Hilary and Ian were our first neighbours when we moved into the village 8 years ago. They are still neighbours as Hilary has an allotment next to ours.
Name: Hilary
Age: 51
Family: Husband Ian and two grown-up children who live at home
Job: Housekeeper for a holiday cottage
Lives: Stoke Gabriel, Devon
How long have you been growing your own vegetables? I’ve been growing vegetables in my garden for about 25 years and this is the second year I’ve had an allotment.
What got you started? My parents always grew vegetables in their back garden and my granddad had an allotment too. I guess I just grew up with it.
What are your mainstay crops? Raspberries, redcurrants and gooseberries for fruit and French beans, cabbage, sweetcorn, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, leeks, onions, carrots and purple sprouting broccoli for vegetables.
What are your favourite varieties?
Potato: Lady Crystal
Onion: Sturon
Sweetcorn: Sundance
Leeks: Musselburgh
Lettuce: Little Gem
What’s the most exotic thing you’ve grown? Asparagus and Borlotti beans
What have been your successes and failures of the season? The sweetcorn, asparagus and raspberries have been very good this year. I planted a climbing squash called Twongo but it never really got going and has only just started to fruit which I think is probably too late.
Where do you buy your seeds? Suttons or Tuckers.
Do you buy plug plants? No
What do you put on the soil/plants to help them grow? Compost, manure, pelletted chicken manure and comfrey solution.
What do you do about slugs, birds, butterflies and badgers? If the slugs were really bad I’d use a few slug pellets. Caterpillars I pick off by hand. Netting can keep the birds off and I protected my carrot bed from badgers by nailing down enviromesh and then covered that with netting as badgers don’t seem to like getting their claws stuck in net.
Do you grow things at home? I grow tomatoes at home as they need watering every day and herbs.
What’s in your shed? I’m not telling you that!
What’s your best freebie? My café table and chairs that I saved from a skip.
What do you wear to work on the allotment? I keep a few old t-shirts and an old jumper for use on the allotment and then I’ll wear a pair of lightweight trousers.
Who do you go to the allotment with? On my own.
What activity do you find the most satisfying? Weeding.
What’s your favourite tool? Fork
Do you sing or whistle while you work? No.
What’s your favourite time of year on the allotment? July and August when there’s just so much to pick.
What’s the best thing about having an allotment? To produce good natural food that you know hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals. It’s a great reward for your hard labour.
Do you have a gardening hero? Geoff Hamilton - he really got me into growing veg when he was on Gardeners World. Also Alan Titchmarsh – he’s a passionate, real hands-on gardener and he’s very happy to pass on lots of gardening tips.
Who cooks the food you grow? Me.
What’s your favourite meal? You can’t beat freshly picked asparagus, steamed and served with some melted butter and a sprinkling of seasalt.
Which of your produce to you eat the most of? Carrots.
What do your friends and family think of your allotmenteering? They think it’s a good effort and they enjoy eating the results.
Did you enter the village horticultural show? I got a first for my raspberries, seconds for my onions, beetroot, lettuce and borlotti beans and a third for the ‘housewife’s basket.
Tell me a funny story. Maggie had installed a scarecrow that was sat in a chair on the edge of her allotment. My husband was wandering between the allotments, seeing who was doing what, and found himself with the need to let off some excess wind. As he did so he caught sight of someone behind him, turned around and apologised to the scarecrow!
Tea or coffee? Depends on morning or afternoon
Strawberries or raspberries? Raspberries
Raised beds or traditional? Raised
New or main crop potatoes? New
Runner beans or French beans? French 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? Look after your soil. Dig deep to start and then add plenty of manure or compost. Try raised beds: they require less digging, they're easier to look after and they warm up quicker so you can sow earlier. Also, by not walking on them you won't compress the soil so you'll get better results.