Winter is all about colour despite the short days and apparent lack of growth. Here we have some bright examples. Winter is when everything in the garden is reacting to the harsh weather and often regrows with a new energy after being damaged by the cold. An example of this is the way that chicories and especially radicchio will get burned down and then return to new growth with the intense red and white leaf colouring. It is a reaction to the cold and they will not usually grow red leaves without this change in temperature. Often new growers complain about their dull green leaves on seedlings and mature plants not realising they have to go through this extra cold damaging weather to fully form the beautiful and tasty red leaf. The turnip shown here is a classic Japanese heirloom called Hinona Kabu which forms a long cylinder and likewise gets its best colour after being hit by the cold. This one shown is a ‘weed’ that came up on the edge of a path after being dropped during seed sorting. Its got great flavour at all states of development and size, and the leaf is rather nicely flavoured too. Fava or Broad Beans are hardy plants that can be used multiple ways – mature beans, immature beans in the pods and also the new tips of leaf growth are a wonderful green vegetable. Shown here are the Crimson and the Chocolate flowered variations. The flower colour makes little difference to the taste but they do make the garden more interesting. These plants will germinate down to about 4c and have no issues growing through the coldest parts of the year here in the Blue Mountains. They are a productive crop and also really good for improving the soil and to use as compost when it’s all done.
It’s that time again!
This is just a quick reminder that the next scheduled meeting for the year 2022 of the Mid Blue Mountains SeedSavers is on at the Bullaburra Progress Hall this coming weekend.
Sunday 19 June 2022 from 10 am till Midday
Help celebrate the Blue Mountains Winter!
Brrrrr… and there is a lot to catch up with despite the winter cold. (at least it’s not raining)
It’s time to put seeds and seedlings in for the upcoming spring and to plan for the abundance of summer.
Come along and talk about growing things with like minded people.
Hope to see you there celebrating the current productive growing season!
The address for the Mid Blue Mountains Seedsavers website is:
https://midbluemountainsseedsavers.org/
We do now have a Facebook page as well:
https://www.facebook.com/Mid-Blue-Mountains-Seed-Savers-1629533990602860/
These regular notifications are sent out directly from the website if you subscribe to that email notification list.
Mid Blue Mountains Seed Savers 