October 2006Of the little victories in life – passing a driving test, completing a long distance run – the greatest must be the satisfaction of tucking into a plate full of your own home-grown produce. And at the end of my first season among the green-fingered ranks of allotment holders, I think it is this satisfaction that outweighs the other delights of vegetable-growing – the lovely aching, outdoors-all-day feeling after an afternoon of digging, or the pleasure of spotting the first seedling poking through the soil.  | | Yummy toms! |
Now, just a few brussel sprout plants remain in the ground, and a handful of tired-looking leeks, and the job of preparing for next year is beginning. There are many things I would grow again – definitely on the list are broad beans, which were delicious, and tomatoes, which in August produced a bumper crop that saw us trekking home several nights a week laden with bulging carrier bags. Vegetables that I suspect will not make the cut next year include beetroot – it appears to have grown well, but what do you do with it? – and rhubarb – my single attempt at baking a crumble was a stringy, bitter, inedible mess. My husband Kevin finally came into his own during the harvesting (and later, eating) stage. He had preferred to play football while I and more enthusiastic members of my family set about the backbreaking job of digging earlier this year! In fact, it was he who knocked up an enormous batch of tomato soup which we were able to feast on for days. Less promising for his horticultural confidence was the moment during early September when he was laughed out of the garden centre for asking where the late seed potatoes were kept. Apparently, no potatoes should be planted this late in the year – and instead he came home with a packet of radish seeds, now planted in neat rows and bearing fingernail-sized produce. As well as looking again at my shopping list of seeds for 2007, I am also planning some development work on the plot.  | | A sunflower on the allotment |
The asparagus ferns will be treated to a new raised bed, which will hopefully protect these delicate looking plants a bit better and allow the soil to develop the right nutrients. And rather than staking out a new wire fence every time I plant a batch of seedlings, so that the whole plot looks like a jumbled-up jigsaw puzzle, I am hoping to create some sort of bed structure, with the brassicas in one section, spuds in the other, and so on. Hopefully my growing army of friends collecting vegetable peelings will continue to keep the composter topped up. Two guinea pigs, Garry and Minty, are now even donating their used bedding straw to the festering heap which will soon become lovely, crumbly soil. We're looking forward to another year of home-grown food. No doubt the urban eco warrior in me will continue to lecture people about the environmental benefits of allotment-owning … in fact, I believe there’s a plot coming available in Springford Road, Southampton. | 
