Rediscovering the Plot

This afternoon, I finally made it down to the plot. We’ve had some rain this week and I was dreading what I would find. I imagined the weeds would be several feet taller and the greenhouse would resemble an overgrown jungle. Much to my surprise, the plot wasn’t as dreadful as I thought it would be. True, the weeds had grown, but it looked manageable.

My first job was to finish clearing the raised beds on Geoff’s plot. Fortunately, clearing the weeds in the big bed was quick and I even discovered a few stray potato plants. Untangling the bindweed from Geoff’s apple trees was a challenge – I didn’t want to damage the trees but if it was left then it could cause damage. In the end, I pulled the bindweed out by the root and snapped it off higher up, leaving the remaining bindweed to either and die on the tree.

Pleased with my progress, I attacked the final third of the bottom raised bed. Beneath the weeds, I rediscovered the shallots. I’d completely forgotten that I had planted them! Some of them seem to have survived weeks of neglect which gives me hope we can harvest them in a few weeks time. For good measure, I cleared the weeds along the path between the beds which should make it easier for Geoff to get at the beds.

Armed with gloves and a newly emptied weed bucket, I headed across to the plot and made a start on the strawberry bed. Our white strawberries are delicious and very sweet and are arguably, my favourite berries we grow on the plot. Between the mare’s tail and bindweed, it was a miracle that any of the plants had survived. Pausing only to sample the strawberries, I cleared away the weeds. Unfortunately, some of the strawberries lost their leaves or fruit as the weeds had intergrown with the plants.

Next was the greenhouse. I’ve been putting this job off as it’s fiddly. The greenhouse always seems to be taken over by bindweed and this year is no different. Hauling out bindweed is easy but getting the entire root system out is almost impossible. The white roots snap so easily that it’s almost impossible to remove it all, allowing it to come back. Once I had cleared the raised bed, I emptied the two bags of compost to improve the soil. I’ve finally decided what is going to be grown in that bed – tea! There are two different tea plantations in the UK, one in Cornwall and one in Scotland. My theory is that if tea plants can thrive in the Scottish weather (renown for its wind and rain), tea plants would do well in Crewe, especially if they were grown in a greenhouse. Or at least, that’s the general idea…

Now that the greenhouse was more or less reclaimed from the bindweed, I went to feed the chickens. Maude and Mavis made appreciative noises when I gave them half a cucumber and Flora, a consummate pig, hogged the other half singlehandedly. Over in the New Coop, or as I now like to think of it, The Fortress of Gertitude, I refilled their water and fed Gertie. Sometimes, she just throws the food around and hardly touches it. I assume she does this because she already had enough food during the day. But it could just be spite.

I stopped to chat to Josie who had come down to water her plot. It was lovely to catch up with her and set the world to rights. After nearly ten years as an allotmenteer, putting the world to rights has to be one of the essential cornerstones of allotment life. The others include complaining about the weather and long debates about the pros and cons of different varieties of potatoes.

Just before I left, I decided to clear one of the main beds underneath the fruit trees. Ten minutes and it was clear with a small section of the next bed clear too. Although it was a rushed job and it will need some more work, I left feeling that I had hauled the plot back from the weeds. True there is always more to do but our plot now looks more like a plot and less like a jungle.

Over the next few days, I’ll be carrying on with the weeding and digging over some of the beds we have left to rest this year. I’ve also got to remember to bring down a bag to haul the bean harvest home!