Delicious leeks a late summer treat (From Blackpool Citizen)

Delicious leeks a late summer treat

11:33am Thursday 30th August 2007

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THE weather has turned - we seemed to have skipped a season. No summer and straight into autumn.

The definite nip in the air this last Bank Holiday weekend is playing havoc with my strawberries.

I am picking them regularly but I noticed one or two have gone bad on the stem - I don't know why that is.

We are still taking fruit and after a couple of days' further ripening, they taste nice and sweet. But I think the frequency is now starting to decline slightly.

According to the booklet I got with the three varieties I ordered from the net, strawberry plants have a three year cycle.

Apparently, the first year you get a reasonable amount of fruit but the second year should see a huge increase in the amount of juicy red strawberries, while in the third year less fruit forms.

After then, you are advised to renew the plants, either from a nursery or using the runners the plants put out.

In the meantime my leeks are OK but I don't think they will grow much more. They are slightly bigger than the baby leeks but smaller than the ones you get in supermarkets.

We have harvested a few already and eaten them and I must say they are delicious, having a proper leek taste with firm white flesh but not too strong.

I pulled some carrots up to see how they were.

Although some were of a reasonable size, some had curious kinks in them (there are no rocks or stones in the barrel so I don't know why that should be), some were undersize and some had hardly grown at all. But I suspect that is my fault - I think I put too many in the barrel.

Next year, I will thin them out and I think the results will be much better.

It is a steep learning curve having a vegetable garden and I can see why retired people enjoy growing fruit and veg because they have the time.

I work all week and I don't have the time to do the work that all the plants deserve. But that's the position that most people find themselves in, so I can't complain.

All the broccoli has now been consigned to the compost bin but we have left some of the less moth-eaten cabbages to see if they will grow any more.

The beetroot is coming along, if slowly, and the courgettes are still growing but not as vigorously.

My courgettes that are not covered by the wide stinging leaves have rotted on the plants while other sheltered ones are still growing, albeit not at the rate seen before.

The lettuces are still growing and we still take leaves from them, but I suspect everything will start to slow down now.

The corn is coming along and we are hopeful to get some corn on the cob.

We have taken the last tomatoes from the remaining plants and sadly they will be heading for that compost heap in the sky - or at least the one at the bottom of the garden.

• If you have a vegetable plot you are proud of or any tips, contact me at wwright@theboltonnews.co.uk or call 01204 537352.

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