Allotments in deep mid-winter (From Smallholder)

Allotments in deep mid-winter

7:40am Saturday 26th November 2011 in Grow your Own

If you are of the belief that the allotment is out of bounds (other than for picking) over the darker months, then look away now.

If like me however, you appreciate the opportunity that winter brings on the veg plot, then read on. Certainly you will have to be keen and enthusiastic to want to go out in winter. I feel most of us have no qualms on that front by virtue of the fact of what we do already on our productive plots!

Still, let’s be honest; the weather and the long, dark evenings will rule out much in the way of opportunity to spend time on our beloved plots between November and February. Many of us are restricted mainly to weekends, with perhaps the odd midweek morn or afternoon thrown in over the holiday period.

I’m a great believer that if there is a will, then there is definitely a way. So why not wrap up, brave the cold temperatures and make a start on the list of “to do” jobs that we never seem to have time for over summer.

The allotment can be a solitary place in winter. You can go hours without meeting a soul. It can also be a refuge, a bona fide escape from the washing up after Christmas lunch, or somewhere to go and find yourself, after the sometimes tiresome indoor socialising which this time of year serves up. You certainly do need to be prepared for all the different types of weather.

I must confess it is one of the few times of year I wear gardening gloves. Normally I see gloves as the equivalent of getting in bed with your socks on. Not now. The combination of cold claggy soil and air temperatures in single figures, is a guaranteed recipe for chapped and dehydrated skin. Also doing anything meaningful with hands numbed by cold is a challenge in itself. For the full article see December's edition of Smallholder magazine.