Harsh words by inspector
Feeling rather upset and depressed this week, having returned from a weekend away to a letter from the allotment inspector.
My plot has been examined, and it has been decided that it is "under-utilised" and I am "producing very little".
Yet this year, in my second season (I was pregnant for much of my first) my beloved five-pole patch is currently nurturing twice as many potatoes as last year, plus more onions, my first shallots and garlic, beetroot, carrots, peas, gooseberries, radishes and courgettes.
The boys have slacked off a little with their raised beds, but nonetheless the windowsills at home are stacked with beans, more peas, tomatoes, calabrese and peppers, all waiting to go outside.
And yet this isn't good enough?
I am being urged to crop more.
I've spent several days (before the last soggy fortnight) scraping off the remaining sheaves of couch grass that hasn't been eradicated by the black fabric which covers much of the rest of the plot.
I've weeded between rows and set up supports for the climbers.
I've sown annuals for colour (and to keep Billy happy) and the clump of poached egg plant is keeping the bees and ladybirds on the visiting rosta.
I suspect the problem for those with plots more regularly tended by more experienced hands is the black weed suppressant fabric.
Perhaps my little rectangle of dirt just isn't as uniformly aesthetically pleasing.
I'm sure my allotment neighbours would rather the weeds stayed down and didn't seed all over their plots.
If I were to dig over the soil beneath the fabric, I would only be allowing the weeds to take over, and I learned last year how quickly that can happen.
So it is only when I'm ready to plant out that the fabric comes up and the soil is turned.
I could have blitzed the entire site with glyphosate and got someone else to laboriously dig the whole lot over for me, but I don't want to chemically soak the ground, and why should someone else have to dig while I just get the easier task of planting?
This is not a Gardener's World allotment, where sheds are allowed on the plot, council's scrape and rotavate for free, wooden planks, manure and wood chippings materialise for free and everyone is best friends forever.
This is a real allotment site, and my training ground.
I have four children and a Bloke who I want to be able to grow food for.
I would urge everyone to have an allotment, and up until now have enjoyed every second of tending mine.
Even digging in the wind and rain.
I love the solitude, the peace, and the smug satisfaction of growing something to eat from seed.
I miss it when I can't be there.
But I can't be there every day.
And you may have noticed, I can't bear the criticism.
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Weather for Northampton
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
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