Monday 5 April 2010

Those pesky curvy straight lines

Now, I've been gardening for about 20 years. I thought I knew what I was doing, but the plot..... oh, the plot.... Different kettle of fish entirely. Allotment gardening is all about straight lines. I had visions of vegetables marching smartly up and down the beds. All my plans were drawn with pen and ruler, vegetables stretching away to infinity & beyond. But now my onions & garlic are coming up, it's clear that everything I've put in so far has a distinct... how shall I put this?.... wobble. Mr SNAH says "why don't you just use 2 pegs and a bit of string next time to mark out the straight lines before you plant/dig?" and I wail back "but I diiiiiid!".

And as for my potato trenches....oh dear. Everyone else's at the site look like this:

But mine look like this:

Actually, I'm probably being a little kind to myself there.

Nevermind. My first earlies (Maris Bard, Vales Emerald & Homeguard) & seconds (Edgecoat Purple, Wilja) are in. An iffy planting line isn't going to have any impact on the taste, and with a bit of luck maybe it'll confuse any slugs intent on burrowing into the tubers before I dig them up. As I'm sure I read somewhere (ahem.... cough cough) that slugs working their way through underground crops only work in straight lines (couldn't possibly offer a citation on that). Least that's what I'll tell everyone, until I can get up there again to rig up a set of curtains around my potato trenches. I'll invest in some flowery Cath Kidson ones and maybe no-one'll notice - they'll blend in with the general springy springiness springing up everywhere. Oh the shame.

So, busy week ahead. I plainly need to redraft my plot plans, banishing all straight lines, I'll be going for the circular wavy look, by the way. It's the way forward.

7 comments:

  1. (lol) love it - I have to get shedman to do all my straight lines - I cannot do them even with rulers
    :)
    K

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  2. I think there's too much emphasis on gardening perfection. If your plants are healthy, who cares if the rows shimmy and sway a little? After all, it's a garden, not a factory!

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  3. Hi and thanks for picking me as a fave. Don't worry I struggle with straight lines too! It's what it tastes like that counts, not how perfect it looks...but I know how you feel - I long for a pretty plot too!

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  4. Who needs straight lines? The plants don't care. At least that's what I tell myself...

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  5. I would quite happily put up with wavy rows, if only I could get my potatoes planted. It's still way too wet on my allotment at the moment.

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  6. My mother used to say that her rows were just a little too short, so she had to crook them up just a little to get all the plants in.

    When everything is growing well, blossoming and bearing fruit, all will be beautiful.

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  7. Oh..I didn't know about the straight lines...I plant my vegies hodge podge...wherever the fancy takes me...it looks, ah...interesting...nobody has ever commented (this is my first time doing a vegie garden at a new place we just built)...The only rule is to keep them apart just enough as not to get crowded, and I also put herbs in there too, and roses...oh dear...

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