Terry Walton
Last Sunday I was working away in my warm greenhouse when a plaintive cry came from my house announcing that my tea was ready. I had not realised the lateness of the hour as the sun had been shining brightly all afternoon after a cold, frosty start to the day. It was 5.30pm and there was still plenty of daylight on offer and, like all gardeners, I relish those extra hours to be spent in pursuit of this pleasant pastime. The lengthening of the days has crept up on me and it is surprising how quickly these additional minutes of daylight add to each passing day. It renews the spirit to think that spring is getting closer each passing day.
What added further to my happy disposition, while beavering away in the greenhouse, was that I was sowing those crops that signify the height of summer. Yes, I was sowing my aubergines, peppers and, a quick scan of the packet revealed, these crops take approximately twenty to twenty four weeks to provide a harvest. So before these fruits of summer are available to my dinner table it will be July! So here I am preparing for the height of summer and it is still February. These are crops that require all the gardener’s patience, and many months of care, love and attention is needed to provide these exotic fruits. Still, they are worth it.
To offset the long wait for these crops I have also sown salad crops such as lettuce leaves and radish in large pots and these are the rapid growers of the plant kingdom. They will give rewards in six to eight weeks. That's more like it!
My shallots have arrived and these hardy bulbs can be planted out as soon as the conditions are favourable and these will be my first plantings of the new season out on the open plot. They will soon be set out in their well-prepared bed and on their way for a July harvest to provide those jars of pickled onions for my ploughman’s feasts. I hope the playful birds don't pull them up out of the ground mistaking their brown, curly tops for wriggling worms. If they become too much of a nuisance, then a hastily erected net will be their salvation. I keep back six of these bulbs and plant them in six-inch pots in my greenhouse to provide the spring onions to add to those salad leaves and radishes. My first home-picked salad of the year is getting ever nearer.
It is great therapy to see those first shoots appear through the surface of the compost and know that new life is beginning. This is what makes gardening such an uplifting hobby, planting a bulb and then, very soon, seeing green shoots grow into a great vegetable ready for my dinner plate.
I hope that this inspires some of you reading this to give it a go. You don't need a large allotment or garden to be able to enjoy some fresh crops of your own. Start small - just a few pots standing on your kitchen windowsill will provide a tasty snack or two. I am sure that at some time you have purchased a plant or been given one as a present and it has eventually gone to the plant graveyard in the sky. You are left with the empty pot and all you need to do is pop along to your local garden centre and buy a small bag of compost. While there, spend a few minutes browsing the racks and racks of seed holders and imagine yourself growing some of these for your own consumption. Don't get carried away, start small and give it a try. I'm sure once you have tasted the fruits of your own hand you will not be able to stop that growing desire to do more planting. Who knows? This time next year you might be a fully-fledged gardener.
From these humble beginnings the allotment gardener springs and then along comes that desire to be an exhibitor at your local show. The whole world is your garden, so what are you waiting for?
Click here to chat to other allotmenteers on 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. Buy this book at a discount from the Saga Bookshop.