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http://growourown.blogspot.com/

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Take it away Carrie…

For all intents and purposes I am a failure. I don’t work, I don’t study anymore, I can barely go out the door alone and I can’t think straight a lot of the time. I have chronic depression, an acute anxiety disorder and severe, crippling panic attacks. My days go by as a sort of blur; I wash, read, write my blog, do some housework if I can and basically sit with my dog in the living room, alone. I am lonely and contradictorily, I feel better when there’s no one around. I take a good amount of prescription drugs which leave me very tired all the time and to me my future is seen through the cataracts of disillusionment and there is only a distant haze of pale light.

It all started back when I was 6, well that’s the first time I can remember trying to explain how ill I felt all the time but not with a sore tummy, it was in my head. Really it wasn’t until I was 19 at university that it all went pear shaped and I had the first of many nervous break downs that have continued regularly over the past 10 years.

I have gone through 2 psychiatrists, 1 psychotherapist, 1 round of CBT, occupational therapy, art therapy, and psychology oh, and a fling with hypnotherapy too! Nothing has ever really helped and any help I did receive was very short lived, often ending in me back at the same point as I started or indeed in a worse state. I have lost friends and family over the complex nature of my illness and needless to say, my self-esteem is far from normal.

On the other hand I have a husband, the absolute love of my life and someone who has saved that life a few times in the past and continues to keep me on this mortal coil with his never ending love and support. I was through this exceptional man that I came to allotmenteering. There is a painful duality to love; I feel he deserves much better than me and thus I think about suicide, but then adore him and don’t want to ever be without him.

My husband began a healthy interest in gardening when we moved into our house together six years ago. He wanted to make something of the house and gardens which were in a bit of a state to say the least. I had grown up with an intense dislike for all things gardening and on top of that I was very uncomfortable being outside; our gardens being over looked by many other houses. Growing up I had been forced into weeding and tidying up like most children and I hated it! It always seemed that my free time watching TV was when my parents thought it was prefect to get some work done. So I left Andrew to it, apart from all the destruction part which I loved, he made the garden what it is today.

Just over a year ago, in April 2008, I read that our local council was going to allocate some land for allotment gardens. There was a deadline for applications and the talk was they would go fast, I think there were only 36 available at the beginning. It was such a joyous moment running out and telling the Hubby about it and within a few days we were the proud owners of a half plot of land at Beltoy Road’s Eden Allotment Gardens. We were the first to dig a sod and like an eejit I was taking photos of ‘our grass’ and ‘our soil’, even ‘our weeds’.

Of course I wanted to help. I thought it would be good exercise and I love digging and making holes, making an ultimately constructive mess in fact pleases me. I had no idea what the allotment would end up meaning to me, to us both. It has quite literally saved my life.

Ecotherapy was something I had never heard of, but once we started digging beds on our plot we joined the BBC gardening forum and someone mentioned it in passing. She hoped that, knowing my situation, the project would have a positive effect on my health. I had heard years ago that gardening was good occupational therapy for people with learning difficulties and I in fact volunteered at an urban farm which had been set up for that reason. I also remember hearing something about Mr Monty Don feeling better about life in the depths of winter when he thought about his garden and planning a new season. But for me, no, growing stuff was just something I’d do because my hubby wanted to and was so enthusiastic about. Little did I know….

As a couple we didn’t really do much I guess, once we had the house sorted out; my acute anxiety puts things to one side a lot of the time and we haven’t socialised nearly as much as the average young couple over the past years. Our 20 somethings are on the way out at an alarming rate (Andrew is 30 this month and I too hit that milestone in August). We haven’t any children, nor thought thereof and though we have a dog, I feel that our life together needed something bigger to focus on ~ turns out the answer found us!

There are so many aspects to allotmenteering. Of course there is the growing of food and flowers but what about all the planning that goes into that? In some ways that can be the most exciting part ~ deciding out of all the 100s of varieties of vegetable and fruits which ones you are going to grow, what your soil will grow best and of course the allotmenter’s way – how you can get these things at the best price? Really, the allotment year brings hope to the dark days of winter, as all you can think about is ordering seeds and going round nurseries looking for bargains in the rain. It’s at these times I am glad that most nurseries in Northern Ireland have the tacky household shops and a cafe attached – I swear, in winter a coffee and big bun are the best things on this earth sometimes.

