Planting leeks takes the time it takes

Happiness for the busy self-sufficient is a day without sun. Then there is finally the possibility that you can have the first 150 autumn spores planted. Later it will hopefully be just as good weather so roughly the same number of winter leeks can get into the ground. The leeks, together with the cabbages, are what we most often get full of in the winter months, so the leek planting takes place almost with a certain introverted devotion. Here, for once, there is no need to hurry - things must take the time they take.

First of all, water is added to a good cup of coffee, which is taken out to the kitchen garden. The possibly last early potatoes in the bed are harvested for use for dinner, the bed is torn, and if the soil is a little dry, it is then watered, where later suitable pore holes can be made without it collapsing. While the soil settles, go in and add water to another cup of coffee.

Then holes must be made with an old broken shovel shaft mounted on a copper shop from the spouse's Christmas decoration collection. The holes become about 20 cm deep and are inserted in rows with 25 cm in between and a distance of 10 cm in the rows. It gives long 2-3 cm thick leeks, which fit best into cooking. And after neatly making the bed about 150 holes, it's time for lunch.

An hour later, the trays of pore plants emerge from the covered softening bed. A plant is stuffed into each hole, and subsequently it is not necessary to cover with soil, but simply pour a little water into the hole. The project ends with insect nets over the bed (here in the neighborhood the leek moths are ravaging), and then it's time for a cup of well-deserved afternoon coffee.

Written by Peter Norris