best Way of Avoiding or Dealing with Clutter

2011-07-09T19:29:00.000+01:00

See this brilliant post from The Unclutterer

The Keystone Demise

Does this ever happen to you: Your home is functioning at its best and chores are getting done when they need to be done. Then, the light bulb burns out in the laundry room (or something similar which is seemingly minor, like you run out of dish detergent or you throw your coat over the back of a chair instead of hanging it up in the closet). Less than a week later, you have dishes piled up on your kitchen counter, clothes spilling out of the hamper, and old newspapers piling up in your driveway. All it took was one itty bitty cog in the machine to break for your entire system to fall apart.

I refer to this breakdown as the Keystone Demise. In architecture, the keystone is the center stone of an arch. It is the piece that is vital to the arch’s success because it makes it possible for the arch to hold its shape and to bear the weight of the ceiling, wall, bridge, and/or doorway. If you remove the keystone, the arch fails, usually bringing down the entire surrounding structure with it.

The Keystone Demise is almost always the cause of an organizing system failure. One small piece is disrupted/broken/compromised and in a matter of days it is as if the organizing system didn’t exist at all. One day’s mail being thrown on the dining table can be all it takes for full-house chaos to erupt.

When you or others who occupy the same space notice the keystone isn’t working properly, its as if the keystone gives license for you and others to abandon your efforts to keep everything organized. In a sense, the Keystone Demise plays a part in the Broken Window theory. The tiny, out-of-place keystone sends a signal that it’s okay for disorder to rule the home or office.

As someone who wants to keep your home and office organized, it’s your job to immediately identify when a keystone is out of place or broken and fix the situation. There are a few easy ways to do this:

Printed closing duties or a chore chart. It seems elementary to write out chores and end-of-day assignments, but these lists can be very beneficial for helping you avoid Keystone Demise. Before leaving the office or heading to bed, review your printed list of closing duties or daily chores to make sure all tasks were completed properly. If they weren’t, quickly do the chore or re-do it. Don’t leave work or go to bed with an essential task undone.
Keep an easily accessible shopping list. Again, this is pretty basic, but having a grocery shopping and errand list can be a huge help in avoiding Keystone Demise. This list needs to be in a place where any of your housemates can effortlessly add to it (right when they notice something is running out or broken, don’t ever expect housemates to have to email you because they won’t), the writing implement needs to be in working order, and you can take the list with you when you go to the store or to run errands.
Having the right tools. This is mentioned constantly on this site, but it needs to be mentioned again in this context. If clothes end up on the floor of your bathroom, then you need to put a hamper in your bathroom. If clothes end up on the floor of your bedroom, you also need a hamper in your bedroom. If you want to shred junk mail by your front door and also shred sensitive documents in your home office, have a shredder by your front door and also a shredder in your office. Having multiples of something isn’t clutter if you actually need multiples of something to stay organized and keep from avoiding Keystone Demise.

In my house, receipts on the top of our bedroom dresser are our broken keystone. If we empty our pockets and just set the receipts down on the top of the dresser, within a week we have absolute chaos in the house. It’s amazing to me how something as small as receipts can cause complete disorder, but time and again they are the culprit. Rather, I should say receipts used to be the constant cause of our Keystone Demise. We now have all the tools necessary to keep this simple type of clutter from accumulating. Plus, getting ready for bed more than an hour before we plan to go to sleep also helps a great deal because we have enough energy to properly process these little slips of paper (and get our dirty clothes into the hamper and all our other end-of-the day chores).

Self-seeding vegetables

2011-07-06T22:08:00.000+01:00

Self-seeding veggies

ON THE GARDEN PATH by Carolyn Herriot
Imagine harvesting bunches of nutritious greens you didn’t even plant. You can do this simply by growing kales, chards, spinach, salad greens, mustard greens, parsley and coriander because they are all self-seeding vegetables. Let some of the best plants go to seed and you will have a steady supply of food all year long. Talk about the Garden of Eden!
Arugula (or rocket salad) provides patches of volunteers in spring and fall. I relish the nutty, slightly peppery flavour of young leaves in sandwiches and salads and lightly sautéed in pasta dishes. As the plant matures, it develops a pungent mustard bite relished by some. The annual variety of arugula is very ornamental, going to seed with white flowers rather than the typical bright yellow flowers of the mustard family.
Mache (or corn salad) produces leafy rosettes of juicy greens with a mild but refreshing taste for winter salads and sandwiches. It sets seed as soon as the weather warms up in spring. Small, round, light brown seeds lie dormant in the soil until the weather cools down in October, ensuring corn-salad greens are available all winter.
Purple orach (or mountain spinach) offers pickings of deep purple leaves, which make colourful accents in the salad bowl, as well as in the garden. Make it even more attractive by pinching out leaf tips, which cause it to bush out and produce more leaves. Tip: grow in part sun/part shade; it won’t bolt to seed as fast and lasts longer.
Perpetual spinach is not true spinach, although it is used in the same way; it is a cross between chard and beet, with finer-textured leaves tender enough to tear into salads. It is also “squeaky sweet,” served as a side dish, lightly steamed. I frequently use it as a base for vegetarian lasagnes. Perpetual spinach will grow year round without going to seed and tastes even sweeter after hard frosts. Tip: cut it back severely if it attempts to go to seed before the year is out.
Silverbeet is a chard I originally encountered on a visit to the UK. It thrives in cooler conditions; it is very winter hardy and produces superior dark green leaves with succulent white midribs so you actually get two vegetables in one. It is always plentiful for steamed greens and can be used as a replacement for cabbage in roll-up recipes. The juicy, white stalks are crunchy and sweet when steamed or stir-fried and hard to distinguish from celery when covered with a sauce.
Five-colour silverbeet is a much more decorative version of chard that seeds around the garden and also looks great in containers. When it goes to seed, you can select the colours you like best and create your own custom-tinted mix. Serving up a platter of these vibrant-looking vegetables always leads to enlivened conversation.
Kale leaves are the most freely available greens volunteering around the garden. I choose ‘Russian Red’ or ‘Green Curled,’ which are tender enough for salads year round. The flower heads can be eaten in lieu of broccoli spears, raw or lightly steamed. This is best done while still in bud, before flowers open.
Radicchio (or chicory) seedlings pop up all over the garden, which is just fine with me because these plants are very appealing. Rossa di Treviso and Palla Rossa become an intense red as they develop into substantial, tasty hearts. These edible ornamentals look good for most of the year and work very well along the edge of borders.
Parcel is a variety of parsley with a pronounced celery flavour. Parcel can be chopped and used as a seasoning in generous handfuls. Toss it freely into omelettes, pasta, casseroles, salads and dressings and you will be helping your family maintain their intake of vitamin C. It has become my herb of choice in the kitchen.