Then you get to become a (not necessarily very responsible) parent to hundreds of seedlings. They’re all over your house, on every window sill and in mini greenhouses in the garden. Okay, you may lose your dining room to the consistent need to be propagating but watching that dried up dead little bit of nothing slowly emerge as a tiny peck of green is a joyous occasion. It’s addictive and exciting and even in the midst of depression seeing new life and new hope is a strong antidote, even for a moment (and really, don’t we all live for the little moments?)

There’s something about seedlings, they want to grow and hence you see progress daily, on a particularly good day, sometimes it feels like every time you look at it, it’s gotten bigger. Plus, it isn’t a life and death situation, if it goes wrong you plant another seed and within days, hoorah! another new life. It’s even better when they get in the ground (you may need an Andrew type figure here, to work out the dynamics of crop placement and rotation etc) and they really thank you for that well prepared soil, rich in their favourite foods and with the full freedom to romp away. There’s even satisfaction to be found in locating ‘the enemies’ (slugs, snails, aphids etc) and engaging in battle to save your precious crops. I warn you, a severe, all encompassing hatred for other creatures eating your food stuffs will occur at this time. Embrace it ~ you’re an allotmenteer now, a mini farmer. It is your duty to protect and kill without guilt or fear of retribution (the only occasion were this is permissible, nay, encouraged!).

Now we reach the best part of the whole adventure – harvesting. Hopefully there will have been a fair amount of rain and beautiful long days of sunshine and your crops are heavy with produce. I remember visiting my grandfather as a young child and witnessing the harvest of potatoes for dinner. Oh, my goodness, I was amazed that these spuds were hiding there under the soil all that time and I didn’t know about it. I’ll tell you, it was like sharing a special magical secret with the man I thought the world revolved around, and my, those potatoes were wonderful. I think that short time in the garden with him that day is one of my happiest memories. (Already ecotherapy had played a role in my life).

Eating food you have grown yourself and which is actually picked ripe, not covered in pesticides and not jetlagged from a trip of thousands of miles wrapped in cellophane, is a whole new experience. Things you thought you knew the taste of suddenly change into something that is bursting with flavour, it is hard to believe you are eating the same vegetable. Oh, and fruit, especially soft fruits picked from the stem and popped straight in to your mouth with the heat of the sun still present, I can’t describe it; a tingle of joy right on the tongue.

And that’s not all, sharing your produce and hearing all the wonderful comments, the praise and the thanks is a medicine for the soul in itself. To give is better than to receive, they say, well I don’t know about that, but it is nice.

Then comes the composting of old plants and that delicious circle of life and death and life, what you lift becomes the very same food stuff that makes next year’s harvest taste so darn good. What is not to love about recycling and composting ~ it’s simple, doesn’t cost anything and yet the rewards are priceless; the only other thing in this world I can think of that is even like that is love and it’s full of pain and uncertainty!

It took a year for me to get the courage to plant seeds myself, look after them and plant them out. I thought I would be terrible at it and everything would die, I had no self-esteem what so ever (it’s still extremely poor) but I have noticed a little build up, miniscule maybe in the grand scale of things but, darn it, it’s there!

Of course everything is not made perfect by being on the allotment. I’ve been there many a time and thought of killing myself; I am not joking. I was once going to ram the garden shears in under my rib cage, I was talking nonsense and shaking uncontrollably; Andrew took me home. I was medicated and slept the majority of the day. You probably don’t want to know that but I think it’s important to tell you ~ ecotherapy is not a panacea. Sometimes it can make you feel worse, even on your usual tablets (if you are taking some) and even though you want to be there ~ this cancer of the soul is sometimes stronger. It rips away the only pleasures you have in life and turns them into spiteful enemies. I was scared of every other person down there, I didn’t deserve to be there and I was an embarrassment to my husband.I was a mess. Luckily I didn’t do anything stupid and was back the following day. I had a great day, the allotment helped immensely. I spoke to friends and I took photos, the sun was shining and there was barely a breeze. It was a joy to see growth all round me, to hear petrol mowers and kids laughing, feel the sun on my face and arms and smell the grass, the barbecues, and Maggie’s little warm body.

