It is with much sadness mixed with a big sigh of 'phew' that I have finally given up my allotment at Plot 18b. Six years and it has been a delight. It is where my boys ate worms, had stick battles, went fishing with canes, laughed, fought and wondered. Where I began to garden for my family, experiment with veg and where I began to learn alongside my RHS course to retrain as a Gardener.
So for me, Bugs and my Robot Top ( as it was known by my boys) holds a lot of memories. Happily, I wrote a blog which is an amazing record of photos and feelings experienced by the four of us over those years.
Now I work in the Horticulture industry and my boys are growing, needing me in different ways, I find time has been squeezed. I can still grow in our small garden which is enough for now. I manage Beets, Carrots, Salad, Edible flowers, Kale, even Turnips! One day I envisage a new request for a plot, where I will spend my days happily watching the insects and birds and quietly working the soil.
This week at my work gardens, I have been loving the warm Autumn weather, just glorious. A time to pull down crops and re-consider the crops for the hungry gap. At Heale we have lots still on the go: Leeks, Cabbage, two types of Kale, Salads and Rocket and Chicory. The Nasturtiums are such a flash of colour, clambering over the wigwams in the ornamental squares of Box. So too are the Ipomoea and the Gourd flowers hanging over the arches.
In my other work garden, Dahlias and Verbena fill a 'hot border' alongside Fiery Crocosmia and bright Rudbeckia.
Much more to come as Autumn continues, I love the leaves of the Liquidamber that are just on the turn now and the Gunnera will show it's red soon enough.
Lucky for me I can now get my fix at work. I find tremendous peace and calm from the garden, which was once found at my special 5 rod plot. I can leave my little patch of allotment and find new ways in which to grow, hoping that someone else will find as much happiness from the same soil as I did.
