Introducing: The Curious Gardener podcast series
My excuse to ask ALL the questions!
I love nosing around other peoples’ allotments and gardens and talking to them about their spaces and experiences. I love it so much that I’ve decided to make a podcast and blog about it! The Curious Gardener is my excuse to ask lots of questions, learn lots and get to know the allotment and gardening community more, since they’re such a lovely bunch.
I’m aiming to publish a podcast episode and written version towards the end of each month. And if you’d like to be involved then please let me know! The more the merrier.
My first interviewee is Simone Leboff, who is not only a wonderful friend but also a fantastic allotment holder. I’ve been visiting Simone’s plot for coffee since before having our own, and it’s a space I absolutely love. We had such a great chat and I really recommend listening to the audio. From the chatty chickens to the secret gin stash in the shed, here are her own words about her allotment space:
“I’ve had my allotment for about three or four years now. The first year I got it I did virtually nothing other than plant a few bits, and everything came up easily. So I thought ‘Woo, great! This is easy!’, but as it turns out the previous owners had chickens and you tend to find that the soil is enriched for the first few years after. Mine hadn’t been worked at all because the previous owner’s husband had been ill.”
After that first great year Simone realised that it wasn’t always going to be that easy! “I really came in very blind. A friend rotavated a big bed, which I thought was the best thing to do, but I wasted a lot of soil. I realised this afterwards, and then discovered the ‘no dig’ method.” For those that aren’t familiar with ‘no dig’ you can find out everything you need to know from the brilliant Charles Dowding.
“So the first year was really good, and then the second year the deer came and ate everything. I realised that a lot of the other plot holders had netting and covers so I brought in Nigel (local handyman extraordinaire) to help set mine up. I’m getting better but I’m still pretty rubbish at DIY - aka ‘Don’t Involve Yourself’. So Nigel put in all the posts and I managed to put the netting up, which helps keep the deer and birds away. I have had individual cages put up before but the netting gets caught up in the lawnmower and it’s hard to get down and weed around the base of things.
“At this point I was working and didn’t have much spare time, so I decided to make things easier for myself by netting the whole plot. I also got raised beds built, opting for more expensive sleepers so that they will last long term. We live by the motto that if you’re going to do something do it to the best of your ability and the best of what you can afford, so we saved up and got more robust sleepers which will last for years and years, so it’s really worth doing. Whoever has the plot after me will also still be able to enjoy them!”
“So I’ve been here a few years, and I’m still getting things wrong and learning. I didn’t even want an allotment originally! I’m lucky to have a large garden and started planting things there, but I also have a dog who took a liking to the plants as well… so I was walking said dog here one day and met Gloria, who told me all about having an allotment. I went away thinking ‘I’m not going to get an allotment, I’m not going to get an allotment…’, but as soon as I got home I emailed the Parish Council asking if they had a spare one, and the rest is history! So I got one, and then immediately within a few weeks I had taken on another for keeping chickens.
“I’m here a lot because I like it, it’s my happy place. I love weeding, unusually. I actually like weeding more than putting the plants in because I feel less rushed. I find that whenever I order my seeds or plug plants they always get delivered later than I expect, so all of a sudden there’s this big panic to get things sown or in the ground. I’ve been known to come up here at 5am the day I’m due to go on holiday because my plants have arrived the day before and I don’t have any other time to get them in the ground!
“Time disappears up here. I often stick my earplugs in and listen to the Archers or an audiobook: Sarah Raven’s podcast or the Kitchen Cabinet. Plus, other people are often here and you have a natter, I make the coffee. It’s just lovely, the views are nice and you’re just away from everything else. If you’re in the garden at home you’re still conscious of everything going on around you. I suppose it’s a bit like out of sight out of mind when you’re up here. It’s lovely.
“I have two plots. The first thing you see when you walk up to it is my beach blue shed, which has my tools usual shed things, but there’s also a camping stove with a kettle so I can make teas and coffees for myself and others around. Most importantly, there is gin! And I have a little heater to keep me warm in the winter months when I can’t feel my hands. I’ve also got my gardening books and a little blackboard for scribbling things on.
