Gardening Blog

Allotment Diary

February 24, 2009: springing into action

Terry Walton

This week Terry Walton's plot begins to feel the first stirrings of spring, and Terry prepares the ground for his parnips

It has been a spring-like week on our hillside allotment in the Rhondda. The sun has been peeping up early from behind the hillside peaks and the plot is basking in this welcome sunshine. The weeks of inactivity have receded and the plot holders' urge to get back on the soil has re-awakened. The sound of gentle banter floats across the allotments and there are eager discussions of what everyone's plans are for the coming season.

The spade work has been done, so it is time to bring the fork out of its slumber to prepare the seed bed for the 'squatter' of the allotment plot. Yes, I am talking about the parsnip! This vegetable spends more time on the allotment than I do - it is sown in early March and if all goes to plan I will be still harvesting them this time next year. I still have a few of last year's parsnips in the ground waiting to be harvested. These long, slender white roots provide tantalising dishes for our dinner plate throughout the miserable months of winter.

To prepare the ground for parsnips, use your fork to break down the soil to a fine tilth and then give it a fine dusting of lime. Leave it a few days to settle down then it is ready to sow. I then bring out my most unusual gardening accessory for this task, a crowbar. Bore a tapered hole and fill it with a mixture of compost and horticultural sand. This gives the perfect medium for those long roots. Sow five seeds per station, cover them with sieved compost and they're off! Modern day parsnip seed do not seem as tough as those of years ago so I cover them with a fleece cloche to create a warmer environment for them. You didn't have to molly coddle parsnips in my father’s day!

For those of you with the benefit of a greenhouse, no matter how small, now is a good time to start off some tomatoes. These need some gentle heat to get them underway. We seem to take great care with these seeds but they are a lot hardier than we give them credit for. Have you ever noticed that in the beer gardens of pubs that sell food those little clumps of germinating seedlings in a corner where some piece of tomato has been cast aside. Look out next time you are enjoying a drink in the open air.

I am sowing the varieties of 'Shirley', 'Ferline' and those cherry beauties - 'Gardener's Delight'. Glancing through seed catalogues these days there seem to be dozens of varieties of tomatoes of all shapes and colours. You can buy the tumbler type that will grow in your hanging basket. There are the large beefsteak varieties that will fill your hand with a single tomato and give that Mediterranean feel to your dishes. Why is it when I grow these they always look grotesque? I will stick to what I know will do well and I could not do without a handful of ripe cherry tomatoes to satisfy my mid-morning hunger in the summertime.

What good news there was for allotment holders last week when the National Trust made some land available for allotment use. This is a great gesture from a notable, respected organisation. There are 100,000 people in Britain currently on waiting lists for allotments. The National Trust will help that drop to 99,000!

I hope this is the catalyst to goad local authorities into action and to work diligently to fulfill the needs of these people. Let all those who wish to join this beautiful way of life achieve that goal. This will help dispel the economic 'blues' and help improve the wellbeing of the nation.

My Life On A Hillside Allotment
The Hillside Allotment by Terry Walton

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.

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