Pica

This is a daikon. Boring but lengthy

Geordieborn

Thank you Pica, I guess we will give it a go in bits and eat it a few different ways. As you say it's big enough!

philat98

I saw the first wild asparagus this morning growing below neglected olive trees in a nice sunny position. It looks like the spru they sell in England but has a stronger taste. A few ounces makes a good pasta sauce. Well worth searching out.

Geordieborn

Friends of ours have a patch of this outside of their house, if we did not grow our own cultivated asparagus I would have thought it was a fern of some kind as it had "flowered". Doubt if we would ever spot it and not too sure we would be brave enough to eat it! Still we’ve weeded our patch and someone destroyed at least one top… So they are on the way.
Tried a bit of the daikon last night, a thin slice of raw stuff definitely had radish all over it and the taste was almost the same to us – quite mild. However the main try was to cook it with a side dish we have often at this time of the year. This is butternut squash in 1cm or so squares fried quickly in oil with panch puren , chilli, few fresh herbs and sprinkle of paprika forte. We put some of this daikon in it, cut the same size and not too sure if it just took on the flavours or what, but it tasted so much stronger. Quite a bitter peppery taste, so some may not like it, but it went well with the sweeter squash. Still have 2/3 of it, so will look to try it in some other way(s). The squash by the way are superb at this time of year, we stored around 40 (most ever) of them in the cantina hung from the ceiling and have done so for a few years now and only ever lost one small one to rot. They last us until around the end of this month normally, but with last year’s bumper crop it may be the end of April or even May this year…! Then we may very well have early zucchini.

philat98

I've tried growing a few different squashes but so far the sweetest is butternut. I found and Italian variety called Violina that is a butternut with a rough skin. I am growing them on black plastic this year to save water. I grew Roma VF tomatoes last year on plastic and l harvested about 4kg per plant without any supports.

Geordieborn

Perhaps we need a growing thread ... Interesting growing on black plastic as a lot of major growers here do the same for various crops. Never heard of Roma VF, but looking them up they look the equiv of San Marzano or similar. We grow (have) SM, Pera (local name for Cuore di Bue I believe) and datterini. The latter were originally a second small type to supplement the cherry toms (sweet million etc) we used to grow, but since growing them a few years ago we use datterini for everything and it has become our main crop. Beauty with them is the lack of pest/rot, which is what we've found with all the smaller varieties of toms. We grow these up a ladder structure with a plant either side and have give up counting their yield - sweetest tomatoe we have ever encountered...

jonwel

I always translated zucca as pumpkin, but I suppose a pumpkin is just the big round one for Halloween or Cinderella. I really got to know this variety when I lived in Ferrara and I discovered cappellacci with a pumpkin/squash filling. In Ferrara they're eaten with ragù, while in Mantova the filling is sweeter because they add amaretti and they're eaten with butter and sage. I prefer the Ferrara version probably because it's the first one I came across.

philat98

I think they only add amaretti when they have a tasteless zucca.

philat98

Funny my favourite tom is Red Pear. Do you grow Pera di Abruzzo? I've been looking for a local variety of Pera. I am also growing Costoluto di Firenze which is tasty but unproductive. I use Roma for sundried tomatoes and freezing.

jonwel

I wouldn't say so, it's a standard Mantova recipe as far as I know. See here. But too sweet for me (they also add mostarda!).

Geordieborn

Everyone here seems to grow Pera, they often call them abruzzesi pomodoro, but I don’t think they are much different from any of the other big toms. Those Costoluto di Firenze (if the same as pomodoro costoluto fiorentino) look superb. We do grow Pera as they are by far the best around here for caprese. But as an all-round tomato I’ve never know anything like the datterini we’ve been growing the last few years. Having grown tomatoes for a lifetime now I’ve not tasted such a sweet tomato, very small plum, masses of fruit and almost no disease or pests. We grow these, Pera and a small amount of San Marzano. The latter seem to come into their own late on in the year. We’ve tried to do as some do here and grow multiple crops (some do 3 per year), but found it too much hassle. We tend to over produce so we get a good crop at the beginning and end and far too many in the middle!

philat98

I will try some datterini. Do you use any particular variety?

I have about 30 plants growing in a polytunnel at the moment. They make fruit at the end of June. Then I plant a row of 15 plants outside in May that makes fruit in August and another row in June that makes fruit in September. I use black plastic with drip tubes so there is not much maintenance. The last crop gets badly eaten by insects. If I have too many I cut them in half, add salt and dry them on a mesh screen in the sunshine. The strong sun here seems to add a lot of flavour.

Geordieborn

I'm not too sure there are any varieties of datterino. I have to admit I give up on growing from seed mainly because the plants here were so cheap. Last year they were selling both yellow and black datterini as well as the standard red. I did not try them as we've never been fans of other coloured toms.
We spend a lot of time in the UK which dictates our planning around the garden and trips. Hence the buying of plants which we get around mid-April to mid-May, some at different times as we have a south facing plot and a west facing plot. Last two years the diary shows the first crop being mid-June for us, both years it being the datterini ripe. Being away a few times has also made us invest in plastic drippers for watering. I used the same in the UK for many a year for the same reason with a timer(s) for periods away. Here I use the timers most of the tomato year, this is mainly so I can water in the middle of the night in view of the heat and evaporation caused. It also provided better pressure at that time. I think the use of drippers also uses a lot less water. I’m very interested in the use of black plastic for the toms. I guess you have them trailing, does this result in any pests? Unlike many of my Italian neighbours I religiously take the suckers off the standard toms. But I do grow them in a wigwam as most here do. I’ve tried many a different method for cherry toms and datterini and found a two crossed ladder method to be by far the best. As I indicated we buy more plants than needed to extend our harvest period and usually have toms from mid-June to mid-November, albeit the later it gets, like you, we get many pests and I’m sure they don’t taste as nice as your last crop.

philat98

I think starting from seeds saves quite a bit and you can pick the variety. Most people grow from plants here but you have to accept what they have in the shop when you want it. There must be forty plant shops in our town and they all sell the same plants and same seeds. I went into a seed shop near Verona last year and was amazed at the choice available up north.
The drip tubes are certainly effective. I had trouble with them being blocked when I first started. I used them on potatoes last year and it probably doubled the harvest.

BRIAN 1

Hi,in the UK this is called mouli,all Indian grocers sell them and they are a type of radish,cheers,Brian.