Hope: it’s an intangible thing but the greatest ally when it visits, even for one sunny afternoon.

Yes, I said ‘I spoke to friends’, on an allotment site it is really rather hard not to have some! Everyone is there with the same goals in mind and we are all learning together. It’s hard not to want to show off when something is growing particularly well on your plot and no one else’s (for some odd reason that you have no clue about but take the praise for it anyway) or indeed to find out where so and so got their very nice and healthy fruit bushes from but “they weren’t dear at all”. There is a lot of support and encouragement to be found and everyone has that plonk-it-in-and-see-what-happens ethos, which can result in surprising rewards.

On the other hand you maybe don’t have an allotment or indeed want one, but your garden, your balcony or that sunny windowsill in your home could equally be a haven. The plants don’t require you to be social, they don’t need to be talked to and they don’t (usually) start conversations with you when you don’t feel like it. Always, understand ~ it is on your terms; some days I can’t get the basics done, I can’t find the strength to get washed and dressed and engage in the world, as much as that upsets me I have to deal with it and hope the next day is better. When those days do come around again, more likely than not the allotment (in my case) helps me to feel purposeful and connected to the world. Still, if fragile, I don’t talk to anyone if I don’t feel like it and have found music headphones and a quick smile does the job.

It stretches even further than that with friends found on the internet through gardening forums and other blogs. You become part of a large international community whilst still being able to sit with your hair all scruffy and the housework piled high around you. It truly can be a haven, a way to feel less lonely but without pressure to perform for anyone.

Lastly, the main joy I get from ecotherapy is an ability to express myself through my plots, my photography and my blog. I find that a lot easier than talking to someone and trying to explain my feelings. I can see the progress I’ve made right in front of me, that way; see just how far I’ve come. It’s rather like art therapy or creative writing, both therapies of which I am very happy to recommend. Plus I have a terrible stutter when I’m nervous but you wouldn’t know that if I hadn’t told you because here, writing, I can be me, unhindered, free.

I don’t know you, but I would imagine that there are plenty of times when you feel like a failure, like what you do isn’t good enough. We can’t all be brain surgeons or find the cure for cancer, there are only a very few people in the world who can. But we can all grow something from a seed, put it in the ground, make sure it gets water and sunlight and we can all grow. We can all tend to another life and by doing so, tend to our own.

So yes I don’t work, study, have children or keep the best home; tidy and clean with dinner on the table every night for the hubby.I am disabled, both mentally and physically. It pains me immensely to write that, to even admit it to myself, never mind anyone else.But.I have abilities too. I love my husband more than words can say; I care greatly for my friends, family and fellow man. I am passionate, empathic, and sympathetic, keep trusted secrets and always try my best.These things have no economic value therefore I believe they are not taken seriously. I certainly forget to list them in any description of myself (which are totally negative). But, surely they have meaning and are worth something - right? Surely I then have worth too?

Mindfulness is something I am trying to practice and looking back on the past months, I have fragmented it into moments, not minutes and hours. It makes the time seem longer (the bad parts and the good) but the outcome of this ~ I have lived, I have grown. And I believe it was because I was in touch with nature, in touch with life itself.

Here is your alternative!

Simply go the the home page of the I Dig Allotments site and type in your postcode to find a relevant space near you.  When you have found an allotment in Walsall simply sign up or contact the team and we will put you in touch with the land owner and get you digging as soon as possible.

If you have a garden or outdoor space someone can use to grow an allotment and you would like to earn £250 per year contact one of the team today!

Good luck finding your dream allotment site!

Here is your alternative!

Simply go the the home page of the I Dig Allotments site and type in your postcode to find a relevant space near you.  When you have found an allotment in Wolverhampton simply sign up or contact the team and we will put you in touch with the land owner and get you digging as soon as possible.

If you have a garden or outdoor space someone can use to grow an allotment and you would like to earn £250 per year contact one of the team today!

Good luck finding your dream allotment site!

