The mood is triumphant at plot 4a this week – the first magical signs of vegetable growth have appeared. I can tell these are not weeds as the tiny green shoots are in fantastic straight rows, a little regiment of allotment glory.  | | Rhubarb appearing |
It feels like a breakthrough after the weeks of digging, wheelbarrowing, weeding and waiting. And it has sparked a renewed planting effort as the busiest allotment season kicks off. The last few months have been a hectic time for the Moriarty allotment team. Friends and family have all been roped in to help prepare the Springford Road plot for its first season of produce. Five freshly dug beds later – and with the addition of a new composter and a specially designed tool box – it was ready for planting. My birthday in February predictably brought a clutch of allotment goodies, including a fork and spade set, a hoe, seeds and four fruit bushes.  | | Garlic shoots |
Meanwhile, donations from fellow horticultural enthusiasts have included rhubarb, a cherry tree, raspberry plants and strawberries. And the allotment neighbours have rallied round the new girl, spending hours explaining the ins and outs of insect pollination, showing me how to create a pile of weedy grass so that it turns into topsoil and giving me access to their heaps of manure (this is a real treat). There’s 'Pat With The Raspberries', who assures me that the fruit from her plants is the most succulent in Southampton, and 'Irish Tomm'y, who’s not been down for a while because of his hips. 'Geordie Neil', a self-confessed fruit and flower man who grows a regular supply of roses for his wife, is nurturing all manner of seeds for me, including sprouts, sweetcorn and butternut squash.  | | Claire's allotment |
He’s already supplied me with 12 lovely broad bean plants, now neatly set out in a little block on my plot. In fact, everything I’ve been given, bought or come across is starting to show signs of life. Tiny buds are sprouting on the gooseberry, blueberry, redcurrant and blackcurrant bushes, and the rhubarb is springing up from its manure-smothered bed. But it’s those little green shoots that I am most proud of – garlic, shallots and red onions all planted in one marathon effort. With hindsight, I perhaps should have staggered the planting of these oh-so-similar crops – maybe half a row of onions each week for several weeks. Instead, we are now looking forward to a harvest of approximately six million red onions in one go – and a week of eating onion soup, onion casseroles and onion rings, with onion gravy. In the strangely absorbing task of planting, growing, (not yet singing-to) and watering, I have almost forgotten that these minute signs of growth will soon yield food. ...does any know of any good onion recipes? Come back for the next installment of Claire's Allotment Diary | 
