The allotment in winter.

Well autumn is well and truly here now and if that cold wind is anything to go by, winter will soon be upon us. So that's another growing season over and all across the country allotmenteers are putting their plots to bed and finishing of a bit of muck spreading and digging. The autumn sown broad beans are peeping through, the garlic, onions and spring cabbage are all looking healthy enough and given a bit of luck and a fair wind we should be off to a flying start next year. Of course that doesn't mean that I will abandon the plot for the winter, far from it, and on crisp, clear days I will be up there, lifting leeks and parsnips, cutting the odd cabbage and generally pottering about. Quite simply, it's one of my favourite places to be.