On the Allotment

[callmemadam]

I love allotments. When I was a child there was what seemed a vast expanse of them at the end of our road, where some people even kept pigs. On Rogation Sunday the church choir would process down there and my sister and I had hysterics when we were told that the vicar would 'bless the pigs'. Allotments don't seem to have changed much over the years: the sometimes ramshackle huts and sheds; the contrast between the immaculate patch, all order and symmetry, and the getting-overgrown one to tut over; the way each plot looks different, even if the same crops are being grown, all make the allotment a wonderful little rus in urbis. Although this is a country area, not everyone has a large garden and allotments are in demand. This afternoon some friends of mine were having a pre-house moving plant sale on their allotment, so I moseyed on down there for a look.



Magnificent globe artichoke on the way. The foliage is silvery, furry and fabulous.



Yummy currant pies to come. The gooseberries were plumping up nicely. too.



Chelsea-standard hosta in a huge pot. It doesn't normally live on the allotment but was for sale.



It's my allotment and I'll have a pond if I want to.




Potatoes.
I couldn't relieve my friends of their surplus tomato plants as I have nowhere to put them at the moment but I did buy two healthy little penstemon plants. Apparently one of them just might be 'Alice Hindley'; hope so, it's my favourite.

Comments

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

What a lovely post!

I long for an allotment, which is very silly, given the size of our garden ;-)

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

It's very relaxing down there, although surrounded by houses. Knowing you, if you had an allotment you'd soon be running the association, organising the seed swap, knitting scarecrows...

[land-girl.livejournal.com]

You have reminded me: I must make another scarecrow! Ours fell to bits and I have never replaced him .....

[mimmimmim.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of an allotment, but barely have time for our own garden. There's something relaxing about being surrounded by growing things.

What does the Alice Hindley penstemon look like?

[callmemadam.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean.

Alice Hindley is a lovely pale mauve, like this. Not one of the hardiest ones but worth taking cuttings. I also like the very dark ones like 'Blackbird'. Oh, I love them all.