This may just be showing off but I bring you a photo of my first lettuces. There were four of them, all as green and lush as each other. Of course I have been cheating. These were in three pots given to me by the wonderful people at Roots and Shoots. When everyone else was dinting shovels trying to get through ice-hard earth and snow, they were sowing winter lettuces in their polytunnel. My three specimens - which turned out to conceal a fourth in one of the pots - were the last on the bench and looked decidely puny. But look at them now - each one a moment saved in the vegetable aisle. From seed to plate - and yes the first one tasted very good - they score around 200 food metres apiece.
If you are interested, along the bottom is a row of shallots with twigs acting as barbed wire for the local blackbird that I mentioned earlier. And these are mostly concealed by a row of rocket. In my view, rocket is a prime crop for us urban gardeners. It grows like a weed, the bugs don't seem too keen on it and it costs a fortune in an oxygen-free plastic bag in the supermarket. This row has now provided us with three meals-worth and there is still loads left - not to mention the second row I put in a few weeks later on the other bed. Anyone got a recipe for rocket pesto? Happy days.
