A Tale of Two Allotments

It was the best of allotments, it was the worst of allotments; it was a dark, friable loam of Eden, it was a deep, boot-sucking clay; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.

As Dickens might have said if he'd been hanging around like little Dorritt on the waiting lists of various allotment associations for what seemed like the very eternity of time, but I had great expectations. And eventually something turned up. Well two allotments turned up in the same week. I said yes to the first and then the second; you can't say no after waiting so long. I now have one tenth of an acre but be careful what you wish for.

Allotment the First is on a hill, totally overgrown with briars and small ash trees, on what turned out to be deep, unforgiving, boot-sucking clay. But in a fit of desperation I took it on. The digging of beds on this allotment has been hard back-breaking labor. The sowing seed in a properly prepared bed has been quite difficult; the story of my life.

I've put in some crocuses and tulips in a small flower bed. I'm not sure whether they will come up out of what seems to be pure clay.

I have also planted a mixed bed of Sutton Broad Beans, along with two heads worth of White Garlic, and a few rows of onions, with a sprinkling of reds among them.

On the other 3 beds that have been dug so far I have merely sown some field beans as a green manure, they might come up.

Allotment the Second is also on the side of a hill but there the resemblance disappears. at first glance I did not appreciate the difference but the first time I slid the spade into the soil there was a whole world of difference.

On the other allotment you have push the spade through body armor camouflaged as matted couch grass and then push down through the clay and risk a hernia trying to turn a spade's worth of sod. That's if you don't hit a buried plank, iron bar or a medium-sized piece of sheet metal.