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Rochford Life: How long have you had an allotment here?
Both: About eight years now.
Both: About eight years now.
RL: May I ask, why have an allotment?
Both: Well when we moved we now have an updated garden where the previous owner used lots of stones, and it is quite narrow at the back so there is no room for vegetables.
RL: So what do you tend to grow on your allotment now each year?
Both: We have red onions and white onions, leeks, spring onions, spring cabbage, winter cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, black currants, red currants, raspberries, beans, and we’ve had marrows although we don’t eat them – we tried them!
RL: Have you had much fruit from the fruit bushes this year?
Both: Oh yes, we run three freezers at home; we’re well stocked until the end of April!
RL: You have so much. Have you thought about keeping chickens on here?
Both: Well you are allowed to keep chickens and rabbits, but who will look after them? You’d need to be down here every single day. Bees would be nice as well but our brother has started to do that on his own land, so we might try to get honey from him. The trouble is that if you go way for any length of time, this is missing out. For instance we’ve been decorating and when we come back it is hard work to get it back to scratch.
RL: This is clearly a flourishing plot so how many hours a week do you put in?
Both: Not many really; we haven’t been down for a week. We tend to just have two or three good days at it, but it was hard at first because it was derelict; it was all carpets and half empty, but it’s flourishing now. It’s two half plots. When we first came here Keith thought he was becoming a landowner and kept on taking on more until I threw my spade down, (You may gather this was Eve speaking!) after the fourth plot and said, “If you take any more on I’m resigning,” (lots of laughter), and then my daughter took one over and that solved the problem. Eight years ago there were only a few plots that were taken up. The change has taken place in the last five or six years; whether it’s the effect of TV gardening programmes, we don’t know.
RL: Does it help your budget?
Both: Well probably after you’ve bought your seeds and other things for the allotment, it is probably only break-even when it comes down to it, comparing it with the vegetables you might buy, but the thing is that it’s not that, it’s the freshness and you know what your vegetables have been grown on, and when you pick them within the hour they’re in the pot or being frozen. We don’t use any pesticides. We do get a bit plagued with greenfly but we try to keep them down with soapy water; it doesn’t have that much effect but you have to keep on with it.
RL: I don’t think sweet corn was in your list earlier on?
Both: We’ve had sweet corn but we’ve only had four cobs this year because something came in and ate them and destroyed the lot. We think it was either badgers or pheasants. We think others have had the same problem. We’ve seen signs of foxes and even rats; there’s a lot of wildlife around, but whatever it was had pecked off the corn. In the past we’ve found whole eggs buried and we thought someone was playing tricks on us at first because we’d never seen this before, but it was probably foxes. When we dug earlier this spring we found a few eggs, they were obviously rotten but their shells were perfect with no cracks, just a hole where they were buried.
RL: Have I noticed correctly but there seems virtually no bird life over here?
Both: There isn’t much. Quite often there may be a load of pigeons that come and eat the cabbages and various other things, and you do get a lot of blackbirds but apart from that there isn’t a lot. It may be the presence of cats from the nearby gardens that come over here.
RL: Do you keep a compost heap? What do you do with your weeds?
Both: We have compost bins over there. I have one heap round the back with sticky stuff and brambles that come from the plot behind us and eventually I burn them when the wind is in the right direction. Yes, we get more than enough compost usually and you can get too much of it.
RL: Well thank you both very much for your time. With some of the hints about making things, I’ll come back in a fortnight and quiz you on all the things you do with your fruit and vegetables, if you’re around and it’s not pouring with rain!
The observant may note that this article appeared at the end of October. The absence of a follow-up simply indicates when the weather broke and Saturday mornings ceased to be suitable for sitting out and chatting! Watch this space in the Spring
Both: Well when we moved we now have an updated garden where the previous owner used lots of stones, and it is quite narrow at the back so there is no room for vegetables.
RL: So what do you tend to grow on your allotment now each year?
Both: We have red onions and white onions, leeks, spring onions, spring cabbage, winter cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, parsnips, black currants, red currants, raspberries, beans, and we’ve had marrows although we don’t eat them – we tried them!
RL: Have you had much fruit from the fruit bushes this year?
Both: Oh yes, we run three freezers at home; we’re well stocked until the end of April!
RL: You have so much. Have you thought about keeping chickens on here?
Both: Well you are allowed to keep chickens and rabbits, but who will look after them? You’d need to be down here every single day. Bees would be nice as well but our brother has started to do that on his own land, so we might try to get honey from him. The trouble is that if you go way for any length of time, this is missing out. For instance we’ve been decorating and when we come back it is hard work to get it back to scratch.
RL: This is clearly a flourishing plot so how many hours a week do you put in?
Both: Not many really; we haven’t been down for a week. We tend to just have two or three good days at it, but it was hard at first because it was derelict; it was all carpets and half empty, but it’s flourishing now. It’s two half plots. When we first came here Keith thought he was becoming a landowner and kept on taking on more until I threw my spade down, (You may gather this was Eve speaking!) after the fourth plot and said, “If you take any more on I’m resigning,” (lots of laughter), and then my daughter took one over and that solved the problem. Eight years ago there were only a few plots that were taken up. The change has taken place in the last five or six years; whether it’s the effect of TV gardening programmes, we don’t know.
RL: Does it help your budget?
Both: Well probably after you’ve bought your seeds and other things for the allotment, it is probably only break-
RL: I don’t think sweet corn was in your list earlier on?
Both: We’ve had sweet corn but we’ve only had four cobs this year because something came in and ate them and destroyed the lot. We think it was either badgers or pheasants. We think others have had the same problem. We’ve seen signs of foxes and even rats; there’s a lot of wildlife around, but whatever it was had pecked off the corn. In the past we’ve found whole eggs buried and we thought someone was playing tricks on us at first because we’d never seen this before, but it was probably foxes. When we dug earlier this spring we found a few eggs, they were obviously rotten but their shells were perfect with no cracks, just a hole where they were buried.
RL: Have I noticed correctly but there seems virtually no bird life over here?
Both: There isn’t much. Quite often there may be a load of pigeons that come and eat the cabbages and various other things, and you do get a lot of blackbirds but apart from that there isn’t a lot. It may be the presence of cats from the nearby gardens that come over here.
RL: Do you keep a compost heap? What do you do with your weeds?
Both: We have compost bins over there. I have one heap round the back with sticky stuff and brambles that come from the plot behind us and eventually I burn them when the wind is in the right direction. Yes, we get more than enough compost usually and you can get too much of it.
RL: Well thank you both very much for your time. With some of the hints about making things, I’ll come back in a fortnight and quiz you on all the things you do with your fruit and vegetables, if you’re around and it’s not pouring with rain!
The observant may note that this article appeared at the end of October. The absence of a follow-
Interview with Keith & Eve Heritage on Rochford Allotments (30th October 2010)
On a sunny Saturday morning I ran across two enthusiasts drinking coffee alongside their plot on what was otherwise, a fairly quiet allotment area. This was a fun conversation. Eve maintains she does all the digging and Keith does all the sowing, and their answers flowed from both of them, so rather than try to divide out who said what, we’ll take the easy way out and refer to them as ‘Both’. What they had to say reveals very well, I felt, the life of an allotment keeper with also some more unusual facets of it coming up. We hope you’ll find this challenging and inspirational. I’ll dedicate this article to some young people who I know are struggling with their plot in the hope that it will encourage them!
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