A Gardener’s Diary: January
By Jean Charlton
John Moore loved to observe and record the changes in his garden and the surrounding countryside, from the arrival of birds in Spring to the falling of leaves in Autumn. One of our volunteers, Jean, is following his example to chronicle the highs and lows of being a gardener on lucky allotment plot 13!
The 2nd of January dawned and on opening the blinds it was not raining! After the last two months when it had seemed to rain almost every day, this was a bonus. The decision was made to visit our allotment plot straight after breakfast as we had not been for about two and a half weeks – a long time for us – but the ground has been so saturated it was almost impossible to walk on it.
Arriving at our plot, we were pleasantly surprised, the sun could be seen in a watery grey sky, the clouds were lifting, there was a light breeze and it was fresh, but not cold. The sheep in the surrounding fields had been moved as there was still floodwater in the fields, but a robin was singing in the hedge behind our plot, giving hope that Spring is not really very far away.
Trying not to walk on the muddy and saturated ground, I could see that the garlic bulbs I had planted in September were doing well and giving many green shoots. The onions planted at the start of December seemed to have completely disappeared. I had taken a risk by planting so late in the year, and they seemed to have been sucked underground with all the rain pounding on them, or perhaps the many voles that live in the compost heap decided they would make a tasty addition to their diet!
A good visit and one that left us thinking of Spring, green shoots and future plans!
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