Terry Walton looks at how the crops we grow on allotments have changed
Once uniform-looking plots are now filled with a variety of crops and structures
That’s it, we’ve said goodbye to long, dark January. This miserable month has been even worse this year with lockdown, but even in the darkest hours the allotment has been a salvation. The chance to go there every day for exercise and relaxation has been a godsend, and I’m sure many of you have felt the same.
Gazing out from the warmth of my greenhouse, I think back to the days many years ago when all the plots looked the same the year round.
In my youth on the site there were no sheds or greenhouses on any plot and each was lovingly cared for in the same manner. A path surrounded each one and the whole plot was filled with crops of almost the same nature. The allotment commi ee in those days had strict rules for how a plot should be looked after and these were slavishly applied. Paths to be kept clean, no
overhanging fruit bushes
and the plot was to be fully cultivated for growing produce. But the years have rolled on and habits and times change. The landscape was greatly altered with greenhouses and sheds springing up on every plot. No pristine-purchased dwellings but structures put together from the contents of skips and discarded material.
These unique buildings
soon graced every plot, each one an insight into the plotholder’s skills and character.
Soon the plots weren’t just for growing crops, but they became areas of leisure. A small pond appeared, surrounded by an area of grass, where a bench was sited to look out over the rest of the veg plot. It became a place to sit and contemplate while the crops silently grew away.
Plots were then being subdivided into individual areas, with metal sheets made into li le areas to house each crop. Raised beds were born and paths ran amok across the plot. Me, I’m still that traditionalist with only one path, and a full plot swelling with bountiful crops in season.
I’ve sown broad bean and sweet pea seeds in moist compost in sealed plastic bags and I now have to persuade my wife to give up a li le of her airing cupboard space to accelerate their germination. This will speed up growth and I’ll only plant up the good seeds that germinate. It’s always the case with all seeds that germination is never 100 per cent.
I’m growing two varieties of broad bean, ‘Karmazyn’, a red-seeded variety, and ‘De Monica’, a heavy cropper. The added advantage of this method with the larger seeds of this type is you’re not providing food for hungry rodents. Even in an open greenhouse the local mice population ‘smell’ out newlysown pea and bean seeds and secretly eat them, often leaving li le tell-tale signs they’re gone. There’s nothing more frustrating than waiting for seed to germinate, then scraping away the compost to find no trace of seed!