The Big Bulb Plant

When I first got my allotment I went wild about Allium Purple Sensation as a way of giving the plot focus, colour, height. The following year there was no stopping me. Unfortunately once they had finally died down, there was no stopping both my fork and the squirrels digging up dormant bulbs. But it turns out to have been fortuitous. Rather than dig them back in, I stored them. Now I see The Eden Project and Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Centre have joined forces to encourage us to brighten up public spaces in the spring. The chosen bulb for this year is Allium Purple Sensation and I can strongly recommend it to cheer the dullest corner. It’s late to track down popular bulbs but Peter Nyssen Ltd (excellent value for money) can still offer the decorative and long-lasting Allium Christophii and Allium Aflatunense. The Garden Centre Group, whose Chief Executive, Nicholas Marshall, supports the current allotment movement to the extent of suggesting universities should put aside land for them, has Purple Sensation still in stock in most of its garden centres. Do you have a communal space in your allotments which needs jollying up… are you a dead-of-night guerrilla gardener... is there an abandoned raised bed at the end of your street, as there is in mine? It would make all the difference if you popped a few in.

www.peternyssen.com

www.thegardencentregroup.co.uk

www.thebigbulbplant.com

Mushrooms

Two field mushrooms popped up beside my plot. I wish I was definitively clear about which are the poisonous ones but I've read too many dramas about the consequences of eating the wrong ones. So I 'generously' offered them to a less squeamish friend who, all organs still functioning, reports back that they were delicious. I vow to eat the next one. Is there a key way to identify killers?

Launching my blog: The Good Life

What better way to launch my AllotmentPickings blog than with a note about The Good Life exhibition running until March 2010 at London’s hidden treasure, The Garden Museum. This small show is a “must see” for anyone who values their plot, for anyone interested in social history, for anyone concerned about our planet, for anyone. Starting with a chilling reminder of the vulnerability of allotments - illustrations of the demise of the Manor Gardens allotments in favour of space for the 2012 Olympics - it covers the three major Grow Your Own movements of the past 100 years. The pattern is clear; at times of crisis we become sudden Good Life Tom and Barbaras only to revert to Instant Luxury Life Jerry and Margots at the hint of the return to prosperity. Just one result? Developers move in, allotment space disappears.

Can we break this mould? Will the current must-have-a-plot/must-grow-our-veg hype survive a receding recession and a winter or two of digging and chilblains or will we, too, emulate history? What are we doing to spread the word that rooting ourselves and our veg should be normal everyday life for each generation, on our window ledges, in pots outside our back doors, in our plots or our gardens; that a bunch of mixed in season flowers beats 10 perfectly formed, cellophane-wrapped, carbon footprint stamped matching stems any day? Landowner Sir Julian Rose certainly seems to be supporting the movement by offering 5 acres of his agricultural land in Oxfordshire for allotment rental.

If you are near The Garden Museum, pop in. If not, make an outing of it and enjoy their café, shop and garden.

The Good Life exhibition, until March 7, 2010. www.gardenmuseum.org.uk