Easy-to-grow container greens

Q: I’m a vegan and am trying to grow a steady supply of organic greens in a Vancouver community garden. What is the easiest, fastest-growing and most reliable green for someone who wants big results from little work?
A: I would grow kale, chard, spinach, Oriental greens, mustard greens, parsley or parcel and coriander because these greens grow year round and are prolific self-seeders. Choose open-pollinated varieties (not F1 hybrids) to start with and let some flower and go to seed.

http://www.commonground.ca/iss/225/cg225_herriot.shtml

Self-seeding vegetables

2011-07-06T21:55:00.000+01:00

Self-Seeding Crops You’ll Never Need to Replant

August/September 2010
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/self-seeding-z10m0hun.aspxBy Barbara Pleasant

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Letting crops flower and go to seed also supports beneficial insects!

One of the characteristics of a truly sustainable garden is that it produces at least some of its own seed. This is most often done when gardeners select, harvest and store seeds until the proper time for planting the following year.

S;But some self-seeding crops produce seeds so readily that as long as you give them time to flower and mature, and set seed, you will always have free plants growing in your garden. You can simply let the seeds fall where they are, or toss pieces of the seed heads into the corners of your garden, or whichever area you want them in — no harvesting, storing or replanting required. With most self-seeding vegetables, herbs and annual flowers, you’ll just need to learn to recognize the seedlings so you don’t hoe them down. Should seedlings require relocation, you can simply lift and move them — after all, they are sturdy field-grown seedlings.
In addition to getting all the free garden plants you need (and some to share with family and friends), nurturing self-seeders is also a great way to provide a diversity of flowers that supply pollen and nectar for beneficial insects. Self-seeding flowers, herbs and vegetables that show up in early spring include arugula, calendula, chamomile, cilantro, dill, breadseed poppies and brilliant red orach (mountain spinach). Nasturtiums, amaranth, New Zealand spinach, and even basil or zinnias appear later, after the soil has warmed.
Starting a new colony of any of these annuals is usually a simple matter of lopping off armloads of brittle, seedbearing stems in the fall, and dumping them where you want the plants to appear the next season. It’s that easy. Most of the seedlings will appear in the first year after you let seed-bearing plants drop their seeds, with lower numbers popping up in subsequent seasons.
Working with reseeding, or self-sowing, crops saves time and trouble and often gives excellent results, but a few special techniques and precautions are in order. Some plants that self-sow too freely — especially perennials such as garlic chives or horseradish — will cross the line into weediness if not handled with care.

Spring Seeds for Fall Crops

The first group of plants to try as self-sown crops — both because they’re the easiest and they’ll be ready the same year — are those that tend to bolt in late spring. If allowed to bloom and set seed, dill, radishes, arugula, cilantro, broccoli raab, turnips and any kind of mustard will produce ripe seeds in time for fall reseeding in most climates. Lettuce will take a little longer, but often gives good results in Zone 5 or warmer.
One way to encourage self-seeders is to select vigorous plants from a larger planting, and let these plants grow unharvested until they bloom and produce seeds. This will work well enough, but it’s often bothersome to have one lone turnip holding up the renovation of a planting bed. To get around this problem, use a Noah’s ark approach: Set aside a bed or row and transplant pairs of plants being grown for seed into the ark bed. As the weeks pass, weed, water and stake up seed-bearing branches to keep them clean, but don’t pick from the “seed ark” bed.
When seed pods dry and begin to shatter, gather and store some of the seeds as usual for replanting next year (just in case the reseeding effort isn’t successful). Shake and crumble the rest where you want the next crop to grow, and pat the soil to get good contact between soil and seeds. Or, simply lay well-broken seed-bearing branches over a prepared bed and walk over them. This will shatter seed pods and push seeds into the soil at the same time, and the stem pieces will serve as a starter mulch. With fast-sprouting crops such as arugula, a drenching rain or good hand-watering is all it will take to bring on a lovely fall crop.
Many of the seeds that hit the ground will rot or be eaten, but hundreds will survive winter and sprout in spring. Their strength is in their numbers. When you sow a bed of cilantro, for example, you might plant between 25 and 50 seeds. But when nature is in charge, a single plant may shower your garden with a thousand fresh, plump seeds. Cilantro seedlings are easy to dig and move, and they make well-behaved “weeds.”

Managing Annual Self-Seeding Crops

Many annual crops will reseed themselves if you leave them in the garden long enough for the seeds to mature and the fruit to decompose. Annual veggies that frequently reseed and provide volunteer seedlings include winter squash and pumpkins, tomatoes and tomatillos, watermelon, and New Zealand spinach.
There are two issues to consider when managing this band of garden volunteers: disease and location. The two most serious diseases of potato and tomato — early and late blights — can actually be perpetrated by encouraging disease-carrying volunteer plants. Especially if you saw late blight in your garden the previous season, you should seriously consider breaking the disease cycle by digging up and composting potatoes that sprout from the previous year’s patch, along with all volunteer tomatoes and tomatillos that appear early in the season.
However, sometimes in late summer, I do adopt tomato volunteers that have a potato-type leaf, because I know what they are. ‘Brandywine’ is the only potatoleaf tomato variety I’ve grown in the last five years, so any potatoleaf volunteers are highly likely to be ‘Brandywines.’ You also can recruit healthy volunteer tomatillos based on their distinctive leaf shapes. I locate these foster children around the garden as single plants, spaced far from my main ripening crop. Or you can consider moving volunteers to containers and growing them outside of your garden as a disease safety precaution. With late blight, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Volunteer Veggies

If you’re growing open-pollinated (OP) varieties, it can be fun to let volunteer winter squash, pumpkins, gourds and watermelons ramble along the garden’s edge, or scramble over wire fencing. (Remember that seeds from hybrid varieties usually won’t grow “true to type.”) Check the plants weekly for signs of powdery mildew disease, which is a common problem with older open-pollinated varieties. Squash or pumpkin plants that show signs of powdery mildew before the fruits have set should be pulled out, but don’t worry if the white mildew patches appear later on when the fruits are almost ripe. The plants will still bear a good crop. If volunteer winter squash are always a part of your garden’s landscape because so many seeds survive in your compost, you can introduce powdery mildew resistance to your local population by growing OP varieties which are resistant to powdery mildew, such as ‘Honey Nut’ butternut and ‘Cornell’s Bush Delicata.’

