Just Who Am I Running the Gardening Club For?

I am quite lazy. Oh yes I am. I know it looks as though I'm not - five children! Runs a gardening club! - but one quick look at my home (messy and chaotic), the allotment (shallot sets still not in) or even this blog (sparodic posting) will confirm that fact.

But come Monday lunchtime there I am with 17 children, loads of loo rolls and various sweet pea seeds and vroom! I'm off.

Take a quick peek back at home and the saved newspaper sits forlornly on the side, still not transformed into paper pots, the tulips are not in and all my plans remain just that - ideas in my head and not brought to fruition.

Which makes me think - who am I running this gardening club for exactly? Because, unless there is a reason why I absolutely have to, there is no other gardening going on in my life at the moment. So it's a jolly good job that I have the club. Bless 'em, my little gardeners think I am doing them a favour when all along it's the other way round....




~ I am thinking of moving this blog to Typepad. Well, when I say move, what I mean is start blogging at Typepad and have a link from here to there because I'm not sure how to move lock, stock and barrel (I've looked into it but it looks complicated). I know it's a pain, having to update links etc so that's why I'm thinking about it ~

Growing Your Own - Possible But Stupid?!

Cards on the table - I'm not a great fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. He's okay, I've got a couple of his cookbooks (Hubby likes the game recipes, I like his family cookbook) but I do find him a bit annoying.

He annoys me in the same way that Jamie Oliver does, who I actually like more than Hugh. I get tired of being hectored about expensive (and it is invariably more expensive than not) organic food by a couple of blokes who, though well intentioned, have no idea what it means to live as most ordinary people do; within the confines of tight budgets.

Sometimes, depending on my mood, I get fed up seeing their wonderful gardens, perfect set-ups and their license to print more money by extolling us to live as they do. Goodness, I could probably have a kitchen garden to rival Jamie's if I had such an expert gardener tending it.

I realise it's probably unusual in the gardening world not to love HFW, after all he's very enthusiastic about getting us to grow our own. I caught a bit of his River Cottage Autumn programme on Thursday night and was intrigued by the scheme allowing people to grow veggies in others' gardens for a share of the produce. It is, I think, something my very green village is in the process of setting up (that and apparently more allotments!) but was less enamoured with the squirrel stew, amongst other dishes, he was preparing.

By some coincidence I was also surfing at the same time (oh, I'm good at multi-tasking) and stumbled upon this article by critic AA Gill about River Cottage Autumn. I don't agree with everything he wrote but I did have a chuckle at this:

"His shows rely on the cosy repetition, the absence of surprises, the huggable sense that bad things happen only in cities, and that somewhere just off the M25 is a never-never happy valley where Hugh lives, surrounded by smiley, monosyllabic peasants who knit those appalling jerseys and turn slugs and stinging nettles into delicious fizzy pop."

Mr Gill also seems very anti-self sufficiency. I think he feels we should be concentrating on helping each other and not on helping ourselves. He even goes as far as to call it "small-minded, selfish, mean and ultimately fascist". Goodness, who knew trying to rely on big multi-nationals less and eschewing the rampant consumerism found today would engender such vitriol?

"Growing your own vegetables is a bit like making your own fridge or whittling a car. Possible, but stupid," according to Mr Gill.

Which doesn't make me angry but does make me sad. For poor old Mr Gill who looks likely never to feel the magic of growing plants from seed, never feed his family from his own hard graft instead of someone else's and will never experience that special feeling gardening, particularly veggies, can give you - empowerment.

Simple Weekends=Happinesss

WEEKENDS are supposed to leave you feeling refreshed and revitalised. Only mine don't. There is so much to do that by the time they roll round the dream of cooking lovely meals, country walks and reconnecting usually remains just that. A dream.

Now though, it is all about to change thanks to Elspeth Thompson's new book The Wonderful Weekend Book, Reclaim Life's Simple Pleasures. Although it is about the good, simple things in life it is not about do nothing, quiet, boring weekends.