“Then you’ve got the greenhouse, which is lovely but too small!” Note to the reader: it’s really not that small!. “It’s got my potting table in there and on the days I’m sowing seeds I watch something on Netflix or Youtube - Chateau Diaries, The Diplomat and Rough Diamonds are my recent watches.
“In the left hand plot are all the raspberries, gooseberries, white currants, red currants. There are some really prolific raspberries, and we’ve put some matting down between them to suppress the weeds. I’m also going to put some bark down at some point.
“I also have a lot of dahlias. Dahlias appear later in the season, which can leave the area quite bare until May/June, so I went to a talk with Sarah Raven and she told me to lift the dahlias and put bulbs underneath. I did this with lots of tulips and also gladioli. The tulips have recently died back and the dahlias are now getting ready.”
There’s a bit of a colour scheme at play with Simone’s planting, which I’ve always admired. “I do try and think about colour when I can - I try not to do ‘a blaze of colour’ as my late mother-in-law would say, which means every colour under the sun, but I do try and make it look pretty. In between the tulips and the dahlias I also have a few alliums coming up.
“In the other plot I’ve put an arch between two beds which has a clematis growing across. In one of the beds I have beetroot and radishes, and then on the other side I’m going to grow beans up the arch to see if that works. This plot also has an asparagus bed which was there before I took the plot over and was in a pretty ropey condition, so I put on some green manure after the second year which really helped. I’ve always been told with asparagus that, if you don’t have a lot of space, it’s not a very economic crop to grow, but I’m lucky that they came up lovely. Sarah Raven always says the best things are the come and cut again things like salads, fruit bushes and prolific croppers like courgettes, which I’ll also be growing this year despite my family’s protests (not more courgettes!). I grow my courgettes and cucumbers (crystal lemon variety) in old car tyres which I’ve painted different colours.
“I try and grow things I can’t buy in abundance - I used to grow onions well, but they’re just so cheap to buy and easily available. I love growing broad beans - broad beans on the BBQ are great! They’re lovely with parmesan and salt. I cook everything I grow, even the nettles for nettle soup. You only need the tops and I try and leave some for the butterflies. The chickens also get a lot of the scraps or weeds!
“I love having chickens, they’re so funny and I love just sitting and watching them - they’ve got great characters. One of the silkies has stopped laying so she just sits on the other eggs to keep them warm - I tell you, when it’s cold in winter there’s nothing better than holding a warm chicken egg! Sometimes when I’ve been here all day and I haven’t brought anything to eat I boil up some of the eggs on my camping stove. In the summer I can pick some pears when I’m hungry - there’s always something around!
“I think it’s brilliant when younger people take on allotments. I learnt bits from my dad and wasn’t too interested in gardening or cooking when I was younger - the only thing I used to make back in the day was a reservation! And I was a townie, but life’s changed, and views have changed. I’ve learned a lot since taking mine over, especially about how to improve the soil, and a lot of the learnings have come from other allotment holders.
“I’d definitely say don’t be intimidated if you’re interested in taking one on - there are so many resources available to learn from, whether it’s books, podcasts, programmes, online or other people. Or just give it a go, and if it goes wrong you can just try again next year. Even the most experienced people are still learning, and everyone’s plots are different so we’re all going to be doing it differently. The only thing to mention is that different allotments have different rules, so with ours there is a bit of pressure to keep things tidy. Some places can be a bit officious. But most of the time that’s just about keeping the lawn mowed so it doesn’t end up knee high. It’s about being considerate to your neighbours too - if your plot ends up being overrun with weeds the seeds can end up being blown into other plots. It’s such a lovely space, so it’s just about looking after it for us to all enjoy.
“My top tip is always about adding good manure to your beds. I’m lucky that I have a friend who breeds horses with lots of very well rotted manure, and that really is the best thing you can add. One of the other plot holders, Alistair, calls it ‘wonder poo’ after adding it to some feeble looking plants that then came back to life. Good manure, good mulching. It’s like when you decorate a room, you have to start with the basics and boring bits first, like sugar soaping and sanding, before the painting can start. It’s the same in that you should sort your soil out first with good manure and good compost before moving onto the planting. But my biggest piece of advice is just enjoy it! If things go wrong, there’s always next year. Yes, it can be annoying when things go wrong, but that’s how we learn.”