How to grow

“Seeding optimum germination temperatures are between 20° and 35 °C. Germination is delayed at 12 °C, and inhibited at temperatures lower than 12 °C or above 35 °C. Thus, it is recommended to sow in trays and transplant into the field at the two true leaf stage. The best time for transplanting into an open field is in the spring when soil and air temperatures rise to around 15 °C.” (wikipedia)

Where the seeds came from
My Greek Giant Bean seeds came from the real seed company and I bought those in 2012. And the seeds that we planted this year are the great grandchildren of those original seeds, so I’ve grown them and saved them every year since I bought them.

Tips
They like it a little bit drier than we’ve been having it, because they are a variety that’s come from Greece, they’re used to slightly drier soil and a bit more sunshine and a bit more warmth. The first year we grew them next to the community hall, which is up against a brick wall. And that wall faces directly south. So they were getting residual heat. And they did extremely well there. Whereas this is much more exposed and there’s a lot of wind around here, and they haven’t got the space to grow. They will go metres up.

Where the seeds came from
This is a large variety of winter squash, with delicious yellow flesh. I started growing it about four years ago. I bought the seeds originally from Tamar Organics. I started out with a pack of six because when you buy squash seeds you don’t get many. Since then I’ve been keeping my seeds and getting more and more and more, and been sharing them with friends.

Why I grew it
I wanted a vegetable that could sit through the winter, that you’re like, “Shoot we’ve got to eat tonnes of this at the moment.” These can keep, as long as you keep them in the cool, for months. This one’s four and a half kilos. We’re still eating the soup that I made on Monday, so it’s given us many meals of that.

Where the seeds came from
I bought the plant, put it in my garden, and it grew well. I got lots of potol and gave to many people. Everyone say it’s very tasty. It’s easy to grow. Three or four plants will grow into a big bush. You need to give it something to climb on.

Recipe
It tastes a little like beans. You can eat with fish, with other vegetables, or prawns. Clean it. Then fry onions, coriander, garlic, chili powder, turmeric and salt. Stir, then 3 or 4 minutes later add the potol. You don’t need to add water. It cooks in a few minutes.

Where the seeds came from
Someone gave these black chili seeds to my Mum. She gave me the seed. I’ve been growing it for the last two years and saving the seed.

Why I grow black chili
Because I love chili. It smells so nice. Sometimes you feel like, “No I don’t want to eat green chili, I want to eat black chili.” I eat lots of chili.

Recipe
Sometimes we just bite it, when we eat rice. Sometimes I put a whole chili in a curry I’m making. The fresh chili has a nice taste and smell. I don’t dry it unless I’m saving seed.

Where the seeds came from
I got them from a Chinese friend. I put the pak choi seeds and they came up nicely.

How to grow
I planted them end of June. They took a long time to come up. It’s quicker if you soak them for a couple of days. The pod splits and when you see the little root coming out, then you put it into soil. It gives them quite a boost in growth time. Once you’ve sown them you can start harvesting the leaves within 6 weeks. You can harvest the whole plant after two months, when it is fully mature. Unless you want to get seeds.
More

Why I grow it
I grow it because it’s robust and it goes through the winter. It’s a hardy British arable crop. We grow it to feed cattle. It’s a new superfood for humans, but it really is quite an easy thing to grow. It’s not like other cabbage plants where you’re trying to get hearts and cabbages and you’ve got issues of white butterflies and caterpillars eating your crop. It’s the joy of cutting and coming again. You just keep hacking it back and it just keeps growing. I’m really keen on crops like that, particularly in a small space, so you’ve constantly got fresh greens without having to worry.

Where the seeds came from
I was working in an organic garden last year and there were a couple of seedlings that were going in the bin that I rescued. I quite like rescuing plants. So I was eating the kale last year, left some to go to seed, which have now come to seed this year, ready to grow again next year.

Where the seed came from
First time I tried to grow it here it didn’t work. The Bangladeshi beans don’t produce fruit here because of the weather. But one of my club members has family in America, and she brought the seeds for lablab beans 6 years ago. This is the beans that I succeeded growing here. It’s the same bean but adapted to the climate.

How to grow
Beans are easy to germinate. Plant them the second week of May inside or in a greenhouse. Look after them for three weeks inside your home. In the first week of June, when there is no chance of frost, put them in the ground in fresh compost or manure. You have to be patient, otherwise the plant can die if there is frost. Give them support, with long sticks to climb up.
Read more

Where the seeds came from
This is my seed. I have saved it here every year for the last 17 years.

