Look at this earthworm, it may be slimy, long and good for the soil however it has revealed one of its hidden secrets to scientists this week.

Scientists from Georg-August-University Göttingen in Germany have discovered that earthworms are in fact predators of living as well as dead plants. Their particular favourites are legume seeds and seedlings as they have high levels of nitrogen so if your bean seedlings don’t germinate in the ground, earthworms can now be added to the list of culprits.

Previous studies have also shown earthworms eat seeds and take them to their burrows. Earthworms seek out seedlings that germinate slowly and are nitrogen rich and ingest them which slowly kills the plant leaving them susceptible to other pest and disease attacks.

The advantages of this new discovery is that farmers can attract earthworms to their soil by sowing certain seeds and the disadvantage is in some locations earthworms could destroy plant life.

For more information on Earthworms, please click on the following links:

• Beneficial Insects and Invertebrate in the Vegetable Garden
• Earthworm Identification Guide by OPAL
• The Earthworm Society of Britain
• Join the BBC Spring Watch Team and The Natural History Museum at the London Bioblitz, 5th June 2010 at London Alexandra Palace or Follow them on Twitter @BioBlitzUK

Do you remember doing science experiments at school like the coin being cleaned when dropped in a beaker of coke or making a balloon rocket and firing it over the sports field? Even as adults we still have an inquisitive nature to discover the unknown.

We all like trying to conquer new things in our vegetable gardens each year. Last year I discovered whether I could grow vegetables on my office windowsill and I decided to record the contents of my compost bin for 3 months (a particular mad idea, I thought!)

Well its good news, I’m not alone. I’ve found some great bloggers that could pass for mad scientists and I’d like to share their experiments with you in weekly bite sized posts. This week, as its time to sow our french and runner beans in pots or modules I’d like to introduce to you to our first of many Vegetable Mad Scientists and an invaluable experiment that I for one would like to know the answer to and I’m sure you will too.

Mals Allotment Beans

Mals Allotment

Profile:
A weekend gardener and allotment holder for 15 years from Edinburgh, UK with a recent post on
‘Its not Rocket Science.. hopefully its Bean Science’.

Experiment Question: Which way up do you sow your bean seeds?

The Science Bit – Bean Germination:
When the bean seeds are sowed into soil and come into contact with water, the seed germinates by allowing the water into the microphyle (a small hole in the side of the seed). The seed case swells and the first root or radicle will grow out through the microphyle hole downwards into the soil. Once the root is secure in the soil, the plumule (the stem and first pair of leaves) will grow out of the hole in the seed case and move upwards towards the soil surface.

Germination of Beans

Research:
As you can see from various sources below, some people believe beans can be sowed any way up and others believe different and many of us (including me) don’t really know which way up to sow beans.

• Yahoo Questions
• Allotments-UK Forum
• Garden Banter.co.uk Forum

The Method:
A controlled experiment with 44 pots, sowing 2 beans in each, carefully labelled with the variety and orientation (which way up) the seed has been planted. The orientation options are: up, down, sideways flat, sideways vertical.

Measurements:
To record the germination speed and length of time it takes the seedlings reach 6 inches tall and to record in which orientation they were sown.

Interview Questions:

1. Where did you get the idea from to do this experiment?

Mal’s Answer:
Googling failed to come up with any answer to the question I set in my previous blog entry. No comments posted suggested a source I had overlooked. Several web posters claimed that there is no right way up to sow beans. I wondered if they had tested this.

2. Which way up have you sown bean seeds in the past?

Mal’s Answer:
I’ve always just poked beans into compost/soil randomly.

3. Will you be doing any more experiments in the future?

Mal’s Answer:
Yes! Every year is another experiment, but blogging has forced me to become better about recording things and actually following through my intentions. The camera is a great asset when it comes to recod keeping. I even use it to retain information on the back of seed packets. In the past I’ve forgotten what I did and when. My practices (and my yields) have improved no end since I have posted my efforts in public where others can scrutinise them, and I too can refer back to what I did and what I hypothesised would happen.

Mals Allotment Bean Experiment

Results: Ongoing - All results will be listed below.
Please visit Mals Allotment to find out more details.

Mals Allotment – Bean Experiment Posts:

• Which Way is Up
• State of Emergence
• As a Returning Officer

A Big Thanks to Mal’s Allotment for answering my interview questions.

