Winter Harvests

I’ve had such a beautiful weekend full of a few of my favourites things: Allotmenting, antique shopping and strolling round garden centres (with lots of tea in between!) all it was missing was a particular Welsh man…

On Saturday I treated myself to a bit of a lay in before heading up the allotment, I was greeted with a hard frost and a frozen pond so digging was out of the question. I broke the ice on the pond and then made a quick mental note to put something in the pond to stop it turning to ice before starting my work (read my previous blog for a more detailed over view)

Next on the agenda was to harvest the rest of my leeks so they could be made into some leek and potato soup. I sowed these back in February and planted a few out in April, the leftover seedlings were simply ‘heeled’ into a spare patch of soil before I had room to plant them out in July once the potatoes had all been harvested. Since then they have been happily growing away and although they aren’t the biggest leeks I’ve ever grown I am so pleased with the harvest. We harvested a few before Christmas but this last batch is going to made into soup, the perfect meal to tuck into after spending a cold Winters day up the allotment.

Last but not least I turned my attention to the flower sprouts. These little beauties have been amazing this year and they taste so great! They were sown back in March and have been left to their own devices since planting out in the brassica cage. I’ve been harvesting them when we need them by simply pulling each sprout off the stalk individually which is what I was busy doing on Saturday, a good double handful will feed a family of four. I expect I’ll have to harvest the last 3 stalks which are still brimming with tiny little cabbages all in one go and pop them in the freezer to make room for this growing year. Spring will no doubt be on us before we know it and I need to make room! It is a good feeling however, to still be harvesting crops from last year on a plot that is so tiny. I am grateful for mother nature, grateful for organisation and grateful for an endless supply of flower sprouts!