Up early to the allotment to meet Howard. We’ll water and feed with seaweed and comfrey and sow morning glory. We are late but the scented sweetpeas they’ll replace were a little sluggish at the start.
Speaking of which, we keep discovering extra-large leopard slugs in and around the tipis. Almost as though they’re wandering through the allotment, laying waste to plants in their wake. Howard uncovers the corpse of a courgette looking like it’s been attacked with an ice-cream scoop.
The climbing beans, though, are recovering. Joining the lettuces, Swiss chard and beetroot to be gathered and taken home. Perfect for late summer dinners. The last of the tear peas though won’t make it that far. We will share them straight out of the pod at the plot.
Our old-school marigolds are edging closer to bud. The tagetes ildkongen, calendula and nasturtium are throwing out many happy flowers. Same with the orange cosmos (sulphureous), our first year from our own saved seed.
It’s good to see Howard after being away for a few weeks. My ideal companion with a keen photographer’s eye. Heading into our 17th year of gardening together.
We pull weeds, we hoe, we tidy. We water. It feels good to get the plot back into decent summer shape.
The red amaranth is starting to tower. Some purple orache is standing 6ft or more. Almost all of it’s self-seeded, just needing a light edit as the season wears on.
We don’t talk much as we work. Comfortable in quiet company. Though Otto will occasionally call, impatient for his walk.
After an hour, I’m ready to catch the bus to work. Howard to take Otto on the heath. We make loose plans for meeting later in the week before going separate ways.
Allan Jenkins’s Plot 29 (4th Estate, £9.99) is out now. Order it for £8.49 from guardianbookshop.com
