What’s happening on the allotments this week ...

Today was the BHOGG open day. BHOGG is Brighton and Hove Organic Gardening Group and they were showing off their excellent achievements between midday and five. Sadly, I had to be somewhere else by twelve, so I sneaked along at ten for a preview and, as you can see from the photograph, they’d laid out tables and chairs and the visitors’ book, all ready for the hordes that I hope turned up. I’m going to get a full report from Helen, later in the week, on how it went.

I also managed to sneak along to Andy, and pick up the beautiful striped geranium that I paid for weeks ago, but failed to collect from the Hurstpierpoint Allotments open day. So now the gorgeous thing is finally mine. Andy tells me that I can take a photograph of him (he’s been resisting the idea for quite some time) but only if it’s one of him feeding his seagull, Henry, from a fork. Hmmm. A couple of years ago I wrote a story, based on fact, about a man who eats a seagull’s egg and gets attacked my the mother bird. Then, last month, eating doughnuts on Brighton pier, I was dive-bombed by one of the damned birds and it scratched my face quite badly – the friend I was with noted with some admiration that I didn’t let go of the doughnut though! So my encounters with seagulls have been generally of the negative persuasion, so I shall be preparing carefully for my encounter with Henry who is, let me tell you, a large bird!

In other news, Ron gave me a superb bunch of sweet peas from his allotment and described in detail the methods he uses to raise such wonderful blooms, so look out for that in the weeks ahead, and Andrew’s tobacco is nearly ready to harvest.

Where did I have to be at twelve that could possibly be more important than an allotment open day? I’m glad you asked. My other half is a wizard with wood and cement and paint and glue, and I’ve asked him to make me a very special container for my geraniums: the stripy wonder already mentioned, and the lovely variegated scented one called Madame Salleron which I did buy at Hurstpierpoint. One nursery in the USA says, ‘We like to be honest - this plant does not flower!! We keep it in our collection because it is always in demand for bedding, particularly edging a border. It grows very bushy and is quite beautiful as a plant - the only one in our whole collection of over 1,000 varieties that doesn’t flower!’ – well I’ve got news for them … mine is! So as he had to go to the Bird of Prey centre today and build a door, I went along to hold bits of wood and nails and try to be useful, so that he could come home early and work on the geranium container.

Labels: allotment-crops, allotment-personality, BHOGG-open-day