Growing our own

Now that the allotment is yielding produce for the table again my smug rating has risen by several notches. Over the last two days we have had green salads (inappropriate label when they generally contain wonderful bronze lettuces as well as various green ones), root salads with grated icicle radishes and purple top turnips in them, strawberries - the first granita of the year will be made and eaten tonight - and onions that taste of something. And last night's meal ended with rhubarb pie and creme fraiche. And yes, thanks for asking, my bowels are in wonderful order. You can, as it were, stick your colonic irrigation up your...

When we started growing our own veg, I thought it was a waste of time growing onions. An onion is an onion, they are cheap in the shops, so why bother? The reason is flavour, though they are also far moister and crunchier than anything I have ever found Sainsbury's offering. A home grown onion cut into tiny half-moon segments and added to a Greek salad lifts it hugely.

The broad beans are about a week off now. They are another vegetable showing the difference between shop bought and home grown. In the shops you see monster pods, floppy after their travels, with beans the size of ten pence coins within, coarse and in need of the outer skin peeling to be palatable. We will pick ours with beans about five pence sized, quick to cook, and perfectly tender.