Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

A wilderness before we took it on

The digging begins

Still life of garden tools

With a year ahead of digging, planting and hopefully reaping, work is now under way in the Tomlinson allotment. But what's going in it, where will it all go and will it be as tasty as ever?

The Tomlinson allotment is now in its third year, and I have to hold my hands up and say that last year wasn't as good as the first. For some reason time seemed to be against us, and when everything was more or less ready to pick, we seemed to be away. This year we aim to be more organised.

We took on our allotment at the start of 2004, when quite simply it was a wilderness, or wild meadow, or poppy field, but certainly not an allotment. It didn't seem that big until the landlord cleared it all away to leave us with a blank canvas, then we saw the enormity of the project ahead.

Much needed rotavating, then the digging

All of sudden we had a huge, enormous plot of land. Undaunted we began.

So the hard work began, and the first year was a huge success, I don't think we bought a bag potatoes for almost a year. The thrill of seeing things start to grow was fantastic, and being able to go into the allotment, pick some potatoes, clean them and eat them as quick as you like was something I'd never experienced before. And beetroot isn't just for pickling as I thought, wash it, clean it, boil it and eat it.....it's now the only way.

That's one bed ready for planting

In that first year we grew virtually everything from potatoes and onions, to sweet corn and redcurrants, and constantly amazed that we'd done it.....well with a bit of help from the good Lord and the weather, but what a feeling of satisfaction. It has to be mentioned at this point that this branch (no pun intended) of the Tomlinson family has always been hopeless at growing things, let alone keeping them alive!

So, what for this year then, well prepare the soil first, we have four large beds so there's plenty of digging to be done, plan where it's all going to go, (yes, we rotate), then start planting.

Where did this interest and enthusiasm for an allotment suddenly come from? The gardening phone-in on a Saturday morning must have sparked things off, and of course the knowledge of Nigel Harrison has been a huge influence, but in the end we've done it, and had great fun in the process,Μύ but we're still learning, so if I turn up with Nigel at a gardening question time or evening, please don't ask me any questions, we leave those for the expert.

Happy digging!!Μύ