Our patch of earth: I love squash

How it began...

So, we’d spent time walking past our local allotments, getting more and more interested in the mysterious things that other people were growing and the ingenious uses that people had found for stuff that non-allotmenteers would probably term ‘junk’.

In March 2007, we spoke to our council, and discovered that our local allotments aren’t council owned - it turns out they’re held in trust. So, we decided to find the secretary. We spoke to Mike and Louise who were really welcoming and enthusiastic, then eventually tracked down Alan the secretary and, a few weeks later, we chose a plot with a little blue shed, a water butt, a small bench, and a patch of oregano.

We dug. It was April, and for those of you who remember April 07, it was hot, hot, hot. The ground was like rock. Adam was having to jump onto the fork to get it into the soil. But we persevered – this was our new veggie patch! We had plans for a herb garden over there, and some rows of beans over here, a compost heap at the back and flowers planted down the edges… until, one week in, a little old Italian lady turned up and claimed the plot was hers. Wah! Much confusion ensued, until we decided we’d rather not have the hassle and uncertainty, and much less be known as the new guys who kicked a little old lady off her plot. Gracious, no.

So we found a new spot. South facing, with rhubarb, gooseberry bushes (I didn’t know they were spiky!), a damson tree (which we thought were plums to start with – till mum made Damson gin and we recognised the fruit) and the Biggest Strawberry Patch In The World.

Twas overgrown, tis true, but much better than plot number 1. Hurrah for little old Italian ladies!

And two sheds! His and Hers, obviously, mainly because mine isn’t quite tall enough for Adam to stand upright in. So, mine has the tea and coffee making facilities, small gas stove, radio, seed packets on nails and an assortment of gardening gloves, while Adam’s has all the manly things – tools, wooden crates, useful bits of wood, tangled netting and carefully wound up bits of wire.

So the digging had to begin, again. After assessing the plot, with some useful hints and random-plant-identifying by Mike, we headed home to get forks and other digging equipment. Ten minutes later we returned to our overgrown plot to hear a strange buzzing noise, and find Mike strimming all the thigh-high weeds with his petrol strimmer! Thanks Mike! A good start to our compost heap… (Add 'build compost heap' to the To Do list.)

And then, half an hour later, as we’re just beginning to curse the sun for being too hot and the earth for being too hard, around the corner of our sheds comes our saviours Mike, Louise and their mate Ali, on white stallions, (no, not really) all brandishing forks and ready to help us dig, till we’d dug the same amount we’d done on plot no.1. Bless ‘em.

And then it was all go! Nine months later, 2008 seems promising. We've read many, many more books, got more ideas and got much more ambitious. And we've actually grown stuff which tasted gooooood. It could still all go horribly wrong, but even if it does I can guarantee we'll still get some tasty fruit and veg from between the weeds, all for a few pence, and a bit of blood, sweat and tears... (well, hopefully not the blood or the tears... just good ol' elbow grease.)

And a bit of help from our friends and family. Any time, chaps - you're very welcome! We'll get the kettle on...

Sounds fun, eh?

Thursday 14 February 2008

I love squash

Posted off our mega seed order on Tuesday. It says that seeds are usually dispatched 3 or 4 working days later, so we might get them by the weekend. *Glee!*

We decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for everything we wanted, and even stuff which we just had a slight hankering for. £1 here or there doesn’t make that much difference - not when you think how much free (ish) food we’ll get out of it - and if we don’t use everything this year, or we run out of room on the plot (a definite possibility) we can either keep seeds till next year, or give them away to family, friends and allotment neighbours.

So, alongside yellow courgettes (yeay!), funny-shaped and various-coloured squash (double yeay!!) and multicoloured carrots (triple yeay!!!) we’ve also ordered kohl rabi, asparagus peas and a random selection of winter greens. Hopefully next year we’ll have spinach and winter salads to munch on, plus leeks, sprouts, swedes and parsnips, if not more! Looking forward to Christmas Dinner already :)

Most excited about growing? Squash. They’re little jewel-like lanterns of goodness. Roasted, fried, barbecued or souped, they’re tasty tasty tasty.
Least excited about growing? Cucumber. Bleh. But then I wasn’t a huge fan of Brussels sprouts until we grew them ourselves, so maybe I’ll be a cucumber convert too.

I think a solution to the potential lack of space issue will be to look into companion planting. A usual example is sweetcorn, beans and squash... The sweetcorn grows nice and tall, providing support for the beans, which climb up it, while squash plants scramble around on the ground below, also suppressing weeds (another reason I like squash.)

I also must not forget that things aren't in the ground all year. The spring cabbage will be up and out (and eaten) by summer, in time for planting out other veggies that need warmer weather to start...

Happy Valentine's Day, by the way

2 comments:

Bettiboots said...: Cucumbers are evil. Don't trust them.; 14 February 2008 at 13:04
Vlad the Inhaler said...: I hope you've been keeping your seedlings well furnished with blankets & hot water bottles in this chilly weather. Perhaps the "bomb" is a paraffin heater just for such occasions.; 18 February 2008 at 19:14

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Thursday 14 February 2008

I love squash

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