Controlling Rampant Self-Seeders

Several useful herbs and greens reseed with such abandon they must be handled as potentially invasive plants. Plants behave differently depending on the climate, but in general, expect the following crops to become obnoxious if not given appropriate discipline: borage, chives, garlic chives, edible docks and sorrels, herb fennel, lemon balm, horseradish and valerian. Here are the house rules:

Grow only as many plants as you can monitor.
Don’t allow seeds to be shed in your garden without your permission. This is done by pruning off flowers or immature seed heads, many of which make fine cut flowers.

When experimenting with herbs from around the world, I have learned to be cautious, because one year’s seed can be many years’ weeds. Start with small plantings of nigella, perilla, and seed-producing sorrels and docks to make sure you can keep them under control. Intervene early should a reseeding plant you don’t want start popping up everywhere. Weed ruthlessly until it’s gone, because ill-mannered thug plants have no place in a well-managed garden.

34 Easy Self-Seeders

Herbs: basil, chamomile, cilantro, cutting celery, dill, parsley
Vegetables: amaranth, arugula, beets, broccoli raab, carrots, collards, kale, lettuce, orach, mustards, New Zealand spinach, parsnips, pumpkin, radish, rutabaga, tomatillo, tomato, turnips, winter squash
Flowers: bachelor button, calendula, celosia, cosmos, nasturtiums, poppies, sunflowers, sweet alyssum, viola

Bountiful Biennials Set Seeds in the Spring

If you can get them through winter in good shape (a challenge north of Zone 7), openpollinated varieties of beets, carrots, collards, kale (especially Russian strains), broccoli, parsnips and parsley can be added to your list of self-sown crops. These crops produce their seeds in the second year. Cold frames or low tunnels work surprisingly well at enhancing the winter survival of these plants, or you can try replanting stored beets, carrots or parsnips in late winter, as soon as the soil thaws.
To get prompt, strong flowering and seed production from most biennial veggies, it’s important to have nearly mature plants that have been exposed to at least six weeks of cold with soil temperatures in the 40-degree-Fahrenheit range. In the spring, warming temperatures and lengthening days trigger overwintered biennials to flower profusely, eventually producing great stalks of flowers for bees and beneficials, followed by thousands of seeds — a single parsley plant may shed the equivalent of 10 packets of seeds. You will see most of these seedlings in the first two seasons after a reseeding. By the third year, it’s time to repeat the drill.
The best time to plant biennial seeds is late summer to early fall, using the seed ark approach described above. For example, you might grow pairs of carrots, Russian kale and parsnips together, and protect the young plants through winter with a low plastic-covered tunnel. By midsummer the following year, you should have enough fresh seeds to save and scatter where you want new seedlings to grow, just in time for fall planting.

Managing Self-Seeders

In the fall, toss seed heads wherever you want seeds to germinate. Or, next spring, transplant volunteers to the spots where you want them to grow.
Be sure not to hoe “weeds” too early in the spring.
Learn to identify the self-seeder seedlings.

Blueberry Smoothies Enhance Concenration

2011-07-05T21:18:00.000+01:00

– A blueberry smoothie in the morning is good for your brain in the afternoon—and in the long run, according to new research. Scientists at a British university found that one blueberry smoothie increased powers of concentration by as much as 20% in a single day. Consumption of blueberries can also help to ward off dementia. Chemicals in the fruit called flavonoids expand blood vessels, increasing blood flow to the brain and decreasing blood pressure.

Blueberries already have a reputation for being "the super food of super foods," reports theTelegraph. The fruit has been shown to lower incidences of heart disease and cancer, and it can help slow the aging process. But blueberries and other flavonoid-rich foods, including chocolate and spinach, are now also believed to restructure parts of the brain, helping to prevent memory loss. "They have the potential in the long term to lead to cognitive improvement," said the lead researcher in the latest study.

How to Grow Perennial Welsh Onions

2011-07-01T15:46:00.001+01:00

Growing Welsh Onions
From A Worcester Allotment

A member of the Onion family, Welsh onion are well worth cultivating in the vegetable and flower garden.

They take up very little space, and the whole plant can be eaten from top to bottom.

Welsh onion are cultivated both for their culinary uses and their ornamental value; the violet flowers are often used in ornamental dry bouquets.

Welsh onion are perennial evergreen plants, and keep their leaves in most winters.

In colder winters, the leaves may die back completely, but don’t despair – their roots are still alive and they will begin new growth next spring.

How to grow Welsh onion - Crop rotation

Welsh onion is a member of the onion family, and it is suggested that it should not be planted in soil that has grown a family member in at least the last three years.

How to grow Welsh onion – Position and Soil

Welsh onion thrive in well drained soil, rich in organic matter, with a pH of 6-7 and full sun.

However, Welsh onion will grow in almost all soils.

Work in a handful or two of bonemeal per square metre (yard).

Full sun or partial shade suit them equally well.

Although they are fairly tolerant of drought, don’t plant them in very dry places.

How to grow Welsh onion – Propagation

How to grow Welsh onion – Sowing seed

Welsh onion can be grown from seed and mature in summer, or early the following spring.

Sow the seeds indoors using normal potting compost in March time (or directly outside in April) .

Typically, Welsh onion need to be germinated at a temperature of 15°C to 20°C and kept moist.

The seedlings will appear a week to ten days later.

Transfer them outside a month after sowing with 10cm (8in) between each plant.

How to grow Welsh onion - Propagating by Division

Welsh onion are very similar to other onions, in that they have a bulbous root and green leaves.

The bulbs multiply quickly over a few years and this bounty of new bulbs provides the easiest method of propagation.

Simply dig up the clump of bulbs in March or October, carefully separate them into individual bulbs and replant with the tips of the bulbs level with the soil surface.

They thrive on this method of propagation, because it relieves the congestion in the bulb clumps.

How to grow Welsh onion – Care & Cultivation

Welsh onion are not greedy feeders, so it is not necessary to feed throughout the year if the soil has been prepared as described.

In cold regions, Welsh onion die back to the underground bulbs in winter, with the new leaves appearing in early spring.

Welsh onion starting to look old can be cut back to about 2–5 cm.

How to grow Welsh onion – Harvesting

Either lift the whole onion, as above, or just use the leaves.

Cut the chive leaves with scissors when required, starting with the outside leaves (those nearest the edge of the pot) and working your way inwards.

When harvesting, the needed number of stalks should be cut to the base.

The leaves rapidly grow back and can be cut several times in the growing season, so giving a continuous harvest.

Plants grown from seed should be left alone (although remove the emerging flower heads) until July in the first year to allow a good root system to establish itself.

How to grow Welsh onion - Kitchen Notes

Welsh onion should be used fresh and uncooked, otherwise they loose almost all their flavour.

When used with cooked foods, add them after cooking.

