The Preoccupied Husband disappeared to London again (working BOTH Saturday and Sunday - tough on all the family but I have a feeling I'm going to have to get used to it) so I introduced the boys to the joys of the Garden Department at our out-of-town B&Q. Number 1 Son was hugely impressed and tried to persuade me to buy a large greenhouse plus a water-barrel. He has very ambitious (and expensive) plans for this allotment. I managed to get out with only a spade, fork, watering can and two small plastic trowels.
We arrived at the site just before midday with me a little nervous at the prospect of actually getting in as I don't yet have my own key for the padlock. Mum had sent me a text earlier which simply said "Don't do any digging or climb over any gates" - a timely reminder that with Number 3 Son due in less than two months this is not the ideal time to either accept or start working on an allotment, even one as small as ours.
Amazingly, just as I was chucking the B&Q purchases, picnic box, blanket, huge bag of plastic toys to keep Number 2 Son occupied etc etc over the larger-than-I-remembered-very-spiky-gate the Co-Holder turned up with her boyfriend and parents plus three enormous sacks of manure. She let us in which was extremely lucky but didn't stop me slighly slumping into a secret strop about having to share the site and wishing I was there on my own with the boys..... I immediately felt like a total cow when she gave me an excellent children's magazine on growing vegetables for the boys, dug her manure onto her patch in approx 10 minutes, and left after handing me her key and explaining that she would be on holiday for the next month so I might as well keep it until I got mine.
So then the boys and I were left for a truly idyllic couple of hours. It was windy but very sunny and we ate our picnic almost immediately looking over the deserted allotments around us. Afterwards I managed to do a huge amount of digging (sorry mum) while Number 1 Son went off on an obscure treasure hunt and Number 2 Son hovered over me looking for worms in each forkful that I dug up and taking them off to a new home in the compost heap. It was only after about 30 minutes that I realised he was actually breaking them in half as he went on the basis that his brother had told him that they re-grew as two worms.... I half-heartedly told him to stop and then reached a vague compromise that he would only break up "the Bad Ones". Awful but it did leave me in peace to dig. Great excitement when we dug up a small potato which he packed into his bag to take home for tea.
All three of us then measured the whole plot and drew a little map of where the beds, paths, shed etc currently are which felt very organising and purposeful. Took some photos, packed up and left just before a massive rain shower.
When we got back I made popcorn, put on "The Incredibles" for the boys and heaved myself into a lovely hot bath. Lay there thinking what a great stage this is with the boys - how much easier, entertaining and more manageable they are. What the hell am I doing having another?
Later we roasted the one small potato. Number 1 Son said it was DEFINITELY poisonous and refused to even try it. Number 2 gobbled it with relish and pronounced it delicious.
After they had gone to bed I lay on the sofa musing about how much I love the allotment. But I then decided that there was a danger that I was using it as a distraction from the mundanity of daily life and that I definitely can't go back to the plot until I have accomplished the following domestic chores:
1. Tidied up (and properly re-organised) the playroom rather than just shutting the door every night on the hideous chaos within.
2. Completed one of my monthly ironing marathons so that I can actually see the bottom of the basket.
3. Found the screws for the cot so that the component parts currently propped up against the wall of the spare room can be assembled.
4. Made a start on sorting out the photos and putting them into albums (last done approx. December 2003).
5. Taken the massive box of books and bag of clothes which I packed up MONTHS AGO to a charity shop.
6. Read the chapter on labour in one pregnancy book, and preferably also something on The First Month.
Tuesday, 10 March 2009
Sunday, 8 March 2009
7th March - First Visit to the Plot
The Preoccupied Husband disappears to meet some coppers and prepare for a big trial starting on Monday. I bundle the boys into the car and collect the Allotment Guru and her very sweet daughter who is a schoolfriend of Son Number 1. We arrive at the site (approx 7 minutes drive from home) and meet the Co-Holder who, on first impressions, seems fine - biker boots, quiet, and already digging on a square patch of weedy earth.
I think the plot looks AWFUL. It's smaller than I expected - scrappy, very overgrown and with random bits of polythene, planks of wood and bricks lying around. Thank God for the Allotment Guru who says that, all things considered, it is actually in excellent condition - slightly south sloping, unshaded, and has two "raised beds" (the first in a possibly endless series of new terms which I am learning) as well as a SHED.
The boys are very excited about it all and they run around shouting and dancing with the Guru's Daughter while I stride through the plot and poke in the shed trying to look purposeful. There are lovely views over rolling Kentish woods and fields and it is hard to believe that we are on the edge of a large town. Actually, it is just what I imagined, despite the shabby state of the plot itself.
The Co-Holder has already decided how to divide the site which, needless to say, is not how I would have done it but is OK. We are both to start with a big square plot of earth and one raised bed each.
We leave and visit one of the Guru's plots on a different site (which is massive, slightly intimidating and clearly much more professional than mine - covered in beautiful plots, greenhouses, sheds, polytunnels, loads of "raised beds"). I can feel myself getting really into the swing of this.
