Before I knew it, the leeks and a solitary parsnip were in full flower and producing seed, so I thought I'd collect the seed to sow next year.
I've been letting a few crops run to seed this year. I left a few parsnips and a couple of rows of leeks over winter to be harvested as and when I needed them, but there were far too many of them and many stayed in the ground.
In spring, the leeks and parsnips shot into glorious growth, triumphant at having survived the frosts and the cold. I left them to it, I was busy sowing seeds, getting the potatoes chitted and planted, and preparing the beds. Before I knew it, the leeks and a solitary parsnip were in full flower and producing seed, so I thought I'd collect the seed to sow next year.
The parsnip looks magnificent in flower. It's so strong and sturdy that it looks like it could take on a Siberian winter and still taste sweet. As for the leeks, they're tall and straight, with green curved leaves and beautiful globes of purple flowers. Being a member of the allium family, leek flowers are a magnet for honeybees and bumblebees, which seem to spend hours moving from one globe to another.
The flowers on both the parsnip and the leeks are rapidly going over and going to seed. There are small black seeds developing within the bracts of the leek flowers while the big, flat parsnip flower heads are becoming dry and papery, like miniature honesty seeds. Next week I'll cut the heads off and hang them upside down in a paper bag to collect all the seeds. Then, in 2010 I'll be sowing my own leeks and parsnips on my plot. I can't wait to see how they grow.
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