Week One

One week ago when I was allocated one of the brand new allotments in our village, I was excited and more than a little apprehensive. Do I have enough knowledge ?- definitely not, but so far the other allotment holders (alloti) have helped out -not in a patronising way as experts can be, but gently offering their years of experience. So this morning I went down and replanted the kale and sprouts further apart, as advised.

It is late in the season now, the sensible thing would be to turn the ground over and wait until autumn to plant; spending time planning would reap success - but that is not my style, I am impatient by nature. So armed with a few plants generously given to me by neighbouring alloti and the the few dried up stragglers left at the garden centre, I have planted: lettuce; cabbage;kale;sweet corn; strawberries; sprouts;asparagus;leeks;peas; and dwarf beans.

The allotments are on the Poor Marsh, an area of land which belongs to the parish council for use by the residents of the village. Previously it was divided into about ten large allotments, requiring tractors etc, and only a few were in use.Now, it is to be made into 40 regular allotments (20 so far). There were, understandably objections to the change, from the original holders, who have been offered a new smaller one and from the people whose homes back on to the site, who feared it would look like a shanty town. Up to now it all looks respectable and there is a real sense of community on the site and mixing of generations: the age range of those involved is from 8 to 80.All three of my teenage children have done some digging on the site(though I did have to pay one minimum wage and the other two don't know!).

Question asked by teenager on the allotment today: 'Do you use this to kill vampires when they mess around on the allotment?'
He was refering to a dibber - 'Twilight' generation.

Rabbits have been eating my kale - off to buy some netting.