Hello Nick

In article ,
Nick Maclaren wrote:

I felt that I had got stuck in a rut, so am trying the following
this year:

Mouse melon (Melothria scabra)
Achocha (Cyclanthera pedata)
Yacon (Smallanthus sonchifolius)
Yard long bean (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedalis)
Cherokee Trail of Tears bean
Greek Gigantes bean

Any bets on my success rate? :-)

The yacon was bought as a tuber, and has sprouted, but the slugs
or snails got it, so I have watered with Slugclear and will see
if it now succeeds. The others are germinating - I am fairly
confident of the last two, but have my doubts on the others.

SNIP

In 2008 I grew the Mouse Melon. It grows easily and in a protected hot spot
it is quite rampant. The fruit are quite nice as a snack or in salad, but the
yield is small for the rampant growth, so it did not get a second chance

I have grown Achocha. It is quite good fun rambling along the roof in a
greenhouse. The flowers seem to attract hover flies like mad. The fruit are
interesting like tiny cucumbers. OK in salads, but you need an awful lot of
Achocha to provide a significant weight of crop. I grew it for several years,
and might give it a second try next year.

I have also grown Cherokee Trail of Tears Climbing French Bean. It is trouble
free to grow, has an interesting history and produces a reasonable crop. I
used to grow a number of different varieties of heritage climbing french
beans, but I have now settled on "Mr Fearns Purple Flowered" which looks
pretty, gives a good crop, and freezes well.

My exotic experiments this year are "Dudi Tower Hamlets" and "Starley Red
Peas" (which is actually a french bean from Jamaica) both from the Heritage
Seed Library. I am also repeating one of last years experiments the squash
"Ram's Kodu" which grew well and stored well.

Best Wishes

John

--
John Rye
Hadleigh IPSWICH England
http://www.ryepad.plus.com
--- Using RISC OS Six on an Acorn StrongArm RiscPC and under VARPC ---