Gardening Blog
Allotment Diary
February 17, 2009: back to earth again
In his 100th allotment blog for Saga, Terry Walton reflects on centuries of allotmenteering, and why, after decades of tasteless pre-packaged food, we are all coming back down to earth again
At last the snowy blanket has vanished from the plot, but not without a struggle. Frosty nights ensured that it had an icy skin which protected it for a while from the rigors of the rain and mellow sun. As it thawed gently, little green shoots of garlic appeared as if by magic from their cold bed. It is great to have my plot back!
So now it is time to flex those rested muscles and get that spade moving again. The green manure had slightly blackened under its white cover so it was time to bid it adieu and turn it back into the soil to release its stored winter nutrients. Doesn't it feel great after an hour of gentle, rhythmic exercise? The muscles become toned, the heart beats a little faster and a glow comes into those pasty cheeks.
All this just after Valentines Day, just like being in love!
The level of activity on the plots surrounding me also increases as spades and forks stir the latent soil from its winter slumber.
This gets my mind deep in thought. Digging is a great time to let the mind wander with the deep hypnotic action allowing you to drift into a semi-conscious state.
I think back to centuries ago when allotments first came into being and someone was doing exactly what I am doing now.
Landowners in the country side were losing their workers to the lure of the urban life. So they came up with a cunning plan to lease land to their workers to grow their own food, thus tying them to the countryside. This appealed to the primeval instincts of man to be as one with the land and nature and grow their own food. It also slowed the move from the countryside and the first allotments were created.
The industrial revolution continued but many still clung to that need for the countryside and the freedoms of rural life.
The growth of mining in the Welsh valleys began in the late nineteenth century and boomed well into the twentieth century. Mine owners used a similar strategy as those original landowners centuries before and made sure the mining cottages tied to the local mine had large gardens which gave the workers the ability to grow their own food. This was another appeasement to supplement the wages and ensure that the need to grow your own food in the open air was satisfied.
As the twentieth century progressed it was blighted by wars and a major shift, through necessity, to grow food on any available land and allotments boomed as food production soared.
However during the 1960s our love affair with allotments gradually declined. Many allotments disappeared from our landscape through neglect and abandonment. Technological advancements provided many distractions from the need to grow and provide your own food. Supermarkets provided it cheaply and it was pre-packed and almost ready to eat.
As the twentieth century drew to a close, the fun of those technological years declined, food became tasteless and the urge to reunite ourselves with all things natural surfaced in many souls. People's latent feeling for the soil and for growing things themselves was reawakened, and we have returned to in droves to satisfy that urge to grow again.
The wheel as turned full circle once more and all is getting back to as it should be, satisfying that need in all of us to become the provider of your own food.
However, my life remained unchanged during those decades as I have always needed to be at one with the soil, nature and the open fresh air.
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.
