DOWN AND DIRTY AMONGST THE VEGETABLES
“If you tickle the earth with a hoe she laughs with a harvest” Douglas Jerrold (1803 – 1857)
What Jerrold forgot to add was that anyone growing their own food needs the patience of a saint (especially when the seasons deliver the wrong kind of weather), an ability to accept disappointment, and dollops of good humour. Caroline Deput has all three – and more!
For more than a decade she’s been the proud owner, chief agriculturalist, and weed clearer of Plot 19, an allotment less than ten minutes’ walk from her home in Richmond Surrey, neatly fenced off from the Park, the Green, and the main road. The ups and downs of “growing your own” after a year of back breaking slog, are beautifully and wittily celebrated in The Joy of Allotments: An illustrated diary of Plot 19.
Having an allotment may be all the rage but it was a very different story when Caroline first started out. Back then, waiting lists were reasonably manageable as the widespread perception amongst urbanites was that only pensioners or bored retirees were interested in owning one. The author doesn’t fit into either of those categories. She just happened to be in the right place at the right time for good things to happen and it proved to be a blessing. These days everyone who’s anyone wants an allotment, with local authorities overwhelmed by the scale of demand. But getting the best from the soil isn’t easy. Allotment owners must adjust their time to the rhythm of the seasons; the ground has to be weeded, watered, and hoed while the land must also be protected from rabbits, badgers, slugs and other pests if the crops are to stand a reasonable chance of making it to harvest.
Caroline takes every challenge in her stride with girl-guide common sense and deliciously infectious twists of humour. Timetables are drawn up for planting, organic compost is prepared, while lessons are learned from every success and failure. There are times when managing Plot 19 is a bit full on and full time, especially when unwanted visitors are on the prowl, although the author has her own way of dealing with them. A swift foot stamp condemns snail colonies to “a short, sharp, death”, while rabbits are left at the mercy of foxes. As for the parakeets, which according to local legend escaped from the film set of The African Queen (part of which was shot at the old Isleworth studios), they’re tolerated even if they do “monopolise the seed heads of the sunflowers.” Every setback, no matter how great or small, is handled with gentle, bull dog spiritedness: the bindweed are brought to heel after three hours of aggressive trowelling, and although an outbreak of mildew kills off the butternut squash, a bumper lettuce and broad bean harvest atones for both that and a semi decimated pea crop.
The Joy of Allotments is a delightful riot of observation, gentle humour, and gorgeous whimsical illustrations drawn by the author. Think Posy Simmonds (minus the social satire), and you’ll know where I’m coming from! The main strength of this book is that you don’t need to be green fingered or an allotment owner to enjoy it. Take it for what it is: one woman’s likeable account of how running an allotment made it possible for her to grow her own food, forget life’s day to day worries, while optimistically clinging to the hope that “next season the badgers won’t have eaten everything!”
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
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