August hasn’t got off to a good start and the wind and rain have it a difficult for working in the garden (I’d been wanting to sow some pansies for my winter and spring displays along with a few winter and spring brassicas for the kitchen garden).

Thinking of edible goodies, last week I told how I am growing different coloured cauliflowers and I’ve been asked about the different colours and the names of the varieties. The bright purple cauliflower is “Graffiti” and the orange one aptly named “Sunset”, while the golden yellow one is “Flame Star” and the green one “Emeraude”. This is a true green cauliflower and not to be confused with the green “Romanesco” types of Italian cauliflower where the florets of the curds are somewhat pointed in appearance.

Many veg come in a range of colours and shapes. For example, there are hundreds of varieties of tomatoes and potatoes. This is where having a kitchen garden gives you so much choice over growing vegetables than those we see for sale in supermarkets, where limited space means a more restrictive choice.

So if you would like to grow a rainbow colour of carrots or beetroots, the kitchen garden is your answer – simply take a look at some of the online seed providers and you will soon learn of the vast choice open to you. If I wanted I could have purple carrots, purple beans and purple cabbage to add to my purple cauliflower and purple potatoes! Granted the meal wouldn’t look that appetising, but you get the point I am making!

Although the kitchen garden has been a bit wet to work on, I have been able to harvest – just as well as some of the vegetables are providing a bit of a glut, which I am now freezing or storing for winter use. I’m even pickling some of the vegetables for Christmas – one of my favourites is sherry pickled onions!

My flower gardens are still providing plenty of colour, though some of the blooms, especially the petunias, have taken a bit of a bashing. Once the weather warms up again, they will quickly recover.

As you can see from my photograph – and despite the heavy rain – my zantedeschias (more commonly know as ‘Calla lilies’) are stealing the show. There exotic-looking blooms are brightening up what has been a gloomy few days. Although, Calla lilies are not hardy and are classed as tender for growing outdoors in this country, they have in fact been left out in my garden over the winter and are now blooming again. I know last winter was not a cold one, though covering the tuber as the foliage died back just before winter with a thick layer of mulch has also helped them survive. Ideally the tubers should be lifted, dried and stored in a frost-free location, as you do for dahlia tubers.

There are hardy forms of zantedeschia that survive our winters, but these are more commonly known as the ‘Arum lilies’ and are certainly worth growing. They produce a spectacular flower, mainly white in colour. Calla lilies have been hybridised, as such come in a wider range of colours, and some with speckled foliage.

Both the Arum and Calla lilies are easy to grow and are generally bought as a dried rhizomes root which can be planted in pots or direct in the garden. They need moist soil/compost to grow well and will benefit from a high potash feed when they begin to form flower buds. For Calla lilies, the leaves will turn black when the first frosts arrive – at this point they need lifting and prepared for storing overwintering in a frost-free location until they can be planted in the late spring.