We didn’t mean to grow 180 leeks. But then neither did we mean to grow courgettes enough to feed ourselves, our extended family and friends and all our neighbours to the point where their welcoming smiles would fade as they realised we were approaching with ‘Yet More Courgettes.’ And then there were the accidental marrows. Very few people are prepared to give a good home to a marrow it seems and for a while our garage became an experiment in food preservation; rows of jars of marrow chutney destined for unsuspecting family members at Christmas; rows of rejected marrows forlornly lined up (not touching) on the wooden shelves, somehow reproaching us each time we entered the garage bearing yet another courgette-based dish for the freezer. We absolutely could not waste any.
Oh, how we’ve lived and learned our way through our first year as allotment-holders. We now know that no family needs more than 8 plants of the squash family unless they are considering a market stall or a private Harvest Festival. Probably only 4. We also know that when the leek seed packet says “contains approximately 180 seeds” this is probably true, and that, when all 180 germinate it isn’t compulsory to pot-on all 180 believing that up to half may die off. And that when we’ve put aside a dozen or so for the Flower Festival plant stall and forced our allotment neighbours to take another couple of dozen off our hands, we still don’t really need to plant the remaining 140. Buttered leeks, leek and bacon tart, leek and potato soup are all delicious but, really, not more than six or seven times a week. We absolutely cannot waste any.
But these culinary challenges come as a welcome result of Biddenden Allotment Association being allowed a very benevolent, fertile piece of land. We’ve all battled with the tough old turf and the thistles but reaped unexpectedly generous rewards for our labours. The pleasure of watching the site gradually turned over, the first haze of green and then the glory of the summer and autumn fruits and vegetables, the towering rows of sunflowers, the sweet peas and herbs, has been, I believe, a revelation to every allotment-holder. That so much could be achieved in one year was unexpected. The quiet personal satisfaction of little-by-little turning our 30 by 30 plots into Real Allotments. Spotting the first curling pea-shoots emerging – then being brought abruptly down to earth on the next inspection by finding every shoot bitten off and discarded by a tiny visitor – was it a pigeon, a crow, a mouse? They might at least have eaten them. The surprise of finding water-boatmen in a tiny washing-up bowl-pond after only a few days. The serendipity of finding a little huddle of ladybirds by the water trough just after discovering blackfly on the broad beans. The pleasure of stretching one’s back after a couple of hours digging, standing back to survey the progress and watch the dozens of worms we’d disturbed making their way back to underground safety. Sprinkling seed, gently covering and watering it.
And then another dimension – beginning to get to know our fellow allotment-holders. Sharing a flask of coffee after a strenuous hour’s digging and hoeing. Sharing a bottle or two of beer on a hot summer afternoon, to celebrate the new shed’s completion. Sharing a pot of freshly-brewed tea and a bowl of the summer’s first tiny strawberries. Comparing notes on what’s gone well, what has failed and what could-do-better, what to repeat next year and what not. Giving and receiving of advice and experience. Hearing as we work the voices of little children on an adjacent allotment, excited to be watering their rows of seedlings from tiny watering cans, 3 generations of one family sharing the nurturing of food for their table.
We are now nearly at the first anniversary of the allotment ground. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make it happen for the village – the landowner, Farmer Hugh, the Parish Council, Richard Harris our Allotment Association Chairman and so many others. What an amazing first year it’s been.
Gillian Burtenshaw
Allotment Holder in Biddenden Kent