My new favourite salad leaves
I have been planning to grow Sorrel for a few years but only got round to it this year. I am really pleased with the result – the red veined variety are very delicious and will hopefully last the winter to re-produce next year.
I have the plain green variety too – and these are just as tasty – but not quite so distinctive to look at.
My lunch every day includes plenty of these leaves along with Rocket flowers, Mizuna and Orach (still doing amazingly – although this is now starting to flower – I’m not sure if this means the end to them).
Red Veined Sorrel…

Orach…

July 20th Harvest
Popped up to the allotment last night for a bit of harvesting – got another big plastic bag full of Mizuna, Rocket, Orach, Kale and Spinach and a box of sweet peas, runner beans and courgettes – I’m really liking the short stubby courgettes that seem to be coming from one of my plants – I think I’ll try to keep some seeds from that one. I’m pretty sure I will come back to some huge courgettes after my 2 week holiday.
Must ask the nieghbour to water my plot whilst I am away.

July 11th Harvest
20 runner beans
10 courgettes
4 big telegraph peas
Bucket of cherries
Carrier bag of Mizuna, Rocket, Orach, Perpetual Spinach
Every visit brings something new
2011/07/05, 12:24
Filed under:
Diary,
Planting | Tags:
cherries,
courgette,
gooseberries,
kale,
mizuna,
orach,
perpetual spinach,
rocket,
runner beans
I am loving the visits to the allotment even more now – instead of just watering and weeding – we are now going home with the rewards.
Bought back home the following yesterday…
1 Courgette.
3 runner beans.
Bunch of Kale.
2 Pots of cherries.
1 Bag of Mizuna
soon we will also be picking the Rocket/Orach/Perpetual Spinach and many many more beans of a all types.

Harvests
Started harvesting a few things this week. We had 2 large courgettes from our plot …
…and the Mizuna is ready to pick – they have suddenly turned into large bushy clumps of tasty leaves.
The runner beans are growing in size and should hopefully be ready to start picking over the weekend.


Below are the cabbages and sprouts – doing OK I think – at least with the netting they have not been destroyed by caterpillars.

I also have some Kale here – that I started picking the leaves of last weekend – they went down well the other night with some sausages.


The other salad leaves (Orach, Perpetual Spinach and Rocket) are getting going and may need thinning out soon too.
Also – my girlfriend planted some edamame beans and these do not seem to be getting very big yet – not sure about how they should be growing though – maybe they will shoot up later in the summer.
Orach emerged
2011/06/10, 14:24
Filed under:
Diary,
Harvest,
Planting | Tags:
allotment,
cage,
frames,
mizuna,
netting,
orach,
perpetual spinach,
rocket
My bright purple Orach has reared its head about 2 weeks after planting.
They are looking very healthy and bright – but I think I may need to get some more netting to protect them from the local pests. I have built a few more frames to staple the netting to but need to get hold of some more netting.
I’ll take some pictures next time I get to go up to the allotment.
8th July – Picked a small bunch of the Orach leaves for a salad yesterday – along with the Rocket, Perpetual Spinach and Rocket – it made a great salad mix – went well with some some of my dressing and a sprinkle of roasted Pumpkin seeds and Parmesan cheese.

Here is how the Orach is currently looking – and I have just read that it will produce leaves until the first frosts and that it will grow to about 1m tall and can self seed if the seeds are left to dry out.