It's not a gardening book either but it is interspersed with gardening ideas, some of which will not be new to gardeners. But it's not those that I loved in this book, it's the attitude.


Elspeth encourages us to think outside the box in order to get to grips with our gardens and allotments, to make them a pleasure and not a chore. I especially like the idea of building a shelter out of willow if you're not allowed sheds at your allotment. Now, why didn't I think of that?

Elspeth is a persuasive advocate of getting back to the simple pleasures and eschewing the supermarkets, DIY centres and fast food in order to reconnect with ourselves and each other.

"Recent research on the nature of happiness suggests that what most people need in order to feel content is not big cars nor fancy clothes but the straightforward stuff: a good walk, watching the sunset, time with family and friends and some wholesome, home-baked food." she writes.

A chapter is also given to reinstating Sundays as a tradional day of calm and relaxation with ideas for the perfect breakfast followed by various activities. It's not a book stuck in a time-warp though, there are plenty of suggested websites scattered throughout. I'm even thinking of copying the computer/mobile Sunday detox (I said thinking. I'm not entirely sure I'd be able to).

Thanks to this book I am planning a whole host of creative, wonderful projects which will, I am sure, spill over from the weekend into the whole of my life. It will sit on my bookshelf and remind me, inspire me and refresh me, like an old friend whose outlook chimes with my own.

Now if only I could manage to persuade the children to do in one of the most enticing suggestions - spending the day in bed....

* Part of this book review is reproduced on my other blog *

One For My Christmas List

I have started to think about Christmas. I know, I'm sorry. But it is genetic and in previous years, while I have thought about it I haven't actually done anything and so November and December finds me scurrying round the shops, along with everyone else, like a headless chicken.

I have also started thinking about what I would like. This is good. It is not as self-centred as it would seem. Honestly. Because when I stand in the bookshop thumbing yet another gardening book, instead of reaching for my purse I am now reaching for the shelf AND PUTTING IT BACK while thinking "Hmmm, I'll ask for that for Christmas". Yay! See how good I'm being.

The above book is one that is top of my list. Alys Fowler is growing on me and I like what little I've seen of her book. When I first started watching Gardeners' World back in the spring she would, well, annoy me. Just a little.

"Is it because she's on telly and you're not?" teased Hubby. Well, doh! Of course, I'd retort, because being "on telly" has always been my ambition. ~ Sigh ~ (for those of you wondering, I'm being sarcastic).

But since GW gave us a peek at some of the presenters' gardens (did we see Joe Swift's? Did I miss that?) I have warmed to her. Her garden was lovely but normal. And small! But look what she's done with it!

So now her book, which I will have probably read while leaning up against the bookshelves at Waterstones by the time Santa visits, is on my list. Along with this one, which is not really about gardening but a bit.

Now That's More Like It

I like reading gardening and house magazines, supplements and blogs but not very many of these tell it like it is. And that is for families with young children, gardens mostly are not the peaceful, beautiful havens everybody else seems to have.

When I think of my friends' gardens, the ones with children, I see that my reality is theirs' too. They have goalposts, swings, climbing frames, washing lines, bare patches on their lawns, bikes abadoned anywhere. And when I read about family homes and gardens I see none of this.

What I want to see is how ordinary families (those with ordinary budgets and not the services of garden designers on hand) manage to incorporate not a child-friendly space but a child loving one while keeping it looking reasonably good and eeking out a bit of area for an adult who loves to garden.

I've written about this before and Sharon Lovejoy, author of one of my favourite books, kindly commented that washing lines will feature in her latest book, which I plan on checking out.

And, lo!, in this week's Sunday Times' Home supplement there was an article on creating family homes, and no, they weren't perfect in design but perfect for family life.

"Remember, your mini-Versailles, complete with topiary, nymph statuettes and colourful flowerbeds, will also have to accommodate the unstylish - trampoline, tyre swing, paddling pool, guinea-pig hutch and crumbling shed. Don't be precious."

