Lockdown 2020 - Super Quick Veg — Katy in the garden

As I write we are just over 1 week into ‘lockdown’ to prevent the spread of Covid-19. According to the new rules, we can leave the house to go food shopping but are asked to do that ‘as little as possible’ and rely on home delivery. Perhaps Boris had a pre-existing standing order with an organic veg box supplier, but for the rest of us delivery is no longer available and the lack of food on the shelves in supermarkets leaves us having to make trips more often than we have ever done before. My husband and I have kept an ever-growing list of what we need in our heads and have been constantly popping out to see what we can get, returning home with a collection that looks like something from Ready Steady Cook. Tonight it’s fresh sardines, Pimentos Padron, half a carrot and an artichoke, tomorrow who knows…

Whilst this is good for expanding our culinary creativity, repertoire and sense of perspective, it is in all other respects thoroughly depressing. Aside from pasta and toilet paper, the veg section has been one of the worst-hit. Whilst I might not be able to manufacture loo paper at home, and home-made pasta is a terrible fiddle, home-grown veg is easy to produce, can be ready in under two weeks and can be grown indoors if you don’t have a garden. When supermarket shelves first began to empty 2 weeks ago I planted the 5 quickest growing vegetables I could think of - pea shoots, radishes, pak choi, kale and salad leaves - and we are already eating them. All of these could be grown in the open ground, but since time is of the essence you can get them off to a much faster start and cut out the shopping trips much sooner starting them on a windowsill indoors. Sure they’re taking up all of our windowsills and much of the kitchen floor, but we won’t be having guests over for a while so that’s not a problem.

I am growing them in the wooden crates that fresh fruit and vegetables are shipped in and which my greengrocer was happy to give me (she offers me more every time I go in). These have the benefit of being quite sturdy, and deep so that you can take more repeat cuttings from stronger plants, just make sure to line them with newspaper to keep the compost in! I also have a few seed trays of leaves on the go and am tempted to try planting out into an Amazon box since they work very well (placed on a plastic tray) for quick growing crops and we are now fully delivery dependant and inundated with cardboard.

Pea shoots

These are delicious, tasting exactly like peas, and are a nutritional powerhouse with one cup providing 50% of your RDA of Vitamin C, 10% of your Iron and a substantial hit of protein relative to most greens. Topping all of this… they are a green leaf that my son Arthur (aged 2) actually enjoys eating. I couldn’t praise them highly enough.

I picked up a huge packet of ‘marrowfat’ peas from the shops, but any whole dried cooking peas will do (often found in bright 70s packaging). Luckily these are NOT selling out like pasta because nobody under 90 knows how to cook them. I soaked several handfuls in water for 24 hours, then sprinkled them over the surface of the compost, covered and watered them in. I have sown pretty thickly as the plants won’t be left to mature and for the first harvest, I began by thinning them out to give the rest room to grow. We had our first meal from them yesterday having sown them 10 days ago and even then I had let them get quite big. Cutting them down to just above the first set of leaves, they should regrow several times and keep us going for a few weeks. We’ve had them stirred into pasta and as a salad leaf so far but I’m pretty sure they’d do well in all sorts of recipes.

Radishes

These can be ready within 25 days of sowing and will taste best grown at this time of year when the weather isn’t too hot. Again, these can be sown in big trays or just in a few plant pots on the windowsill. I’ve dotted a few into all of my crates and will pull them up before bigger plants get growing. I have also sown a lot into modules and then planted them out under fleece, following the example of the brilliant Charles Dowding.

Cut and come again salad

These can be ready in 25 days and replace the bags of salad on which we all rely so heavily (and which I have decided to give up this year). As well as a few trays of the brave flavours of mizuna and mustard I’ve also just used lots of milder mixed lettuces. You can also make your own selection to suit your taste from individual packets.

Pak choi

Pak choi might seem exotic but it’s easy to grow at home and very quick to produce a harvest. I’ve sown a few early in the year into plugs and then transplanted direct in the ground but for faster results, I’ve also sown them in a box and started them off indoors before moving them outside (a shady spot is ideal which is lucky in our tiny garden). To have food on our plate slightly sooner I have sown relatively closely so we can eat the thinnings as a baby leaf (ready in a few weeks). We should get medium-sized plants ready for harvest in around 45 days.

Kale

I’ve treated kale as a cut and come again leaf, sowing thinly in seed trays, and will be cutting leaves in a week or so. As well as the classic curly kale and the Italian ‘Cavolo Nero’ or ‘Tuscan Kale’, I got excited and tried various other types including some sold specifically to be used for baby leaves. Results pending. Thinking slightly further ahead I’ve transplanted a few seedlings into a larger container and into the beds to allow those plants to mature. This way if lockdown lasts several months there will be plenty of leaves to keep us going.

With the quick growing greens above we have already had food to eat in under 2 weeks. My hope is that in another fortnight we will be pretty much self-sufficient in green leaves at least. As I write Dr Jenny Harries, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, has warned that distancing measures could last for 6 months. Meanwhile there is a very real danger that the stream of produce into the country from countries like Italy and Spain could dry up as a result of staffing and supply issues. So the next step is to think a little further ahead. It seems there was no better time to sow a few tomato seeds, plant a few courgettes and pop in some runner beans in preparation for a long spring and summer of empty shelves and time at home. At least if everything turns out well and life returns to normal sooner than expected we will be able to celebrate by inviting all our friends over for a glut of home-grown food.