| Over the Christmas
Holidays of 2002 I decided that I wanted to investigate taking up an allotment. Why? Well, the only answer to that is I wanted to! Joking aside I have
always enjoyed growing things right from having my own patch of a flower boarder as a
child. Having left home, attended and completed University at the age of 25 I was finally
in possession of my own garden. Actually, it was a neglected muddy patch of the house I
was renting with my partner Kyle. I found I simply could not bear to walk past a mud bath
to my front door every day. |
| As it was a rented house
and we were only planning to be there a while (we were looking for a house to buy) I set
about creating a low maintenance, low budget garden. So out came the grass seed.
Several visits to various family members later I had a number of 'free' plants and even
more cuttings. Having had no contact with a garden for years I rediscovered my green
fingers. |
| In February 2002 we bought
our first house. Unfortunately it has quite a small garden and I discovered my partner
prefers lawn to veggies and flowers. We compromised over boarders, planters, hanging
baskets and like. However, at the end of the day I just didn't have enough space. So the
idea of an allotment was arrived at. |
| A phone call to Coventry
City Council produced a phone number for the local allotment contact. This turned out to
be a fax machine and I was to discover later it was 6 years out of date! A quick
search on the internet later and I found the same chap the Council had tried to put me in
touch with. Len Parnell turned out to be a fountain of knowledge concerning the location
of all allotments in the Coventry area and very helpfully identified some nearby to my
home. |
| A second phone call put me in touch with
Simon who manages the allotment at Acacia Grove. I found out there was a plot available
and arranged to go and visit on the next Sunday afternoon. I'll
admit to being a bit worried at this point. Would the plot be a wilderness and too much to
take on? How would they other allotment holders react to a 27 year old woman turning up?
Would people be friendly, will it be safe? |
 |
Sunday was the first bright, sunny,
Winters day for ages. There was even a sprinkling of snow on the ground. Kyle and I
met Simon and were shown the plot and the site . It was plot completely clear and had even
been recently dug. A blank canvass! For only £10 for the year. Within half an hour I was
in possession of an allotment, my own key to the gate, a book on veggie gardening, two
compost bins and access to a shed to keep my stuff in - as well as having the offer of
help and advise and Blackcurrant bushes! |
|
|
Fantastic! |
