Search - Articles

People with allotments always lament the fact that their gardens at home suffer terrible neglect - if only it were possible to serve two masters at once.After years of frowning at my own back garden, I could take it no longer. The whole area

We've just received our letter of renewal on the allotment lease - it always reminds me of how fortunate we are to be able to rent the land for such a small amount of money. Others might not be feeling so content.  At this time of year some plot

We've just been allocated more space on the allotment, so we now have a full sized plot. As well as planting many more spuds - which will keep the 'old man' happy - we can also plant the cutting garden my daughter always wanted. Despite

Where does the old season end and the new one begin? For allotmenteers it can feel like something of a continuum - these days you can buy excellent plug plants of winter lettuce and oriental greens that will take you right through winter, if you haven't got round to planting more...

.I was blissfully unaware of wasps' nests till one summer at the allotment, when I got stung on my bottom (oh the indignity of it all!). On my next visit to the plot I was stung again and on the following visit I received two further stings. It was only then that I

There’s something wonderfully irrational about clearing snow in order to dig up vegetables. One of our Christmas rituals is to leave the wrapping paper behind and take a walk to the allotment on Christmas day to harvest some parsnips. I don’t know

When I first started growing shallots I did so on the advice of Sam, on our allotment (aged 90 he was still tending his plot twice a day). He told me to plant shallots on the shortest day and harvest them on the longest. I'm a bit more haphazard

After buying a plum tree for the allotment, I started to think about other fruit that I have a soft spot for. So I couldn't resist ordering a morello cherry tree.Sour cherries never seem to be available to buy, so I have to rely on the generosity

on the train.Not one to miss an opportunity, I decided this might be a good time to 'share' the management of the whole allotment and make him a co-director. He was thrilled."I don't suppose you want to bother with borlotti beans", I ventured. What followed

blackberries into large colanders.I say all this wistfully, because I still haven't found a good jam-making blackberry that I want to plant on the plot. An allotment friend has kindly given me a rooted cutting of 'Black Butte', but I note from the details