Welsh onion can be used to add flavour to a huge range of food, probably best known for adding to baked potatoes with butter.

Foods it goes well with include mixed vegetables, egg dishes, salads and dressings, broiled poultry, stews, casseroles and baked fish.

How to grow Welsh onion - Storage & Preserving

They can be dried, but their is little point because they then have no flavour.

One way to store them is to chop the leaves into 1cm (half inch) lengths and place them in ice cube containers with some water.

Freeze them, and then defrost an ice cube or two when need to use them.

How to grow Welsh onion - Pests and Disease

They are almost completely free of disease, but they occasionally suffer from onion fly, however this is almost always because they have been planted near onions which have been attacked – the solution is not to plant Welsh onion near onions.

Garden Vegetables that can be planted in July

2011-06-30T12:11:00.000+01:00

Caroline Foley's expert guide to a few things to do in July

There is still time for great summer sowing

From pea seed to pea in three months

I dropped into the supermarket last week to buy some carrot seed only to discover that the whole seed stand had vanished. Seed sowing was over until next year. I was surprised by this because there is still time to grow quite a lot of produce from seed for eating in summer and early autumn.

Some of the Japanese varieties of turnips sown in early July will be golf ball size within the month. Turnip 'Market Express' is first past the post with a 30-day turnaround. The RHS Award winner 'Tokyo Cross' will be ready five days later. Its additional attribute in that it won't get 'pithy' or coarse if you leave it to grow on for winter eating.

Young mustardy turnip leaves are spicy thrown into salads or stir fried. Incidentally, remember that turnips come under the brassica group in the rotation scheme – not the root family as one might be forgiven to expect – so they should go in the cabbage patch.

Young beetroots and turnips make good cooking partners. Among the best for a quick crop of beetroot is 'Burpees Golden', a mild flavoured, amber-fleshed cultivar which will be ready to eat in seven weeks. Blood red beetroot 'Pronto' is just as quick. It is delicious at the ping pong stage and produces exceptionally tasty tops.

Carrots can be eaten at any stage and don't need to mature

If you are happy to eat them young, carrots will grow neck and neck with beetroots and turnips. They come in a dazzling array of colours these days, however, for tried and tested speed, go for early varieties such as 'Early Nantes' , 'Nantes 2', and 'Amsterdam Forcing'. Carrots can be eaten at any stage of their growth and don't need to ripen or mature.

It is getting on the tight side now to sow summer squash. However, the 'Patty Pan' – the scallop or flying saucer squash – is at its best when only an inch or two across. Eaten like this, it only takes 49 days from seed to plate.

Dwarf French beans are quicker than the climbing types. Good varieties for sowing now are the 'baby' varieties that have been bred to be at their most delicious and nutritious when still small. 'Speedy' is probably is the record breaker being ready in seven weeks. The RHS Award of Garden Merit 'Annabel', is another good choice and would pass the post about a week later.

Although they don't care for heat, you can get a crop of peas in just over three months providing you site them well and keep watered. Mangetout, being immature, are faster and a better bet. 'Oregon Sugar Pod', for example, takes 68 days on average. It is also worth growing a few for theyoung pea shoots, which are a delicacy in salads and can be ready to harvest in two weeks.

Radishes are ready to eat within four weeks

Baby leaf salads can be kept going throughout the year with a six week turnaround and varying the choice of leaves to the time of year. Planted under the beans or peas they will get some refreshing shade at midday.
Racing greens – eg, leaf beet, rainbow chard, komatsuna, andchrysanthemum greens – can all be slotted in and enjoyed well before the first frosts. Pak choi can be eaten as baby leaf in as little as three weeks and as a headed crop in six.

Radishes will be ready to eat in four weeks. 'Cherrybelle' and 'French Breakfast' are two of the most popular and reliable types.

As the schools break up, your thoughts might turn to a bit of nature study. I was surprised to find I could keep some three year olds totally absorbed for a good half hour by providing magnifying glasses (£1 each at the market) for an informal bug study.

Sunflowers are tailor-made for kids

Butterflies are always particularly fascinating and, while you would need to doa little research into particular food plants if you were to be serious about it, you can rely upon lavender and – even more so – on buddleia, which will flower non-stop until next term, to draw in a good selection.

Sunflower seeds are tailor-made for young children. They will grow almost as you watch them. Each visit will show progress. Depending on variety, you could grow a giant of up to 6m, a good talking point through the summer holidays. When choosing the site however, take into account that the flowers always face east towards the rising sun.

Profile of Christine Lagarde, new IMF chief

2011-06-28T21:28:00.003+01:00

Profile: Christine Lagarde

By Shanaz MusaferBusiness reporter, BBC News

Christine Lagarde is known for her straight talking

Following the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn as chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde emerged as the early favourite to succeed him.

Poised, chic and a fluent English speaker, she is second only to President Nicolas Sarkozy as France's most recognisable politician on the world stage.

If she were to get the job, Ms Lagarde, 55, would be the first woman to head the IMF.

But then throughout her career she has already become familiar with the "first woman to..." tag.

Law school

Born Christine Lallouette in Paris, she tasted success even in her early days, representing the French synchronised swimming team as a teenager.

At 17, following the death of her father, Ms Lagarde went to study in the US for a year, where she perfected her English.

After graduating from law school in Paris, she obtained a Masters degree from the Political Science Institute in Aix en Provence.

In 1981 she returned to the US, joining the international law firm Baker & McKenzie as an associate, specialising in labour, anti-trust, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

Eighteen years later, she became the first female chairman of the firm.

International acclaim

Ms Lagarde was appointed France's Trade Minister in 2005 and under her watch, French exports reached record levels.

“Start Quote

She is enormously impressive, politically astute and a strong personality”

Kenneth RogoffFormer IMF chief economist

In 2007 she became finance minister, the first woman to hold this post not just in France but in any of the G8 major industrial countries.

Never afraid of speaking her mind, she has blamed the 2008 worldwide financial crisis partly on the male-dominated, testosterone-fuelled culture at global banks.

One of France's most popular right-wing politicians, in 2009 she came second in a poll carried out by broadcaster RTL and newspaper Le Parisien on the country's favourite personalities, beaten only by singer and actor Johnny Hallyday.

But her popularity has stretched beyond French shores and she is viewed with high regard in the international arena.

In 2009, the Financial Times voted her the best finance minister in Europe.

She has won international respect for promoting France's negotiating clout in key forums like the G20, for which France currently holds the presidency.

She has also received plaudits for the key role she played in approving a bail-out mechanism to aid struggling members of the eurozone last May.

Ms Lagarde cuts a stylish figure on the international arena

And her straight-talking manner has only added to her appeal.

