I’ve lived too long for gardening presents. Most of the gifts I have longed for have already made it on to Christmas lists. Years of working an allotment means I’ve been given the spade, the trowel, the handheld hoe. Even the smart secateurs.
I never had a lust for tools until the plot. It was all too much my father’s thing, though his allegiance was with Wilkinson Sword which also made his razor blades.
I associated the gardening tools with Saturday chores that you had to finish before you were allowed off after tea. Rakes and hoes, mowers and sheers, were too long tied in with a type of manliness which didn’t much interest me.
At least until we started at the allotment. It was at the plot I developed a yen for a fine, handcrafted copper trowel (implementations.co.uk). And learned to appreciate a well-honed edge on a pair of secateurs, or just a sharp folding knife and a decent ball of twine.
Then the Danish meadow came into our lives. It was there I discovered a deep love for a proper axe; the constant winter need for chopped firewood. And now, next week over Christmas, there is a large stack of logs to split.
So my first wish is for a new axe, light but with enough weight to make a decent dent in our beech and silver birch.
I also have a longing for Higgledy Garden’s Bee-Friendly mix of cosmos, cornflowers, borage, phacelia, nigella and calendula, (higgledygarden.com), to continue the work in the meadow,
For the plot, my Christmas wish would be for a new garden fork. Our old one is a bit broken, past its best and I have my eye on one from Burgon & Ball. Perhaps if someone very close to me sees this I am also currently obsessed with the Niwake Japanese garden shears. But they can maybe wait until my birthday in January.
Finally, a very merry Christmas, everyone.
Allan Jenkins’s Plot 29 (4th Estate, £9.99) is out now. Order it for £8.49 from guardianbookshop.com
Follow Allan on Instagram @allanjenkins21
