News & events

Each month we are getting to know our allotment neighbours a bit better. For April, we have been chatting to Halina Kessler who has just moved from a plot at The Triangle to plot 37 at Hertford Avenue.

How long have you had an allotment in East Sheen?

I have had an allotment for about 5 years. I have just moved plots from the Triangle to Hertford (I’ve always wanted to be by Beverly Brook).
Taking on someone else’s plot can be a bit of a challenge.  You inherit both their successes and their failures.  This plot has wonderful fruit trees next to the brook but they haven’t been pruned for a good few years and there are some other overgrown areas. They will have to wait until later in the year for them to be sorted out.  I’m looking forward to apricots but not sure if the tree will actually produce any.

What jobs have you been doing on the allotment this month?
I have been sorting out the paths and trying to decide whether or not to keep the old grass paths or to replace them.  Right now I’m sticking with the grass – it smells so wonderful when it is cut and is a great contribution to the bio diversity of the plot.  I need to re line the pond with a proper pond liner.  I want to try and make a good home for frogs and newts as they are my best slug deterrent.  I’m also going to try and plant some new fruit bushes as the existing ones are on their last legs.

What are you planning to grow next season?
At home I’ve been planting seeds. I’m so tempted to plant more at the plot but up till now it has been too cold.  I’ll be planting lots of beans, courgettes and tomatoes. My favourites are yellow wax beans. I usually plant a dwarf french bean (brittle beurre wax) but this year I’m going to try some climbing ones as well.  I want to try butternut squash again too, last year the badgers ate my only small ones.  I’m going to try some aubergine from seed as well this year.  I also grow a lot of herbs, especially dill.

What’s your favourite recipe to make with your harvest?
I think dill is one of the most versatile herbs not only is it wonderful in sauces for fish but it is great in salads.  The best thing of all though is to put fresh dill heads as they are coming into seed in with new potatoes as they cook.  Divine.

In addition to gardening of course, do you have any other hobbies or skills?
I love cooking (I’ve been responsible for the food at the last couple of open days)  I try to use as many local ingredients as possible. Last year we used allotment tomatoes, lettuce and cucumbers in our menu.  We would always love to use anything plot holders have grown, so come Show Day in September let me know if you have anything to contribute and we will happily take it.

I’ve had Plot 23 for about 30 years and  Plot 24 for about 25 years

What jobs have you been doing on the allotment this month?

This month I’ll be clearing all the beds of weeds etc., raking in Blood, Fish & Bone and mulching with Country Natural manure. Also pruning apple and pear trees, cutting down autumn raspberries, tying in blackberries, summer raspberries and Tay berries and tidying up strawberry plants before forking in Blood, Fish and Bone and surrounding with manure.

What crop has done well this year?

Tomatoes, onions and garlic.

What are you planning to grow next season?

Already in the ground: Rhubarb, Globe Artichokes, Asparagus, Japanese Onion sets, garlic, and Broad Beans, Swiss Chard, Lovage and other perennial herbs. I’ll be growing this year: More Onions, Leeks, Perpetual Spinach, Tomatoes(cherry, medium and beef), Courgettes, Peppers, Chillis, French Beans (climbing and dwarf), salad crops (Lettuce, Rocket, Radish, Spring Onions), small pumpkins, Peas, Mangetout, Runner-Beans, Aubergine, Potatoes (first, early and main crops) Sweet-Corn, Parsnips, Carrots and Kohlrabi, Florence-Fennel and other annual herbs (Dill, Parsley).

What’s your favourite recipe to make with your harvest?

Constantin my Romanian husband does the cooking.

Romanian Potato Cake (grated potatoes, chopped onions, dill, grated cheese and eggs, sliced tomatoes……. And Vegetable Soup flavoured with lovage, dill, garlic, Bors (a liquid made from fermented maize leaves and rye bread) and Zacusca (a paste made from tomatoes, onions, carrots, garlic, chillis, aubergines, peppers).

In addition to gardening of course, do you have any other hobbies or skills?

Local and garden history and all things Romanian. And I love to cook when Constantin allows ( he really likes roast parsnips with rosemary).

This month we are sad to tell you that Joyce Dixon died in the early hours of Boxing Day – she was almost 97. Mary Enache remembers Joyce well and wrote this about her for us to share with you all:

“Joyce Dixon was a local lady who had plots on our sites for over 50 years and was an Honorary Committee Member of BHAS. She wrote that during WW2 her family worked a plot on the Bank of England Sports Ground and then on Palewell Common in the “Dig For Victory” campaign. She remembered having to fetch water in a bucket from the Beverley Brook to water the vegetables. Later she had an allotment on Hertford Avenue near to me but on the Beverley Brook side where she cultivated her plot well into her 80s. I remember her as being a lovely lady like her allotment which was always full of beautiful flowers and magnificent vegetables.”