Growth Spurt

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 21 March 2008 21:45:37

Spring, as we know, is a time of new life and surprises. This has certainly been the case with the allotment project.

Firstly, I was approached by a staff member of my 'proper job', asking if I would be able to support one of her cleints to do some gardening. Apparantly, she has a number of people she supports who are 'outdoorsy' and had been ringing around to find suitable activities for them. On speaking to Chris the Eco-Bloke, she found out about the allotment. I have not even 'gone public' with the project yet! As a result, she brought her client up on Thurs a.m. and he appears v enthusiastic. My colleague also wishes to let her other clients know, so I may have a whole new group within the next few weeks. Note to self: Sort out all the background work very soon(insurance, equipment, health and safety etc. Phew!) As an offshoot of this first incident, word is getting around among members of the Mental Health Drop-In where I work. Consequently, there may well be even more interested people coming forward, and my manager has said that she will assist me in letting other staff know what is on offer.

Secondly, I have been offered some greenhouse glass to replace the broken and missing panes in our new-ish purchase. This happened on Thurs a.m., after the meeting mentioned above, simply by talking about the state of our greenhouse to a bloke on the allotment site who then spoke to a passing mate who had some glass available. Note to self: visit second bloke and sort out acquiring glass.

Thirdly, I went to meet a tutor at the local agri college who works with vulnerbale people. He also gave me some food for thought.

Finally, I have managed to sow some seeds under cover at last. One aspect of this was to put the seed potatoes to chit, which means to place them in a light place so that they can begin to produce shoots before planting out. Surprisingly, they had already started this process, without any intervention from me. I love nature, don't you? So full of allegory!