Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
6th March 2021
Spring a Leek
Apparently there was a shortage of leeks for St David’s Day this week. Mainly due to more people cooking at home, due to the pandemic – perhaps leek soup is the new banana bread. I wouldn’t give you a thank you for the bread, but wouldn’t hesitate to knock you over to get to a bowl of proper home cooked leek soup.
Last spring’s cold weather resulted in smaller crops. I always remember Dad saying when he was a boy there were never daffodils out in the garden to pick for the 1st March, so they always had to take a leek to school. It was the same for me and my brother a generation later, and I still remember smelling of leek for the first week of March! For the last couple of decades it’s been possible to pick daffs from the garden for St David’s Day but I don’t ever think we expected a leek shortage!
Ever resourceful, why not try to grow your own leek(s) for St David’s Day next year?
Leeks are best suited for growing in open ground, but you could grow several in large, deep containers or raised beds. Granddad always used to sow his in a seed bed separate from the main veg plot and then transplant them to their final position in the summer. But this was only because he was a prolific grower and used the space on the plot for quick growing veg like radishes and salad crops rather than for juvenile leeks. You can sow them straight where they are to grow if you have the room, but I prefer to sow in modules indoors now, then transplant outdoors later. Sow one seed per module. They’re just easier to keep an eye on that way.
You can also start a new plant from the rooted bit at the end of a leek stalk. Simply cut off and use the top, keeping at least an inch of stalk at the end and with the roots intact. Place this bit in a jar, add water to cover about half the stalk, put it in a sunny window and soon you will have more top greens appearing.
You can also use toothpicks to suspend the cutting in water, like you would with an avocado pit.
Once the top part has started to show new growth of 2-3 inches, you can plant it out in the garden. Or just keep it in the water to continue growing and harvest straight from your window sill. It’s a great project for little green fingers – well, for fingers of all colours and sizes really!
All Pheasant and Correct
Last year I lost so many crops to moles, rabbits, pigeons and even sheep – I nearly gave up. The year before, a pheasant nested amongst my broad beans, which meant I couldn’t harvest them (as I didn’t want to disturb her) but hopefully that was just a one-off. The older I get the more respect I have for my Granddad whose veggie garden was just so wonderfully productive – and seemingly with such little effort! Mind you, if he’d had a pheasant nesting in his broad beans not only would he have still picked them but he would also have had roast pheasant with them.
I was given a couple of cracking galvanised water tanks a little while ago and I think I’ll grow salad crops in those this year as they will hopefully be tall enough to be rabbit proof. It’s a bit annoying that, despite having a great veggie plot, I have to grow things in containers but it’s also counterproductive to sow salad crops just for the wildlife. And let’s face it, ‘Home and Garden’ would probably say it’s bang-on trend and do a four page spread on ‘using recycled containers in the garden.’ Got to look for the positives.
A fabulous female gardener, in her late nineties, told me that in her 70-odd years of gardening she had learned more about psychology than growing things, and that it’s far easier to manage your expectations than to manage nature.
Hocus Crocus
Monty Don was a bit reluctant to say that spring had arrived this week – quite right too, it’s been freezing – but he did say that his crocuses were the best they’d been for a long time.
He’s right (of course).
These beauties are in a client’s garden and are just stunning this year, with the odd one popping up in the lawn, the path and other random places as the bulb has been dropped by mice.
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