A brief but intense hail and snowstorm flurried its way into the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular - to add to the gales and torrential downpours that have made the allotment a difficult place to garden in recent weeks. Of course, the scene such as that above should be expected in February.
This is wintery if not winter.
The difficulties of gardening 'the allotment garden of Nowhere in particular,' are not so much to do with the weather (although the weather is a contributing factor) but with particular social relations on site. Before the flurry sent me slip-sliding to the shed, I was engaged in repairing some damage to a drainage channel. I think the damage was caused by human interference and it may relate to some ongoing disputes about shared allotment plot boundaries. While waiting in the shed for the flurry to fade away I speculated on the chance of the vandals being a crack team of saboteur hedgehogs, intent on subverting the nuisance of allotment gardeners of Nowhere in particular. If not the hedgehogs, then the slugs. These flurries of fantasy faded away and were replaced by nagging thoughts (all too real) of an equally spineless animal that was recently caught in the act of digging up the very same drainage channel further up the hill. More of this later, perhaps.
Drainage channel - covers removed and pipes moved out of line so that the water (a lot of it) just flowed into an adjacent plot.
A repaired drainage channel that would probably not withstand the attentions of a childish adult who wishes to damage it (again?).
After dealing with some of the distressing consequences of stupid behaviour it was time to head for the polytunnel and do some more nurturing, therapeutic tasks - repotting some dahlia tubers out of winter storage.
Back outside - the asparagus bed (B9a) is quite saturated because of the tampering with the nearby drainage channel. I repaired the boards/edges and added compost. There are some asparagus tips beginning to show already.
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