OCTOBER, 2ND WEEK GROWING YOUR OWN FOOD with DIRTY NAILS: LOOKING AFTER PURPLE SPROUTING AND FROGS Dirty Nails has been tending his purple sprouting broccoli this week. He always has a good rummage around the bottom of them at this time of year, clearing away dead and yellowing leaves to the compost heap, and weeding at the same time. They are by now fine plants with large leaves, a good crown and strong, thick stems. After this spruce-up they look magnificent and handsome. Purple sprouting is a hungry brassica that likes to be bedded down in firm soil. To this end, Dirty Nails has been working hard. He has trodden the earth down around the base of each one with his heel, and applied a thick mulch of horse manure to the same area. He keeps a bucket and shovel in his vehicle, collecting manure from droppings on the road. He is thus able to keep a sack or two handy for this sort of job. Lastly, Dirty Nails has staked each plant. A stout cane and baling twine are ideal for this purpose. Purple sprouting wants to grow quite large, 4 feet (120 cm) or more, and is susceptible to wind damage during gales. Good supports will hopefully prevent them from being rocked and having their roots loosened. Pigeon scarers in good working order are also vital. Made from compost bags cut into tassels and tied to tall canes, they move and rustle in the breeze. There is little else to do now, except watch, wait and look forward to spring greens.

Dirty Nails loves his frogs. They are second to none when it comes to pest control, feasting on all sorts of garden nuisances. Their soft croaking from the ponds on a warm evening is a natural, beautiful music. Whilst clearing away spent courgette plants, he disturbed one of his friends. The frog hopped away to behind the greenhouse where there is plenty of scope for hiding, safe from neighbourhood cats. Dirty Nails makes sure that his veg patch is frog-friendly by having lots of undisturbed places. Small piles of logs or stones that won’t be moved, positioned strategically, ensure that the frogs are able to forage all areas of the plot with a safe hidey-hole always close by.

VEGETABLE SNIPPETS: SOME FACTS ABOUT BROCCOLI A member of the ‘cabbage tribe’, purple sprouting broccoli heralds from Italy. The Romans adored this delectable vegetable. It was consumed in large quantities and with enthusiastic gusto at their infamously lavish and decadent banquets. By the early 1700’s broccoli had been introduced to the UK but at this time it was very much an unfamiliar novelty at mealtime.

There are many different varieties and strains of broccoli. The familiar purple sprouting described here is a long-standing plant, being sown in the spring but not harvested until nearly a full year later. Calabrese is a quicker-growing summer-cropping variety (from a spring sowing also), and white sprouting is often confused with cauliflower.

All broccoli becomes tough if not cut and consumed when young. This is due to natural maturing processes within the plant, with internal sugars developing into fibre. Once this has occurred it is lost to the table as no amount of cooking and boiling will remedy the toughness.

The name broccoli comes from the Latin word ‘brachium’, which means ‘strong arm’. This is a reference to the sturdy, branching nature of this popular garden food plant.

NATURAL HISTORY IN THE GARDEN: SPINDLE BERRIES During October Dirty Nails takes great pleasure in spotting colourful spindle bushes which grow just beyond the garden wall. They are full of colour at this time of the year, sporting dark red leaves and a stack of bright pink, four-lobed berries. When ripe these split open to reveal four orange seeds. Spindle was ruthlessly cut out of the countryside by farmers in the years after World War 2 on account of the fact that the black bean aphid, so commonly seen on broad beans in the early summer, loves to hang out on Spindle as an alternative host plant. A native to our shores, it is less out of favour these days, its wildlife and ornamental value being appreciated in these more environmentally enlightened times. Spindle wood is tough and hard, and the plant’s name is a reminder of the common use it was put to in olden times, when weaving was an important job. A VEGETABLE GARDENER'S YEAR by Dirty Nails (How To Books, ISBN 978-1-905862-22-1) is now available online and at good books stores, priced £12.99.