Tales from the allotment shed.

Evening All,
This is for both the new to having an allotment "But also for those who are on that long list just waiting for that letter saying your next.

I know whats it like to be on one of those list and i thought i'd change the format a little to give such waiting people an insight to another side of allotment life, So lets get started.

Allotment life is'nt like having a garden as part of your house, The allotment is a place that you cant really hide and by this i mean you've people all around you and this can be a good thing.
When i had my allotment I'd go to the plot every evening from about 6pm until around 9pm in the summer and all day saturday & sunday.

Now i wouldnt always see a lot of the members as the retired ones would have gone home before i arrived so some plots i'd only see but not the people who'd looked after them.

After a few years of having your allotment you become wise as to whats happening with verious plots ie if the winter was a bad one and the winter stayed late & well into spring, mother nature would leave her mark ref the plots not being ready for the start of sowing /planting ect,

The aged members would find it very hard to get their plots back to the way they'd liked them tobe and in a lot of cases this was the sign that the aged members had called it a day and that plot would be just a mass of weeds in no time.

Well this one evening i'd arrived at my plot and as i parked my trusty old push bike behind the shed I could see this little blond mop of hair, it was a little girl kneeling down and talking to my rhubarb plant,

Hello, I said and whats your name?
She turned her head to face me and i could see this little girl was a down syndrome child,
"EMMA" she said, And this flower is stuck in this big pot,

(It was my rhubarb and it was sticking out the top of a chimney pot i used to force the plant)

"No" I said it lives in that pot,
Are you helping your daddy to garden "Emma"
No, She was now stood up with her hands on her waist smiling a smile that was worth a million pounds,

Oh i am sorry, Ive looked all over the place for her! " This was Emma's mum,
A charlie dimmock look a like, Oh im sorry "again" she continued to say,

Im Pam, "Emma's mum we've just taken over plot 114, that one 3 down from this one, "the one with the weeds on it.

Emma was still standing with her hands on her waist when she said to her mum "I like him mum"

As they we're about to go I said ive got something for you "Emma" and i went into the shed, i had an old tea caddy i kept my own taget seeds in,
and i gave "Emma" a load of these seeds and i said sow them in the ground and check them every day and they'll grow to big nice flowers,

She was made up and "Pam" said come on we'll plant them tonight and off they went to their plot.

Saturday was the next day and i was on the plot by 9am and the tea pot and toasty we're all set up and that smell of bacon can only ever smell like it did on the allotment or when as a lad i went camping, (It must be something to do with the outdoors and being happy)

I could see pam & Emma just arriving and as they waved i thought why not offer a cuppa & a nice toasty,

Emma was more intersted in her seeds and so after giving her her toasty she ran back to her seeds, "Pam " & i had a chat about gardening and she was very keen to grow her own veg she said i better go and see what emma was up too,
Emma had dug the seeds out that we're only sown yesterday evening to check to see if they we're growing O.K.?

As the years went by i got to know Pam and Emma verywell and just about everyone on the allotment park all knew "Emma" and like her for what she was a really nice friendly person who we never saw sad.

This is another side to allotment life, It's not all plants and manure but if your lucky you'll meet some real people from all walks of life.

Pam was the first lady we had on our allotments "but" more ladies we're to come, You could always tell a ladies shed as it was tidy and sometimes it had nice net curtains.

So be ready for a place that you not only grow veg ect but growing friendships also comes with the allotment.

 

Oh, thats done it, i'm off to cry now

 

moonraker that is a lovely story :D

 

Tonights will have you in more tears

Hi Ziggy,
Some more of the same ref people i once shared my hobby with
Do you like ice cream??? CLUE

 

Im pleased you liked it,
As im trying to say, allotments are more than just growing veg