January can be a dreary time up at the allotment: cold claggy soil, weedy peripheries, bare trees and a general sense of neglect and of plots too long abandoned. And yet…and yet…when I slip-slide around my raised beds I find there is still plenty to harvest: leeks, parsnips, Tuscan kale, Swiss chard. The slugs have even left us some carrots (the voracious little gastropods are especially fond of the sweet and stubby rooted Paris Market variety), but I manage to find a bunch that have not been too gobbled.
There are also some golden beetroot to pluck, some as big as turnips. From the outside they do not look too promising – over-weathered and their skins suggesting woodiness within. But to my surprise, they are still good – delicious chopped into cubes and roasted till they start to caramelize, and even better with added quartered onions (Sturon still going strong from the summer cropping) and cloves of garlic kept in their papery jackets (so they can be popped out later, if squidgily, and accompanied by much finger licking).
Down by the raspberry bed, the purple sprouting plants, long nurtured through the summer drought and now wrapped in netting against pigeon attack, are looking stout and lush-leaved. I see that they are beginning to yield, and manage to find half a dozen fat florets. Hopefully, the plants will keep cropping now into the spring.
And then as I make for home with my muddy bag filled with veggies, I spot the marigolds (Calendula officinalis). There they are, back in flower after their December lull, and making their own sunshine on a dull and chilly day. I feel a bit guilty about picking them, but then I think some sunshine on the kitchen table would be a cheering sight for He Who Is Presently Coughing His Socks Off. And of course a scatter of petals, therapeutic little entities that they are, would be just the garnish for a dish of roasted golden beetroot.
copyright 2019 Tish Farrell
How wonderful there is still a harvest going on.
One of advantages of a warming climate 🙂
Well maybe and mybe not. some think we are headed to a mini ice age . This is a troubling thought for me. In my age, as I get older,I’m not so much in favor of cold.
Oh, don’t worry. I think Ice Ages are slow to arrive.
Goodness, Tish, you never stop! Such delicious produce, and a f ew blooms to boot! 😊
I give a good impression of activity, don’t I 😉
I have a robust suspicion that it’s more than an impression, Tish!!
I love to hear of things still blooming 😊
🙂
How grand to harvest such yummyness in the cold of January. Roasted beetroot is a favourite of mine.
And I love your new header shot btw.
Thanks, Su. So happy you like the header.
So pretty, and I love your new photo on the blog!
Thank you, June. Thought it was time for a bit of a change.
We are finally over our Presently Coughing our Socks Off, caught on our Spanish trip. Took 6 weeks but done!
Love the new header too.
6 weeks! What a lot of coughing. Have been dosing G. with red clover tincture for the past week. It seems to be working. Glad you’re over your bout though.
Nice surprise to find in January Tish! And great to harvest vegetables right through the winter!
It makes me very happy – the winter foraging.
Always super envious of your veggie abundance.
I am having to have a major rethink now the hens have free reign as well as free range.
The pesky feathered dinosaurs ate all my perishing cabbages!
I shall have to plant them in raised beds – about 2 metres high, I think!
As for the marigolds …. they self seed at our spot but the continual scratching has seen a definite lack of marigold along the side of the house where they normally grow.
*Sigh*- Sunny side eggs are not always so sunny!
Oh dear. Bad hens! Raised beds sound a good idea – if you can put mesh or something round them to fend them off. Sounds like a lot of work though.
Oh, and I like the header. Rather posh!
🙂
Thank you, Ark. One of my mirror selfies in antique centre much edited.
Beautiful colours and images drawn in words.
Thank you.
This was such a lovely little journey you took me on. It all sounds yummy. Enjoy the beets.
Alison
Glad you could visit my allotment, Alison.
Yum! I could almost taste the roasted beets and garlic…and yay for the year round harvest xx
Hello, Athena. Happy New Year! And yes a bug cheer for the veggies 🙂
Wonderful! And so delightful that the harvest continues.
🙂
Calendula are amazing, aren’t they? Do you grow purple-sprouting as a perennial, Tish? I only realised that it could be a perennial recently.
No indeed. That’s news to me too, Ali. Though it might explain why I struggle so hard in late spring to pull up the plants. Thank you very much for that info.
What a lot of lovely goodies you still have in the allotment. Golden beetroot with a garnish of calendula sounds like just the ticket for a delicious nourishing meal. And I am all for picking a few bright flowers to enhance well being in the home.
They are one of life’s pleasures, aren’t they. A few lovely flowers on the table.
Indeed.
Mmmmm beetroot. 😀 … do the golden ones taste like the red ones?
Sort of. More subtle flavour and sweeter perhaps. Good grated raw in salads.
New year, new header, Tish, and looking good, hon! Unlike the coughing one, I suspect. It’s not every day that someone can have me lusting after beetroot 🙂 🙂 Onwards and upwards!
Thanks, Jo, for the header appreciation. Sorry to tease with my golden beets 😉
You’re forgiven, lovely! 🙂 🙂
How does your garden grow? Clearly very well in this month of usual drabness:) Your garden is an excellent way of measuring what’s happening with climate change. Thank you, Janet 🙂
Gorgeous captures, Tish. I hope, He Who Is Presently Coughing His Socks Off is feeling a lot better today. Get well soon!
Many thanks for those good wishes. Improvement is happening, but it’s slow going 🙂
beautiful, Tish! It is amazing that you can still harvest at the allotment, in January! Love you header picture as well 🙂
I’m fairly amazed myself. What a generous plot!