Rumours of Spring

Saw my first butterfly of the year this afternoon and the bees were out enjoying the nectar and sunshine.

Desert Island Vegetables 5

My motivation to start growing some of my own vegetables, fruits and herbs was born from my enjoyment of cooking. You will never cook with fresher produce than that brought straight from the garden to the kitchen. This also encourages you to adopt recipes that make the most of each season. It also opened my eyes to how unthinking my cooking was based on having most vegetables available through the year.

It never occurred to me that at certain times of the year I was buying vegetables that had been in storage many months. I just sort of assumed that the vegetables on the supermarket shelves were coming from a field somewhere. In fact I now realise that knowing how to store or cook produce to preserve it is an integral part of ensuring a steady food supply throughout the year. 

Nor did I have any comprehension of how long any vegetable took to grow. Looking at a Brussel Sprout I never imagined that it was planted in June to harvest during the winter months.

So with speed in mind my next choice of vegetable for the fantasy desert island is the Lettuce. It grows relatively quickly; it can be grazed - taking a few leaves at a time and leaving the plant to grow on. I am also assuming that a desert island would have a climate that with succession planting would give a year round crop. Taking some different varieties (at least one red and green type) would help keep things interesting.

Desert Island Vegetables 4

In choosing eight vegetables for a fantasy desert island for some reason I feel the need to choose wisely. Perhaps it is the French proverb, “Be careful what you wish for” that is encourage me to create a list I could live with if I were to become a castaway.

 In examining my likely situation I am fairly certain that apart from collecting shellfish and trying to catch fish I am not going to become neither a hunter nor butcher. Perhaps after a few years without rescue the desire for bacon and sausages might induce me to try hunting a wild boar but it seems a risky venture. I am pretty sure a major worry being a castaway would be injury or illness.

For my fourth choice I will go for the carrot, another vegetable that can be eaten raw, just in case my fire making abilities are not as good as I imagine.

Another practical issue for this fantasy island would be the need to save seeds from my vegetables. This would preclude taking any F1 varieties, as the seeds probably would not come true. Thankfully there are plenty of Heritage varieties that as the name implies have been tried and test over many years. As for the techniques of saving carrot seeds here is a very useful video.

Desert Island Vegetables 3

My third choice of vegetable for my fantasy desert island, the Tomato is botanically classed as a fruit. However as I have yet to see either a Tomato cheesecake or one feature in a fruit salad for practical purposes I am going to regard it as a vegetable.

If I were limited to one variety I would go for a plum type but as I love tomatoes (their original name was Love Apples) I really would like to grow several sorts. Their culinary versatility is impressive; from the delight of eating straight off the vine to making ketchup for my fish and chips – assuming I master the art of fishing on my island.

Desert Island Vegetables 2

There definitely would be potatoes growing in my island garden although choosing what varieties to grow is not an easy question. For when it comes to the potato there are more varieties than Horatio could dream of, or you would imagine from the range offered by supermarkets.


My awakening to the range available to the grower happened a few years back on a visit to Potato Day at Garden Organic. Not only were there over a hundred varieties of seed potatoes on sale but I also encountered my first blue potato. Here is a short video made at this year’s event.

In choosing my varieties I would go for two varieties that I have already had success with, Vivaldi and Salad Blue. I would also take Sarpo and Blue Danube partly because of their resistance to blight but also being deep rooted they can deal with drought well.

Potatoes are a fairly easy vegetable to grow; you can even buy sacks to grow them in if you are short of space. They make quite an attractive plant and have pretty flowers. Digging down to uncover your crop has the excitement of unwrapping a present hoping that you will be pleased with what you discover.

Desert Island Vegetables 1

Here in the UK we have a radio show called "Desert Island Discs" where a celebrity chooses eight pieces of music they would take with them to a dessert Island. So with this in mind I purpose to list my top 8 edible plants that I would grow in any garden whether or not on a desert Island.

My first choice would be Shallots, a vegetable that can be eaten raw and added to a salad or when cooked form the basis of many a fine dish. Added to this they are easy to grow and when you look at the price the supermarkets ask for a small bag it would be plain silly not to grow them.