Lots Of Badgers, Runners, Courgettes And  Beetroot

Badgers

Badgers have been causing Dirty Nails problems of late. With their naturally sweet tooth, they have taken a shine to his young parsnips. These loveable rogues have been digging neat holes and turfing out the 4 to 5 inch (10 to13 cm) ‘snips, nibbling them and then leaving them on the surface. A few ‘snips have been dragged to the edge of the plot and eaten, with just the green tops discarded. It is upsetting to see lovingly tended crops vandalised like this. However it is an annual problem and one that won’t go away. Badgers are persistent creatures of habit, enjoying carrots, sweet corn and all manner of soft fruit.

As soon as they begin to lay into his crops, which is frequently anytime around midsummer, Dirty Nails takes what he calls badger precautions. This involves sinking jam jars into the soil amongst the veg and half-filling them with his own urine which he collects in a bucket. Most evenings, for the next couple of months, Dirty Nails also takes an evening stroll around his veggies applying urine with a garden mist sprayer. Badgers are very shy of humans and the stinking liquid is an effective deterrent which is both free and limitless in supply

Runner beans

Runner beans are beginning to produce pods in abundance now. Dirty Nails picks them daily before they become hard and stringy. This keeps his runners in maximum cropping condition with lots of flowers and developing beans.

Courgettes

Courgettes are fruiting prolifically too. As with runners, the more you pick, the more they produce. Yellow Gold Rush and deep-green Black Beauty are very much on the menu at this time of year. Dirty Nails likes to slice them thinly and flash-fry in olive oil, seasoning with black pepper and a splash of soy sauce for a delicious snack at any time of the day.

Beatroot

Beetroot are cropping thick and fast with plentiful supplies from now until autumn thanks to consistent succession sowing. In the kitchen Mrs Nails twists the leaves off about an inch (2½ cm) up the stalk. This prevents all the lovely beetroot-red juice from bleeding away whilst simmering to tenderness in the pot.

Natural History In The Garden: Swifts

As July presses relentlessly on, and with the school holidays upon us, a heatwave can inspire flocks of swifts to gather in the skies above the garden. As well as feeding on a wealth of insect life, young birds will be testing their wings and strengthening their lungs in preparation for a long migration back to over-wintering quarters in the southern hemisphere. They are a joy to watch on hot days, screaming and swooping, climbing and diving, like a shape-shifting shoal of sickle-shaped fish in the deep blue sky of an English summer.

Vegetable Snippets: Beetroot Red

The vibrant beetroot-red stain that is so characteristic of this vegetable is a purple pigment which exists within the plants cells. Cutting through the root with a sharp knife breaks the cells. The pigment floods out and they are said to be bleeding. This can occur inside the human body as well as on the chopping board, staining both solid and liquid waste as it passes through. It is perfectly normal and harmless although the visual effects can be alarming! It is not unheard of for paramedics to get an emergency call from worried patients who are experiencing nothing more serious than the colourful consequences of indulging in the consumption of this swollen root veg.

Nutritionally, beetroot is rich in dietary fibre, vitamin C and a number of minerals. The leaves, when steamed as for spinach, provide an excellent source of iron and calcium.