Year: 2008

Allotments abroad, clearing up, crop updates, encouraging wildlife.This week I have been travelling to Switzerland and I must say my allotment holder soul was struck by a view from the train just outside Zuerich. Not considering the numerous chicken pens which made me think of the mountain village I used to spend my holidays and…

I have not been away from the allotment so long since I got it last year, but yesterday I felt pretty awful and today I have had to catch up on housework. Really counting on next weekend: garlic and broadbeans are waiting to be planted before the ground is too hard. I have found a…

I did not go to the allotment last weekend (same reason as ever, the weekend has become essential to my weekly rest and housework needs since I changed jobs) and, because of British summer time coming to an end there is no chance for me to go after work… … so when it snowed copiously…

… all the time I spend at the allotment, I would be Anthea Turner’s Perfect Housewife, and my husband would shower me with gratitude. However, we cannot all be perfect, so I must content myself with being the allotment’s “whirlwind” and take pleasure in the extremely limited domestic glory that the title provides… Quick visit…

Corn odyssey: the end. Tired to wait for the tassels to turn brown I picked some cobs and we finally tried it! It was good, the grains are biggers than commercial varieties and a bit stickier when chewed, with thicker skin and softer centre, but I liked it, it was tasty! And there are plenty…

Wish come true unexpectedly, mice and potatoes I popped into the allotment to take home some garlic and noticed that my new neighbour has felled an elder tree that was at the bottom of his/her plot and that was making an awful lot of shade in a place that is already shady and wet: I…

Autumn tidy-up, crop updates, what I will be planting next. This afternoon I have been to the allotment after more than 10 days. Everybody is tidying up and digging in manure. It is really nice to see everything neat and tidy after the summer wilderness. The plot to my right – which had been overgrowing…