If your social life is looking a bit sad – get yourself an allotment.
I took over my allotment 18 months ago to grow my own organic vegetables but I got much more than that. I can guarantee before long you will find yourself sharing and socialising with a generous bunch of fellow gardeners and allotment holders.
We all hand out seeds and seedlings when we have a glut. That’s how I came to be growing kohl rabi last season. Never heard of it before but suddenly, due to a generous neighbour, we were all growing it. Reckon she won’t be planting so many seeds this year. If you have read my earlier blogs you may have cottoned on to the fact that nobody leaves without a handful of my snake beans (yes, they are still cropping).
I find it very satisfying to be able to hand out a bunch of herbs or a bit of something that someone else is short of. A lady approached me at the farm yesterday. She must live nearby because she explained that she was cooking lunch and needed a couple of tablespoons of parsley. Shops were shut it being Good Friday. I sent her off happy. Last week a retired fellow turned up looking for a bit of lemon grass for a new recipe he was trying. My lemon grass is ready to take over Brisbane so he went off happy too.
And there is nothing more generous than an allotment neighbour who will water your plot if you are sick or on holiday. Nobody wants to find their months of work devastated if for whatever reason you cannot get to your plot.
But I find the best part of the whole experience at Beelarong is the comerarderie of a bunch of like minded people who will always drop by for a yarn.
Happy Easter.
Allotment Adventures with Jean 