Lemon-aid
I enjoyed an incredible couple of days attending a Zhan Zhuang workshop in Bristol this week with the much respected Master Lam (www.lamkamchuen.com).
Master Lam brought Tai Chi to the UK in 1975 and in 1987 he gave the first European demonstration of the art of Zhan Zhuang Chi Kung.
At that time, he was the only Master in the whole of Europe.
It was a real honour to be taught by him and he generously imparted lots of general health and wellbeing tips during his session with me.
He advised that one of the easiest and most beneficial habits to adopt is to start your day with a couple of slices of fresh lemon in a glass of warm water.
Stir it well to ‘enliven it’ before drinking.
Oca oca oca – oi oi oi!
My wonderful bee mentor Alan never ceases to amaze me with his knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm and last week was no exception as he dropped off some oca for me to try.
Described as a vegetable that is causing great excitement amongst the more adventurous gardeners – and Alan is certainly one of those, he grew New Zealand yams himself – the plant produces tubers in a similar way to potatoes.
However, as oca is not related at all to the potato family it is unaffected by blight and other problems that affect spuds.
Oca tends to have a slightly tangy lemon taste.
The tubers are smaller than potatoes but easier to prepare, as you just wash them rather than peel.
They can be boiled, mashed, fried and roasted and also eaten raw, giving salads quite a zingy taste, which I love.
Cooked, they are quite sweet and make an excellent addition to winter soups and stews, particularly as the tubers are harvested late in the year once the foliage has been frosted.
The small tubers are best planted individually in a 15cm (6in) pot of multipurpose compost during April.
As they are frost tender, they should be grown in the greenhouse or on the windowsill and planted out in late May.
Alternatively, tubers can be planted directly outdoors in late May.
By this time they may well be showing small ‘sprouts’.
Plant oca directly into a shallow drill, about 8cm (3in) deep, and cover with soil or compost and a layer of fleece.
More details on growing can be found at www.thompson-morgan.com and 0844 573 1818.
Pause to check paws
I had a bit of a panic with terrier Yogi this week as her back feet were obviously painful and causing her discomfort one day after work.
That night, with the news on the radio in the background, I heard about the “terrible killer dog disease that started as lesions on a dog’s feet”.
As you can imagine, Yogi was upside-down having her feet examined in the minutest detail before you could say Green Scene.
Luckily, there were no cuts and she is much better now.
Unfortunately, 16 or so dogs have not been so lucky.
Apparently the first case was more than 12 months ago and, rather worryingly, vets are still not sure what is causing the condition, which is being likened to Alabama Rot, a disease that affected dogs in the States in the 1980s.
Whilst most cases have been diagnosed after the dogs have walked in the New Forest, cases are also coming to light in other parts of the country.
The closest known case to Wales so far is in Worcestershire but, as all dog-owners will agree, it pays to be vigilant.
Vets are recommending that if you see any unexplained lesions on your dog (and not just on their feet), then it better to take them to be checked as soon as possible.
If they are left and the dogs are affected, symptoms develop into signs of severe depression, loss of appetite and vomiting. Kidney failure occurs just days later. It just doesn’t bear thinking about.
That’s shallots
Shallots are delicious pickled in balsamic vinegar or added to rich casseroles, so if the weather is mild and the soil is dry enough to work, you should be thinking about planting shallots. If conditions don’t allow, wait another month or two.
Shallots should be planted like onion sets, with a trowel, as individual bulbs just below the surface in well-prepared, raked ground, around 15cm (5in) apart, leaving the tip showing. They will succeed on most well-drained soil which has had plenty of organic matter added the previous autumn.
Each shallot should surround itself with a cluster of five to six offsets that will plump up easily.
Shallots can’t compete with weeds, so you will need to hoe or weed the area by hand and make sure you don’t break the leaves when weeding.
In most years, they shouldn’t need additional watering in summer, although keep an eye on them in prolonged dry spells and if the soil is exceptionally dry, give them a water.
In July and August the foliage will start to yellow and fall over naturally. Lift the bulbs with a fork to break the roots and leave them on the surface to ripen fully in the sun. In wet summers, cover the bulbs with cloches or move them to the greenhouse to complete their ripening.
Good varieties include Golden Gourmet, which has a good flavour and will keep well, and Griselle, a French type renowned for its flavour.
Your must-do list for the weekend
- Complete the pruning of greenhouse vines while they are still dormant and remove loose bark which may harbour pests.
- Bring in pots of forced bulbs for indoor flowering when ready.
- Protect winter-flowering bulbous irises in the garden from severe cold or damp.
- Start forcing pots of lily bulbs for Easter and early summer flowering.
- As cyclamen flowers go over, remove the stems by giving a sharp tug, which should remove the whole stem.
- Take hardwood cuttings of blackcurrants, redcurrants, white currants and gooseberries.
- Renew grease bands around fruit trees, if they have been in place a long time, to protect trees against winter moths.
- Pick yellowing leaves off Brussels sprouts and other brassicas promptly, to prevent spread of grey mould and brassica downy mildew.
- Bring container-grown shrubs like camellias into a cold greenhouse for extra winter protection.
- Sow seeds of slow-maturing half-hardy summer bedding plants including pelargoniums, begonias and verbenas, in heated propagators.
- Start keeping a gardening diary and record book and update it each week.
- Buy in well-rotted farmyard manure or mushroom compost to mulch borders and dig into soil.
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