How to grow
You have to know the timetable properly if you want to be successful. Kodu seed is difficult to germinate. At the farm I use a propagator to germinate, but at home I don’t use a propagator. At home, end of March, I start planting seeds in a pot. I put it on top of the boiler where it is warm. When the seeds start to germinate, I put the pot on the window. If you leave it on top of the boiler too long, the plant will grow too big and it won’t survive.
Read more

How to grow
The pumpkin was bigger than a human head. I knew that I needed a lot of space, but I didn’t know how much space I needed. It became this big tangle. It was one of the sunniest spots of the raised bed. From seedling I dug a little hole and planted it there and that was that. It was actually very low maintenance. It became massive very quickly so we hardly even noticed it, the pumpkin itself and went away on holiday in August for 2 weeks and came back and it was big.

Where the seeds came from
These are dark cherry tomatoes. The seeds were given to me by a friend last year.

How to grow
I planted the seeds in March in a small pot just slightly underneath a bit of soil. Then I put them in my little shed in the garden with big glass windows. Although it’s still cold outside at that time of year, it’s a bit like a greenhouse. After a couple of weeks they started to grow. Then I took the little seedlings, potted them individually, and then left them in there again. I’d water them every day or every second day. When they were about 6 inches tall I put them in a bigger pot until they were 20cm tall, and then I planted them out. I chose the sunniest, warmest spot of the garden and planted each one with 30cm between each plant. So they were in the raised bed with new compost and soil that had been mixed and left to rest for 6 weeks or so.

Every so often I’d pick the sprouting bits that come between each stalk. They all grew very well. After a few weeks I put bamboo, loosely tied a bit of string, to make sure they were growing up straight and had support. And about 3 months later you could see little hairs and you could smell the tomatoes. Then in August there were hundreds of tomatoes. We went away on holiday for 2 weeks and when we came back they were all red and ready to eat.

Where the seeds came from
Three years ago I went to one of the events of the London Freedom Seed Bank and everyone was encouraged to take some seeds away, and that was the pack that I took.

How to grow
I planted some straight in the ground, and I also sprouted some first, soaking them and waiting for the shoots to come out and then only planting the ones which had germinated. And that worked quite well. And then watered them, gave them a feed a few times through the season. I fed them with a mix of a nettle tea and some compost tea from the. Got quite a good crop of them, not as good as in past years I think because it was so dry. I’ve left most of them to go to seed to collect. They do like quite a lot of water. The more sun they have the healthier the plants will be and the more they’ll produce.

Why I grow it
I like growing herbs to cook with and it’s a nice one that you can have raw, add to a salad, the flowers are really pretty. I think the bees quite like the flowers because they’re purple flowers, and it’s a really nice fragrant herb.

Where the seeds came from
The seeds originally came from a packet of seeds that I bought, but I’ve been saving them from plants I’ve grown.

How to grow
The seeds take quite a while to germinate and have to be at quite a high temperature. So I usually germinate it indoors in a heated propagator. Sometimes there are seeds that don’t work and you have to sow them again. But I had one successful batch, so I just separated those out and then planted some outside and some in a little greenhouse.
More

Where the seeds came from
Lutfun from the farm gave me the seeds and so I said, “OK, lets try it.” She said it’s potol, but when I saw the seed I thought, “It’s not potol, it’s something else. Let’s see what happens.” When I saw the fruit growing, I thought, “Oh my god what is it, how can I eat this one?” I was scared about what the taste would be like. I didn’t have any idea what it is. The smell is a bit strong. I thought, “Let’s be brave and try it. What will happen?” One day I cooked it and it was really good.

How to grow
Growing it is easy, and it grows fast. It takes loads of space. It goes everywhere in my garden.

How to grow
First of all plant runner beans inside. Sow them at the end of May. Runner beans grow really fast. So if you grow them too early, they will be very big, but you can’t put them outside because it’s too cold. So it’s better to sow them later. Runner beans like to climb, so they need climbing space. If you put a trellis in they can climb. If they can climb then they will produce more beans. If they can’t, then the crop doesn’t grow properly.

Where the seeds came from
This type of chili is from the southwest of France. It’s grown in a town called Espelette. My sister game me some chilies and I decided to grow them here. That was three years ago.

How to grow
Around April I would normally put the seeds in moist cotton wool to make them germinate. When they reach between 2-5 centimetres, with small leaves, transfer them to compost. They start germinating pretty quickly, within a couple of weeks you will start seeing the shoot coming out of the seed. When the plant is strong enough and has built a root system, then you can transfer them into compost. They don’t need manure in the early stages because it might burn them. Transfer the plant when it’s about 10 cm and it’s got enough leaves, into bigger pots, and then add manure. Just water. Either from the top, or just leave some water in a little reserve at the bottom. You can start seeing fruit end of July, but they’re still green. The fruit will probably turn red end of August or September. They are ready as soon as they’re red.

Why I grow calaloo
The food that I, and a lot of my volunteers cook, involves a lot of leafy greens. Calaloo is a persistent source of leafy greens throughout the summer. It’s quite drought tolerant, and I’m trying to do everything here without mains water. And I just really enjoy the flavour.

