Friday 29 June 2007

"Playin' in The Mud"

All the rain we have been having the last month might have been good for the garden,but boy has it made all the weeds grow on my allotment.

Has any one else out there in "blogland" got an allotment?
Have you heard of them?
I ask this not to be rude, but 'cos I was gossiping with my bestest blogland "kindred spirit " friend Jullie from "Down Under" and she didn't know about the quaint and archaic tradition of the "English Allotment"

The whole idea being that you lease a space of land (some allotments are just sooo enormous!!)
either from the local council or the church or even some private landowner with too much (Land is most definitely not equally distributed!!) usually for a pepper corn rent and you get digin'!!
Being a green fingered soul with too small a garden and my very own funky wellies, I decided that an allotment was for me and was lucky enough got a plot about 10 minutes walk from my home.

Of course being greedy I have crammed it full of everything I can possibly squeeze in (and then some more!!) and everything is soo just shooting up..... Including as I say, the weeds!!
I'm sort of hoping that if there is some more available next season, I'll be able to have a bit extra so I can have one those romantic old chicken huts (any chance Mr. C?) and keep a couple of chickens there too. You know the sweet red type you get in children's books!
Trouble is I feel a bit guilty about wishing too loud for some more, as it's a bit of like "Dead men's shoes".... the land only becomes available if someone gives up. Moving is o.k. but, the other alternative is a bit too sad.

It just is the most swell place in the world to while away an afternoon.
Mr. Scrappy comes too and lays down on the grass sunning himself 'till its time to go home again which I have to say we do with a lot of regret sometimes.
No traffic, no T.V. no radio, no telephones....just the birdies, the Bunny's the occasional fellow allotmenteer and an ice cold flask of "Rum 'n Coke" (good thinking Mr. C!!)

For those of you not in the "know" about allotments, here's an idea of how they look.



I want to move all my tools in, sit on the door step, have a 'cuppa from the flask and talk to the birdies and bumble bees


Just how cute is she!! She looks like she needs a "Scarecrowing" partner!!

What do you reckon on allotments then?

Gotta say, I'm hooked. Mr.C is keeping a spreadsheet of our produce as I pick it and bring it home.Not only saving some pennies, but eatin' good healthy organic produce too.
Have I convinced you yet?


Get diggin' and see you "playin' in the mud"!!

6 comments:

Jules of Whimsicalnotions blog said...

Okay i feel suitably guilty to have all this space here and be growing only weeds (great big strong ones but)In your honour i may have to get my own wellies hmm in a size 2 they will maybe be ladybug ones.
Hugs
Jullie

meg said...

Okay, now I feel silly- I had no idea that you lived in England :P
I heard of an allotment for the first time last year, reading another Brit Blogger & love the idea; we don't have anything similar in our town, but I visit a blogger (Through the Garden Gate)who lives an hour north of me who has a spot in a community garden.
I am impressed with your allotment- everything looks so lush & inviting; I'll have to post some pics of my little spot of dirt, so you will understand why I head to the Farmer's Market twice a week :)

The Polka Dot Pixie said...

YOur garden pics are just lovely!!!

We live in a small town on almost 1/3 an acre... not much, but I could put in a garden if I knew how! I'd love to keep chickens too. I am not sure Mr. Polka Dot Pixie would go for it though.

Natasha Burns said...

Daisy great pics and lovely to hear about your allotment! I'm in Australia and I do know what an allotment is, we have them for the inner city people who don't have their own garens, who rent/lease a space and we call them Community Gardens!! Well that's here in Melbourne anyway!!!
Enjoy your day and your time in your spot of land!!!

Maija said...

Wow! What a fabulous idea and a lovely garden!
Lucky you, Daisy!

karlascottage.typepad.com said...

I didn't know what an allotment was, and still don't know what a pepper corn rent is.

What a wonderful idea! If I didn't have a place to grow things, I'd be looking for one to rent here too! but I live in Kansas and have 10 acres where land is CHEAP.

There is a 'community garden' downtown on an empty lot that people can get shares of, and then they sell a lot of the produce at the Farmers Market to offset the rent of the land. But there is no privacy, or get away quality with that, they work togehter.

You certainly have made your allotment a little heaven, so pretty