December at the allotment

The weather has been all over the place this month. As you will see from these photographs we've had very heavy frost, torrential downpours and recently really mild weather.

The frost looked beautiful on the sage but I don't think it was done it any good. It will come back in the warmer weather and I must make the effort to dry some next year.

We still have lots of leeks left. It's lovely to go down to the allotment at this time of year and still bring something back for dinner.

The problem I've had is digging them up as the ground as got harder and harder.

One reason for welcoming the frost has been because of the Brussel sprouts we've been growing for Christmas. Of course we felt we had to have a sample of some before the big day and the perfect opportunity arose when one of the stalks fell over. The yield is so large from one stalk that we may well be eating sprouts from the same stalk at Christmas!

The one thing I don't think we will be eating on Christmas day is cauliflower. Although they have grown they have gone a strange yellow colour with black bits on top. I'm not sure what has happened but it doesn't look very appetising anymore.

We've also had our seed delivery from the allotment society. Sadly it seems we are one of the few who have ordered from them and the society have decided not to put in a bulk order again. I don't know if this also applies to the potato orders as the prices for the seed potatoes were much cheaper with more varieties available. Still with what we have got we look forward to another year at the allotment and what it will bring us.