This weekend I decided to branch out into, what is for me, more exotic vegetables using seeds given to me by my gardening friend Wendy.
So I planted Scarola Gigante Degli Ortolani‘ giant endive. I’m looking forward to seeing the results as they are a beautiful vegetable, with each individual endive looking like a bouquet.
Next I planted red chicory Radicchio rossa di Treviso with red leaves giving this vegetable a rather spectacular look.
Check out the photographs on these two links and we’ll see if I can reach that perfection with my crop.
Talking about beautiful veggies, my daughter-in-law sent me photographs of a couple of her successes. No problem with copyright here – she’s family!
Jenny’s cauliflower
Not a caterpillar or bug in sight.
And here is her corn from the last harvest
My DIL has lifted the bar …. I have to rush out to the allotment and dig in more compost ……
Allotment Adventures with Jean 
Jul 22, 2012 @ 23:17:03
oooh,,,,those do sound exotic…i hope they produce well for you, shall be interested in your results! That corn is exceptional….setting the bar high indeed but you can do it!!!
Jul 23, 2012 @ 09:03:36
Thank you for your confidence in me Jode, I like to keep the basic veggies growing, but like to try different stuff too, part of the adventure. DIL’s corn was pretty exceptional, but I have already received some ‘corny’ cultivation advice from Denis in his comment so I’m ‘armed’ for my next corn crop.
Jul 23, 2012 @ 00:48:33
For corn, the richer the soil [within reason!], the better the result. It’s not always the way for all vegetables, but sure is for your corn, so the compost dug well in is the way to go.
[Old farmer]
@deniswright
Jul 23, 2012 @ 08:55:28
Thanks for visiting Denis, and for the advice. So you used to be a farmer? Are you hiding your light under a bushel?
Jul 24, 2012 @ 07:02:53
Kudos to your daughter and I see some lovely photos in the future of your allotment Jean 🙂