[puravida]

Cor - I could have spent ££££ on that site! Thanks for the link whoever posted it!

As it is I placed a small order for a few bits:

 1  COURGETTE LUNGO BIANCA OF SICILY    
 1  BORLOTTO BEAN OF SALUGGIA DWARF  
 1  LINEA CHEF RANGE CAVOLO NERO KALE  
 1  CAULI ROMANESCO            
 1  LOVAGE              
 1  CAVOLO NERO OF TUSCANY                    
 1  TOMATO CUOR DI BUE (COUER DE BOUEF)        
 1  TOMATO COSTOLUTO FIORENTINO            

I absolutely love Italian cuisine and culture so I'm hoping these will work out.

Any tips form past growers??

[GrannieAnnie]

I've had the costoluto de fiorentino toms from them PV and they were nice, but I do't get them often as they can be a bit expensive for me.  I have to settle for swaps or cheap seeds usually.

I love Romanescu.  Must try again this year.  My brassicas never do well, even though I do everything right (I think!!)  lol

[compostqueen]

Great big fat packets of seed too so plenty for swopping. Those borlotties are great for drying and then using in your soups and stews

Cavolo Nero is dead easy to grow and lovely to eat.  I keep mine covered with Enviromesh just in case  

[Hampshire Hog]

Grew borlotti beans last year in amongst sweetcorn corn didn't do too well but beans were great. Eat them in pods when small and then podded some later on. Meant to leave some to dry in pods but ate them instead!!!


Cheers HH

[flowerlady]

I am growing Cavolo Nero - black kale - it's scrummy but the sky rats think so too! :twisted:  :twisted:  :twisted:   So be very careful to keep it covered!!  

It also grows quite tall, and over a longer period than most so put it where it will not be in the way !!  How about at the back of the bed as a bit of a wind break for the others!!

[compostqueen]

my cavolo is not tall - wonder if I have a squat variety  

[gobs]

1 COURGETTE LUNGO BIANCA OF SICILY - very nice, easy eating, tiny seeds, harvest small and young

1 BORLOTTO BEAN OF SALUGGIA DWARF - surprisingly much nicer flavour when freshly shelled than dried, I have climbing ones, though

1 LINEA CHEF RANGE CAVOLO NERO KALE - haven't tried

1 CAULI ROMANESCO - we decided it is a broccoli/calabrese, very flavoursome, big plants!

1 LOVAGE - grows very big, as you well know, 1-2 plants are plenty for most families

1 CAVOLO NERO OF TUSCANY - lovely flavour and colour, large plants again

1 TOMATO CUOR DI BUE (COUER DE BOUEF) - haven't tried

1 TOMATO COSTOLUTO FIORENTINO - nice beefsteak

[compostqueen]

Costoluto toms are fab but mine succumbed to blight last year    Cuour di Bie the same. Only my bog standard Brit ones survived.  Tigerella did the best

I think the climbing borlotto might be easier to pick so once all my dwarfs are used up I'll be growing the climber. They look fantastic on the plot  

[diggerjoe]

Grew loads of their stuff last year and I'm still harvesting the calvo nero  its only just going over now. I'll be growing it again this year. I share cost of seeds with neighbour as they do have loads in each packet. Just wish we had the Italian sunshine to go with it.

[compostqueen]

yeah that cavolo nero is good I reckon. Mine still looks ok so plenty more meals still to come I reckon

I yearn for some warm sun on my back    Can't stand plotting if I'm cold

[Yorkie]

How does it work with drying borlotti beans?  

I assume you can't just leave the pods on the plant to dry all summer because the plant will stop producing more beans?  So do you pick the pods fresh and let them dry in the kitchen, or do it another way?

And once you've dried them, do you need to boil them for hours before they are safe to eat?

[gobs]

I do pick very little green beans from them at all for drying and what is near ready can be fully dried indoors, shed, etc. Shell and into jar. Green pods wont give dried beans they need to be much more mature.

Yes, you have to soak them before cooking, like any dried beans.

[compostqueen]

i bunged mine in the shed but found the mice absolutely loved them  :roll:
So bought em home and kept em dry and cool on a rack in the wash house. They just burst open and spill the beans when they're ready. Make sure you have sommat undearneath to catch them.  I finished them off, just in case, on some kitchen paper on my sitting room mantlepiece to make sure they were completely dry. Then put them in storage jars. They look beautiful.  I think they need presoaking overnight and then cooking for at least 40 minutes in your soup or stew etc  

[Ian_P]

Last year I grew;
Trompa D'Albenga courgettes - declicious nutty flavour but not as heavy a cropper as we are used to with something like Zuchinni Hybrid

Porro Gigante - basically a big leek that I thought might be flavourless, but they were very good.

One of the flat yellow climbing french bean (can't remember which) agan delicious but not as heavy a cropper.

I still a new packet of onions Ciporro something or other that I need to get on with.

My plot is opposite Hampshire Hog's and I can confirm that he's still talking about his magnificent Borlottis.

[mumof4]

Last year I grew;
Trompa D'Albenga courgettes - declicious nutty flavour but not as heavy a cropper as we are used to with something like Zuchinni Hybrid

Could you tell me how big the Zuchinni grows, i'm thinking of getting some and was hoping to put one in the poytunnel to get a few early courgettes.