Allotment Map - 13/1/2018.
Only 6 blog-posts emanated from me as the allotment gardener of Nowhere in particular in 2017. The paucity of emanations is not an indication of an allotment garden abandoned and neglected. 2017 was another busy gardening year for me - with over 200 gardening sessions and, with those visits, at least several thousand miles of cycling between home and the allotment site. With that exertion, and a full-time job, I am excusing my lack of blog-posting.
2017 saw a host of new plants introduced to the garden, with varying degrees of success. Sweet potatoes, chick peas, cucamelons, skirret, and dahlias come to mind as some of the new comers that settled into the diverse community of plants in the garden. I hope 2018 will be another year in which new plants will further nourish and enrich the garden, and those of us who share in its harvest. Something close to a hundred and fifty carrier bags full of produce left the allotment garden for the enjoyment of friends, family, neighbours, and work colleagues. So much more in quantity, quality, and variety, could have been cultivated and harvested.
There are still only two of us gardening 'the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular'. At close to 750 square metres (3-3.5 full plots), the site can be large, diverse, and demanding for just two people - one of whom has an afternoon and an evening a week (on average) to contribute to the gardening. 2017 saw a few people visit with some interest in joining in, however they seemed discouraged by the distance between their homes and the site, and the scale of the garden - the latter despite my suggestions they could adopt a relatively small part of the garden and still share in the harvest of the site as a whole. How to progress with this communal aspect of the gardening remains a pressing problem. I intend to continue with a notion of myself as a sort of caretaker, minding the plots, keeping the site in cultivation, waiting for new gardeners, however, if I were to liken myself to compost(!), the thought occurs I am spread too thinly across the four plots whereas I might be better applied to half their area, or less. With allotment fees increasing, I am close to not being able to afford this basic commitment along with all the other costs; e.g. in December 2017, the long serving plastic covering of the poly-tunnel finally gave in beneath an unusually heavy snowfall - tearing to such an extent that the cover needs to be replaced this year, at no small cost financially, or in time and labour.
Sium sisarum - Source: Wikipedia
My choice of what really represents my enjoyment of gardening the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular in 2017, is the introduction of skirret, Sium sisarum. Inspired by James Wong's, Homegrown Revolution, we grew the skirret from seed (sourced from Chiltern Seeds) and introduced the plants to the raised bed, B5a - where they will, hopefully, become a hardy perennial favourite.
Skirret - B5a - August 2017.
Skirret harvest - B5a - 7th January 2018.
(3 or 4 of the roots harvested/the remaining root clump divided and replanted)
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