Hilary's allotment today

We’re coming to the end of the season and I thought it would be a nice idea to interview the other people on the allotments as well as friends and family who also grow veg to get a picture of their experiences.

Name: Nick

Age: 63

Family: Wife Bunty and three grown-up children

Job: Retired toolmaker

Lives: Stoke Gabriel, Devon

How long have you been growing your own vegetables?

A long time – about 45 years. I’ve had an allotment for about 11 years and this is the second season on this plot. 

What got you started?

My Dad got us working in the garden when we were children and I’ve been interested in growing veg since then. 

What are your mainstay crops?

Potatoes, onions, leeks and runner beans. 

What are your favourite varieties?

Potato: an early called Foremost

Onion: Kelsae for showing and Sturon for eating

Runner bean: Enorma

Pea: Hurst Greenshaft

Broadbean: Aquadulce 

What’s the most exotic thing you’ve grown?

Melons but they weren’t very successful. 

What have been your successes and failures of the season?

My Kelsae onions grew to an enormous size and the runner beans have been especially good this year. The spring and summer cabbages were destroyed by pigeons and caterpillars. 

Where do you buy your seeds?

I get most of my seeds from Tuckers in Ashburton and show seeds I buy from Robinsons on the internet. 

Do you buy plug plants?

No 

What do you put on the soil/plants to help them grow?

Manure, Growmore and blood, fish and bone. 

What do you do about slugs, birds, butterflies and badgers?

I might use a small amount of slug pellets and net to keep the birds and cabbage white butterflies off. There’s not much you can do about badgers as they’re so strong. 

Do you grow things at home?

Yes, flowers in the garden, runner beans, and tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse. 

What’s in your shed?

Tools, rotavator, strimmer and a gas stove to make coffee. 

What do you wear to work on the allotment?

Jeans and an old sweater. Shoes if it’s dry, wellies if it’s wet. 

Who do you go to the allotment with?

On my own. 

What activity do you find the most satisfying?

Hoeing. 

What’s your favourite tool?

My hoe and my rake. 

Do you sing or whistle while you work?

Whistle. 

What’s your favourite time of year on the allotment?

Spring and early summer. It’s beautiful then and everything’s growing. 

What’s the best thing about having an allotment?

Companionship with like-minded people.  

Did you enter the village horticultural show?

I got a second for my courgettes and onions.

Do you have a gardening hero?

Geoff Hamilton was a great down to earth presenter on Gardener’s World. He could make something out of nothing and he spoke our language. 

Who cooks the food you grow?

What’s your favourite meal?

I like a nice roast dinner with roast potatoes, carrots, cabbage or broadbeans – whatever’s in season. 

Which of your produce to you eat the most of?

Potatoes. 

What do your friends and family think of your allotmenteering?

They wouldn’t say but I think they’re impressed. 

Tell me a funny story.

About 27 years ago Bunty wanted some potatoes for dinner and although they weren’t ready she dug them up anyway. So I wouldn’t find out she stuck the plant back in the ground. I noticed immediately of course as the plant wilted.  

Tea or coffee?                                    Coffee

Strawberries or raspberries?              Strawberries

Raised beds or traditional?                 Traditional

New or main crop potatoes?              New

Runner beans or French beans?         Runner beans

Onions or shallots?                             Onions

Dig or no dig?                                     Dig 

If you could give one piece of advice to a new veg grower what would it be?

Just perservere.  

Nick's allotment today

Nick's shed with an important piece of equipment - the gas stove!

Well, vegswap was on the telly last night – BBC 1 Spotlight (local news in the southwest). I have finally achieved my 15 minutes (ok, 30 seconds) of fame! Sue (vegswap founder) introduced her reasons for starting vegswap; about how she saw her apples fall to the ground and lie there rotting as she didn’t have enough time to deal with them all and how she came up with the idea to swap her apples with produce that other people had an abundance of. I did my ‘gardeners’ world’ bit: walk on nonchalantly, dig up some spring onions and walk off left... I even had a speaking part which brought tears to my eyes when I watched it on the night – do I really talk like that?! Our friend Rebecca talked about being a vegswap ‘swapper’ and how easy it was to use the site. I thought it was a really good piece and all our swappers will now be in the limelight. I hope you’ve polished your apples!

Yesterday I pulled up all of the cacti (ravaged purple sprouting broccoli, sprouts and curly kale) in disgust and dug over the soil so there is nothing to remind me of our failure to cover the plants from the dreaded cabbage white butterfly. I don’t know if it’s too late, but I‘ve seen some baby purple sprouting broccoli plants in our local garden centre which I think I’ll buy and pop in the ground while it’s still fairly warm. There’s nothing to lose except a couple of quid! 

I came home with a huge bunch of tarragon which was just flowering and I’ve put it in the freezer to use over the winter. In the past, I’ve tried freezing herbs like coriander and tarragon in ice cube trays, finely chopped and suspended in a little water but I found it such a hassle. Instead, I put whole bunches in bags and when I want them I just chop off what I need from then solid block of herb. The leaves are so brittle that it chops really easily while it’s still frozen. When you really need fresh herbs it can’t compete but if it’s going into something where it’s mixed in it’s perfect. There’s no losing money in growing herbs though. I reckon that the herb bed has saved us the most money per square metre when you consider the cost of a single sachet of fresh herbs you get in the supermarket. 

I also came home with the first of our winter dumpling squash this weekend. I’ve never tried them before and I had to search the web to find a recipe. First I baked them whole for about 45 minutes before cutting them in half and scooping out the flesh. I then mixed in some crème fraiche and salt and pepper before spooning it back into the skins. I sprinkled over some parmesan and put them back in the oven for about 20 minutes. We had them with lamb chops with a fennel and cream sauce (our fennel, of course!). The lamb was lovely but I wasn’t convinced by the squash. It had quite a strong smell which reminded me of sweetcorn out of a tin and it had a flavour that was much stronger than butternut or crown prince squash. I think I might use stronger spices or herbs next time or put it in something like a thai curry to disguise its taste. Neither of the boys liked it either. Oh well. Being able to try different vegetables is one of the things I like about having an allotment. It really doesn’t matter to me if we grow something, like the winter dumplings, which we then don’t like. At least we’ve tried something new. And as I’m always saying to the boys, you might have to try something you don’t like a hundred times before you discover that you like it!  

The other day, I enjoyed a little wander around the other allotments; no-one else was about. It was a chance to see who’s doing what, to look and learn. Anyway, Chris and Jimmy’s leeks caught my eye and besides, I thought they’d make a good photo. Putting old clay pipes over the leeks must ensure a longer white stem I assume and as that’s the best bit it seems like a neat little trick. We would need miles of clay pipe to cover the number of leeks we have growing so I don’t think we’ll pursue that one. However, another way of getting a slightly longer white stem is to draw the soil up around each plant. I shall make it my next job.   

I’m having a bit of an autumn clear-out at home. It’s the spring clean that I never got around to in the spring because I was too busy on the allotment. There is a growing pile of stuff in the hallway which is destined for the loft. The finale of this exercise will be the clearing out of the loft when everything will come back down again and sit in a big pile in the hallway until I take it to the charity shop/friends/carboot sale. On the weekend I had a similar clear-out on the allotment and sorted out all of the squashes, disentangling one plant from another, unearthing hidden winter dumplings and carting the spent foliage from one end of the allotment to the other where I filled Thomas’s newly constructed compost bin.

Before...

After... (Joseph is not the most enthusiastic about growing veg so he sits with his back to the allotment and reads his football magazines)