Allotment life

Tomorrow I have to do one of those things that goes with my ‘real’ job – standing up in front of a couple of dozen people taking a creative writing class. So last night, as well as preparing my various papers and information, I did that thing that ladies have to do, which used to be called ‘grooming’ (a term that now applies only to dogs). And it came as a bit of a shock.

I have five broken fingernails, mainly from planting things in our somewhat stony plot, or pulling out weeds. On my left leg there are four wheelbarrow bruises, from resting it against my thigh while I tip it up (bad habit, must learn not to do it) and on my right ankle a lovely range of bramble scratches. My face and arms are burnt brown by the sun, even though I wear a good sunblock, and yet the rest of me is lily white (where it isn’t bruises or scratches). Put it this way – I wouldn’t want to shake my rough, scratched hand and can’t imagine anybody else would either.

Yes, I should wear gloves, but gloves don’t let you feel the condition of the soil and are useless when you’re teasing out tiny seedling roots into a planting hole. Yes, I shouldn’t use myself as a fulcrum for the wheelbarrow and yes, thicker trousers would probably have dealt with the brambles. But I’m an allotment holder, that’s what I do, and no matter how often I tell myself I’m going to be careful, when I’m on the plot I immediately plunge into the dirtiest jobs with insane abandon.

So my poor students will be taught by somebody who looks like a daughter of the soil and I hope they don’t mind, because I know I won’t change …

… and anyway, on my way to class I just have to nip up to the plot and dig up some potatoes!

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-digging, allotment-planting

Does your allotment site decorate or not?

It’s an odd one isn’t it? We don’t. Not a single wreath or twinkly light, at least so far, and I walked the site this morning (in the freezing cold) to check. Of course that could be in part because our allotment office has been closed for a couple of weeks and will remain closed until New Year, for essential work removing asbestos from the walls and repairing the roof. Without that hub for our activities I suspect most of us are simply shooting up to our plots, grabbing a few Brussels Sprouts etc, and shooting home again to the warmth. I did speak to Ron, who’d come up to gather some veg, and he agreed that people weren’t hanging around because there was nowhere warm to hang, and nowhere to get a nice hot cuppa!

But driving around the Midlands the other day (as you do) I was amazed at how much tinsel and tree decorating there was on show at allotment locations there. Really some plots looked like little landing strips with their glittery LED lights. It was very jolly. I wonder what makes the cultural difference between decorators and non-decorators – does one person start the trend and everybody else follow on, or is there some kind of council bye-law that allows it in some places and frowns on it in others? Drop us a line if you think you know the answer.

Meanwhile I snapped this picture a few weeks ago: the nice people at BHOGGS had probably hung these peppers in their tree to allow them to ripen without being attacked by mice – but it looks suitably festive, doesn’t it?

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-december, allotment-facilities

Fallow fields

It's that time of year again. After the clocks go back and the cold starts to bite, when the allotment holders who were with us throughout the year suddenly disappear. Like migrating birds, they vanish, and although they will appear again in March, it will only be for a few days, maybe only a single Sunday morning, as they survey what six months of neglect has done to their patch, and then they are gone for good.

What can we do about this?

Diehard allotmenteers can't understand what causes this failure, as winter veg is just as tasty and cheap as summer stuff, but it's something, I think, to do with the dark - once people realise they are leaving their allotment at dusk, they feel their winter hours are better spent elsewhere.

Community allotments are one answer - if there is a gang of you working together, it's a lot more fun.

Changing the way the clock goes back is another answer - and one that's being seriously considered in parliament.

Solar lighting is a third possibility and it's being tested in some allotment sites this year ...



Allotment photograph by Indigo Goat, used under a creative commons attribution licence

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-news

Shed aesthetics – the name’s the thing

Have you named your allotment shed? This is one of those issues that seems to divide allotment owners pretty evenly in two, with half thinking that not naming a shed would be like not naming a dog, and the other half thinking that such behaviour is twee and rather suspect.

