Our Allotment

My parents came over to visit last week. Dad had a school reunion in Brighton; Mum had the burning desire to see the plot and her grandchildren, although probably not in that order. Probably not. I’m sure Mum would have been happy to have spent more time working on our plot for us, but if I’m honest we were so happy having them over that we spent more time bimbling about together. And why not, eh?

 Even so, by the time Mum and Dad (and, to some extent, myself) were done we had three beds in a state ready for planting, and two of them were (at least partially) planted. Now, I know the growing season’s pretty much over, and the idea of planting early peas and salad crops might make some people smile in a superior fashion, but bear with us here. Our logic was that earlies require a shorter growing season than mains or lates, and we do get a longer growing season (on average) in the South-East than most places, so why not give it a go. Another thing to bear in mind was that these seeds probably wouldn’t have lasted until next season anyway. One way to be certain they wouldn’t grow would be to leave them in the drawer. Sticking them in a well-watered drill and keeping an eye on them gives them a chance at least…

Anyway, my Mum was impressed with the growing area we have available to us, and envious as anything about the quality of our soil. The implication of which is that, if we can’t grow anything here then we’re pretty rubbish gardeners. So, no pressure, eh?

The more attentive among you will have noticed that we prepared three beds, and will be thinking “so what about the other seven?” Well, the bad news there is that my folks reckon our plot is riddled with couch grass. This is a particularly tenacious weed which will insist on returning again and again and is unlikely to be discouraged even by repeated digging-over. Our neighbours said they’d gotten rid of theirs by digging out the roots and “disposing” of them (composting, perhaps? Burning? Who knows?) but since our plot was rotavated this isn’t going to be an option. Apparently having a couch-grass-infested site rotavated is A Bad Move.

Oops.

So plan… (erm… running out of letters…) G-ish is to cover the rest of the plot with light-excluding, moisture-and-nutrients-transmissive fabric which my Mum very kindly ordered for us from Gardening Naturally. This will effectively kill all the weeds and grass which are already beginning to take over the rest of the plot, leaving us with a more manageable third-of-a-plot with which to work for the winter, and preventing us from becoming despondant as the next year begins. The fabric arrived today, so we’re well-placed to lay it this weekend. Expect an update and some pictures then…

In the meantime, here’s us…