Green idyll in urban sprawl
There's so much to see in the garden at the moment it's somewhat distracting me from the trillion outstanding jobs. Every day something new is out: the lilac, the hardy geraniums, early clematis, wild roses and, of course, another load of weeds.
While last year I fought a losing battle with weeds, this year at the allotment I'm trying to keep up some hoe action at least every two days. It's annoying when it seems to be the only thing you have time to do.
I've still resisted the temptation to blitz with glyphosate, although it is gettting to the stage where readers walk up to me in supermarkets (and even at Chelsea this week) and whisper "just spray it with Roundup...you'll save yourself so much work." So tempting.
However, I'm still resolute. I've lifted another few square feet of couch grass and trimmed my edges, as I felt guilty that my lack of petrol strimmer meant my neighbours were left to keep our collective paths managable.
The potatoes are coming up nicely although could do with earthing up. This is when you draw soil up the sides of the growing plant to exclude light from the stems (haulms) and therefore get more spuds.
It doesn't matter if you cover leaves, they'll soon sprout through, although be careful not to damage the stems.
Sadly at my allotment I don't seem to have got every single potato from last year out, although I did really search for them.
Not only were they delicious, later in the season the entire allotment site seems to get potato blight, which can spread again if you leave rogue spuds in the ground (called 'volunteers' if I remember rightly).
Lots of potatoes are sprouting at the spot my onions and garlic now occupy, and apart from cutting off the leaves, there's nothing much I can do without disturbing the onions.
Last week I wrote of dusting with derris dust as an organic way of bug busting, but Bev from Mereway Allotments has written me to say that the Pesticide Safety Directorate have advised that it will only be available to amateur gardeners until September 2009.
Meanwhile I'm relying on some feathered pest control. Every time I lift another section of couch grass and weeds the robins on the allotment come and perch nearby ready to scoff the slugs when I leave.
It really is heavenly up at the allotment at the moment, despite my mess and lack of planting progress.
To sit with baby Bonnie, undisturbed on my own patch of urban greenery, with just the sound of birds and the occasional swearing kid at the school next door, really, it's bliss.
And for what, about 20 a year? Getting the allotment has been one of my few wise moves.
What is worrying is that with this huge amount of housing going up around Northampton (just drive through Duston and Upton to see the scale of it) there's no added provision for allotment space.
But did you know that by law, the council has a duty to provide a sufficient quantity of plots to let to people in an area.
If local people feel the need for allotments is not being met, a group of any six residents, on the electoral roll, from an area lobbying the council are all it takes to make them take action.
Find out about allotments in your area by contacting the allotments office at the borough council on 01604 238793.
You may find waiting lists at some but there are others with plots just waiting for new tenants.
And if you do nothing in your first year but cover it with black plastic, you could certainly have beans and salad crops this summer with a few seeds and some bamboo canes.
When you consider the price of fresh food in the supermarkets, already shooting up at an alarming rate, isn't it just better to grow your own?
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Friday 10 February 2012
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