Rock-star appeal

In the running to replace Mr Strauss-Kahn - who is under house arrest in a New York apartment, charged with the attempted rape of a hotel maid - Ms Lagarde's gender may help her chances.

"What's happened with Strauss-Kahn underscores how great it would be to have a woman in the role," said Kenneth Rogoff, a former IMF chief economist.

But he said gender was only part of her appeal.

"She is enormously impressive, politically astute and a strong personality. At finance meetings all over the world, she is treated practically like a rock star."

But the divorced mother-of two will also face some hurdles in her bid for the IMF job.

Legal row

Her nationality may count against her.

A Frenchman has run the IMF for 26 out of the last 33 years and while they may have traditionally made good chiefs, the embarrassment of what has happened with Mr Strauss-Kahn may hurt French chances of retaining the position.

The biggest cloud hanging over Ms Lagarde's candidacy, though, comes in the form of a legal row back home.

On 10 May, a public prosecutor recommended a judicial investigation into Ms Lagarde's decision to settle a dispute between the state and tycoon Bernard Tapie, a personal friend of President Sarkozy.

Ms Lagarde had stepped in to end the court dispute in 2007 by ordering a special panel of judges to arbitrate in the case. The following year, Tapie was awarded 285m euros (£250m; $405m) in damages.

Ms Lagarde denies any misconduct, and there is no suggestion of personal profit.

But given Dominique Strauss-Kahn's spectacular fall from grace, any legal trouble at all could make her unacceptable to the IMF.

A Method of Growing Leeks like a Perennial

2011-06-27T23:11:00.003+01:00

http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/03/leeks-for-lazy-gardener_20.html

Perennial Vegetables for British Gardens

2011-06-27T23:00:00.000+01:00

Perennial vegetables: Plant once and eat always

Perennial vegetables are a beautiful, low-carbon alternative to sowing from scratch every year, says expert edibles grower Mark Diacono

From The Telegraph

Image 1 of 3

Oca, asparagus and rhubarb chard are all classic perennials Photo: ALAMY / PHOTOLIBRARY.COM

By Mark Diacono

12:43PM BST 15 Apr 2011

I’m at the head of a line of asparagus, looking for the first green noses to break the surface. The first harvest of the growing season – and to my mind the best.

The secret to the finest asparagus in the world is time – getting it from plot to plate as quickly as you can. If you’re a bit of an anorak you’ll have the water boiling before you cut the spears so that you can enjoy them sweet and succulent before the rapid conversion of sugars to starches takes over. Taste home-grown asparagus once and you’ll never reach for the year-round Peruvian supermarket stuff again

This month, buy year-old plants (known as crowns), and when they arrive choose a well-drained space. Dig a trench to a spade’s depth and width, incorporating a little compost or well-rotted manure, and create a 4in tall mound along the floor of the trench.

Space the crowns 20in apart along the ridge, backfill and water well. Allow 30in between rows.

You can even sow sorrel and chicory (both delicious, perennial salad leaves) in the space between rows. The rows will need weeding once in a while but other than that you’ll just need to sit on your hands until next spring when the spears poke through the soil.

However tempted you are, don’t cut any – let the crowns establish. The torture of the wait is more than repaid by decades of springtime eating, starting the following year when you can slice off the wonderful spears that keep popping up for a month or so. When growing such fine food is this easy it almost feels like cheating.

Easy peasy

So good, so early and so effortless… so why aren’t we growing more food that works like this? Planted once, then harvested for ever and a day? Most fruit and herbs are perennial but when it comes to veg, a combination of history and habit seems to dictate a frenzy of planting and sowing from scratch every year.

Perennials are an increasingly important part of how we feed ourselves and how we garden. They offer the ornamental garden productivity and the productive garden beauty.

Many allotmenters tend to graduate to perennials having served their apprenticeship on annuals; newcomers to edible gardening are often interested in permaculture and low-carbon growing; others who just fancy delicious food without the slog are increasingly starting off with them.

Low carbon food has some compelling arguments going for it – but perhaps the best reason to grow perennial edibles is this: when you can be eating the very best home-grown asparagus, rhubarb, sea kale and garlic cress right now, it’s hard to think of a reason not to.

Plenty of choice

There are dozens of perennial vegetables from every corner of the vegetable world to choose from, and to suit all sizes of garden, including salad leaves, brassicas, roots, onions and edible flowers.

If you’re looking for something architectural, you could do worse than globe artichokes, with their ragged grey/green leaves and towering flowers. It not only looks a treat, but the flesh of the immature flower heads is delicious.

The almost identical cardoon will serve the same ornamental purpose, but it’s the main rib of those huge leaves that makes it to the kitchen. Both can be raised easily from seed or bought as fast-growing, hardy plants.

There are wonderful perennial alternatives to the staples – of the many perennial onions, my favourite is the Egyptian walking onion. You can snip off a few early chive-like leaves, leaving the rest to grow on into spring onions. Pinch some off to enjoy in April and May – the rest will grow taller and begin to develop bulbils on the end of the leaves.

As these grow, the leaves struggle to hold them up and bend slowly to the ground, where the bulbils take root. Harvest a few and allow some to grow into new plants that repeat the cycle as they “walk” around your garden. At the base of the original plant you’ll find shallot-like bulbs, making four harvests every year from the one perennial plant.

And if you’re looking for an alternative to the potato, try oca, another South American tuber that resembles a new potato but tastes a little lemony when just picked, sweetening if matured in the sun, and immune to blight.

There are perennials to harvest at any time of year, but where they really come into their own is early in the season, during the “hungry gap” when few annuals have germinated, never mind grown. This week you could be enjoying garlic cress, sea kale, asparagus and forced rhubarb.

Things of beauty

Generally speaking, perennial vegetables tend to be more beautiful than annuals – or rather, we allow them to be.

Think of day lilies, globe artichokes, cardoons, Jerusalem artichokes – all make a striking presence in the garden, largely because we don’t chop or dig up the whole plant in its prime.

Our relationship with them is quite different from annual veg – it’s in our interest to keep the plant alive and healthy, harvesting a little each year while nurturing the plant for the next.

They’re around for longer, which allows you to include them as a more enduring part of a garden. Being there year-round, in varying states, also broadens their ecological value for a wider range of other organisms.

The soil is also nurtured when growing perennials, as it is rarely, if ever, left exposed to the forces of erosion, rain compaction and nutrient leaching. Digging – which can upset a perfectly balanced soil ecology, expose weed seeds for germination, as well as releasing carbon into the atmosphere – is also minimised. You’ll generally find disease and pest problems much reduced as most perennials out-compete weeds and resist slugs.

