Ruud Kleinpaste: Trying new things in the garden

During a rather aggressive storm in springtime, our ancient tunnel house showed it was time to get a new one. That was our Christmas project.  Some of our tomatoes survived but there was still lots of space for other plants and ideas, and Kings Seeds sent a catalogue to my inbox just at the right moment!   February specials and Brassicas plus a great number of beautiful plants in many colours (and for a reasonable amount of money). Let's try something out!  Snail Vine  An exotic, heirloom vine grown for its highly perfumed, spiralled flowers resembling curled snail shells. Ideal for growing up fences, trellis, and pergola, or sow in containers with a grow cone or obelisk for support. Fabulous for providing fragrance to outdoor spaces. They germinate within 2 weeks in summer, love warm conditions and develop fast in full sun.  Great for our warmer areas in New Zealand, but even in the cooler regions they usually become an “Annual”. Try a few seeds as soon as you get them and keep some for next spring as a back-up.  Echinops Blue Globe A fabulous textural plant for floral work and in the garden where they add a metallic-like accent. Easy to grow, the versatile plant produces striking steel-blue, globe-shaped flowers. Excellent as an everlasting flower as they retain their colour and form well when dried. Good to start it in sizeable containers to manage the moisture in summer – you can start them in early autumn, so they’ll flower in early spring;  Now – look at those amazing blue colours!  Echinacea Lustre  Look at this!  A popular range of large-flowered, ornamental echinacea in a vibrant colour range. Also known as coneflowers, they make wonderful cut flowers with their distinctive, daisy-like blooms and long vase life. They flower the first year from seed.  The echinops and echinacea are both great options for drought prone/dry areas and being perennials, they really are good value in your garden and loved by pollinators.  Stratify: Chilling seeds in the fridge for 2-3 weeks prior to sowing will promote germination by breaking seed dormancy.  Cauliflower Green Macerata  A lime-green cauliflower with brilliant flavour and a nice change from the “typical” white curds. A vigorous plant, the leafy frame protects the green curds which mature to around 1 to 1.5 kg in weight.  Do not overcook them, to retain the bright-green colour.  Like many cauliflowers they are great plants to start in Autumn, so a little bit of patience is needed… But what comes out of your efforts will be quite wonderful!  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.