rained off – it’s like wimbledon for vegetables.

• By Alison
• 3 July, 2007
• Comments Off on rained off – it’s like wimbledon for vegetables.

I just read an article in the times about using the balmy
nights to get your allotment going. It kept mentioning the long hot days, and I was starting to wonder which year it was actually written in, since that does
not reflect the current weather report in London.

Everytime I went to step out the door, the heavens threw a bit more down. I’d have gone down and worked in the rain with no problems, but I had the small
one with me, and she was sniffling and hacking a bit. It didn’t seem likely that she’d sit in the shed and be calm, that is not a state of being that
she exists in while awake.

So our plot remains unturned. I haven’t been letting the weeds go under my feet though (like the gardening pun? I am really getting into this
lifestyle…). I’ve seeded some brocolli and carrots in disposable cups in a tray in my back room (aka the playroom). I’ve got to shuffle some plants
around and get some tarragon going too, and I’ve just noticed that I have no coriander growing at all. Which is a pain, since I came to a point where I
needed it tonight, to mix with my roasted aubergine, garlic and pine kernals. It would have been nice to have been able to even start to feel like I am eating
my own produce!

This morning saw me shouting at the squirrels from the upstairs bedroom. And unfortunately – caught in the act by my slightly eccentric neighbour. But I think
she’ll keep the secret, since she hoodles about yodelling for her cat, then talks to him loudly in baby talk that makes even me cringe. She also has very
loud arguements in the backyard with her some time lodger, some time boyfriend, who is a local MP and used to live in the shed drinking whiskey. But that’s
a story for another time!

Meanwhile here is a photo of the peanuts that the squirrels have planted in my herb box.