I’m not advocating a wholesale move of your garden or allotment over to edible perennials – well, I would but most of you would ignore me – but I am encouraging you to integrate some with the annuals and ornamentals.

Add a few true perennials, some edible prolific self-seeders such as nasturtiums and sweet cicely, along with some cut-and-come-again leaves and you’ll have a productive, beautiful and low carbon garden.

How to cook Jerusalem Artichoke

2011-06-27T12:47:00.000+01:00

Jerusalem artichoke recipes: A sweet, earthy delight

Jerusalem artichokes are one of the easiest vegetables to cook. Chef Shannon Wilson shows you how.

Image 1 of 2

Chef Shannon Wilson Photo: Andrew Crowley

By Catalina Stogdon

11:14AM GMT 19 Jan 2009

The Telegraph

What a Jerusalem artichoke lacks in looks, it certainly makes up for in flavour. Strong, earthy and sweet, this robust tuber of the sunflower complements meat and fish, or is good enough to stand as a vegetable dish on its own.

Shannon Wilson, head chef at the Botanist, who provides this week’s recipes, uses it for dishes including a heart-warming soup and a creamy risotto with cep and Madeira. The Botanist restaurant in London, SW1, specialises in modern European food and obtains all its ingredients from the UK, changing its recipes every two months in keeping with the seasons.

“Jerusalem artichoke is one of the easiest root vegetables to cook and you don’t have to peel away layers to get to the best part,” says Shannon. “It is fantastic with Asian flavours, in classic French dishes, or in salads with mushrooms and with sweetbreads.”

It contains vitamin C and potassium and is a source of iron. It is also linked with good intestinal health, although some argue it may be too good as it can produce a little more wind than desired.

Look out for varieties which are free from spots or sprouting. Most Jerusalem artichokes are knobbly, which is in no way indicative of their flavour, although slightly smoother ones are easier to prepare. They also grow well in cold climates so it is worth cultivating your own variety, such as Fuseau, from March onwards.

Perennial Vegetables to Try Growing

2011-06-27T12:45:00.000+01:00

Try These Easy-Grow Perennial Vegetables

It’s crazy not to cultivate tasty sunchokes—and these other easy-grow perennial vegetables.

GROW YOUR OWN |Anyone who has tended a vegetable garden knows it can be hard work. That said, are there easy-grow edible crops that offer an exceptional return for a minimum amount of labour? That’s the question I put to my good friend and neighbour Mark Johnston, an amazing gardener dedicated to growing as much of his family’s food supply as he can on the large, attractive and highly productive organic farm-style plot he tends in the wilds of West Vancouver.

When I tell Mark I’m looking to profile a few less common crops, he’s quick to oblige with a short list. “First of all, the vegetables should be perennials,” he says. So what are perennial vegetables? “Perennial vegetables are edible plants that can thrive and produce crops for years with minimal effort when they are grown under the right conditions. The ones I’m going to tell about do well in almost any light and don’t need a lot of maintenance, so it’s crazy not to grow them,” he says, rattling off three of his favourites: sunchokes, arugula and sea kale.

SUNCHOKES
Sunchoke, the vegetable formerly know as Jerusalem artichoke (read how the name got mangled in translation here), is related to the sunflower family. It’s an elegant, arching plant with a small, yellow daisy-like flower. Sunchokes have a wonderful nutty flavour described as a cross between water chestnut, sunflower seed and artichoke (sunchokes are pictured here). Sweet and crunchy, sunchoke can be eaten raw or cooked. Like the equally starchy potato, it can be pureed or mashed, too.

Mark says sunchokes have it over potatoes because potatoes can freeze in the ground and rot in storage. Sunchokes never go bad because they stay in the ground to be harvested on an as-needed basis (they are tastiest during winter months).

You can buy a pound of organic sunchokes for $4.99 at Whole Foods, or grab just a few of these knobby tubers and grow your own. “Sunchokes grow in almost any condition. They are not invasive, but they are extremely vigorous,” says Mark. “Plant them and you’ve got them forever.”

ARUGULA
Sorry, Raymond, but everybody loves arugula, and how do we know this? Because arugula matches lettuce bin for bin in the bulk-buy produce sections of most grocery stores.

“I think almost all grocery store arugula is the annual kind,” says Mark, who grows the perennial variety. “Perennial arugula is a little stronger, a little more peppery. It is also greener with finer leaves.” Mark says annual arugula may be slightly more tender, but once you get used to the perennial version you are probably going to like it better. A reliable, repeat performer is the best way to describe this plant, which can be grown in full sun (for bigger, fuller plants) or shade. Its distinctive leaves can be harvested from April through October. Mark found his starter plants at Rainforest Nursery in Langley.

SEA KALE
Mark’s current favourite perennial vegetable is sea kale, a vigorous plant with succulent leaves that grows wild in the Scottish Highlands. Sea kale is a mother plant, the original from which all cultivated kale is derived. Mark says it is tenderer than cultivated varieties. “Most kale you find in grocery stores is too hard to be eaten raw, but not sea kale. It has a lovely taste and I think people will be surprised by how much they like it.”

The beauty of sea kale is that it can survive in almost any growing conditions, though it will do substantially better in a well-drained location (it’s used to scree, after all). The trouble with sea kale is finding plants to grow. Mark grew his from seeds purchased from Magic Garden Seeds in Germany, and he recently found a few actual plants at Free Spirit Nursery in Langley.—C. Rule

http://www.frugalbits.com/home-garden/try-these-easy-grow-perennial-vegetables/

Well-Treated Staff in a Well-Managed Company Provide the best customer service.

2011-06-27T12:05:00.000+01:00

I have long believed that you can tell how the staff are treated, and the company run by how you, the customer, are the treated. Happy staff work well, and treat the customers well. Skim-read this article with the same thesis.

Love the staff, so that they in turn will love the customers

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Richard Brasher was thought to be a potential heir to Sir Terry Leahy but says he has no regrets and plenty of challenges as head of its British business Chris Harris for The Times

Richard Brasher was thought to be a potential heir to Sir Terry Leahy but says he has no regrets and plenty of challenges as head of its British business Chris Harris for The Times

Ian King

June 27 2011 12:01AM

Tesco has turned to its staff as it sets out to reinvigorate its British business

How do you gather the views of 294,000 people? It is a challenge that Richard Brasher is about to embrace.

Mr Brasher, who became chief executive of Tesco’s British operations this year, is embarking on a huge listening campaign that he hopes will bring about a sea-change in the supermarket’s overall performance.

