It's been a slow start, but the allotment plot
is hitting its stride
================================================

It's been something of a strange growing year at
the allotment. It has taken an age to turn
around. And not just on ours. Most everywhere I
looked showed a slower, slightly stunted growth.
Largely unresponsive to effort.

Until it wasn't. It is almost as though our
usual May plot didn't really happen until June.
And then, almost invisibly at first, a gardening
corner was turned.

The climbing French beans - some poles took
multiple sowings and were either slow to grow or
had baby stems eaten by pigeons - are finally
taller than me. Soon, there will be happy
handfuls of homegrown pods in blue and green and
yellow.

The same with salad leaves. A bagful of oak leaf
lettuce and assorted summer herbs is sitting in
the fridge. The odd radish, too, might make it
home. Luckily, Howard isn't keen.

The morning glory - also on its third sowing -
has finally taken to the poles. Company for the
single tear pea stem that survived. The
homegrown sweet peas, though, are tall and thick
with scented flower. Our tagetes and calendula
shine in the early morning and evening light.
The self-sown verbena bonariensis towers in
small clumps, challenging our slower-growing
sunflowers.

I am hopeful our Italian chicories (red treviso
and flecked castelfranco radicchios) and Asian
greens (purple frills, kizuna and mizuna) from
Vital Seeds will have an easier ride.

Everywhere I look around me now, our
neighbouring allotments have also recovered. I
wish we, too, had room for swathes of ox-eye
daisies.

Our crimson-flowered broad beans should be ready
when you read this. Howard and I will divide
them for a favourite summer lunch and ponder
what to sow in their place.

We will meet in the early morning, pick a few
leaves, some herbs and sweet peas for home and
count ourselves lucky.

Now, please tell us how your summer garden is
growing.

Allan Jenkins's Plot 29 (4th Estate, GBP 9.99)
is out now. Order it for GBP 8.49 from
guardianbookshop.com



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