LAURIE'S ALLOTMENT by Laurie Lavender

Festive faves

) Now that the winter is upon us, you may think I’ve been sitting on my bottom, binge-watching The Vicar of Dibley and other such delights to be found on streaming TV. Well, I have, but that is beside the point. There is plenty to be getting on with up in the shed and on the plot. It’s a good time to wash out all your pots and have them ready for anything that sprouts early next year. Also, do you need to move anything plantwise? We have just moved all the strawberry plants. It is now a good time to think which crops you want to rotate, it’s always a good idea to keep your potatoes on the move – we had a particularly good crop of pink ones this year.

Pink potatoes

Strawberry plants

We have also planted some more broccoli, cauliflower, cabbages, leeks and garlic in some of the gaps and are expecting a bumper crop of Jerusalem artichokes, which are ideal for lockdown soups etc if you get my drift (I would put in a ‘windy’ emoji here but I don’t think Word does emojis. The clue is in the title I suppose).

Plugging the gaps

I took Tina out in the camper van for a visit to Boxgrove Priory (she thought it was where The Boxgrove Garden came from but was a bit disappointed when I pointed out it was The Beechgrove Garden). Mind you she was even less pleased when she got kicked out of the village hall because the ‘facilities’ were not for the general public, don’t you know! She wreaked revenge in a nearby ditch. She was all for nipping over to Tangmere and commandeering a Spitfire but I took her home for a soothing cup of Darjeeling… anyway, I digress.

Christmas is almost upon us and plants can make a pleasing present for someone who has most things and maybe not a garden. Poinsettias (have you ever asked anyone to spell poinsettia? Go on, ask the person next to you) come in a variety of colours, red being the most popular, but I do like the yellowy-cream ones. Also cyclamen (another spelling bee favourite) come in reds, whites, pinks and mauves. Remember if you either give or receive a cyclamen you must water it from the bottom otherwise you will spoil the foliage. If you are really adventurous you could have a go at making a wreath.

Chrysanthemums

We have also just cut the last of the chrysanthemums, which have been rather fine this year even if I say so myself.

Well I must draw to a close, my thanks to Donald (King Weed) for his weeding thoroughness and help throwing horse manure around the place, and Tina Thyme for photos and helping with the article.

Have a peaceful Christmas and see you in 2021, Laurie x