Oh, music to my ears! Don't be precious indeed! Perhaps it's a result of the impending recession, but such a down-to-earth attitude is so refreshing.

October at the Gardening Club

Gardening Club's started back - yay! - with 15 new children and two old hands who are going to be my helpers (only they don't know that yet).

The first session was on Monday (which strictly speaking was September) and it went really well. Sometimes I try to work out why and this is what I came up with today - I was not tired (must remember to go to bed early on Sunday evenings), my head feels clearer with my youngest at playgroup two mornings a week (such luxury, time) and I just feel more confident.

So what's new this term? A flower bed Hubby very kindly dug for me. I had to get him to bring a very heavy bag of well rotted manure for me at the weekend so I thought while he was there....I was supervising (of course).

A new herb bed is also under way. More work needs to be done here but there's no rush. And we have a grow house (hooray!). This will make a huge difference.

I'm particularly pleased with this because I managed to find a replacement cover for less than a tenner to go over my old frame. What I would really like is a polytunnel like Dominic Murphy who manages to squeeze his club in when it's wet but we don't have the space or funds and they look quite ugly. As it stands during wet weather we can't do anything because the whole school is inside and there's no room for us. So pray for a dry autumn, winter and spring.

My plans for the coming weeks include planting daffodil bulbs (in the new flower bed) along with some bulbs I picked up for ten pence, sowing sweet pea seeds, starting off hyacinth bulbs, planting garlic and some overwintering shallots, clearing the runner bean bed, laying the manure and covering with newspaper and cardboard and, I think, sowing some green manure in the other bed. The third one will contain all our winter stuff.

And while that sounds a lot I know from experience that 15 children can whip through the planned activities rather quickly. Still, it is all looking good.

Allotment Tips for the Time Poor (that's everyone, right) # 1

Really, I feel a bit presumptuous giving others tips. I mean, have you seen my allotment lately? Well, no you haven't, because it's too awful to photograph, and neither have I, for which there is no excuse.

It is rather a case of feast or famine where the allotment is concerned; I'm either up there all the time or not at all. So it was with some trepidation that I dragged the whole family up there yesterday. Yes, there were a few howls of protest but as far as I can see unless 12-year-old boys are eating, on the Playstation or riding their bikes there are always howls, so I ignored them.

While pulling at the weeds and ordering others about I did think "oh, I must remember this for next year" but as my memory is appalling I'm writing it here.

• Tip 1: Plant nasturtiums between rows to suppress weeds. These plants are so easy to grow, look pretty and (best of all) seem to thrive on neglect, which is just as well.
  

• Tip 2: Butternut squash (and I'm assuming pumpkins) are also easy to grow, are tasty and make a lovely alternative to courgettes, which are also great and prolific but sometimes a bit too prolific.

• Tip 3: Paving slabs are wonderful laid onto bare earth between beds as they don't rot and suppress the weeds wonderfully. I've tried all sorts of paths - bark chippings (messy and expensive) and carpet (great hidey holes for slugs, rots and doesn't suppress weeds) and slabs have been the best. I recycled mine which were no longer needed from our garden but if you had to buy I guess this would be the most expensive option.

• Tip 4: Raised beds are ideal for allotments, allowing you to work your plot in bite sized chunks, reduce digging, and easily improve the soil but (yes, there is a but) they also make superb homes for slugs and snails. The wood also eventually rots and then you have to start again which can make it a bit expensive. I loved my beds but have removed the rotting wood and just kept them as beds, edged with my paving paths. This, I think, is the perfect solution. Well, I hope.

Now I have a bit more free time and I've broken my allotment visiting drought, I plan to spend more time at the plot. At least I'll be getting fresh air and not spending money so it's all good. I just have to dig out the flask as I can't be too far away from coffee (even if it is decaf, sigh).