The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Paving up and seeds sown as we fall back in love with soil
Since we have been in lockdown, John can see that gardens are being revitalised as folk not working can spend time in isolation
It has taken a major disaster to let people see the benefits of a garden. Prior to the coronavirus epidemic, gardens were going out of favour as they involved a wee bit of graft (digging, planting and weeding) and as more and more people have cars they need somewhere to park them so beautiful borders lost out to tarmac, slabs, paving and gravel.
Today there are also so many leisure activities that gardening was relegated to the lower levels of the popularity table.
Then along comes the virulent virus and social life and many jobs came to a standstill. Now we are in lockdown, what on Earth can we get up to to relieve boredom?
Those of us with gardens will be fine and even a lot better if we also have an allotment. For people living in flats and those with concrete gardens the answer seems to be an allotment.
Interest in gardening has mushroomed but there is a problem of access to plants, seeds, compost, pots, etc as garden centres have all been closed.
Fortunately everybody is now becoming competent at ordering online so we get our gardening supplies delivered to our home, though hopefully when this goes to print the garden centres will all be open and doing a great trade.
Most gardens are not that big so there is a limit to how many jobs we can find.
I have been amazed. Our City Road Allotments have a website and a Facebook page.
While on Facebook you get invited to join other garden groups such as Allotments Online.
There are masses of new entrants into the world of gardening who just have not got a clue but are very keen to learn.
Some folk got a plot that was very overgrown and in a short space of time it was cleaned up and planted with photos provided. Very impressive.
Gardens are going through a period of transformation as some lucky people have plenty of time, not having to work in lockdown, to think about plans to modernise their gardens.
Fences are being repaired and painted, paths and steps repaired.
New greenhouses are being built as well as sheds, and patios being constructed to allow more enjoyable leisure time.
There is a move to get back to nature and children are very much involved as parents want to show them where food comes from.
Up at City Road Allotments Karen is helping young Dino with a natural bug garden and pond with tadpoles so he can see them grow into frogs which hopefully will help to keep the slugs down.
Another chap is building a Wendy House for the kids who are now frequent visitors to our site.
On another plot Jane is very much inspired to indulge in her creative poetry sitting blissfully among the flowers and plants she enjoys growing.
On my plot I now have the time to indulge in taking gardening up one level.
This year I am growing sweet peas
to exhibition standard, having been taught those skills 60 years ago up at Camperdown nursery (now a zoo) where we grew a few hundred for council functions.
I never forgot the method. Lockdown has curtailed our allotment committee activities so there are no longer any plot inspections and vacant plots are not re-let but volunteers still plant up these vacant plots and we offer produce to passersby, with baskets of vegetables and fruit for free left outside the gate on City Road.
Another couple of friends, Frank and Anne, decided to install a hot tub in the garden to enjoy a wee bit of lockdown luxury.
Friends over in Glasgow are digging up the lawn to give more space to growing vegetables with help from the kids.
Their garden is terraced on several levels with fences. Just the perfect location for young Luke to create a Parkour free running, jumping and climbing trail for charity encouraged by Captain Tom Moore’s very successful charity walk. Luke is only seven but has raised £300 for charity.