Tuesday 17th March 2009
New Products and Highlights From Summer Catalogue - Out Early June 2009
Provencale Salad Mix
Delicious winter hardy blend providing tasty leaves over a long period. Will continue to crop during winter, especially if given a little protection from the worst of the weather.
The Provencale Salad Mix includes:
Lettuce Rougette de Montpelier: Red/green leaves, very hardy, resistant to frost.
Sorrel de Bellvile: Hardy pointed leaves with a tangy, lemony flavour.
Corn Salad Verte de Cambrai: Cold tolerant, sweetly flavoured lambs lettuce.
Chervil: Slow bolting herb, heat and cold resistant.
Caliente Mustard Green Manure and Biofumigant (NEW)
This is not just a green manure - is also acts as a biofumigant for the soil.
Biofumigants suppress various soil borne pests and diseases and by releasing naturally occurring compounds.
The foliage must be crushed or finely chopped for it to release a natural gas (isothiocyanate) which effectively reduces and suppresses a range of nematodes and diseases in the soil. The combination of biofumigation plus the digging in of the green material, increases beneficial soil microbes, which out-compete pathogen microbes helping to keep soil diseases down.
The finer the chop the better the result, running over the area with a rotary mower or strimmer to chop well before digging in to the top 6inches of soil is a simple way of incorporating the crop.
The benefits of use for the home gardener for most crop and soil types are:
• Improved root systems and a measurable increase in yield of following crops
• Suppression of a range of soil-borne diseases including Verticillium wilt, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Fusarium, and Sclerotinia
• Suppresses a range of nematode species
• Improved soil structure and fertility
• Suppresses weeds - mainly soft-seeded annuals - soon after incorporation
Caliente Mustard can be sown in spring or late summer for a quick crop, or mid-autumn for over-wintering in milder areas.
Green Manure - Winter Tares
Fast growing bushy annual, excellent for smothering weeds. It fixes Nitrogen and is winter hardy. Dislikes acid soils.
Sow March-May for digging in May-July. Or July-September for digging in spring.
Oak Leaved Rocket Oakley
A slower bolting, selected variety of wild rocket. Uniform, upright growth habit superb for cut and come again use. Delicious sweet flavour with a bit of a kick!
Kohl Rabi Azure Star
A quick growing crop, with a striking purple bulb with white flesh. The leaves can also be eaten like cabbage. Sow outside until the end of August or under cover for a later harvest.
KaiBroc
This delicious new vegetable is a cross between Broccoli and Kailaan (Chinese Broccoli). It produces sweet, tender stems with an edible floret. 50-60 days to maturity and once the main head is cut it quickly produces many side-shoots to crop over a long period. Feed regularly to produce more shoots. Can be sown in spring or late summer.
Carrot Senior
This late maincrop variety has excellent storage quality. The long cylindrical roots have good tolerance of powdery mildew and alternaria. It will stay in good condition over winter until April.
Pea Douce Provence
This very sweet and succulent variety is also extremely versatile. It can be sown as an over-wintering variety, or sow in spring from February under protection for an early crop. It can also be sown March - July as a main crop. Growing to about 2½ft (75cm) it needs virtually no support. Definitely one of the most versatile varieties around!
Contact
Claire Hart on 01460 2597776 email claire.hart@marshalls-seeds.co.uk
Or for technical plant advice contact Pat Hubbard- tel 01480 443390 or email pat.hubbard@marshalls-seeds.co.uk
