‘The only casualty of the weather was the felt on Wayne’s shed roof’

Mar 22 2008 by Alison Young, South Wales Echo

THOSE mad March winds ripped through the centre of the month with a ferocious intensity.

The allotments were swept clean of any loose items such as plastic bags, buckets and bins and these were piled in an unceremonious heap against the far side fence.

Most of the collection of our homemade sheds and greenhouses stood firm in the teeth of the gale with winds reaching over 70 miles per hour.

This was an outstanding testament to the skill of our allotment builders.

The only casualty was Wayne L’s shed where the felt was ripped off the roof. The shed itself stood intact and can soon be made snug and waterproof again.

The other amazing thing was that none of the plots had any flooding during the torrential downpours that accompanied the very high winds.

This is another fine testament to the founders of the allotments over 90 years ago. These founder members built a network of dry stone drains to channel the water away from the plots. These were constructed from the clay sub soil and the sandstone stones which are native to the Valleys. No proper drain pipes for them – only the ability to craft their needs from the local materials. There are many skills honed by dedicated allotmenteers well beyond their ability to tender and nurture their crops.

Many years ago the growing of fruit on the plot was an integral part of allotment growing. This consisted mainly of redcurrants, blackcurrants and gooseberries. These provided the tasty “sweets” which followed the main meal in the Valleys households.

This practice seemed to die off during the late 80s and 90s and many of these bushes were removed. But how the pendulum swings? There is a growing trend in the allotments now, not to plant the old traditional fruit but apples, pears, plums and cherries. Judging by the number of these trees arriving almost daily there must be some special offers at local supermarkets.

Oh, how the tone of the whole allotments can be altered by a single act of carpet-laying. Dave H must have had a bargain on the large piece of carpet he has laid on his plot to warm up the soil. What colour is it? It is bright blue! This is not in keeping with the green environment we are trying to achieve.

This is Easter weekend, a time when the urge to garden catches most latent gardeners. The garden centres are packed with plants and people rush out to get instant gardens. But beware Easter is early this year and we are several weeks away from being able to plant tender plants without protection.

If during your long weekend you feel the need to get on with things, do so, but remain patient, enjoy the fresh air but take it easy.

Those muscles have been dormant for a long period and there is no point in getting aches and pains and losing the whole enjoyment of the gardening experience.