In praise of purple on the plot

I like purple a lot and there's a surprising amount on the allotment at the moment - so I thought I'd share some of it.

1. Chocolate Mint - I haven't found a satisfactory use for it in the kitchen but it smells exactly as it should - mint combined with chocolate. It's the lovely dark purple stem that makes it a hit with me.
2. Bright Lights Radishes - You know the chard of the same name? Well these are the radishes (two purple ones - they also come in yellow, white and red). I'm just waiting for Bright Lights pumpkins now.
3. Empress of India Nasturtium - the flowers are a scarlet Mae West might paint on her lips, the leaves however (above) a dark green with an equally deep purple trim.
4. Boltardy Beetroot - just thinnings to give a bit of colour to a bog standard Kermit green salad.
5. Mexican Tree Spinach - check this Otter Farm blog post for some super pictures of the monster plant. It just keeps reseeding itself on my plot, year after year. The middle leaves are such a bold fuchsia they look like they've been spray painted.
6. Bonnie Dundee - first early potato. If you scrub off the dull outer skin you discover a burgundy-purple that shines.

The first (and last) early potatoes

My partner revealed my mother-in-law had already dug up her first batch of new potatoes last week. I was incensed because all her potatoes this year are from tubers I'd chitted and then donated to her. There's nothing that makes you feel greener quicker than someone else having more success with your own stuff. I've been on the other end of this when a neighbour gave me several butternut squash plants last year. While hers withered and died mine remained in rude health the entire summer. It felt great. But being on the other side is not so good.

So I went down the allotment and set to work on claiming my share of the first early glory.

In April I planted two first earlies - Bonnie Dundee and Homeguard. I forget why I chose Bonnie Dundee. It might have been to do with it's beautiful, rose marble pattern visible when sliced in half (above right). Homeguard, I chose because it's a vintage potato, established in 1942. I planted six tubers each, and I dug the trench deep, mounding up the earth in advance.

All of which means the potato bed is now the bog of eternal stench after a summer of eternal rain. The soil parped and belched making low, wet sounding raspberries as I dug - the sludgy consistency of an over dunked digestive at the bottom of tea cup. But I found what I was looking for... just. A muddy handful of Homeguard and three solitary Bonnie Dundees (above left). (The latter a laughable yield of one single potato per tuber planted).

Ah, well. Allotment suppers will be a pot luck affair this year. My partner found one single ripe tomato (variety: Gardeners Delight, likes: full sun - ha!). Smaller than a ten pence piece we halved and shared - thinking it better than an entire punnet having never seen the inside a fridge. Apart from that it was back to the broad beans and reliable radishes for sustenance (below). But, I can't recommend Homeguard highly enough, a super buttery first early and a fetching shade of palest cream. It's a dead cert for next year.