Interesting Edibles Guide

Choosing interesting edibles to plant

Interesting vegetables and herbs

• Mustard green - a useful source of interesting salad leaves that can be grown all year round for a continuous supply. Use baby leaves in salads and cook older leaves and add to a variety of dishes. Can be grown all year round in full sun.
• Crimson spring onion - a slightly teardrop-shaped red onion with green tops, spring onion Crimson has a slightly hot flavour. Add to dishes in place of green spring onions for extra flavour. Ready to harvest in 8-10 weeks - for continual harvesting plant new seedlings every 4-6 weeks.
• Afro parsley - Afro parsley has bright green, heavily curled leaves that make a statement in the garden. With delicious flavour it is great as a garnish or flavour to hot and cold dishes.
• Fennel - Fennel has a wonderful fresh aniseed flavour. Its crisp, robust taste and texture make it a favourite in French cooking. Fennel is a hardy perennial herb that if left to its own devices will readily self-seed and multiply. Its leaves are particularly good with cucumber and tomatoes, or served as a garnish for fish. Plant in full sun, harvest in 12 weeks.
• Mizuna (Japanese mustard) - a very quick growing crop that can be eaten fresh in salads or cooked. With its mild, peppery lettuce-like flavour, it can be mixed with spinach and kale as alternative to lettuce in a salad. Can be grown all year round in full sun. Ready in approximately 3 weeks.
• Radicchio - This spicy salad green is sometimes called Italian chicory. The red leafed, white veined vegetable is often eaten raw in salads or roasted or tossed through pasta in Italian dishes.
• Tomatillo - a green-purple fruit the size of cherry tomatoes with a tart taste, tomatillos are a unique and tasty crop to grow. They are often used in Mexican dishes, including sauces and salsas.
• Cavolo Nero - this popular vege is tall-growing with stem of dark green (almost black) leaves up a tall trunk. It is delicious in smoothies, soups, pasta and slow-cooked dishes. 8-10 weeks to harvest.
• Kohlrabi - this interesting looking vege resembles a swede but its round 'bulb' grows above the ground not below it. A member of the brassica family, kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked - particularly good with garlic and butter! Harvest when the bulbs are the size of medium sized apples.
• Apple cucumber - as its name suggests, this variety of cucumber produces round, tennis-ball shaped fruits. It is easy to grow and very prolific, with pale green or yellow skinned cucumbers. Apple cucumber is widely used in salads. Plant in full sun 50cm apart.
• Celeriac - A root vegetable widely used in European cuisine. Celeriac looks similar to celery but unlike celery, it grows in the soil for about six months of the year. Perfect raw in salads, grated into soups, stews and braises. Harvest when bulbs are approx 10cm across.
• Myoga (Japanese ginger) - a perennial native to Japan. Its flower buds are often used as a garnish in Japanese dishes and its flavoursome shoots are used in a variety of dishes including stir-fries, soups and roasted eggplant.

Interesting fruit

• Chilean guava - with round red fruit Chilean guavas are intensely aromatic in flavour and scent. They are delicious eaten on their own, in fruit salads or made into jelly. A slow growing shrub that develops into a small bush, up to 1-2 metres, Chilean guava flower in late spring (clusters of pink and white bell-shaped petals are first produced in the third year after planting).

Interesting edible flowers

• Viola - a delightful dainty looking flower from the same family as pansy. Violas produce small flowers and have a very low, ground-covering habit. They make a pretty addition to salads when used as a garnish.
• Nasturtium - a welcome addition to the vege garden as an edible flower, nasturtiums quickly make themselves at home in the garden. Use the flowers whole or chopped as a garnish, or add them to soups, salads and savoury dishes. Their sweet peppery taste adds a welcome zing. Click here for more information on edible flowers.

Planting your interesting edibles

The better the soil, the better your plants will grow. If you are starting with an existing garden bed dig in organic matter like Tui Super Sheep Pellets and compost to your soil. Then you can add a layer of mix suited to what you are planting.

Directions for planting vege seedlings in garden beds:

• Before planting, soak plants in a bucket of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic and allow to drain. This will help prevent transplant shock.
• Add a layer of Tui Performance Organics Vegetable Mix.
• Dig a hole, approximately twice the depth and width of the root ball of your plant.
• Gently loosen the root ball of your plant and position the plant in the centre of the hole.
• Press soil gently around the base of the plant.
• Water your plant well.

Directions for planting flower seedlings in garden beds:

• Before planting, soak plants in a bucket of Tui Organic Seaweed Plant Tonic and allow to drain. This will help prevent transplant shock.
• Add a layer of Tui Rose & Shrub Mix.
• Dig a hole, approximately twice the depth and width of the root ball of your plant.
• Gently loosen the root ball of your plant and position the plant in the centre of the hole.
• Press soil gently around the base of the plant.
• Water your plant well.