Eighteen members and three children worked in the garden on Sunday. We picked another cauliflower and the first broad beans. There was a large harvest of rocket, mizuna, komatsuna, mustard (ruby streaks, golden streaks), land cress, silverbeet, radish, lettuce (cos, Amish deer tongue, freckles bunte), curly endive, coriander, French sorrel, kale (Russian, curly, cavolo nero), some peas, some broccoli, rhubarb and herbs (parsley, mint, chives, thyme, sage etc.).
We have three varieties of chicory in our garden ready for picking. Their nutritious leaves can be used in winter salads or cooked. Red varieties keep their colour when cooked. Blanch the leaves to reduce bitterness. Their characteristic blue flowers are also edible. They, like many plants in our garden, belong to the Daisy Family (Asteraceae). The genus Cichorium is divided into two species each with their own cultivars.
- We have endivia var. crispum ‘Pancalieri costa bianca’ (French frisée) also known as curly endive growing in several beds and ready for picking now for salads (photo above).
2. We have the common chicory also known as sword leaf intybus self-sown in beds 9 and 10 (photo above left). We also have a self-sown cultivar ‘Red Dandelion’ (photo above right).
St Helen's Community Garden 