SEED catalogues landing on my doormat are among my favourite items of post.
While some allotmenteers leave buying seeds until the spring, I love to make my choices now, while the memories of what have been good are fresh in my mind. A quick recce of my own plot with notebook in hand is essential. So, too, is a look at what is growing on other plots.
A few weeks ago I visited Oakwell allotments at Linlithgow. Kirsty and her team searched for a suitable site for several years before settling on this piece of ground.
The site slopes gently down to the Union Canal, with boats gliding serenely past and distant views of the Forth Bridges.
It’s not been easy to create a productive allotment out of a field without some hard physical labour. I was intrigued to watch Alison Valentine at work. Her husband had ingeniously taped two forks together to create a longer shaft with better leverage for digging up potatoes.
Not only did I see some traditionally quite difficult vegetables, such as fennel, doing well, but some folk had paid great attention to the appearance of their plots, with gorgeous variations in foliage shapes and colours. I was inspired by a colourful red and green patchwork mosaic of the humble winter staples of cabbage, kale and sprouts.
I have heard some plotholders questioning the need to grow vegetables from seed when young plants can be bought in garden centres. But the deciding factor for me is the wider choice. I have just counted 27 different sorts of cabbage in one popular seed catalogue. While I won’t be ordering all of them, I’ll certainly buy a selection destined to mature throughout the year and make the colourful display which I admired at Oakwell.
I know I am not alone in this addiction. Jim, who has had a plot on my site for much longer than I have, told me he grew seven different varieties of leeks in some years.
I find it’s easy to save seed from many vegetables, ensuring that I can grow the same ones next year and save a bit of money as well. I have got some peas, beans, rocket and mustard drying on newspaper at the moment. When they are dry, I’ll seal them in paper envelopes and store them in a cool place. It’s good to have a few extra to swap with friends.