February on a South London allotment

Allotments have become very fashionable over the last years as more people want to grow their own food locally. thequietriot.com features life on a South London allotment through the year and the seasons.

[UKPRwire, Thu Feb 26 2009] In the last few weeks London has seen more snow than in the past twenty years, transforming the city into a vast exciting playground! However, we are hoping for a less scenic but longer-lasting effect of the cold! Our main enemies in cultivating the plot are slugs. They can survive winter temperatures by hiding snugly underground and then emerge refreshed in spring to nibble precious seedlings. Warm, wet summers have vastly increased their numbers. However, maybe this year will be different. We are hoping that the cold and depth of snow may have killed some off. Organically!

But now it is February. Our visits to the allotment have been brief and focussed. Had the weight of snow damaged the shed roof, diverted the guttering into our water-butts, split the barrels in which we grow our carrots? (The answer was no in all cases.)

What of our over-wintering Broad Beans and peas, our leeks and precious onions? They all looked rather limp and bedraggled but with warmer weather and the rush of spring we are confident they will pull through. At least no hungry pigeons have found access under the netting and eaten our crops.

However, the birds seemed in good form. Flocks of sparrows zooming between the bushes reminded us that from their point of view we are the interlopers. Clearly they were finding plenty of food from somewhere.

Could we squash any more leek trimmings, onion and banana skins, tea bags into our small compost buckets at home?

When the answer was 'No', then taking it all up to the site and adding it to our big bins has been a smelly task. It's been too cold for much decomposition to take place so as we scrape out each bucket there is a reminder of what we have been eating during the past month! Difficult to believe this slime will become dry, crumbly and (almost) fragrant compost - worth its weight in gold...

The real star of the show at the moment is our Cavolo Nero.
Despite the cold these plants continue to put forth their dark green leaves. Protected from hungry pigeons with a structure of netting and bamboo canes they appear as very healthy specimens in a sort of plant zoo. And we hungry humans eat them in excellent Winter Minestrone Soup! (See 'River Cafe' Blue Book.)

Spring is near. We have decided what we want to grow this year (giving up on squashes...they take up so much room, and sweet-corn...we want more onions). Our potatoes are chitting in the back room at home and we are looking forward to the moment when we cut our first home-grown asparagus spears! No sign of any life there at the moment. But there will be.