What a’ good ‘exercise consists of is a matter of perspective. For people who have spent a life of low level of physical activity, any sort of activity is beneficial. Gardening can also be a good therapy in recovering from illness especially for the elderly. It also helps in calming your nerves and remaining mentally healthy.

Gardening gives our body all-round fitness. Many changes have taken place in the fitness industry in the past years. Some years ago people went to gym for specific reasons to build muscles or for aerobic exercises for heart. But these exercises are found to be not very effective. Nowadays most of the trainers suggest compound exercises and regularly changing routines so that the body can encounter different situations and get a comprehensive toning up. Large muscle exercises make the heart work hard increasing metabolic rates, favouring muscle growth and burning the fat present in the body.

Gardening is very much similar to the modern fitness program. In the modern fitness programs we can see exercise involving squats, deadlift (lifting from the ground), lunges (stepping forward while carrying something), push, pull and twists. Gardening involves the same motions in digging the soil, lifting the plants, carrying and removing the unwanted plants and this involves all the parts of the body leading to a complete workout.

Undue intensity of gardening could, however, lead to injuries when people suddenly get active in summer in their gardens after long periods of winter inactivity. Many of the clinics report a lot of patients coming with such injuries at the onset of summer. Some common injuries suffered by the gardener are to back, the wrist and pruner’s neck while removing the weeds. It is advisable to start with light exercises.

Gardening can be a good exercise if we take adequate precautions. If the gardener has a large plot he would have to tend to it irrespective of the season over a period of time which may give him health advantages. However, the one that takes up strenuous digging of a whole plot in one day is likely to have more chance of injury and less work to do in maintaining it, leading to lesser exercise.

If we don’t exercise regularly we would suffer from back and neck strain as most of us are regularly in front of the computer. A good exercise option is gardening. Gardening over a many weeks during the spring season and moving compost into new raised beds could be a good exercise, leaving the rest of the year to remove the weeds. Gardening is not only good for the body and spirits but the present day world of sedentary habits, when the table work needs to be balanced with good all round exercise.

Let me know if you think being in the garden is exercise below…

Growing salad is more popular in summer than in winter. Using similar methods with a few changes salad can be grown in the garden throughout the year. Texsel greens and salad burnet are crops that you may like to experiment with in winter. A few seeds sown every month will ensure a continuous supply of delicious salad.

The effective way for growing winter salad is to have a good drainage system which will protect the seedlings from freezing if left in standing water. Seedlings need protection in winter from cold breeze by selecting an appropriate sunny location.

Preparing the soil: Soil preparation is done by digging at a sheltered sunny spot and mixing with manure or garden compost to add nutrients and enable the soil to hold moisture. Another option is to use a window box or pot and mix the potting compost and John Innes.

Sowing process: August and mid-November is the recommended sowing period which will give a good continuous yield. Sowing is done in shallow rows after which the area is covered with soil, label and water. Care should be taken to cover the seeds with the cloche or fleece if it is likely to be cold at night.

Caring: The soil may be kept slightly moist especially for winter salad to protect the seedlings from a likely frost.

Harvesting: The leaves are picked from lettuces when the plants are about 5 cms tall. Alternately, plants could grow to about 15cms in height and the whole head cut off leaving an inch portion from which a new plant will sprout.

Growing: Sometimes slightly bitter, winter salads have a strong flavour. If too bitter, the plants may be covered by any inverted flower pot to lighten the colour and flavour.

Try these:

The hardy summer lettuces are a good choice to be grown in winter. Some of them are:
Artic King, a light green, crunchy and hardy lettuce is best sown by mid-September. If later, it will require to be sown under glass.

Lettuce Valdor is light green and hardy. It is sown in September and October and picked after two and a half to three months later.

Texsel Greens, known as Ethopian greens, can be sown by the end of October. If later, it will require to be sown under glass. The plant taste is the same as that of spinach and can be utilized in the same manner.

Endive CanCan is a fragile lettuce which can endure outside in the mild winters and requires protection in chilly climate.

It is best to sow the seed, Radicchio ‘Treviso Precoce Mesola in autumn which will help generate maroon leaves without any hint of the bitter taste from the radicchio.

