Digging for Victory

First there was Bert. An amiable heavyweight, he’d journey cautiously to his allotment plot on a creaking bike, his trousers tucked into his socks, a black shopping bag looped over the handlebars. Then, stripping to his white vest in summer, he’d plant himself on a plastic chair, beneath the cover of the overhanging oaks, and call out, a friendly ‘Morning’. The greeting always sounded like ‘Mourning’. They said he was 80 plus.  Even in his figure-hugging vest, Bert didn’t look it. 

More Stories

Plot 181 and a half - or the Greenish Gym

Bliss oh bliss, I am retired - or nearly. And joy of joys, after TWO years of waiting and pleading for half an allotment plot, it looks as though - with a following wind - I may be able to take over the said plot in two weeks!

The allotment lottery

 Getting the most out of a small garden or allotment, whilst keeping the beasties at bay, is all about crop rotation and companion planting, explains MT’s Gardening Guru Carole Davies.


Life through the five bar gate

MT reader Joan Renton tells of the joys of allotment ownership.

Runner Beans & Toilet Training

  Toilet roll manufacturers have spent millions of pounds and years of research trying to find a way to get rid of the middle of toilet rolls. Expensive transportation and shelf space is taken up with the holes in the middle, but I've now found a use for the little cardboard tubes: you can grow runner beans in them!

One man went to hoe

Steve Jones continues to discover the secret joys of having his own allotment

Tom and Barbara are to blame!

 The Good Life has a lot to answer for. As Steve Jones has discovered, growing your own food can be bad for your health!