Читать книгу The Allotment Book - Andi Clevely - Страница 56

Many tenants on British allotments come from all over the world, bringing with them local crops that might seem unfamiliar to their neighbours. A generation ago, novelties that are now commonplace would have included peppers, aubergines, sweetcorn, squash, mizuna, even garlic, but they have been replaced by more recent introductions such as callaloo from the Caribbean, Far Eastern rat-tail radishes and bitter gourds from the Indian subcontinent.

Interest and curiosity spread fast on an allotment site, and other plot-holders are generally keen to try any uncommon fruit or vegetable. Seed suppliers, always alert to something new, soon follow suit, with results that can be seen in their expanding and diversified catalogues.

Raising from seed is the mainstay of vegetable growing on an allotment. Every packet is a promise in the hand, each seed the simple source of a new plant from which more seeds can be saved to perpetuate a new, superior or favourite strain. Saving your own seed is the traditional way in which crops and varieties have spread from one garden 0r continent to another.

Charlie came to England from Jamaica decades ago, and having an allotment meant that he could grow some of his favourites from home, especially callaloo and sweetcorn. He didn’t always save the seeds, but one particular year he threw out a whole cob and its grains germinated. Soon he had the best corn on site, and now he never buys seed, just saves it in time-honoured style from one year to the next.