Never before has the world’s second or third-biggest retailer, depending on how one measures it, had an executive specifically in charge of its UK operations, which, despite accounting for a third of the company’s global floor-space, generate two thirds of its profits. Previously, the British business was run directly by Sir Terry Leahy, who stepped down in February after a 14-year stint as chief executive.

One of Philip Clarke’s first actions after taking over from Sir Terry was to reorganise the group’s structure so that the UK arm had its own boss. One reason was to reinvigorate trading, which Mr Clarke admitted recently had been “below par” last year.

Mr Brasher argues that the change in the structure of Tesco is a big opportunity to “reform the identity” of the group: “It is about being respectful of the importance of the business within the group. And it is absolutely right and proper that we have directors whose focus and energy is all directed towards the UK.”

The listening exercise is one of his first big initiatives as he attempts to get the business firing on all cylinders once again: “We want to get feedback from all of our staff on what we can do better. It has already created a new mood of optimism in the business, but there are lots of other things we are doing. We had a good pay round and are now paying £7 an hour for all customer assistants, there’s a defined benefit pension scheme and last year we paid a profit share of £110 million to 220,000 people.

“So we are building momentum and optimism; what I want to do is embrace the staff, love the staff, so that they in turn will love the customers. On the first day, I had 1,000 responses. If you really want to improve the business, talk to the ladies on the checkouts and the people who work in produce.”

Despite claims to the contrary, Mr Brasher argues that Tesco’s UK business is not doing as badly as some have suggested, claiming that it is more a case of its competitors having raised their game: “Sainsbury’s have been pushing more into non-food. At Morrisons, Marc Bolland refreshed the stores, gave their customers their discount card back. Whilst we have progressed, we haven’t progressed disproportionately. But we have still been putting on market share and compare favourably on whatever measure you take, whether it is sales or profitability.”

The restructuring of the UK operations, Mr Brasher says, will have other benefits. One, he argues, will be an integration of Tesco’s stores with online: “It should be seamless. That’s the way the customers see it.”

Other initiatives include a project, started six months ago, in which Tesco is monitoring the lives of 12 families from across the country to see how they are dealing with the present economic situation: “We see how they are adapting to change and then see how we can help them in an ‘every little helps’ way.

“The market is challenging, if you want to talk about the ‘squeezed middle’. People’s disposable income is falling, in many cases for the first time in their lives, and customers are increasingly savvy. They are shopping around more and using the internet more.

“But the key thing is that people still have hopes, aspirations and dreams. In this environment, we are finding that the family unit and the community are becoming more important for many. What’s interesting is that people are taking more control, seeing how they can cope.”

The challenges created by the economic backdrop are, Mr Brasher contends, as difficult for the non-food part of the business as the food operations: “People still need a bucket, a mop or a shovel, but they are also asking themselves: ‘Do I need to change the flat-panel TV that I bought three years ago for one that isn’t that different?’ People are being more considered.

“My view is that, when the economy is strong, all you need to do is be good to be great. When it is like it is now, you need to be great to be good.”

One subject on which Mr Brasher is strident in fighting his corner are the Easter disturbances at Stokes Croft, in Bristol, during which a newly opened Tesco Express store was vandalised. Some sought to link the trouble to a local campaign against the store, but Mr Brasher claims it had more to do with a balmy night and a few drinks:

“Tesco does go into these areas and helps with regeneration. We have been involved with 35 major regeneration projects in economically challenged parts of the country and, in the process, created jobs for 4,000 of the long-term unemployed. It is a good thing that we do. Tesco Express is a force for good.

“But we do listen and we have an obligation to engage. I don’t want to be where people don’t want us to be there. The fact is that many people like us and want us there. We have just opened on Park Road in Toxteth [the district of Liverpool scarred by rioting 30 years ago]. We’ve just opened a brand new Tesco Extra and it is fantastic. It is the biggest investment in the area since 1981. I think that is something the business can be proud of — we have created 100 new jobs there for the long-term unemployed. We want to be inclusive and available to the population — we can’t just look at certain places and say: ‘Oh we don’t want to go there.’ ”

Born in Hong Kong in 1961, Mr Brasher had a peripatetic childhood, travelling to numerous places with his father, a brigadier in the medical corps.

When the family returned to the UK, he was educated at Worth School, West Sussex, where he initially decided that he wanted to be a doctor: “Then I saw a couple of operations. One was a hip operation, which was far from delicate, the other was an ear operation. After that, I didn’t fancy it.”

Instead, he went on to study food technology at Reading University. On graduating, Mr Brasher joined Unilever, where he had hopes of becoming a buyer. In those days Unilever required its buyers to be accountants and so he combined his time in buying and finance before moving to Ranks Hovis McDougall, the baker, where he worked in marketing.

Then, in 1985, came the move that would define the rest of his career: “Tesco was changing and a couple of people I knew were there. I went and had a chat with Terry Leahy, who had just been made fresh food director. Our challenge was that fresh food was an area in which Sainsbury’s were pre-eminent in those days.

“We were doing other things, such as starting to open superstores on the edges of towns, but one of the key things that needed to change about the mood of Tesco was that we needed a better fresh food business.

“It was quite pioneering at the time. We had to persuade people to work with us, open factories, build our own supply base. Northern Foods, for example, were not too keen to make the same kind of products that they were for Marks & Spencer. One of the beauties of it, though, is that I’ve got a good record with our suppliers because I go back a long way with them.”

Other achievements during this period including spearheading Tesco’s return back to the high street, launching the group’s convenience food business and its first Metro store in London’s Covent Garden.

After this, Mr Brasher concluded he needed to do something different, so he ran a store in Baldock, Hertfordshire: “That was a great education. It was transformative in my view of retailing. It was the real deal. I got a real feel for the people who work in our stores. Physically, it was hard, but it was a time of education.

He followed this by becoming marketing director at a crucial time for the business, which had launched Clubcard, its ground-breaking loyalty scheme. After that, he became head of non-food, where he was given the task of making Tesco the market leader. He found himself leading a team including some of the most experienced retailers on the high street, including John Hoerner, the former Arcadia chief executive, and Terry Green, the former Debenhams boss, as well as Terry Price, a long-time Wal-Mart executive.

He became group commercial director when John Gildersleeve departed, making him one of the potential successors to Sir Terry when he left last year. Despite having missed out on the top job, to Philip Clarke, Mr Brasher insists he has no regrets and that it was not a disappointment: “When I was made commercial director, that was something to which I had aspired, joining the board of Tesco. And now, running the UK, running something that is four times the size of the business I joined, that is plenty enough to be getting on with.”

Analysis: The team and the turnaround

During the past two years, by its own admission, Tesco has taken its eye off the ball in its home market, after almost a decade of having things its own way.

