Re-birth and Rejuvenation



The allotment garden in the early morning sun

One of the advantages of being a lazy gardener, which I freely admit to, is that it gives the plants a chance to do what comes naturally to them.  If I was a perfectionist, I would have dug out plants that have finished cropping, consigned them to the compost bin, dug over the soil and re-planted, which I have done in some cases.  But, with the Calabrese, I have left the plants to do their own thing, and this is the result:-

We have had many servings of Calabrese in different forms from these plants - firstly, the main head, then all the tender stem broccoli  that came after - this basically left just a stump, which I never got round to removing, as I didn't really need the space for anything else.  This morning I noticed that a whole new plant has formed at the base of the stump, which looks as though it will produce even more tender stems.  How good is that.  So my advice is, don't be too hasty to clear the ground - you never know what will happen next.

I have mentioned before that I have been gradually clearing out the squash and courgette patch, as you can see it's looking pretty awful with rotting leaves and thistles growing - but even though the plants look terrible they are still pushing out baby squashes, and even the courgettes are producing new leaves and baby fruits:-

You can just see a small courgette at the side of the new flower.  So although the plants may not be very nice to look at - don't be too hasty to clear them away.  Sometimes a little laziness goes a long way.