Digging potato trenches on the plot (is bloomin' hard graft!):
My allotment buddy! She greeted me the very first time I opened the gates, and she's often around, keen to leap up with her (claws out!) paws, so high and happy. I'm happiest on the days I find she's around! It was high time (literally) that I transplanted my courgette saplings, as they were growing (in my house) towards my bayview window, leaves in paw-like fashion, as if clawing to shout 'Let me Out!' - So I did: Planting potatoes on the plot was also long-awaited. Having got my allotment in early May, I had missed the planting of the first crop of potatoes. But seeing potato seeds still in the shop, and even hearing the allotment committee pronounce it 'too late' to plant potatoes, I felt unwavered. Seasons are funny and late in this era, and anyway it only takes potatoes between two and three months to harvest. So I let the late-bought seeds shoot away in a dark cupboard (they seem to do as well in dark as in light), and I took advantage of the first spate of dry weather all week. Digging potato trenches on the plot (is bloomin' hard graft!): I felt quite awake of a Saturday morning to be digging a couple of foot-deep trenches in the prepared soil. Phew! Planting is really one of the best bits of gardening - watering gently in, hoping and waiting like a proud parent... Sudden appearance of poppies on the plot! See the snugly, happy bee getting drunk on pollen on the left, a lovely sight:
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Day two of gardening and I had kind help from a friend. Cleared the same amount of soil again, if not more. Met a few more plot holders - and a couple of their dogs. Walked around the site admiring everyone's work - so much inspiration all around - sheds, windmills, gazebos, and so much impressive food growing well. Have decided I would like a shed for my plot for my birthday...!
The first taste of cold, refreshing beer post-toiling in the soil cannot be underestimated - an unbeatable feeling! Discovered a pub with its own vegetable garden - praised the staff for their efforts. Later, discovered one of my favourite little old pubs has shutdown, but was cheered by meeting a pair of adorable kittens. Came home covered in ant bites, nettle stings, scratches all the way up my arms, plus aching muscles, but feel so much new lease of life - energised in body, invigorated in mind. Red ants nest on the plot was discovered today, but I'm not feeling daunted. I've read that mint could be a deterrent, so will give it a go. First thing I plan to plant in the plot are late potatoes, which have been bought. Came home to trays of lively green shooting seedlings - tomato and courgette, growing some for the plot, some for friends and family, some for a local charity fair. Can't wait to get back on the plot already... Photos to follow! This curious looking flower caught my eye on an exploration of SW London woodland a year or so ago. Its petals are chequered. Recently, I visited the same site, excited to find it had sprung up once again. I read up about this flower: the fritallary; it is actually incredibly rare - the UK's 'most exotic flower'. More thrillingly, where they exist, they are likely to have grown for centuries. Yet they can be easily destroyed in one simple ploughing. There were but three or four examples of the flower around in a space of no more than two or three square feet. To be around these flowers feels like a precious secret. That they're still here today shows how nature always finds a way; nature is tough. I felt like having a real explore this day. It was sunny as can be, with ultra blue sky, and chirpy, cheery birds. I hadn't been to the secret little woodland in a long time - you can have a real clamber about as it is partly on a hill, with so many layers of wildly different trees, shrubs, flowers, really thickly built up - like another world, and yet you are still in London. This is where I would take anyone who had negative ideas about London - to show how it can really be! I delighted in the different sights and textures of various tree bark. Nature fascinates me like nothing else - immersing myself in it like this is my calm and my fun and my antidote to so many things in loud, demanding, fast-paced life. We've got to treasure and preserve our green open spaces.
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AthemauraEnthusiastic about 'zines, libraries, gardening in the city, independent book shops/record shops/cafes, vegetarian and vegan, London in all its variety, local living/community. Archives
November 2014
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