Where the seeds came from
It was hybridised here from a Nigerian calaloo and a Jamaican calaloo, so it’s got hints of red from the Jamaican calaloo and hints of green from the Nigerian one. It came from my friend Joan 2 years ago. I should have kept the strains pure but they crossed.

How to grow
It needs to be really warm to germinate, so you would wait till May, June, maybe you’d even get away with July and still get a crop off of it. If you wanted to start them off in modules inside in a warm place, you could do that. Pot it on, then plant it outside when it gets really nice and warm. Or you could sow it directly into well prepared soil. It needs lots of sun.
More

Where the seeds came from
The green orach came from a seed company last year, and I saved them. So they’re from here.

How to grow
Orach will germinate slightly colder than calaloo so you might get away with sowing it in April. Somewhere between March and May really. You could bring it on in modules inside or put it straight in the ground. Doing it first of all inside means that you’ll protect it from the slugs and the snails until they get a bit bigger. And you can start it earlier because you’re moderating the temperature a little bit. Once you get it outside, you’re waiting for it to be about a foot tall. And then you snap the tops off to create a bush.
More

Where the seeds came from?
A friend brought this corn from Zimbabwe. She had about three cobs and she dried them and she gave to others. But now what we have noticed is that the corn is not the same as our Zimbabwe corn which has big white seeds. These are a bit smaller and a bit yellowish. So now we are growing that one because it’s good here. It came to be a different corn but the taste is still the same, it’s not like sweetcorn.

How to grow
When there was a little shoot we put them in pots with manure, and when they were about two or three inches, with two leaves, then we brought them to the farm to plant. Half we planted first in a pot, and the others we just put a hole in the soil, and we put two seeds in there. After two, three weeks they were out.

Where the seeds came from?
Katherine from Spitalfields Farm gave me this bean when I first started gardening, and I saved them each year. This is the fourth year. I love these runner beans, they’re my favourite. They grow quickly and it’s very easy to harvest the seeds.

How to grow it?
I grow it first inside the home. I put it in compost, and after 3-4 days it starts growing. Then, once it’s grown a little, if the weather is good, I plant it in the soil. It gives so many beans. It’s not hard work, it just needs water every couple of days.

Challenges
This year is not a good year. Every year I get a large plant and many beans. But this year has not been good. Ants have attacked this plant, and snails and slugs.

Where the seeds came from
I got the seeds from Turkey.

How to grow
This is a warmer climate plant, therefore it’s better to wait until May to sow outside. Or maybe even later, to make sure that the soil and the weather is warm enough for germination. Prepare a good seed bed and then sow it. I never started inside
or in a seed tray. I directly broadcast the seeds, that’s my way. They are not fussy. Within six weeks you can start picking.

Challenges
I found the germination a bit erratic. In some parts it worked, in some parts it didn’t germinate.

Where the seeds came from
My coriander seed originally from Katherine from the farm 3 or 4 years ago, and since then every year I have saved my seed.

How to grow
I just dig to prepare the soil and then put the coriander seed in and cover with another layer of soil. If you sow your seeds in July or August you can eat the leaves until December. They like hot, summery conditions. But they grow well in winter too. They are more scented in summer time.

Tips and challenges
Slugs and snails are the main problem. I put egg shell around my plant to stop them from going near. I also pick them up with my hands and throw them away. Same with the caterpillars.
More

Why did you grow achocha/potol?
I first saw the plant at Spitalfields farm and I didn’t know what it is. I just liked the leaf. So I bought it and put it in my garden. Then I saw the vegetable, and I didn’t know what it was. Once day when I was working in my garden, there were two ladies talking with each other, saying “That is potol” and talking about how nice it tastes. I asked them what it is. They said, “It’s a Chinese vegetable. It tastes really yummy.” They told me how to cook it. That’s is how I learned about potol.

Where did the seeds come from?
I bought the plant as a seedling from Lutfun at Spitalfields farm.
More

Where the seeds came from
I got seeds from two different seed companies.

How to grow
I started indoors, in April or early May, in these root trainers, and I just sowed them in each section. I put the water at the bottom of the trainers and left them indoors. When they germinated and the seedlings grew, I transplanted them outside. Two or three plants germinated.

Tips and challenges
In some places they say it’s not a fussy plant, don’t worry about the soil condition, just sow them. But in other places they say the roots are very fragile, be careful, and that sort of thing. Some places advise using root trainers in order not to disturb the roots. Which I did. But it didn’t work actually. I sowed more than sixty seeds and only two plants came up. I collected only around nine or ten seeds. This is a failure for this crop. But I would like to try again.

Zimbabwean Pumpkin Recipe
When it’s tender, take the leaves, clean the stalk. Then we cook the leaves together with the flowers. We put peanut butter, or we cook with tomatoes and onion. The pumpkin fruit we cut and cook them, and then we blend with peanut butter and we eat them like a pudding.