FIRST HARVESTS

                       
At last we’ve had some rain. It’s much needed, although the grass has grown about a foot overnight in response - it’s just a shame the rain has to fall on the bank holiday weekend - as usual...

 We are in the middle of the ‘hungry gap’ which is the period when the pickings from the veg patch are slim - the winter vegetables have finished and the summer crops are yet to mature.  In years gone by this was a very difficult and often hungry, time.  Two crops that help to bridge the gap are purple sprouting brocolli and asparagus.  They are both easy to grow, although the brocolli takes nearly a year from sowing to harvest and must be protected from a barage of pests through the summer and pigeons in the winter - strangely nothing is around to eat it in early spring, so it’s a reliable cropper.  

If you have the space for a permanent bed, do grow some asparagus.  It does take a couple of years to establish, but after that you will be harvesting fresh spears from the same plants for many years.