Winter bounty

Today was forecast to be the only one suitable for gardening this weekend - it is supposed to be very wet and windy tomorrow. Today was chilly but sunny. I popped over for an hour or so to check on things. I did want to harvest some Jerusalem artichokes and parsnips.

When I arrived, there was ice on the glass over the raised beds (see below).



When he popped over to say hello and to say that stocks of potato had arrived at the Allotment Shop, I asked the gentleman in charge of the site about my leeks. They haven't really grown much and I suspected that they probably couldn't be expected to grow much now. He confirmed my suspicions so I will just be happy enough to harvest them as baby leeks. All but one of the leeks below (pictured along with a stray potato that was nestled in with them in the ground) were the runts of the batch sown last year so I planted these in groups of 3 or 4 with the purpose of using them as baby leeks if they did develop. Some of the other, sturdier ones have grown up a bit more (but still on the baby side compared to the usual) and have been left in the ground for future harvesting.



I then set about digging up some Jerusalem artichokes. I want to make some soup and give some tubers to some friends. I ended up harvesting two plants - just two plants left now in the ground. I would guess that I retrieved 2 kilos of them. I also dug up a few parsnips and cut some perpetual spinach which is starting to take off again under net cloches.

One job I have been thinking about recently, and was reminded of today by one of my next door plotters who commented on it, is bramble clearing. As the piccie below shows, bramble is rampant at the bottom of my plot. It was there way before I arrived on Plot 35. I do mean to clear it this Winter/Spring. I plan to use some holiday days to see to it.



The light began to disappear so I headed home to wash and store my harvest (see piccie below). Now, that's not a bad lot to bring back in the middle of Winter, is it?