Hardy, green and delicious salad leaf, Winter Puslane is good to be sown in August and September for salad all through the winter.

Golden Purslane is the captivating member of winter purslane. Its red stems stand out beside the golden leaves which will brighten up a salad plate.

Salad Burnet leaves tastes like cucumber and is a fine salads. Regularly harvesting is needed for a stable supply of leaves.

Corn Salad which is also known as Lamb’s lettuce has a slow augmentation process therefore it requires early plantation of seeds.

Land cress is an alternative for watercress. The plant can be picked after two months from sowing. It needs to be covered with cloche or fleecing when it gets cold as it is affected by frost.

Mesh fabrics are useful for protection of the plants unless they are parsnip and sprout which improve with frosting. Normally crops are tastier and have better growth if well protected from the frosty weather.
Poly tunnels can be set up easily using children’s hoops cut in half or old hose pipe for structure and netting or polyethylene for cover. Half hoops may be stuck in the ground in the north south direction to serve as arches. The ends of netting or polyethylene used to cover can be gathered and tied into a knot and secured to sticks driven into the soil. The sides could be held down in position using heavy stones. If you don’t want to do all this, you can also purchase these tunnels.

Bubble wrap makes good insulating material for insulating the cold frame or the greenhouse. Old plastic bottles with bottoms cut off do as cloches for smaller plants. Even old CD cases could be glued together to make a mini greenhouse. Hanging basket cases covered with polyethylene also work for small plants. Newspapers and old blankets can be used to cover the crops on a particularly icy night to be removed in the day for sunlight.

It is a good idea to lag downpipes from the shed to the water butt, cut down globe artichokes and pack straw around them,  net brassicas to protect from  pigeons. Curds of cauliflowers can be protected by tying the leaves over them.

Mint and chives could be dug up and grown in containers in the house or in the cold greenhouse. Parsley, winter savory and chervil can be covered with cloches. A ball in the pond prevents it from freezing.  Yellowing leaves should be removed from brassicas to prevent disease. Growing it on polystyrene used for packing can insulate the winter saladini.

November is a good time to do digging work before the ground gets soggy. Digging left rough, will be broken down further by frosts and the pests in the soil will be cleared up happily by the birds. Some gardeners claim that newly dug soil is better than a dose of fertilizer for a hard winter. The spade should be driven in vertically to its full length and the soil turned it over completely. The rougher you leave the ground the better. If you use lime, do it now but use the manure and compost in spring as lime and manure don’t mix.

You can build a new compost heap. Leaves can be collected or obtained free from local councils from their parks to and for leaf mould. Leaf mould soaks in water, makes the soil lighter, and increases porosity. It is a substitute for peat. Leaf mould takes almost a year to become mould by fungi action. In another year it becomes leaf compost useful as seed and potting compost. When raking you can let the leafy habitats under the hedges be. It is also a good idea not to prune winter berries, seedheads and plants that provide cover will provide comfort places and roosts   for birds and small animals. Indian summers don’t fool them.

Apples are best wrapped individually to avoid duds affecting them and stored at 0°C  if possible at 80 to 90% humidity for which a thick cloth or blanket can be kept with an end dipped in water bucket. Gala apples store well for up to 3 months and Granny Smith will store for up to five.

Apples, plums, pears and cherries trees can be protected from the winter moth, Cheimatobia brumata, by making a  grease band about 45cm above soil level so that the wingless females that come out from their chrysalises in the soil cannot climb up trees to mate and give eggs. Green caterpillars destroy the leaves blossoms and forming fruits.

Shallots are easy to grow as the only attention they need is hand weeding. They can also be stored for as long as one year. Like garlic, it is best to plant between October and New Year. You could plant Eschalotte Grise, also known as banana shallot which has a strong flavor and is also a French favourite. The Dutch Variety, Yellow Moon is disease and bolt resistant and has mild flavour.

They are best planted with tips just visible and covered with fleece or netting to save them from birds. In case some shallots get unearthed they can be planted back with care.

Garlic is generally planted between October and November as it needs 2 to 3 months of cold weather. It should be done at least a week before the frost. The bulbs should be separated into individual cloves and planted the right way up to get 9 to 10 times the produce.

