Val Bourne on how produce depends on the climate

Gardeners are stay-at home-types because they have to be in order to water and tend, especially within the growing season.

As a result my holidays have to be squeezed into quieter times when the garden’s winding down. I’ve just spent a week in Sicily, my first ever visit to Italy so I do feel such a Philistine. It was early autumn there, but when the sun shone it was still almost 30°C. With temperatures as hot as that in October, high summer must be roasting. No wonder they need a siesta.

The local markets were full of locally grown aubergines, tomatoes and peppers, obviously thriving in the heat. ‘Pacino’, a small tomato used in pasta dishes throughout the world, is actually named after the Sicilian village where it was first grown. Now, I have tried to grow ‘Pacino’ under glass here, without much success, and having experienced Sicilian heat I now realise why.

Growing tomatoes in Britain is akin to pushing water uphill, for our summer days are nowhere near as warm as October in Sicily. No wonder tomatoes, aubergines and peppers struggle and it’s put my failure to grow ‘Pacino’ into perspective.

And yet when a new gardener takes to vegetable growing they’re encouraged to begin with tomatoes and other Mediterranean crops. It’s rather like doing the A-level before you’ve completed the groundwork.

It would be so much better if novice vegetable gardeners started with cool-season crops that actually enjoy the British climate — like the cabbage, the pea, or the leek. The pea was the mainstay of the Victorian walled garden, sown every two weeks or so from April until late-August and eaten fresh in summer and dried for winter use.

Thousands of acres of peas were grown in the fields and William Cobbett, writing in The English Gardener (first published in 1829) says that these crops were for the “gardenless people of the towns.” He also records that King George III reigned for so long that by his birthday on June 4 a crop of peas was expected. Cobbett added it was “deemed rather a sign of bad gardening if there were not green peas” by that date.

Cobbett also rated the cabbage as “growing easily in every sort of soil... and forming in part of the table supply, in one shape or another, from the first day of January to the last day of December”. The cabbage family needn’t be boring and some varieties are even Italian. The Black Tuscan Kale (‘Cavolo Nero’) can be harvested now and its long tongue-shaped leaves are delicious and trendy. Brussels sprouts, Savoys and other cabbages will follow.

The trick with all brassicas is not to let them stall in the early stages. Use 6x4 modular trays and sow two seeds per division. Germination is always excellent with brassicas, usually taking a week or so.

Thin the weaker seedling out and grow the other on in good light (under glass if you can) until the plant is three inches high.

Remove the plant once the roots have filled the module, puddle in as you plant by filling the hole with water and then add extra nitrogen. Chicken manure works well. If you leave brassica plants to mark time in the modules, their root systems never recover.

Cobbett also rated the leek, primarily because it was hardy enough to stand over winter. The Saxon term for a gardener was a leek-warder and the Anglo Saxon word for leek is por-leac. However, the Ancient Egyptians grew leeks and the Russian botanist Vavilov believed they were from the eastern Mediterranean.

The parsnip is also thought to be from the eastern Mediterranean. It predates the potato, which was considered fit ‘only for papists and pigs’ when it was first introduced. Parsnips were regularly served with salt cod on Ash Wednesday in the 16th and 17th century. They were also eaten with roast beef, a popular combination that’s still enjoyed today. Arrivederci!