Home from holiday to harvest
The plot and good friends have worked hard in my absence! s toe ma To : s ek lon we me xt d Ne an
The end of August was a chance for me to sneak off on holiday, although there’s never a good time for a seasoned allotmenteer to go away! But the chance of time with loved ones far outweighs the pull of my allotment.
One big thing that makes the decision easy to leave your plot at its most productive is being able to safely leave it in the hands of neighbouring plot holders. Crops will have been tended to well, be in pristine condition, and there’ll be no waste as they’re harvested regularly by them as a gesture of goodwill. They’ll also make sure that on your return there’s still a healthy harvest awaiting your collection. What a pleasure it would be if all of society embraced these same principles and everyone looked after each other’s interests!
So, off I went to the garden isle of Madeira. At this time of year the island’s alive with the semi-tropical colours of many flowering plants. The bougainvillea, cannas and, most of all, the bright orange ‘plumage’ of the bird-of-paradise flower certainly please the eye. All this beauty is a joy to behold but there’s one thing missing among the colour – scented plants. You can, however, go to the hills and breathe in the clear air filled with the scent of pine and eucalyptus.
On my return, the allotment was still bountiful with crops despite what has been a summer lacking in lots of warm sunshine. Beans were laden with long, green pods and soon the freezer lid will be difficult to close! Carrots thrived in these cooler conditions and made long, tapered orange roots. The onions had run their course and the foliage flopped to one side, so they’re ready to be harvested. The greenhouse was full of bright red tomatoes and there, hanging from the roof of the greenhouse, were cucumbers to fill the salad bowl. There was no need for any rush to the supermarket to replenish food supplies. Oh, the joys of a well-stocked allotment, and the help of good friends.
It’s back into action and my spring cabbage needed planting out. They’re not as large as I’d have hoped but hopefully, being fed by the nitrogen in the soil left by old broad beans, they’ll spring into growth. Now these plants are in place, the only addition is a covering of lime in the planting hole to reduce any club root and the net is back to ward off any late-flying butterflies.