(Hey, Flighty, I remembered the camera today.)
I didn’t manage to get down to the plot during the week. I had quite a busy week, a lot of it involving school governor business, and when I got to Friday, the first properly free day, I felt I needed to catch up on admin, e-mails and phone calls (although I didn’t manage to get everything done).
This morning’s start wasn’t as early as I’d hoped, as there was some umming and ahhing about who was doing what and where the girls were going to be, and then Jenny threw a tantrum about my insistence that she put a plaster on her thumb, which she’d cut yesterday, as I wanted her to keep it clean. Eventually that was sorted and we headed off to the plot.
Julie ND was already there and had made some more progress with the digging. She reported that some fellow allotmenteers had popped by and they’d chatted about the Gardener’s World special on Friday last about allotments. I’d taped it and had managed to watch it last night. It was great to see some many different people with their plots, and I think it helped to dispell the impression still held in some quarters that holding an allotment is the preserve of old men in flat caps. That’s certainly not my experience.
We’re not ready to put anything in yet – we’re still chitting the potatoes – so it’s still more digging.
As you can see we had some helpers. Even in today’s less than favourable weather, the ground was relatively easy to dig. The girls didn’t really do much. Rosie is quite keen on communing with the worms and transferring them to a different part of our plot. Jenny also wanted a turn in worm transferral.
Yes, I know, Rosie had the spade round the wrong way, but we sorted her out.
The rain persisted, and in the end we downed-tools for a cuppa in the clubhouse. It also meant that the girls could be under-cover.
Whilst we were clearing up, I took some photos of our neighbour’s plot. Judith has some lovely daffs – OK, they are probably narcissi, but be kind to me, I’m a novice.
Julie and I were also interested in her pond.
I’d been reading over at Plot 29 about veggie friends and foes – which plants and creatures to introduce to your plot to combat pests, and how to achieve that. I think a mini-pond would be great to attract those froggies who can munch away on our sluggy-visitors.
Mindful of Monty’s advice on Friday about the correct posture for digging, I kept myself aware of my alignment whilst working today. But, even so, I think I’m going to ache more tomorrow than I have on previous weeks. It probably won’t help that I had a busier than usual day yesterday for giving reflexology treatments too, and that sometimes really tires my upper back. Ah, well, it’s all good exercise.
I love digging, too. I was out today but it was too muddy to be satisfying and I gave up quickly. Can you explain how the allotment works? This is a space that you rent? Is it close by your home or do you have to get organized to make a trip out there?
I’ve seen a few Community gardens around here but I don’t know how they work. I didn’t have my act together enough to have a garden until we had a place with enough room to put it in the backyard and even now my performance is sketchy. I love the fruits of a pretty yard but have a very short attention span.
Thanks for the linked mention, much appreciated.
A good entry, made even better with the photos. It’s a pity that the weather was unkind, still that’s a good excuse to stop for a cuppa!
I throughly enjoyed watching Friday’s Gardener’s World.
I call them mini-daffs, which I like as you get lots of flowers and they don’t ‘fall over’ in the wind and rain like the tall ones tend to do. Happy digging!
Pamela – yes, you rent a space in an enclosed area with lots of other plot-holders, so I suppose it must be the equivalent of a community garden.. It is owned by the council and the allotment committee negotiate a lease. My plot costs £20 per year – in some other parts of London it’s more like £60. I haven’t worked out how big it is – I think it’s more than the 95 sq ft I originally said.
I’m really lucky it’s very local to me – 10 minutes walk and right next to the girls’ school, so if I’m not feeling lazy, I can pop down and do some digging straight after dropping them at school. But, in fact, we’re extremely lucky round here, because there are at least 3 other allotments within 15 mins walking from my house. Some other parts of London have lost some of their allotment space or about to, due to the land being sold off for developers or, sadly in one case, because the Olympic Site for 2012 needs it to be bull-dozed (sigh).
Your girls are so cute! It looks like you have a pretty big space…you will be able to plants lots of things! I will be looking forward to hearing how things go. I envy you your soil. You should see mine…yikes! Orange clay…so amending is a constant thing. Do you think your girls would like cherry tomatoes? Someone told me that’s how you get kids to like tomatoes (if they don’t already)…they are such good producers. I sometimes get BBC Gardening World mag at Borders and so, in that very liimited way, follow Monty and Alan and a few others.
Take care now…and mind those sore muscles…it’s for a good cause (or so I tell myself..lol!)