Vegetable Growing 2025

I have a Rasta cookbook and callaloo is in an ingredient in many of the recipes, with spinach suggested as a substitute if it's not available.

 

Callaloo (aka amaranth) can be eaten raw or cooked. If raw, it is best to choose leaves which are closer to young and tender micro greens than to older fully grown leaves.

Allotment Boy is correct in saying that it should be treated like spinach, however, you should not expect it to have the same flavour or mouth feel (texture).

Spinach almost melts into nothing when cooked and the texture in the mouth is about the same. Callaloo is different - it gives the impression of a substantial leaf veg even when cooked to a soft state.

I prefer callaloo cooked nice and soft in a thin Vietnamese style broth. The most basic of which consists of just water, a slice of ginger and a pinch of salt.

I have not tried it steamed. The closest method to that I have tried is to stir-fry in a wok with a lid cover which part boils and part steams the leaves.

The ingredients for that consists of a dash of vegetable oil to season the wok, two chopped cloves of garlic, a slice of ginger, three tablespoons of water and a tablespoon (or two) of oyster sauce or soy sauce.

Although described as a leaf veg, the stalks are edible too so I encourage you to use them if they are young and tender.

 

The first of my courgettes picked four days ago:




Here they were moments ago:

 

Picked today.




They are Marketmore cucumbers.

 

i find the green one i grow is like spinach but the red one is more substantial, slightly furry when raw though. a real drought hardy leaf crop.

i cook the leaves into tarts and stuff, quiches, but im mainly after the grain. I think grain and leaf varieties are different though.

the very tiny stems are edible but bigger ones are like wood. old leaves steam just fine though.

honestly the flavour is not as good as spinach in my opinion but i just cant grow spinach. much better taste than chard to me. the flowers are also really lovely

 

Thanks @JWK. That is what I have been doing but as per usual I am at the machete stage of fighting my way into the greenhouse as everything has grown like triffids recently so looking to try and reduce any growth not needed. What I really need is another greenhouse but at my advancing years I think that might be a bit of overkill. I thought an 8ft x 20ft would be ample….wrong!

 

Peas coming to the end, I've got lots unpicked so will let them dry for seed. I had patchy germination from them as bought seed so I'll use the remains of those as green manure this autumn, to die off over winter

Onions bulbing up nicely, courgettes and winter squash finally taking off although no courgettes pickable yet. I've sown fennel and daikon to plant out soon, the fennel will follow peas. Corn silks are showing. My redcurrants are once again completely under productive, I think I may rip them out and replace with something else or just hard prune them.

 

Nice little handful of mixed beans this morning - Blauhilde, Berggold and Borlotti. This is my third year growing Blauhilde from the same packet of seed. The Berggold were a cheap packet from Lidl and I've been very pleased with them. I have just sown more of the Blauhilde and Berggold.

Courgettes are coming in at a steady pace - I think I've already had more than in the whole season last year, but I'm still able to keep up with them. Only Defender has fruited so far; Shooting Star has yet to open a female flower but I can see them coming. I've also got a couple of Tromboncinos and one of them has opened its first male flower.

 

@Escarpment do you think you'll get a crop from sowing now? That would be good! Might be worth trying here too

 

I've never tried it before, but general advice seems to be that you can sow up to the middle of July.

 

Thanks - I might have a go - my broad beans were poor this year, so I could do with trying a different bean

 

I have grown French beans late in the season several times. Sometimes it doesn't work if you get a cold wet Autumn but that's rare nowadays.
Definitely worth a go.

 

If you have a polytunnel, or can spare space in a greenhouse, then undoubted. But don't wait too long, get them started now in pots to give flexibility in final growing position.