Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
February 10, 2009: snow, the great leveller
As a blanket of snow falls uniformly across the allotment plots, Terry Walton remembers the days when snow or no snow, strict conformity was ensured by the allotment committee
What a white wipe-out this week has been! Day after day, the white fluffy stuff fell from the skies making for a picture postcard scene. It was great to look out on this tranquil and clean landscape but it made everyday duties difficult to perform.
The sound of traffic was replaced by the laughter of children creating large sculptures from this readily available, but these days unusual, commodity. Large vehicles were replaced on our hillsides by pieces of plastic sheeting and old cardboard boxes hurtling down these slippery slopes. So for some there were hours of pleasure, but for many another difficulties to overcome.
Despite the difficult conditions I was able to get to the allotments in the early afternoon. Parking about half a mile from the gates I was able to walk to the plot and admire the beauty of the pure white unbroken linen sheet that covered the whole scene. It is a great leveller, several inches of snow, as all the plots were uniquely the same. Something not witnessed often. It was a pleasure to gaze out at this place of peace and beauty and let the mind run ahead to summer days that lay ahead.
Poking through the deep snow were the tops of my brussel sprouts showing their crisp, green buttons ready to be picked. So the journey was worth it to be rewarded with a bag of these sprouts for my dinner.
Gazing out on this scene from the warmth of my greenhouse I thought back to the days many years ago when all the plots looked the same the year round.
In my youth on the site there were no sheds or greenhouses on any plot and each plot was lovingly cared for in the same manner. A path eighteen inches wide surrounded each plot and the whole plot was filled with crops of almost the same nature. The allotment committee in those days had strict rules for how a plot should be looked after and these were slavishly applied. Paths to be kept clean no overhanging fruit bushes and the plot to be fully cultivated for growing produce.
But years have rolled on and habits and things change. The landscape greatly altered with greenhouses and sheds springing up on every plot. No pristine purchased dwellings but structures put to together from the contents of skips and discarded material. These unique buildings soon graced every plot and made each one an insight to the plot holders skills and character.
Soon the plots were not just for growing crops but became areas of leisure. A small pond appeared surrounded by an area of grass where a bench was sited to lookout over the reduced vegetable plot. It became a place to sit and contemplate while the crops grew silently away.
Soon plots were being subdivided with metal sheets making little areas to house each crop. Raised beds were born and paths ran amok across the plot.
Me, I am still that traditionalist with only one path and the plot swelling with all those bountiful crops in season.
I am sure if those old committee men are looking down they would be quaking at these radical changes to the style of gardening. But change is a fact of life and is forever evolving and each and everyone has to embrace it at some time. Te uniqueness of every plot makes for variety and it is a place where your character shines through. I am all for it.
More from Terry Walton
- February 3: organic growing tricks
- Terry Walton's allotment sagas archive
- Val Bourne on growing vegetables early
- Chat to other allotmenteers at Saga Zone
My Life On A Hillside Allotment
Terry Walton is a regular contributor to The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 and has written a book called My Life on a Hillside Allotment, published by Bantam Press. The book is available from Amazon.
