Allotment gardening

I take my youngest son down to the plot this morning and discover that a huge pile of manure has been delivered since the last time I came down. It is just what I have been waiting for as I have two beds of bare earth which is not a good thing. Together we wheel two loads over to the plot which covers half of one of the beds.



I then check on my stolen rhubarb which is coming along nicely. Then we head for home happy. Tomorrow I will try and finish off putting down the manure.

Another quick dash down to the plot to check on progress shows all going well. It's still too cold for weeds to begin getting a grip and the beans and onions have stood up well to recent cold snaps. The rhubarb is thriving under the makeshift-forcer. All in all, everything is looking OK.

A day off work gives me the chance to run down and look at how things are doing. The broad beans continue to look good, growing strongly. The stolen rhubarb is settling in nicely too. I go back over to the plot I nicked them from and all looks innocent enough. I covered my tracks well. There are three old metal buckets there that the previous holder used for forcing rhubarb. One of them is just sitting over a patch of bare earth. What harm would it do to take it and pop it over my recently acquire rhubarb? Exactly what I thought, so I now have my very own rhubarb forcer. Can't wait to see if it works.

My wife sends me a message at work to tell me the seeds have arrived. When I get home I look at the packaging and am frightened by how soon most of them say they can be planted in pots or in the ground. Things are going to start moving very quickly, very soon.

My wife and I sit down and choose the crops we want to grow this season. Having said we would keep it simple, we actually go for a much wider variety of seeds - spinach, leek, brussel sprouts and drying beans to name but a few. I spend about £18 on the Organic Gardening Catalogue and begin to draw up plans for the coming months. I nip down to check that nobody has destroyed my plot in return for the stolen rhubarb. Needless to say they haven't.

I haven't been down to the plot for a while but with both children back at school and playgroup respectively, I get the chance to go down for a couple of hours. The plot is looking good, even if I do say so myself - the broad beans in particular seem to be growing well.



The main job I want to crack on with is bagging up the various piles of weeds that I have amassed during my days of clearing the plot in December. But first I do something that I am ashamed to admit here. Actually, I don't feel that bad about it but I'm sure it breaks the piece of allotment etiquette. There is a plot which faces mine which has been left to go to seed by its new owners - that's if it has any, but I think it does. It has a particularly fine crop of rhubarb plants and I don't have any. The three crowns I bought last year have failed to grow. I have read that you can split rhubarb and it thrives so, telling myself I am doing everyone a big favour, I dig a fork into my neighbour's rhubarb and break off two biggish lumps. I transplant them to the bed at the back of my plot and plant them with some well-rotted manure. I'm not sure they'll thrive but I'm glad I took them. Someone should be enjoying this rhubarb. However I still hope no-one saw me.



Then I turn my attention to clearing the rubbish. I tackle the first two small piles easily enough and pile the black bin liners by the entrance to my plot. A skip is due to arrive at the end of next month and I want to be able to just wheel my 10 bags of rubbish over to the skip and chuck the lot in nice and simply. I then tackle the biggest pile and soon have it reduced down by two-thirds.
I dig up some parsnips and then head for home, still fretting about my theft.

I make a short trip down to the plot to see how things are going. It always amazes me how the broad beans seem to put on a growth spurt even in the coldest of weathers. I dig up some parsnips for tea before heding for home. I'll leave the real work for another day.