Pink cow parsley brightens the path to the plot
I arrive at the allotment at 6.30am, the creak of the iron gate scaring away a couple of plump wood pigeons from their breakfast. The whole site is bathed in a soft milky light, the air was still, not enough of a breeze to stir the pinky heads of the cow parsley by the side of the path.
It is a leaf day today and we have been running low on salad. Parallel rows of twine over freshly raked soil point to Allan having sown seed the evening before, so I clear a small area near where the potatoes had been and pulled up and plant a row of Simpson's red leaf and a row of corn salad.
Overwintered Oriental Russian Kale still in flower
I straighten and add support to some beanpoles, which are being heaved over by the enormous weight of the beans. At their base I notice the calendula seeds have already started to sprout and are nearly an inch high.
A carpet of coriander
There's an absence of colour on the plot at the moment, the sunflowers are a long way from flowering; the tagetes are vibrant and healthy, throwing up flower buds, but they look in no hurry to open. The only colour comes from the seemingly perpetually yellow flowers of the kale in the middle of the plot we have been leaving for seed. The seed looks ripe at the bottom of the plants, so perhaps we'll pull it out at the weekend and free up more space.
Floating heads of fennel
The heads of the fennel provide an airborne wisp of yellow and next to them, much closer to the earth, a delicate spray of white flowers cover the coriander and have done for a month or more. They are all too easy to overlook but if you allow yourself to take a closer look they can rival any constellation in the sky.
Self-seeding calendula already an inch high
I gather some beans, rocket, beet tops and nasturtium flowers for our lunch, and set off home for breakfast.
