The Hungry Gap Part 2

The hungry gap, the period when little or no new produce is available from the garden/allotment, is nearly over. We have new-growth sorrel for wonderful sorrel and potato soup; the first thinnings of salad seedlings for a tiny but tasty salad; and Welsh onion aplenty to brighten up a variety of dishes. But we also have the carry-overs from last year, namely the last of the leeks and a sudden glut of purple sprouting broccoli.

Both of those crops are expensive in the shops, the latter painfully so. But both are easy to grow if you have a bit of decent land. 

Leeks are one of the crops we major on, with several varieties grown to give different harvest times and a touch of flavour difference, though that should not be exaggerated. Yesterday's picking (with maybe three to go) made leek and potato soup bulked out with carrot and enlivened with our own parsley, another carry-over. 

Our PSB has done really well this year. The huge panful we enjoyed as a course on its own, served on toasted sourdough with chopped garlic and chilli oil, would have cost by my reckoning £6 in the shops if you could find it. Ours cost about £1 for the seeds and a bit of effort over the year. That is the third lot gathered so far, with another two of similar size on the plants already.

Growing your own food is not for everyone - health reasons and mobility exclude some, time commitments and travel make it awkward for others. There are of course many who have no opportunity, or can't be bothered, and sadly lots who give it a go and get put off when the weeds come back - I'd guess about one-in-three of those who get an allotment at our site only last a year or less. 

Those who stick at it gain in so many ways: fresh food, interesting varieties spurned by the shops, savings on the shopping, and even on gym membership - if you dig for an hour, or shift 30 barrow-loads of horse-muck, you don't need the rowing machine.