And now the vegetable patch smells less oniony

14 February 2009

While the cornflowers are now showing signs of growing their first real leaves in their can indoors, the vegetable patch at the end of the garden outside is looking, well, pretty much like a wintry, abandoned piece of ground.

When I braved the cold and went down there this afternoon, I found that the onions that I was leaving to do whatever the hell they wanted were now soft and squidgy, though growing bright and healthy-looking leaves that suggested otherwise from afar. Not wanting to leave too much in the way of such an exquisite deli counter available to slugs that might be starting to emerge I pulled them up, cursed them one last time and threw them into the compost bin. The lonely broad bean that grew for no reason at all and then toppled over some time ago also joined them.

I’ve left the turnips where they are for now. They’re not really doing anything wrong, but they’re not really doing much right, either. Just sitting there looking a little bit like flowerless primroses, with the odd one having a small off-white globe hiding beneath the leaves. I’m not really in danger of needing a gang of people lined up behind me to help pull them up when the time comes. And when the time does come they won’t be headed to the kitchen either. I know a couple of horses who’d enjoy them more.