#spinach beet

Last crops before the new season

I was given access to my allotment in August, and at the time it really needed a lot of work to be ready for the new year and the first spring under my hands. I focused on clearing, cleaning, repairing, improving and preparing. There were some neglected small crops when I started, and I got to harvest a few beetroots and some peas. I planted and harvested potatoes and now I’m left with the leafy greens which are still doing great in the sudden snap of cold of real winter. 

Under a plastic tunnel spinach ‘Amazon’ F1 and spinach beet (from seeds my mum bought in Italy and sent over to me) are growing side by side in one of my two small raised beds, while the super tasty kale ‘Nero di Toscana’ and ‘Red Russian’ take half of one of the larger ones. Between them there’s some parsley, and I’ve been collecting the chickweed (Stellaria media) and hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) sprouting and growing in the empty space under the kale. 

They all go well together in a lot of the meals we make, but they will come out of the beds in a few weeks, when I’ll be doing the final cultivation to incorporate a second load of compost. 

I’ve been buying seeds left and right and have plenty of flowering perennials ready to be planted, now I just need to wait for spring to really transform this place into a piece of heaven. I can’t wait!