The forced endive, a pleasant feature of the French table, is an easy enough thing to achieve over here. Grow a suitable cultivar from seed in the kitchen garden, then lift a few plants around now, pushing them into a big pot of damp compost, and cut the green tops off, leaving an inch proud. Invert a pot on top, block the drainage hole with a slate, put it in a cellar or cool shed, and wait. In a month, pale, firm and shapely cones will arise. Cut, chop, apply a vinaigrette dressing and sprinkle with walnuts. Simple and lovely.
* Give Country Life for Christmas and save up to 40%
* Gardening calendar: October jobs
-
A well-connected rural playground with 23 acres on the edge of the South Downs National ParkOld House Farm is an impressive family home with a wealth of amenities that would inspire any rural passion.
-
The UK gets its first ‘European stork village’ — and it's in West SussexAlthough the mortality rate among white storks can be up to 90%, the future looks rosy for breeding pairs in southern England.
