Sunday, April 15, 2007

more seeds

more seeds
Still more seeds! I just get sucked in every time I walk by a stand of seeds. Today I found some peas, fava beans and bicolor radish. The other day I had some delicious grilled fava beans at the East Coast Grill, one of my favorite restaurants. I'll have to look up growing information for these as I don't know if they are more like beans or peas.

Vicia faba
Brassicaceae

radish (Raphanus sativus)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I tried to leave a comment on your garlic post a few days ago, but blogger was acting up, I hope it's working now. Your garlic looks about the same as mine, by the way...

As far as fava beans go, you should plant them now like peas.

The main difference between heirloom/heritage varieties and commercial varieties of fava beans is the commercial varieties are almost all 'all at once' types. That means they are bread so they all mature at about the same time (to make mechanical harvesting easier for farmers), but in your case since you probably won't plant so much maybe it's a good thing for you too to get them all at once.

In any case (is it havicchi?), I suspect you have a commercial and not heirloom variety. Anyway, be aware you will have one type or the other!

kathy said...

Blogger does have its up and downs, but thanks for the comment. I was concerned about my garlic and not sure I should post the picture. (My dad pointed out a few plants in my yard that aren;t doing so good that I conveniently don;t post photos of.)

The variety of fava bean I have is "Lunga della casine" or Italian farmhouse. I assume its commecial, as I just got it at my local True Value hardware store.

I'm looking forward to planting them soon. After our current rainstorm passes. All at once is fien as I won;t have room for many plants.

Anonymous said...

I just had a closer look at your radishes, and they are actually turnips! Have you ever had turnips? They are not like radishes at all, but I think they are very nice. This is my favorite recipe for cooking turnips:

http://www.soupsong.com/rturnip1.html

Be careful, because it's easy to miss that parsley and Parmesan are part of the recipe (because they are listed as garnish), but they are a very important part of the soup.

In any case, turnips are nice fried, especially in butter or margarine.

If you've only had turnips from the store you are in for a treat, because home grown turnips are a lot nicer!

kathy said...

I can't believe it!!!! I just looked a tthe picture I guess. The label certainly says turnips. Aaarggh. I don't like turnips.

Well, I guess I'll have to try homegrown ones. How silly of me! Actually, I was so excited to find the fava beans....

Anonymous said...

I am also a seed buying addict. Especially now that they are on sale.

Wendy said...

East Coast Grill in Plymouth? I'll have to try the fava beans. They do wonderful things with greens at that place!

kathy said...

The East Coast Grill I mention is in Inman Square in Cambridge MA. Its a one-and-only. I highly recommend it!