Unlock the Secret to a Happier Mind: Discover the Therapeutic Benefits of Growing Your Own
Join me for a trip to the allotment. An escape from the stresses of modern life.
Sometimes we just need to escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life and take some time out on our own. To be honest, when an allotment came up just over the fence from my house I didn’t really see it that way. It was a challenge but I hadn’t appreciated just how important it would be to my mental health.
In this post, I welcome you into my allotment. An oasis of calm in a crazy world. In the spirit of Never Stop Learning, this post contains some of what I’ve learned over the years in the world of plants, horse manure and slugs. A constant theme of trial and lots of error but a great way to escape.
As we sit here in January the photos below bring back memories but are also pretty inspiring to me to keep going through these dark days.
Over the years it has evolved and grown in to something that allows me time away from the world but recently I’ve realised that I use it as somewhere I can be fully in control. Maybe that sounds a little strange but every decision that needs to be made on the allotment is made by me.
If I feel like planting this or that or cutting something down I don’t need to ask permission, fill out a form or put a business case together.
I just do it.
In reflection, this is the antithesis of my job when it has been difficult over the years to get things done. This frustration around recruitment or management or procuring new software can get you down.
On the allotment, I’m in charge and what I say goes.
Mainly because there’s no one to stop me planting one more row of carrots or maybe deciding to grow more courgettes than my whole road can eat.
And, why not!
Very soon it will be time to plant some tomato seeds. That is when you know that spring is not that far around the corner. Things will be growing again and the warmth will return.
One of things I actually managed to nail for the first time a couple of years ago were sweet peas. The kids love picking them and they just say spring to me.
My eldest daughter said to me. “Why don’t you grow raspberries? Everyone else seems to have them!” Mmmm, good point I said.
So, at the start of 2021, I started my raspberry journey.
I managed to grow six raspberries last year. All six pictured below! They were great but hoping for a little more volume this year….
Leeks are one of those things I managed to nail quite early on. They are a slow burn type of vegetable, spending almost a year in the ground. They gradually soak up the sun’s energy over the summer and then carry on growing again in the very early spring. You need to catch them before they start to flower though. The flowers look good but the leeks themselves taste even better.
Ten times better than the shops - fact.
As a side point, never start an allotment thinking you are going to save money. You won’t! The tomatoes are probably the only thing I grow that saves us money.
The salad leaves taste great and are pretty easy to grow. They germinate in about 3 days on the window sill and then after another couple of weeks you can prick them out into larger trays. Grow on for a couple more weeks and then plant out as I’ve done below. Cover with some fleece to stop the birds eating them. I also put a “moat” of slug pellets around the edge of the fleece, just while the plants are small.
After another two weeks you will have amazing lettuce leaves to pick. I tend not to pick the whole plant. If you take the outside leaves the plant then regenerates over the next week and you can then get 3 or 4 harvests from the same plant.
Magic.
And here are the lettuce leaves after absorbing a few weeks of sun.
Probably the one thing I’m most proud of is my patch of asparagus. 2023 will be the 6th year that these plants have been in the ground.
The thing with asparagus is that you can’t pick anything in the first three years.
You need to be patient. Play the long game.
To be honest, most of the hard work is in preparing the soil with lots of manure and removing as many stones as possible. After that you wait.
This picture was taken in the first week for April last year. I’m relatively new to this so I’m never 100% confident that the plants will make it through winter. So, when you see the first spears appear it’s amazing feeling. And they just keep coming from then onwards.
Once you are in the 4th year you can pick them all until the longest day. Then you must stop and let the plants grow. And wow, they do grow fast. Within a couple of weeks they will be about 2m tall. All you need to do from then onwards is pay you kids to pick off the asparagus beetle before their larvae eat the leaves.
I hope this post has been a source of inspiration and motivation for you. My journey to creating my little oasis of calm has been challenging, but it has also been a testament to the power of a growth mindset. Imagine sitting back in the summer, surrounded by thriving plants, with the setting sun casting a warm glow, and a cold beer in hand, feeling a sense of accomplishment and pride. Can’t wait to get back there.
Thanks for reading.
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Glad to see there are still allotments. I hope they never go away
Mmmm .... gardening. I’m a big fan. I’ll be starting some seeds soon! Thanks for sharing your photos with us.