Chelsea flower show<\/a> (19-23 May), after becoming the subject of an online craze among young gardeners.<\/p>\nThe vegetable stand in the pavilion has in the past showcased perfectly spherical tomatoes and straight-as-an-arrow carrots. But Kate Cotterill and Lucy Hutchings of She Grows Veg, who will be growing the vegetables on display at this year\u2019s show, are more interested in showing new heritage varieties of vegetables than displaying symmetrical cabbages.<\/p>\n
The duo, who own a seed company and aim to get the younger generation interested in growing their own food, have cultivated a giant, bright red mangelwurzel variety which has gone viral on Instagram, with many people growing it and marvelling at its size and vibrant colour.<\/p>\n
Cotterill said that manglewurzels were now the best selling seed on their website.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we find is that when veg is really different, people get really excited about it,\u201d she continued. \u201cUsually they have been growing the same thing year on year so it\u2019s exciting when it\u2019s new.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople that have allotments are very competitive about what they grow and when mangelwurzel comes out of the ground it likes so bizarre almost like a mandrake from Harry Potter. Loads of people have entered them into vegetable growing competitions and won prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vegetables are very popular on social media. One mangelwurzel reel on the She Grows Veg Instagram account got 2.8m views and 58,000 likes.<\/p>\n
Of the online craze, Cotterill added: \u201cThe mangelwurzel has inspired a nation to grow a different, delicious, highly productive and very easy to grow variety that is accessible for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vegetable is described as being halfway between sugar beet and beetroot and is easy to grow. Cotterill said it was \u201cdelicious mashed, roasted or pickled\u201d and \u201csweeter and less earthy than a beetroot\u201d. Its greens could also be eaten and it also made \u201cfantastic\u201d wine.<\/p>\n
The mangelwurzel is commonly known as fodder beet, because of its use as livestock feed in farming for centuries. It had been unfashionable to eat and viewed as a peasant crop, because people would only eat it when other vegetables were in short supply. The vegetable\u2019s spooky look also led to them being carved for Halloween, before pumpkins became popular.<\/p>\n
Other vegetables on their stand will include unusually coloured crops. The bestselling colour for tomatoes, carrots and chillies this year is black. They will also be showing off pink chicory, purple cauliflower and unusual coloured radishes.<\/p>\n
Cotterill said black vegetables had become their best sellers. \u201cThat deep, dramatic colour comes from anthocyanins, the same compound that makes blueberries a superfood. It\u2019s a powerful antioxidant, which makes black veg genuinely good for you, and it also lends a beautiful, earthy depth of flavour.\u201d Varieties on show will be an \u201cintensely sweet\u201d black cherry tomato and a chilli Machu Picchu which is \u201cdark and smoky tasting\u201d.<\/p>\n
Black chillies. Photograph: Gallery Eloise\/Alamy<\/p>\n
Another more traditional plant returning to the great pavilion is the wisteria, the climbing purple flower not seen in the tent for 15 years.<\/p>\n
The charity Plant Heritage will be hosting six nurseries in the Great Pavilion, showcasing a series of national collections. One is the Brantwood Trust, which will feature their national collection of wisteria.<\/p>\n
Simone Daye, head gardener at the Brantwood Trust, said: \u201cI think the reason there\u2019s been such a big gap is because of the unpredictability of wisteria. Looking at our wisteria in the last three years its never just settled on one week \u2013 there\u2019s been up to a three-week difference in flowering period. Its flowering times are influenced by the fluctuations of winter and spring. Currently we\u2019re desperately trying to hold it back which is extremely difficult to do so. It also has to be transported extremely delicately.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom my knowledge several people have been tried in the past to bring it to RHS Chelsea and been unsuccessful \u2013 I\u2019ve heard of it flowered and ready to go and then suddenly died off.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said she was \u201cquietly confident\u201d her wisteria would be a success because \u201cwe\u2019ve got them in pots and are moving them around constantly in the weeks leading up to the show. They are being moved and monitored every day \u2013 out in the sun or into a cold barn depending on the weather.\u201d<\/p>\n
Photograph: Anton Havelaar\/AlamyRecipe: Mangelwurzel gratin<\/p>\n
Ingredients:<\/p>\n
600g mangelwurzel, peeled and thinly sliced<\/p>\n
200ml double cream<\/p>\n
100ml milk<\/p>\n
1 clove garlic, crushed<\/p>\n
100g mature Cheddar, grated<\/p>\n
1 tsp nutmeg<\/p>\n
Salt and pepper<\/p>\n
Method:<\/p>\n
Preheat oven to 190\u00b0C (fan 170\u00b0C).<\/p>\n
In a saucepan, heat cream, milk, garlic, nutmeg, salt and pepper until just below boiling.<\/p>\n
Layer sliced mangelwurzel in a baking dish. Pour cream mixture over.<\/p>\n
Sprinkle cheese on top.<\/p>\n
Bake for 40\u201345 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They are an unloved root vegetable traditionally grown for cattle feed, and when pulled from the ground they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-387977","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}