If you know of any experimental vegetable gardeners or vegetable mad scientists, please contact me below so I can feature them and their experiments or projects in this series.

iGrowVeg Posts about Beans:

• Growing Dwarf French and Runner Beans
• Transplanting Beans into the Ground
• Building a Wigwam Cane Support for Runner Beans
• 5 Common Pests and Diseases of Beans and Peas

This year in my garden I’m trying to squeeze in vegetables where-ever I can and as we are concentrating on painting and cleaning up our decking area, this is a ripe sunny area which is going to be great for large pots and planters.

As soon as the BBC’s Dig In Campaign popped up on Gardeners World this year, I was there on their website applying for my free seeds (as last year I missed out) and this year I was lucky enough to have the seed envelope land on my doormat.

BBC Dig In Campaign Seeds

This year the vegetable varieties are:

• French Bean – Blue Lake,
• Courgette – Black Beauty,
• Carrot – Red Chantenay Red,
• Salad – Mixed Leaves,
• Basil – Sweet Genovese.

The envelope contains 5 vegetable and herb seed packets, a small leaflet on how to grow your own grub and a sticket sheet.

I think these herb and vegetables are perfect for growing in containers, so that exactly how I’m going to grow them on my sunny deck.

Growing Courgettes
I’m particularly excited about the Courgette – Black Beauty as I nearly bought this variety last year to put in my pots and I’ve also never tasted home grown courgettes.

I’ll be re-visiting my Dig In Vegetables and their progress through out the Summer. Hopefully I’ll be trying to find some lovely recipes to cook my black beauty courgettes in August. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, if anyones got any tips on growing Courgettes, please leave a comment below, they will be gratefully received!

BBC Dig In Campaign 2010

If you would like to join in and grow one or all of the varieties above, please visit the BBC Dig In website, its packed with sowing advice, Q&A and help with growing your vegetables.

Unfortunately the free seeds are not available anymore due to high demand however they are available to buy cheaply from the following seed suppliers:

• Courgette – Black Beauty 60p, Salad Mixed 50p and Basil – Sweet Genovese 50p from Alan Romans Online Seed Sales
• Carrots – Red Chantenay 52p from Wilkinsons
• French Beans – Blue Lake £1.60 from Dobies.co.uk
• Of course you may find cheaper seeds in Poundstretchers, poundstore or in supermarkets.

Other Vegetables I’ll be growing this year are:-

• Sowing Carrots, Beetroot, Cabbage, Chard, Spinach in April,
• Vegetable Growth Page – A hub page for all my growing activities this year.

Join my monthly newsletter to easily keep track of all my seed sowings and growing progress.
View my Latest Newsletter Here.

Introducing the Pineberry which looks like an albino version of a strawberry but with red seeds. If that isn’t confusing enough it actually tastes of pineapple!

Pineberries are on sale in 45 Waitrose stores around the country for the next five weeks whilst they are in season. They originate from South America although now are growing in Holland in giant commercial glasshouses.

Pineberry

Pineberries have over the years been commercially bred from the strawberries we know today as alpine strawberries.

White Alpine Strawberries have existed in the wild since the roman times and can be grown from seed. They tolerate the shade and prefer a slightly acidic soil to grow in and as they are wild strawberries they are ever-bearers. Also quite handy if the birds in your garden usually peck your normal strawberries to pieces, these white ones look as if they aren’t ripe so they will leave them alone!

White Alpine Strawberries can be sown from January to March, so if your quick try sowing some this weekend!

Seeds are available from the following online seed suppliers:-

• Strawberry ‘White Soul’ – extremely sweet flavour from Suttons Seeds or Dobies.co.uk
• Red & White Mixed Alpine Strawberry Seeds from Gardens4Less.co.uk
• Wild Strawberry ‘White Delight’ Pot Plants from Jekka’s Herb Farm

Keep In Touch with iGrowVeg.com

• Monthly Newsletter Signup – Tips, Post roundup and what to sow next.
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Just a quick post to let you know I was invited to write a guest post over at Garden Trading’s blog and I accepted because I love their website and their products particularly the Wooden 3 Tier Herb Pot Stand which I’ve had my eye on for a while now!

3 Tier Herb Pot Stand

Garden Trading are a high quality online shop with passionately handpicked products which are the perfect addition to any home or garden.

So without further ado, here’s my guest post on their blog:

Jobs To Do In Your Garden In Spring

Post Description: Tips on how to spruce up your garden, give those plants a boost and de-clutter your potting shed before spring sets in!
Feedback: Let me know what you think or share your tips by leaving a comment.

