Little crops
I’m cooking my first runner beans for lunch, just a handful, but a pleasing one. And thought it might be an idea to show you the little crops I am harvesting at the moment. And frankly it’s a break from all the relentless red of the soft fruit pictures.
First ever courgettes. And I mean after three years of trying. Who would have thought that drought conditions would have given the courgettes a burst of life? It spelt the end of my pea crops. And everyone else’s (thank goodness). I have a handful of mangetouts, some broad beans left, no peas. And the cucumbers are starting to flower, but they are a long long way off.
I know that because I actually attended to them for the very first time today. They needed staking. But don’t get excited, the poor little plants aren’t even a foot tall. But they have yellow flowers, so we shall see.
I have a crop of coriander flowers; not really the thing you want but they have gone over as soon as they went a day without water. Fussy critters. But at least the flowers taste delicious in a salad. I have plenty of swiss chard putting on growth. New growth from this year’s sowings, so that’s good news. I’ll be picking the leaves in a few weeks time.
But the one little crop which I never pick is the leek. I don’t know why, but I just don’t fancy cooking and eating them much. Â I leave them to flower and make a decorative addition to the garden. I’ve just come in from planting 82 of them all along the sides of the lower potager as a sort of gourmet deer deterrent. Leek hedge anyone?