It felt sad to harvest my final leeks this week. What a fine specimen I had left until last - tall, straight and pale, crowned with a plume of pungent green leaves.
I know I'm in danger of becoming a bit of a bore, raving on about my winter vegetables - but they have been truly marvellous. So it felt sad to harvest my final leeks this week. What a fine specimen I had left until last - tall, straight and pale, crowned with a plume of pungent green leaves. A beauty. And it became an equally fine supper, transformed by a mild cheese sauce into a lovely au gratin.
Still, the next batch is underway already. The seeds were sown in a seed tray indoors, rather than outside, due to the cold, frosty snap a couple of weeks ago. The seedlings have started to pop up, producing their strange, grass-like seed leaves. It's staggering to think these fragile babies turn into something so gigantic.
It all goes to show what a wonderful thing this 'circle of life' is - as some things end, others begin to grow. And that's especially true on an allotment. My seedlings sown outdoors are starting to appear, thanks to the recent lovely rain, sunny days and warmer nights. The first to show have been the pumpkins sown in pots on the windowsill, swiftly followed by the brassicas.
And even the early potatoes are showing a few leaves above the soil, which means my next job is a good session of earthing up.
