Saturday 16 November 2013

Unusual Alliums

We've had our allotment a year and we've spent most of that time just ripping it apart. We've had to dismantle rotten edging, cut back the overgrown hedgerow, depose of all the plastic and the dismantled greenhouse (!!) we found in the overgrown hedgerow, and just throw away a lot of trash. There's still some falling apart compost bins which are filled with a mix of compost and disintegrating plastic, a half finished green house, the wall that's holding us up needs to be rebuilt and - oh yeah - we have to get the thing ready for planting.

Sometimes the idea of burning it all seems like a good option

While the main structural work has been stressing us out we've had a couple of tiny areas ready to bring us happiness. Barely a quarter of our plot in in production at the moment but the small area we do have had given us all sorts this year. Chard, kale, enough garlic to see us through the year. We've got a good collection of herbs and edible flowers. We just need more, more of everything, before we can start eating more home-grown vegetables.



But a box arrived this week that will help us make a tonne of meals in the future. Some awsome, unusual, perennial aliums. Perennial vegetables rock my socks for three reasons:

  1. You buy it once and you're all set
  2. Generally they are way less fuss than their annual counterparts
  3. I get a cool crop for very little effort. 
I have a perennial kale that has my undying love and some globe artichokes that I'm somewhat indifferent to so it's about time we adopt some more perennial veg into our lives. As we love all things allium the Unusual Allium Collection from Otter Farm (now out of stock I'm afraid). 



I've wanted to grow Egyptian Walking Onions for years so that's what sold me. Along with it came Nodding Onions, Siberian Chives, Babington's Leek, and Daffodil Garlic. All of them now have a space on our plot and I'm so excited! 


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