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