Growing organic vegetables
in the wet summer of 2012 BY MARTYN BRAGG
What an awful year for growing vegetables. We are normally quite fortunate in our location just west of Exeter. Our light to medium soils dry out easily and we are in a rain shadow, which gives us lots of warm sunny days allowing the plants to thrive - but not last year! The period from early April to mid July was wet and dull
stave a short interlude in mid-May. This is when we do most of our sowing and crop establishment so the cold, wet weather and lack of sunshine left our young plants looking sad and miserable. Damage from pigeons, rabbits and other creatures
increased, so we found ourselves covering crops with mesh or fleece to protect them. Then came the slugs. We rely on birds and frogs etc. to keep control of the slugs, but there were too many. In June we lost the whole of our main sowing of carrots, so
we re-sowed them later in June, but on July 7th we had 46mm of rain which completely devastated these young seedlings. The only survivors were our May sowings of carrots, and parsnips. Re-sowing crops became our main strategy. We also raise a lot of crops like squash, sweet corn and lettuce in modules. In the autumn we had almost finished harvesting our potatoes when it rained on the evening of the 29th September and that was it. The soil has been wet ever since.
Bizarrely, the mild December allowed some of the crops to
grow. Cabbages, cauliflowers, leeks and kales, which were all looking tiny, started putting on some bulk to at least give us some saleable produce. As January and early February have been cold, we are hoping for a warm early spring. The long term effects of such a wet year are as yet unclear. The soil has been waterlogged for long periods and must have had an adverse effect on vital organisms such as earth worms. However, nature in its complexity has an amazing ability to recover – if given the chance.
CRAB AND TENDERSTEM TAGLIATELLE WITH LEMON AND BASIL
This is a lovely recipe to serve as a starter when entertaining your best friends. It tastes quite stunning, so your guests will think you’ve been slaving away for hours. It is also fantastic as a midweek meal because it actually takes no time at all to put together – everyone’s a winner.
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a starter
200-300g tagliatelle 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 200g Tenderstem broccoli 2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
42 | THE WEST COUNTRY FOODLOVER
3 ripe tomatoes, quartered, de-seeded and diced
100g white crab meat, fresh or frozen
Grated zest and juice of lemon
1 small bunch of basil leaves, finely sliced
1 Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and cook the tagliatelle until al dente.
2 Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Cut the Tenderstem into small pieces, about 1-2cm long. Add to the pan, along with the garlic, and fry until the Tenderstem is becoming tender, and colouring slightly on the tips.
3 Increase the heat and add
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