Later, while Son Number 1 is at his second party of the day (six years olds have extraordinary social lives in this part of the world), I take Son Number 2 to an extremely smart garden shop on the old High Street. While he rolls round the floor in the strange ecstacy of a four-year-old I buy a beautiful blank notebook in which to keep a record of allotment activity, write lists, and make plans (it is clearly essential to have appropriate stationary for all aspects of life).
I also buy a packet of sunflower seeds for the boys to plant next time we go to the site but manage to resist the most stunning pair of slim-fitting "Ladies Gardening Gloves". At £22.95 they would certainly not fit into my earnest promise to the Preoccupied Husband that this allotment is going to be the most brilliant money-saving venture.....
I think the plot looks AWFUL. It's smaller than I expected - scrappy, very overgrown and with random bits of polythene, planks of wood and bricks lying around. Thank God for the Allotment Guru who says that, all things considered, it is actually in excellent condition - slightly south sloping, unshaded, and has two "raised beds" (the first in a possibly endless series of new terms which I am learning) as well as a SHED.
The boys are very excited about it all and they run around shouting and dancing with the Guru's Daughter while I stride through the plot and poke in the shed trying to look purposeful. There are lovely views over rolling Kentish woods and fields and it is hard to believe that we are on the edge of a large town. Actually, it is just what I imagined, despite the shabby state of the plot itself.
The Co-Holder has already decided how to divide the site which, needless to say, is not how I would have done it but is OK. We are both to start with a big square plot of earth and one raised bed each.
We leave and visit one of the Guru's plots on a different site (which is massive, slightly intimidating and clearly much more professional than mine - covered in beautiful plots, greenhouses, sheds, polytunnels, loads of "raised beds"). I can feel myself getting really into the swing of this.
Later, while Son Number 1 is at his second party of the day (six years olds have extraordinary social lives in this part of the world), I take Son Number 2 to an extremely smart garden shop on the old High Street. While he rolls round the floor in the strange ecstacy of a four-year-old I buy a beautiful blank notebook in which to keep a record of allotment activity, write lists, and make plans (it is clearly essential to have appropriate stationary for all aspects of life).
I also buy a packet of sunflower seeds for the boys to plant next time we go to the site but manage to resist the most stunning pair of slim-fitting "Ladies Gardening Gloves". At £22.95 they would certainly not fit into my earnest promise to the Preoccupied Husband that this allotment is going to be the most brilliant money-saving venture.....
5th March - To Accept A Plot Or Not
Having been on the allotment waiting list for over a year I get a letter from the local council. Their most recently available plot has been taken by a girl who is keen to share the site - am I interested? I think about this (while forcing vile antibiotics down Son Number 2 who has tonsillitis AGAIN).
Pros Of Sharing An Allotment:
1. Half a plot will mean less work and a less daunting challenge, especially at the beginning.
2. Moral support from someone just as clueless as me.
3. Potential company on the many days when I will be alone on the plot with the boys while the Preoccupied Husband grafts away in his study or in London.
Cons of Sharing An Allotment:
1. I am a control freak in most areas of my life and so am surely going to want to be fully in charge once I get into my stride.
2. One of the main reasons for getting an allotment is to have somewhere for the boys to run around away from our lovely but very overlooked Victorian Terrace and Tiny Courtyard "Garden". This may not go down well with a Co-Holder.
3. What if I hate her?
I telephone my Allotment Guru friend (two plots on two different sites) and ask her advice. She thinks go for it and will come with me to meet my potential Co-Holder on Saturday and to help me check out the site.
I collect Son Number 1 from school and tell him the news which is potentially very stupid if I decide not to go ahead. He is HUGELY excited and announces that he will be In Charge as I have no clue about gardening while he has dug around and planted potatoes with my mother in her garden. This equates to Extensive Horticultural Expertise in his 6-year-old mind.
Pros Of Sharing An Allotment:
1. Half a plot will mean less work and a less daunting challenge, especially at the beginning.
2. Moral support from someone just as clueless as me.
3. Potential company on the many days when I will be alone on the plot with the boys while the Preoccupied Husband grafts away in his study or in London.
Cons of Sharing An Allotment:
1. I am a control freak in most areas of my life and so am surely going to want to be fully in charge once I get into my stride.
2. One of the main reasons for getting an allotment is to have somewhere for the boys to run around away from our lovely but very overlooked Victorian Terrace and Tiny Courtyard "Garden". This may not go down well with a Co-Holder.
3. What if I hate her?
I telephone my Allotment Guru friend (two plots on two different sites) and ask her advice. She thinks go for it and will come with me to meet my potential Co-Holder on Saturday and to help me check out the site.
I collect Son Number 1 from school and tell him the news which is potentially very stupid if I decide not to go ahead. He is HUGELY excited and announces that he will be In Charge as I have no clue about gardening while he has dug around and planted potatoes with my mother in her garden. This equates to Extensive Horticultural Expertise in his 6-year-old mind.
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