Thursday 5 February 2015

The Hungry Gap

The term "Hungry Gap" is the one applied to the period in Late Winter / Early Spring when the Winter vegetables and food stored in the preceding year have been used up, and before anything fresh and new is available. In present times this is not much of an issue for most people - they just pop out to the shops and buy whatever they want - but in the past it was a very big issue, and the reason why many people developed skills with preserving food. Before the advent of the freezer, some things were dried (such as peas and beans); some things were salted (Runner Beans for instance); some were bottled (fruit), some were pickled (onions, gherkins, chutneys); some were preserved in sand (beetroot, carrots), some were just cleaned up and kept in sacks (potatoes). The thing that was missing was fresh food! What a joy it must have been to eat those first few leaves of Spring-grown spinach, those bright green leaves of resurgent Swiss Chard, or those succulent spears of asparagus!

My garden is definitely in the Hungry Gap now. We are down to the last few Brussels Sprouts (the tiny ones at the top of the plants); even the cabbage-like Tops look less appetising now that the frost has blackened the edges of many of their leaves.


This has been a good crop though, and I have no grounds for complaint. It's just that they can't go on for ever.

Harvested 1st February

The last four remaining Leeks look a bit forlorn, standing isolated in the space where formerly stood many of their brethren:


2014 was generally a bad year for Leeks, I think. Lots of fellow gardeners have said the same. In normal years, Leeks are a mainstay of the Winter garden, lasting well into the Spring, but not this year I suspect.

The first of my Purple Sprouting Broccoli is nearly ready to cut, but not quite. There's the problem, you see.

Photo taken 12 Jan 2015
PSB is a vegetable that has been the subject of intensive development in recent years, resulting in new varieties which mature much earlier than ever before, so broccoli in various forms can now be harvested throughout the year, contributing significantly to the narrowing of the Hungry Gap.

I do also have four little cabbages in the garden. They are ones I planted very late last Summer, not really expecting them to do much. I suspect that they will never heart-up, but there is always the option of eating them as Spring Greens. I imagine that in times gone by veg such as this would have been welcomed with open arms!



The Perpetual Spinach plants are responding well to their cloche protection. You may recall that these are volunteers which came up amongst the Beetroot last Summer.  To me this is a good example of the archetypical Hungry Gap plant. Having cropped during the late Summer they are left in the ground over Winter and then in the Spring they send up new leaves, prior to flowering in this their second year.

11 Dec 2014

4 Feb 2015

Those first few tiny green leaves presage the end of the lean months and give hope for bounteous crops from plants still unsown!

15 comments:

  1. Oh what I'd do for some Brussels sprouts from the garden right now. Yum. I've been looking at my stores and wondering when they will run out. I probably have a month for some things. Though I've got nothing fresh that doesn't come from the supermarket. I did break down and buy some fresh cabbage. Oh so good.

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  2. Mark you would be very hungry indeed if you were faced with my bare plot for your supper.

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  3. I'd send you a few leeks if I could :)

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    1. I know you would, Sue! For now though the photos will suffice.... thank you.

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  4. I have found a load of parsnip volunteers - I reckon at least 20, and large enough to pull up now. otherwise it's to the supermarché.

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    1. Do you have a recipe in mind? I love Parsnips, but they are nowhere near as versatile as Carrots.

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  5. Interesting history of the "hungry gap"; I remember stories from mom about their garden during the Depression years. With seven children, they grew alot, preserved alot and were very anxious for spring and the "growing" time.

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    1. In a family with 7 children, growing your own must have made a huge difference. For some people it was probably the difference between survival or not! These days people just expect State Benefits.

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  6. You've done really well with your winter crops. My hungry gap has been months, I must do better this year.

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    1. I made a determined effort to have some proper Winter crops this time, and it seems to have paid off - though the leeks (and most of the cabbages) matured too early.

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    2. It was that long warm growing season that did it - bringing on all the over wintering crops too early.

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  7. The fact that you can see the ground and have harvestable crops right now is wonderful - with well over a foot of snow on the ground, we are still months away from any kind of harvest.

    We (as a society) are indeed fortunate to have year round access to fresh food. Still, I think that the overabundance of food throughout the year can often lead to lack of appreciation. I obviously love (and appreciate) garden veg - to me there is just no comparison between veg grown at home and what you pick up in the market. But I wonder what would happen if I went the entire winter without purchasing fresh produce and only eating what I preserved in the pantry & freezer (which is still a giant step up from freezerless times). Would I reach an even higher level of appreciation for those first fresh picked greens? I'm leaning towards yes.

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    1. You are right, Margaret. People have lost their understanding of seasonality. They expect strawberries and asparagus at Christmas, and citrus in July!

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  8. I'm fortunate to have plenty of veg still left in the freezer. I lifted the last few carrots from my plot yesterday using some fresh ones for tea last night and freezing the remainder. My cabbages are just about finished off with the recent frosts. I'm surprised that I still have viable lettuce (not covered all Winter), leeks and some parsnips in the ground. I forgot to sow sprouts last season, a mistake I won't make this time. Spuds are still going strong.

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    1. Yes, I read about your lettuce on your blog. Most people think of lettuce as a tender Summer plant, but some varieties are quite hardy. What type were yours?

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