Guilt and asbestos

Kate...

Allotment neglect is quite possibly up there on a par, guilt-wise, with forgetting an elderly relative's birthday.

This week has been a bit of a busy one for me on the work front, so despite my best intentions, I hadn't managed to make it up to St Ann's until today since last Tuesday evening, when I gave everything a quick once over and scarpered off again.

What a difference a few days has made. I feel like I’ve seriously missed out. For a start, the allotment fairies had been again (aka Jim and Katy) who indulged in a bit of post-Glasto r & r by planting some purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages and thinning out and re-planting some leeks and carrots. Despite being the bane of my sartorial life (tights or no tights? Rain mac or t-shirt? Sandals or waders?), the intermittent rain and sun, rain and sun, sun and rain seems to have made our veg very happy indeed.

The radishes and potatoes are pretty much ready to start chomping on and some pea pods are looking close to ready. The carrot tops are looking decidedly bushier and I'm dying to start eating the onions.

I'm getting a bit obsessive compulsive about weeding and want each and every one of them gone. I did another couple of rows today, before I was rained off.

Rather worryingly, it seems that our rather dilapidated shed is part asbestos, which means that we can't tear it down. Getting it professionally removed would cost some serious dosh and neither we nor the nice people who work at the allotments can afford it. So, I think we're going to make the best of the shed as it is, perhaps patch it up a bit and give it a lick of paint and then construct a new shed next door.

We were very chuffed when we were told that the land is looking the best it’s been for over five years by the allotment worker. It’s good to know we’re doing something right! My new friend ‘Don, don the can can man’ as he introduced himself – a veteran of St Anns Allotments and knows everything about everything – has told me that he’s been keeping an eye on our progress and that he’s pretty impressed, so that’s all good news. He said that in two or three years, we’ll have it all sorted out and looking spick and span too.

If Don says we’re doing alright, we must be on the right path! Although, we did give him some barrels for his thyme growing activities, so he does owe us.