MAY 2013

 

Flowers on the Allotment



Amongst our trusty band of allotmenteers there are those who will not grow anything you can't eat.  I don't hold with this theory firstly for practical reasons flowers encourage bees and insects which we need to pollinate the vegetables and I need my plot to be aethestically pleasing as well as productive. 

 

I come from a family of allotment gardeners, my father and both my grandfathers had allotments and all grew flowers.  Firstly dahlias are the top of the list, you don't need many plants to give a wonderful show for many weeks towards the end of the season.  I love pinks and purples but also have some zingy yellows and contrasting whites.  They take their place at the top of the plot behind the rhubarb.

 

Annual Dahlia Display

The next allotment essential flowers are sweetpeas, each year I grow different varieties from seed on wigwams.  This year I had enough for three wigwams, two for all blue and one mixed.  Some years the sweetpeas are infested with a small black beetle which nestle deep inside the bloom.  This makes bringing them indoors impossible as they will quickly cover every surface - this year was one such year.  Sweetpeas must be picked regularly to keep them flowering otherwise they will sulk and simply stop. The only solution therefore, as I don't use any kind of chemical spray, is to pick and place them in robust jugs or vases and put on a garden table.  You can admire them from your window and enjoy their wonderfut perfume when having a well earned cuppa in the garden.  Eventually the beetles will disappear and the blooms can be brought indoors as normal.

 

 

Each year I am compelled to plant nasturiums, they do tend to seed themselves and so if you plant them in a different place each year they will continue to give you some plants.  I don't really know why I grow them, I don't put them in salads etc., but I do love their colours - so vibrant.

 

 

 

 

 

 No allotment would be complete without a few marigolds they are meant to chase away carrot fly etc., but even if they don't they are very attractive and again lure the lovely bees. 

Perhaps the two ultimate bee attracters however are the lavenders and a large clump of michaelmas daisy, this was given to me by a very dear lady, Norma, who was the best gardener I have ever met.  Norma died suddenly last year and she is sadly missed by all of us who have worked our allotments for some years.  She was there almost every day and sometimes twice, she had green fingers, everything flourished under her tender care but she was always very modest about her produce and ready to give away cuttings, plants and seedlings.  Her spirit lives on through her generosity and the plants she loved so much.

The lavenders are so valuable in many respects, they attract the bees of course, they look beautiful, they provide ingredients for baking, dried they give up their perfume for many months. Well worth giving them a little space, perhaps to provide a divider between beds. Recent research shows that lavender is right up there for bee activity and anything that can help our bee population has got to be good.





 




 

 

 

 So the year progresses, the soil is still cool, several sewings of parsnips have produced only a very few plants.  Fellow plotter, Ron, always starts his parsnips on damp kitchen paper in the airing cupboard and transfers them when they send out the first shoot.  Sadly I can't get that to work for me and I nurture the few plants I have to give me parsnips for Christmas dinner.  The potatoes on the other hand are beginning to push through the soil, the Sarpo varieties are lagging behind a little, everything else is much later than usual.  The second batch of runner beans are well away and can be planted now the threat of frost has finally passed. 

Then there are the carrots, I am now on my fourth sewing, still nothing, I am convinced the soil is too cold and we haven't had enough sunshine.  I will give it one more go and then give up for this year, this isn't the first year they have been difficult to grow, having overcome the dreaded carrot root fly by using very fine mesh netting, the challenge is to get them to germinate at all!!

On a more positive note, the strawberries are doing really well, lush and green with lots of flower buds. Just can't wait for the taste of those first delicious berries.