So why not head on over to www.gardentrading.co.uk to fall in love with some of their garden, home and pet products (as I have done!).

Mothers Day Hamper

If you are still stuck for a Mother’s Day Gift, get your skates on as they do a really lovely Mother’s Day Mini Hamper which contains a mini trug basket, gardeners soap, thumb waterer, candle, wooden dibber and kitchen garden notebook or there are plenty of other gift ideas for you to choose from.

Keep In Touch with iGrowVeg.com

• Monthly Newsletter Signup – Tips, Posts and sowing next.
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Here’s a bit of fun to celebrate valentines day, vegetable gardener style. Below is my cupid list to ignite your passion of growing, see if any of the following vegetable contenders make it onto your short list for the new season!

Scarlet Horn - Carrot

1. Scarlet Horn – Carrot
If you like small packages, this is the one for you! Measuring 3 to 4 inches at maturity and one and three quarters in thickness. This fine grained ancient beauty from the 16th century has a delicate flavour and was developed by the dutch. It likes shallow or stoney soils and matures in 60 days.

Sow: February to June
Harvest: May to August

If you like what you see, its available from:

• DT Browns
• Unwins

Ring of Fire Chilli

2. Ring of Fire – Chilli
This spicy hot cayenne little number is ready for the picking when ripe after 80 days as long as you can stand the level 6 heat!

The 4 inch long pointed chilli’s are quick to ripen turning from gorgeous green to fiery red.

Sow: Jan to March (Indoors), April to June (Outdoors),
Harvest: August to October

If you fancy a bit of spice in your life, this variety is available from:

• South Devon Chilli Farm
• The Garden Organic Catalogue
• Nicky’s Nursery

Tender and True Parsnip

3. Tender and True – Parsnip
Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, you’ll love this parsnip, its Tender and True! This smooth skinned long rooted variety is traditional and well known for its strong flavour.

It is excellent for exhibitions and is versatile in the kitchen from roasting to currying.

Sow: End of February to April
Harvest: September to December

This reliable and sophisticated variety is available from:

• The Real Seed Catalogue
• Suttons Seeds

Pink Beauty Radish

4. Pink Beauty – Radish
This is a milder, alternative pink coloured globe radish which has tasty white flesh. It has been awarded an RHS Annual Garden Merit and is easy to grow in your garden. This sweet and beautiful radish is a welcome attraction to any vegetable garden.

Sow: February to September
Harvest: March to October
This dainty variety is available from: DT Browns Seeds

Enorma Beans

5. Enorma (or Enorma Elite) – Runner Bean
Famed for its superior exhibitor qualities, slim, stringless nature and high yielding 20 inch long produce.

Sow: April (Indoors), May to June (Outdoors)
Harvest: July to October

This giant is available from:

• The Organic Gardening Catalogue

Sweet Choc Pepper

6. Sweet Chocolate – Pepper
This unique chocolate brown skinned sweet pepper is a joy to the eye. A mild flavour and great for growing in cooler climates this will bound to be a hit with greenhouse growers.

Sow: February to March
Harvest: July to December

For the perfect valentines chocolate with a difference, this is available from:

• Plant Me Now
• The Real Seed Catalogue

Other Valentines Day Veg, Fruit and Herbs worth a glance:

• Cupidon – Filet Bush Beans
• Flame – Lettuce
• Sweetheart – Melon
• Aphrodite – Parsley

Keep In Touch with iGrowVeg.com

• Monthly Newsletter Signup – Tips, Post roundup and what to sow next.
• RSS Feed – Through your browser or via Google Reader
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Birds? Characters in the brilliant film Avatar? Nope and Nope, they are all varieties of Potatoes!

This weekend is big news for the humble Potato, a versatile vegetable which can be boiled, mashed, roasted or wedged. With over 100 varieties to choose from at the National Potato Day at Garden Organic Ryton, its a good job there’s help at hand and growing tips to assist you in choosing which are the best varieties to grow.

Saturday 30th (Garden Organic Members Only) and Sunday 31st January (Open To All) is a big date in the Potato calendar when the Garden Organic at Ryton open their doors to all who want to find out more about growing your own potatoes, different varieties, cooking tips and a seed swap. For more details please visit Garden Organic Events.

If you can’t make this weekend, why not find a ‘Potato Day‘ near you, with events all over the UK over the next 2 months.

