Lisa 1, Weeds 0

I have recently been inspired by blogs written by people who love food. Some of my fellow bloggers not only buy food locally and create lovely dishes with it - but they take that a step further by having an allotment to grow their own food too.   I now have enough time to grow some food, but I don't have the know-how or a big enough garden.  The automatic answer would be to get an allotment, but there are a number of problems with that: the plots are usually quite big, there is a waiting list, and I don't know very much about growing.  While mulling over the dilemma I recalled a TV programme with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall about land share.  This brought together people who wanted land and those who had too much in an online register.
I have a lovely friend who is in his 90's that I met at a local luncheon club.  Dougy has a small veg plot at the bottom of his garden, which he has 'let go' over the last couple of years.  I approached him carefully to ask about me taking on his plot.  Thankfully he was thrilled.  We met the day after to talk about the technicalities such as tool storage and what we would like to grow. 

What I saw was perfect:  It is a lot smaller than an allotment, is a 5 minute bike ride from my house, there is no locked gate for me to negotiate and Dougy is happy for me to use his tools.  There is a small plastic green house and Dougy can use his neighbours glass one too.  There is an apple tree, several established rhubarb plants and a row of raspberry canes.  The biggest bonus is that Dougy knows how to grow things, so it is a perfect start for me.
After watching the forecast carefully, I established that yesterday was the only dry day of the week, and set off in the sunshine to negotiate the detritus left by the storm.  My aim was to begin digging over the beds.  I was dreading this because the beds are completely covered in weeds.  My fears were unfounded, thankfully.  The soil is so good, that as I turned it over the weeds just came out with a quick shake.  An hour later and my back was beginning to make its presence known and I had dug enough to be content with making a good start. 

 

I am conscious that Dougy is a vulnerable man, and I don't want him to feel pressured in any way.  It is important for him to feel that he benefits too, so I set about removing some of the moss that had developed on the path.  Each time I come I will try to do something for the allotment and something for Dougy.  I have to admit that we both like whisky, so on some of my visits that may mean consuming the odd dram together while surveying my work...but then what could be a nicer way of repaying a man in 90's living alone, than by giving him the simple gift of friendship?

 

Lisa Reid