Page 30 - ALG Issue 3 2021

readers articles Allotment Flowers
When lockdown started, we were worried about going down to the allotment – especially as some people just didn’t ‘get’ social distancing. One man in particular kept edging towards people and I thought someone was going to end up in a water trough whilst trying to avoid him!
As I had already grown several veg from seeds and had our potatoes, we decided to grow some things in pots at home. We missed the allotment so much it wasn’t long before we ‘braved’ it and went back.
The first thing I noticed was the length of the grass in our paths and the wonderful swathe of dandelions heads – their yellow in the mad world seemed brighter than ever and full of honeybees. I had a patch of poached egg plants; the honeybees seemed to ignore them, but there were other bees on them. I left the dandelions and only cut them down as they formed seed heads.
With the veg at home it meant we had extra unused space. I have always had dahlias on the plot, which my lovely dad grew on his allotment too. They are grown in traditional straight rows and look amazing. You would never put all those colours together normally and they make such a stunning cut flower.
I think several people have actually planted them as a result of seeing them. I have a good mix of varieties for the local show, but also open varieties like ‘Pooh’ who always have three or four bees or hoverflies on each head.
It got me thinking that instead of growing extra veg which we would probably have to give away, I would put in traditional annual flowers.
Probably like most people I had packets of unused seeds from magazines, so I just directly sowed these. The majority of them were all single flowered varieties and I added some purchased from Kings Seeds.
Not only did they look stunning, but they also evoked memories of my mum and dad’s garden where I had my own little piece of ground.
Not only did they look stunning, but they also evoked memories of my mum and dad’s garden where I had my own little piece of ground
The cosmos grew so tall and produced a mountain of flowers. Larkspur,
rather delicate along with blousy Godetia, clashed with the orange of
the marigolds, and the candytuft just managed to avoid being overshadowed by the scrambling nasturtiums. Statice, which can be picked and put in a vase at home for winter colour, was no trouble.
I grew single Bishops Children dahlias which did so well and then I was successful with Ipomea for a very old rusting arch whose blooms only open for one day but are so transparent.
A substitution of Double Sun King sunflower from Kings Seeds might not have been the best for bees but they were amazing. Big double powder puffs of blooms, and so many people asked me what they were as they looked so different.
This year I am again going to make some space for annuals. Over the years more flowers are appearing. One lovely lady went for the full ‘potage’ type plot, and it looked just stunning.
It is also nice to know we have done our bit for nature and the pollinators. One I must try this year is the Mesembryanthemum, the very first flower I grew as a tiny child! An added bonus was that blue tits raised a family in our nest box and attacked the greenfly with enthusiasm.
Janet Tubblin
30 Allotment and Leisure Gardener