#protectedcropping

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 31 January 2023

Edible flowers here add extra colour and flavour to a topping of pea shoots, including a yellow flowered Viola tricolor (heart's ease) and a deep red Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon). All of these will have been grown in a protected environment to be available in the winter.

Plant of the Day

Thursday 4 November 2021

In the World Garden at the Royal Horticultural Society Garden Hyde Hall, Essex, UK, a range of Capsicum annuum cultivars (bonnet pepper, chilli pepper, red pepper, sweet pepper) were fruiting in the glasshouse. These South and Central America plants are grown as annual or perennial plants often depending on the frost protection available.

Plant of the Day

Friday 10 December 2021

Some winter leaf vegetables were growing in a restored glasshouse at Water Lane Walled Garden, Kent. There was Lactuca sativa ‘Vailan’ (winter gem lettuce) a cultivar for autumn sowing, Brassica rapa var. nipposinica ‘Waido’ (mizuna) a Japanese brassica and Brassica rapa subsp. chinensis ‘Yuushou’ (pak choi) an F1 hybrid which is considered good for cool weather protected growing. One of the glasshouse is used as a restaurant during the winter providing an opportunity to try the produce.

Plant of the Day

Monday 12 July 2021

In the community garden of Westray, Orkney, the Vicia faba (broad bean) plants were flowering. The plants were protected by a low tunnel but are now coping with the weather. This project by the Westray Development Trust aims to produce quality fresh fruit and vegetables for the island which sits at the edge of the Orkney archipelago; as a result there is a long wholesale supply chain for fresh produce. The beans will be sold in the local shops keeping the food miles to a minimum, in some cases under a mile!