I had been on the Allotment waiting list since before I moved to Bradford. As soon as I had an address I joined the list. Then of course, I forgot about it. Last year, I was planting things in my friend's allotment, but mostly it was a rather disheartening experience. Rain and more rain, slugs and more slugs, obviously encouraged by the rain. Late Spring and therefore late flourishing of seedlings. At the end of this, I thought, if they offer me an allotment, I'm going to say no. Not long after I had this thought, I suddenly got an email offering me an allotment.
So last August I moved into no 21 on the Heaton Allotments. It was completely overwhelming. It hadn't been worked on for a couple of years and so the weeds were as high as me. But mostly it was the very large shed, that some nutter had already tried to burn down that was troublesome. I ummed and ahhed about how I was going to get rid of this. I imagined I would have to take it all to the dump, which would take weeks. But!! On August 25th, a friend made a huge bonfire and that was that dealt with! I can’t ever say how grateful I am for the help I got from Mandee, Dunc and Conrad during these first few weeks. Not to mention George and Brigit who then took a chainsaw to the privet hedge.
Once the willowherb was pulled up and the shed had gone, I started chopping back.. I couldsee there were apple trees but had no idea that there were about 10 different apple trees, labelled with the varieties. Mostly...some of the labels have disappeared.
It was a lovely Autumn and I spent a few days up at the Allotment, in the sunshine, with my sketchbook. I am now working on some monoprints from these drawings. I'm finding I like the work in my sketchbook much more! There's something about the light and shade I love. The sun dappled drawings reminds me of warmer days.
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