During the year to the end of February, its UK like-for-like sales were flat, while they actually fell during the final quarter of the period. Announcing the results in April, Tesco’s new chief executive Philip Clarke said there was “some work to do” in Britain, describing Tesco’s clothing offer as “not good enough” and its home and electronics products as “samey”.

The response was the creation of am eight-strong senior management team, reporting to Richard Brasher, for the British operations. Per Bank, who had been running Tesco’s operations in Hungary, became the new UK commercial director for food, while Laura Wade-Gery, the head of Tesco’s online retailing operations, was made commercial director for clothing, electronics and general merchandise. Unfortunately for Tesco, two weeks later she was poached by Marks & Spencer.

Trading has continued to be tough, but senior managers claim to have detected an improvement of late. Recent industry data has shown Tesco to be the fastest-growing of the four big British supermarkets for most of May.

Other initiatives under way include a doubling of the number of UK stores where a “click and collect” services is available, in which customers order non-food items on the internet, collecting them in stores later. The intention is to roll out the service to groceries in due course.

Born: 1961, Hong Kong Education: Worth School, West Sussex; Reading University, degree in food technology

Career: 1983-85: Unilever;

1985: RHM, then joined Tesco’s fresh food operations;

1990: made director of fresh food buying;

1996: made UK marketing director;

2000: made director of non-food;

2003: became director of commercial and trading;

March 2004: joined Tesco board as an executive director;

March 2011: became chief executive of Tesco’s UK operations

Family: Married with a nine-year old son

Lives: Hertfordshire

Hobbies: Sport, cooking

Q&A

Who, or what, is your mentor? The stores

Does money motivate you? It’s not about the money.

What was the most important event in your working life? First appointment as trading director of tesco

Which person do you most admire? My father, who was a miner’s son but who went on to become a senior medical consultant

What gadget must you have?Satnav

What does leadership mean to you? Helping people to be the best they can be

How do you relax? Playing football with my son

25 Best Plants for a Summer Garden

2011-06-25T23:09:00.000+01:00

Top 100 plants: Summer

Our list of the 100 plants everyone should have in their garden

By Val Bourne

The Telegraph

Light levels are at their highest now and colours take on a pastel sheen.

1 Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'
May-flowering allium with truly purple globular heads, forms a strong vertical and best follow-up act for tulips. Easy (1m/3ft).

2 Rosa 'Goldfinch'
Almost-thornless rambler, flowers once a year with clusters of apricot fading to clotted cream. Fence, wall or pergola (4m/13ft).

3 Dianthus carthusianorum
More a stylish sweet William than a pink, with willowy stems crowned by dark pointed buds that open in sequence to reveal fringed magenta flowers. Sun (40cm/16in).

4 Erigeron karvinskianus
Self-seeder for steps, cracks and crevices, produces a tiny blush-pink and white daisies from spring to November. Easy (20cm/8in).

5 Astrantia major 'Roma'
Exceptionally long flowering season; the candy-pink petals surrounding the brighter pink pincushion have tasteful green tips. Part sun, moist soil (60cm/2ft).

6 Papaver orientale 'Karine'
This shallow-cupped, pale pink oriental poppy has a beetroot centre to each smallish flower. Sun, good drainage (70cm/28in).

7 Rosa 'Madame Alfred Carrière'
Blush-white, noisette climber that repeats until late in the year. Olive-green foliage, thrives on north-facing walls. Good soil (5m/16ft).

8 Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'
Rounded azure-blue flowers set against mid-green foliage from late summer until early autumn. Cut back hard in spring. Protect roots from full sun (3m/10ft).

9 Paeonia lactiflora 'Festiva Maxima'
Full and fragrant with creamy white double flowers subtly splashed in rose red - perfect among pink, magenta and deep purple roses. Good soil (1m/3ft).

10 Campanula lactiflora 'Prichard's Variety'
Purple-blue bells held on dark stems, willing to repeat if deadheaded. Sun or part sun (75cm/30in).

11 Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant'
A simple catmint, but the sea of blue billows through the garden like a wave. Cut back to encourage more. Sun (90cm/3ft).

12 Anthemis 'Susanna Mitchell'
Sheer flower power, with masses of lax pale yellow daisies floating above silver filigree foliage. Sun (45cm/18in).

13 Penstemon 'Andenken an Friedrich Hahn' (syn. 'Garnet')
The most enduring penstemon, with spires of wine-red flowers for months. Drought-resistant and great with silvers. Full sun, good drainage (90cm/3ft).

14 Geranium Rozanne ('Gerwat')
A wide sprawler with white-eyed, soft blue saucers from May until late, plus good mottled foliage. Sun or part sun (60cm/2ft).

15 Geranium Patricia ('Brempat')
Black-eyed, magenta-pink geranium with abundant flower power. Weave among blue veronicas. Sun or part sun (75cm/30in).

16 Bupleurum fruticosum
A shrubby umbellifera covered with flat heads of lime-green flowers and evergreen leaves. Well-drained soil and some sun (2.5m/8ft).

17 Eryngium giganteum
This biennial sea holly dazzles like no other with its branching framework of silvered stems, jagged bracts and thimbles. Sun (90cm/3ft).

18 Buddleia 'Pink Delight'
A recent discovery, this compact, fragrant butterfly bush has pink flowers and silver foliage. Sun or part sun (1.75m/6ft).

19 Stipa gigantea
An atmospheric oat grass that creates a shimmering golden fountain in summer sun every time it trembles. Sun, good drainage (2m/3ft).

20 Digitalis purpurea 'Sutton's Apricot'
Spires are essential and this apricot biennial foxglove will reach up to heaven. Good against stone. Semi-shade (1.6m/5ft).

21 Clematis 'Purpurea Plena Elegans'
This dusky magenta clematis with Elizabethan provenance produces double flowers in late summer. Prune hard in spring. Good soil (3m/10ft).

22 Clematis 'Etoile Violette'
Gappy purple flowers with golden stamens. Classy follow-up to once-only roses. Prune hard in spring. Good soil (4m/13ft).

23 Lavandula angustifolia 'Imperial Gem'
A chunky, deep purple English lavender with silver foliage, suitable for hedging. Trim hard in August. Full sun, good drainage (60cm/2ft).

24 Knautia macedonica
This branching wine-red scabious insists on throwing out more button flowers all summer long, adding vibrant summer highlights. Drought-tolerant (80cm/30in).

25 Rosa 'Buff Beauty'
Large hybrid musk rose with graceful, arching branches covered in fragrant, soft apricot blooms. Bronze foliage. Accommodating (2m/6ft).

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Love the staff, so that they in turn will love the customers

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Top 100 plants: Summer

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