Drainage and levelling work means new members can start growing their own veg
It’s not a sentence I thought I’d ever use, but these are exciting times down at the Drogheda Community Allotments. It is fairly apt though, for an organisation that has plodded along for a decade to suddenly attract eleven new families wishing to grow their own food.
Drogheda Community Allotments was started in 2011 on land owned by Louth County Council beside the graveyard at Newtownstalaban by a group of people interested in biodiversity and growing vegetables, keeping bees and generally experiencing the joy of being close to nature and the soil.
From the very start though, they were beset by some basic problems, the main two being that the site needed draining and the soil is not particularly good. This has meant that in the past some people have given up their allotments in frustration.
But, thanks to a recent intervention by Louth County Council who are growing increasingly aware of green issues and the importance of biodiversity, the land has been drained and levelled and eleven new plots have been provided to add to the 34 already in use and they were allocated to new members on Sunday last.
They’ll be needing some topsoil to improve what’s there but the new members are all looking forward to getting their new plots ready for next year and some said it was a great way for children to learn about nature and where their food comes from.
Whatever your age or level of ability, the pace of life at the allotments is set by the seasons, potatoes or beans cannot be rushed and there are always certain crops that refuse to grow no matter what you do. Carrots are my personal bugbear.
Allotmenteers all have their own reasons for battling the forces of nature. Some like to grow food for the table or flowers to brighten their lives, or both. Others just enjoy the tranquillity of getting away from a busy work life.
After all, it’s not the end of the world if the spuds don’t grow, but if they do there’s nothing better than potatoes eaten with butter and a pinch of salt on the same day that they were picked.
In these days when the mantra is “we want it now”, there’s a lot to be said for taking the time to nurture young plants, enjoying the sound of the bees working away in the sunshine but hoping for rain (during the night time only please) and wondering if the beans will be ripe for picking in the next couple of weeks.
Growing your own is the total antithesis of fast food. I sowed leeks a couple of months ago, planted them out a couple of weeks ago and don’t expect to be eating them until the winter. It’s a similar story with sprouts.
It can be frustrating though. For every species you sow there are armies of creatures – birds, insects, slugs and snails, not to mention rabbits and rodents, whose sole aim in life is to eat your crop before you get a chance to.
But, for all of the possible pitfalls, there is nothing to beat sitting down to a meal the ingredients for which you have grown yourself – pure food with no chemicals involved, just a bit of care and of course the camaraderie and advice of fellow allotmenteers.