It’s odd, one of those cultural behaviours that is entirely British and eccentric. I can’t imagine people in France ever stopping to consider if they should give their shed a moniker, can you? I haven’t ever named a shed, but if I did, this would be the name I’d choose. And it’s a bit like the issue of plot numbers; another cultural practice that varies from place to place and yet has quite clear conventions.

A lot of the plots on my allotment site have number-plate numbers. That is, they’ve gone down to the local number-plate maker and had their plot number stuck to a yellow car number-plate in black numerals. Just a mile away, all the plot numbers are painted on bits of wood and over in the next county, plot numbers are displayed vertically on the gate-post – they might be plastic numbers nailed on, or painted numbers, but they are on the post, not put up as a separate sign.

In Dorset I know of an allotment site where most of the numbers are done in pokerwork on slices of tree trunk – presumably there’s a resident poker-worker and tree-feller who does great business, and in Yorkshire there’s at least one local council that provides plastic laminated plot numbers (for a fee, presumably).

All fascinating stuff – perhaps I should write a thesis …

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-shed

Whoo and hoo – this is great news!

It’s trumpet blowing time in Brighton and Hove where The Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project has been voted the best community allotment project in the UK.

The award was given by the Kitchen Garden Magazine in conjunction with the National Allotment Gardens Trust.

Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project is a community food project based on 8 allotment plots in Brighton. The project offers horticultural, educational and social opportunities. But these aren’t your run of the mill allotments.

Along with plots growing organic fruit and vegetables there are wildlife areas with a pond full of newts and frogs, a treehouse/outdoor classroom being built by youth offenders and pupils from the Alternative Centre for Education; a polytunnel, compost loo, firepit and a children’s space including a wattle and daub wendy house. There’s also a forest garden, which recreates the different layers of a forest from tall fruit trees to fruit bushes and herbs.

Kitchen Gardener editor Steve Ott said: “This is a wonderful project, working with some of the areas most disadvantaged and troubled youngsters to give them the chance to get their hands into the soil, grow and taste their own fresh vegetables, and just to have a positive environment in which to interact.”

Warren Carter of MFG said “For many pupils and youth offenders school has failed them. We just try and find the skills they are good at and give them confidence and self belief. We offer an alternative curriculum, teaching not just gardening but building and carpentry skills, woodland management and cooking skills. The allotments are also a great place for a wide range of people who would never usually mix to socialise around a fire and cup of tea, becoming part of the social glue that binds communities together.”

To find out more about the work of the garden go to www.seedybusiness.org



MFG photograph by Simon Tobbit used under a creative commons attribution licence

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-news, allotment-open-day

Ingenuity in action

Sometimes I’m just amazed at how clever allotment holders can be. This fence, for example, is not only attractive to look at and rabbit proof, it’s composed of elements that would otherwise have been thrown away.

There are probably a hundred examples of this kind of ingenuity within half a mile as I sit in the shed, looking out – there are plastic bottles used as cloches for winter brassicas that are just being planted out and plastic bottles used as root funnels to get water to the right area of squashes and pumpkins. There are old supermarket baskets being used to cover plants that are prone to rabbit or squirrel attack and as the fruit and nut season approaches, any number of home-made apple and pear picking devices are being dusted off. These range from long poles with various grabbers, buckets and sieves on the end, to sheets and curtains that are supported on sticks or trestles and used as catch-nets.

And at the other end of the year, there’s no end to the home-made dibbers; some with inch gradations that allow planting depth to be perfect, some with special reservoirs that deliver sand or grit to the bottom of the hole so that the bulbs sit on a bed of free draining soil. There are dandelion removers, wheelbarrow ramps, onion storage systems, many irrigators and water entrapment devices, human fox traps and – my favourite – a sit down sieve that you operate with your foot.

Labels: allotment-appearance, allotment-tools