The first step is to buy certified  disease free bulbs which have been developed for the UK climate. ‘Albigensian Wight’, ‘Iberian Wight’, ‘Lautrec Wight’ and ‘Purple Moldovan Wight are examples from Spain and France respectively.

If you sow broad beans now in the month of October, you will be able to avoid the black fly season. However some people believe that the gain is not worth the risk of sowing in October. If you want to sow in October, choosing a sheltered and well drained site is essential and it is necessary to protect the plants with covers. Aquadulce Claudia, a tall bean, well known for winter beans requires staking. The Sutton has a height of less than a 45 cms and so can fit under cloches.

The option of using green manure reduces as weeks pass and we have to select from either field beans, Vicia faba and grazing rye, Secale cereal.
Grazing rye is a good weed suppressant. It quickly forms a thick growth. Its root breaks up the soil knitting them together to hold nutrients from leaching out.  It also retains the fertilizer to release back when the soil is dug.

However, the Grazing rye is difficult to uproot. Moreover, if your plan is to grow small seed vegetables like carrots the land will have to be left open for a few weeks for the rotting foliage to dry as it prevents germination of small seed plants.

Field beans also add nitrogen to the soil. They work best in heavier soils and are not drought resistant. Generally beans are grown with alternate rows of grazing rye to get best of both.

Good taste doesn’t come of its own. Your home grown vegetables could taste bland or watery. Here are a few tips on how to get great taste benefit from your own produce.

Rich Organic Soil: Organic soil rich with minerals and nutrients is essential for the plants to be able to produce a tasty crop. Good garden soil regularly enriched for years with compost is much better than standard grow-bags and manufactured compost in flavour of the vegetables grown.  Adding organic seaweed extract in water for tomatoes once weekly can also improve the health of the plant and the produce.

Sun Kissed Fruits and Vegetables: The supermarkets sell fruits and vegetables that have been picked before they mature. They are then ripened by artificial means of temperature control and influence of chemicals and gases. Next they are transported to long distances and stay in cold storages for varying times before they come on the shelf as “fresh” fruits and vegetables. The naturally matured sun ripened fruits and vegetables, on the contrary, have an unmatched rich flavour and taste and sell at a premium.

Picking Just Before Eating: Freshly picked vegetables have a taste of their own. The sugars that enrich the vegetables begin to turn to starch once picked. This is very evident in sweat peas and corn even within a few hours after picking. Imagine walking into the garden to pick fresh vegetables to cook now!

Choosing Special Varieties: Commercial agriculture plant varieties are selected or even designed for their yield, disease resistance and shape.  In the process flavour is lost as a trade off.  As gardeners, we can choose varieties that have stood the test of time in the hands of generations of plant breeders for great taste, texture and variety. These qualities can be found in seed catalogues and standard mass-grown varieties avoided.  A taste test with friends and family with different varieties of vegetables could be revealing and beneficial for future plantations.

Caring and Attention: As gardeners we know what plants need and when. It isn’t just about using resources to get output. Knowing what each plant needs, weeding and pruning, making a little space and corrective attention where necessary make the plants stronger to be able to give tastier and more nutritious food.

We can select fruits and vegetables to grow at home based on how much difference it can make in taste and flavour. Potatoes or onions are likely to taste almost the same unless you plant a very special variety not found elsewhere. The varieties that can give enhances taste when grown at home are tomatoes, strawberries, sweet corn, peas and some unusual varieties of apples. Some herbs like basil, mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary and coriander also taste much better when grown at home.

There may be many reasons for people to grow their own food but the best flavours and taste come from fresh fruits and vegetables grown in good nutritional soil. Choosing special varieties, natural ripening and picking them fresh before consumption has a charm of its own.

If you have grown a good-tasting vegetable, fruit or herb, please tell us about your great experience by adding a comment below…

Feel feel to post any comments with questions you would like us to pose to Sidney.

Happy Allotmenting!

The response has been fantastic and within the day of print we helped 10 people find an allotment in Wolverhampton!

Keep sending in your good news about finding a local allotment!