How I use my allotment

I can never think of snappy blog titles- this one is what it says it is! 

My allotment is to grow fruit, veg, and flowers- of course!  But it is also, for me, a touch of green, a link with the countryside, a chance to interact with wildlife and experience the changing of the year. 

Here in Walthamstow, East London, the great news recently was the successful prosecution of the first two people for spitting on the street.   (£80 fine, and no they didn't bother turning up in court). I do love living in London and I'll defend my "manor" to outsiders, but really the grey misery of it (in parts!) does get to me occasionally- and this is where the allotment comes in handy.  

Even if the outside impinges with the continued weekly mass thefts from virtually every plot on site, still the green-ness is there, the flowers, the colour, the birds and the still-ness.  I find myself become rather strange if I don't experience  this urban wild for a few days.  I have to be able to experience living things other than humans!

I've just listened to Radio 4's Ramblings in which a listener Cathy Dreyer took Toyah Wilcox on a short walk from her home that she plans to do 365 times- you can see her blog here: http://walkinginacircle.wordpress.com/     I really like this idea of walking the same route every day in all weathers and conditions- the idea of observing in depth the subtle or the larger changes every day. I get that from the allotment too- and I think back gardens can do the same- whether your world is large, or small, it's the detail that makes life more interesting, and can be calming and stimulating in turn.

So, here are some photos taken in the last week of things I am enjoying seeing and eating in the allotment and garden.