s k c i tr d n a s Tip for summer veggies
W
hether you’re a beginner or a seasoned veggie grower, you’ll find that garden beans, cucumbers and baby marrows offer quick rewards, being fast-growing, prolific and virtually trouble free. Along with tomatoes, lettuce and spring onions, cucumber is a staple salad veggie that is crisper and tastier when picked and eaten directly off the vine. Beans and baby marrows also double up as salad veggies (raw or steamed) as well as being great additions to stir-fries, tomato-based sauces, oven-roasted veggie medleys and even spicy curries. For a good yield, all three veggies need their flowers to be pollinated by bees, which gives gardeners an excellent excuse to plant pollen- and nectar-rich flowers and herbs alongside them. The result? A garden full of flowers, buzzing with bees and with lots of veggies to harvest.
50 I www.growtoeat.co.za
Could anything be prettier? Plant a vining cucumber against a trellis alongside a climbing nasturtium. As the two twine upwards, the nasturtium flowers will attract bees to the cucumber and provide top to bottom flowers. Nasturtium flowers and leaves are edible, so all can be used in the salad bowl. Try these: Kirchhoffs ‘Ashley’ has trim, slightly tapered fruits with a deep green skin, while Kirchhoffs ‘Sweet Burpless’ is a thick-skinned variety with medium green, long, cylindrical and smooth fruits on vigorous plants. Kids play: As with cucumbers, grow climbing beans up a tepee or trellis with climbing nasturtiums to attract pollinators. Why not encourage the kids to make a tepee (where they can hide) and pick the beans when they need to get into mum’s good books? Try these: Kirchhoffs ‘Lazy Housewife’ is a runner bean named for its ease of growing and preparation. Its curved pods have a delicate flavour and it’s a very heavy bearer. Kirchhoffs ‘Nasturtium Climbing tall mix’