Chitting Potatoes

Don’t worry there’s still time to buy your potato tubers online or from Garden Centres like:-

• Tuckers Seeds
• The Organic Gardening Catalogue
• Dobies of Devon
• Mr Fothergills

You may also be interested in:

• How To Grow Potatoes in Pots
• How To Grow Potatoes in a Raised Bed
• How To Store Potatoes
• Tomato and Potato Blight Disease
• Growing New Potatoes in Pots
• One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four

Just a quick message, I’m smiling from ear to ear knowing I’ve made the cut for the Dorset Cereals Little Blog Awards!

Every person who votes will be entered into Dorset Cereals free prize draw to win a case of Dorset Cereals, yum!

iGrowVeg has been Nominated – Vote for Me Here!

Also whilst your on the Little Blog Awards website why not take some time browsing the other blogs, there’s plenty of categories from culture, news and politics, lifestyle to food & drink, sport and travel.

I’ve just voted for:
My Fav Blog at the moment: Allotment 2 Kitchen – in Food & Drink category.
Norfolk Kitchen – in Food & Drink – foraging, growing and cooking fresh, local, seasonal food.
Eight by Six – in Lifestyle – gardening growing vegetables, seasonal recipes and knitting,
Frugilegus – in Lifestyle – Things found and grown,
A Life in a day – in Culture – A thought for every day in between the business of life.
Allotment Heaven – in Food & Drink – An allotment Blog.

Get voting, vote as many times as you want! or add your blog’s web link into the mix.

Yesterday I went Blackberry picking for the first time ever and sacrificed myself to the brambles. Its amazing to think that there are hundreds and thousands of blackberry brambles on wasteland and only by word of mouth or local knowledge that they are ever found and picked. Its like a secret cult that you have to join to get insider knowledge of where the blackberries are located.

Then of course, that’s only the beginning once you’ve found the blackberry bushes,

Do you:
a) Stick to the slim pickings on the path,
b) Pull back the inner brambles to reveal the ones people cannot reach for, or
c) Venture forth into the undergrowth to find an area where no-one has been before.

Its c) of course – Venture forth and cut thyself on the undergrowth, try and avoid getting a twisted ankle in rabbit holes, get an allergic reaction to a few stinging nettles and that’s before I even got to the blackberries.

Its then like a mission out of the krypton factor to get into the brambles and pull off the fat juicy ripe ones without ripping your hands and ankles to shreds on the bramble prickles or having a little shop of horrors moment when the bramble reaches out and grips your clothing and refuses to let you go!

On a more positive note, the best thing about wild blackberries is the sweet melt in the mouth taste and of course its all free food. So here is my beautiful blackberry bounty.

Blackberry Bounty

Needless to say it was well worth all the pain in the end.

Blackberry Links you may find useful:

• Blackberry Recipes,
• How To Freeze Fresh Blackberries
• How To Grow Blackberries

A carnivorous pitcher plant reminiscent of the little shop of horrors has been discovered by botanists in the Philippines. The giant plant trap can catch insects and small rodents in its pitcher shaped sack. The slippery slides prevent the prey from escaping and the acidic digestive juices breakdown the rats flesh leaving only the bones.

Nepenthes attenboroughii

The rat catching lime green pitcher plant has been named after Sir David Attenborough. It is called ‘Nepenthes attenboroughii’. (Photo courtesy of WikiMedia Commons)

Carnivorous Plants
A carnivorous plant is one that must attract, kill and destroy the prey by digestion.

4 Ways Carnivorous Plants catch their prey

1. Snap closing strong leaves like The Venus Fly Trap. Once the prey walks over or near the hairs, this is the trigger for the trap to close.
2. Bladder traps, these plants suck the prey in which get stuck in a vacuum.
3. Pitcher plants lure the prey in with promise of nectar, the prey falls in unable to escape from the acidic liquid. Sarracenia is the most popular as it is very hardy.
4. Fly Paper glue. These plants use sticky glue to hold their prey once they have caught it.

A big thanks to the stunning photographs courtesy of CarnivorousPlants.co.uk

Dionaea - Royal Red

More on Carnivorous Plants

• Carnivorous Plants UK – Brilliant photography of these amazing plants,
• Little Shop of Horrors – UK carnivorous plant nursery, Devon. Gold medal winners at the Chelsea Flower Show.
• International Carnivorous Plant Society.