Summer on the Allotment (Part Two)

Let's take a closer look at the herb bed.  I've been harvesting my sage regularly since spring, cutting off a generous handful of sprigs and hanging them to dry.  Once they're as dry as can be, the leaves crumble in your fingers, and there you have it.  I have nearly a jar-full now.

My pineapple sage, which really is a sage that really does smell like pineapple, has taken root.  Rub your fingers against this and smell them, and your fingers will smell of pineapple.  This I can promise you.  Not sure what I can use it in yet, food-wise, but it looks marvellous.

Pineapple sage, 21st July 2018

Now that I've cut back some of the vulgar sage, the thyme I grew from seed has really started to assert itself into the sunshine.

Thyme, 21st July 2018

Basil, also grown from seed, peeping up between the onions and chives.  Onions are things I've just dotted around the "herb" bed this year; next year I need to take a more intensive approach to growing them.

Basil, 21st July 2018

I'm pleased the small rosemary cutting that once was part of my windowsill herb garden (which I have since destroyed, transplanting it little by little into the outdoors) has taken to its new home, too.

Rosemary, 21st July 2018

Inside the shed, I've been gathering my bolted spinach plants and setting them out to dry.

Drying spinach for seed.

As the stems dry and the leaves fall away, little clusters of seed are left and can easily be picked off.  I've been saving mine in the egg boxes Sarah gives me sometimes:

Next year it'd be great to have a spinach-growing schedule that kept me in fresh leaves all through spring and summer.  Less bolting, more eating.

I've now pulled up all the garlic I planted in the autumn, which I also hang to dry in the shed before bringing it home.  Must remember to save enough large cloves to plant again in October for next year.  Managed to grow twelve bulbs, but with the amount of roast potatoes I'm eating at the moment, that's not as large a supply as it might sound.  I smell amazing, and so does my shed.

Garlic bulbs drying in the shed.

Related posts

Summer on the Allotment (Part One)
Summer Harvest, and Beyond

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